Episode 8: Perseverance of the Universal Kind
The shuttle takes off into space as Zaiko stares out at its endless sea of darkness, dotted by stars. He continues to shake from the anxiety of not being able to make any profit in whatever inhabitable planet the shuttle lands on.
"She's crazy!" he cries in fright, "Even if I do find aliens around here, there's no way I can possibly sell the shoes piling up in our warehouse!"
Unknown to him, three astronauts managed to sneak onboard, staring out at the vastness of space. One of them, being larger than the rest, stood in the center of the shuttle slowly rising out of his seat and rotating into an upside down position. Revealed within the window of the astronaut helmet is Kaoru Kiyuin, the Noble Squad chief, his face barely expressing any changes in his lack of control on gravity.
The shuttle suddenly loses altitude and falls towards the burning lands of Venus. Zaiko's shuddering increases as alienated terra firma slowly drew near.
"I've finally come!" he yelps as the shuttle moves to the side and lands slowly on the first patch of rock it could find. He looks out the window at a vast city crawling with aliens, big and small, and various lavas and volcanoes that would most likely be their homes. His panic increases, "Aiya! I have to sell a large quantity!"
The Noble squad pulls off their suits and appears behind Zaiko, shouting "osu" at the top of their lungs. What anxiety chilled within his body melts away as determination takes over. Grabbing a large quantity of boxes, he rushes out of the shuttle, sets up a stand and begins a persisting advertisement to attract the attention of the citizens living on Venus.
Hajimari no FUREEZU ni
Karada zenbu wo azukete
Kidou ni notta SUTOORII
Most of the aliens on Venus went about their life, barely acknowledging Zaiko's stand. The owner could only stand behind the table and wave his hands around, flatly muttering the greatness of his shoe products. He picks up a pair of shoes and runs to the front of his stand, shouting a bargain price and explaining how well they would work. The tactic managed to grab several onlookers as they emerge from craters in the ground and crowd around him, listening into his advertisement.
Ari no mama no POOZU de
Omoi kitte fumikittara
Massao na sora
Managing to grab their attention, Zaiko throws a pair of shoes on and stands at the bank of a lava lake.
"If you wear theses shoes," he began, pointing towards the lake, "You'll be able to walk on top of hot magma! Watch!" he demonstrates by jumping out onto the surface of the lake and immediately runs across it, "Like this!"
The aliens shout and cheer with delight as they began crowding around Zaiko's stand, tossing their money out to grab a pair of their own.
Haruka na keshiki no
Sono mukou demo
Bokura meguri atte
Hanareteku
"Thank you!" Zaiko shouts as he starts handout box after box to the eager, octopus-like aliens.
After handing out the first batch of shoes, Zaiko recalculates his stock, seeing he still had a lot more to sell. Groaning, he heads into the city sweating, more out of nervousness that the hot atmosphere, over the next step of his plan.
"I need to get publicity through television commercials!" he cries.
Noble appears from a nearby ally, and shout "osu" again, rekindling his burning determination. Zaiko manages to flag down a nearby TV station and pays for use of their station to raise awareness to his product.
Sou da yo
Nandomo hibi wo kuguri nuketa
Kono HAATO wa
Ima sara ni kake dashite
Boku to kimi wo
Tsunagu sekai wo mezasu darou
Zaiko was nervous as he stood in front of the camera, rubbing his perspiring forehead. This was probably the first time he had ever had to advertise on live TV, as he was used to having other people run his products. After staring at the camera a couple of seconds, he began waving his arms around, muttering the bargain price of his shoes. The more he got into explaining the bargain price and the quality of the shoes, the more animated he became, eventually grabbing a pair and dancing around the camera, praising the design and sturdiness of the shoes.
Minutes after advertising, a row of phones began to ring. Zaiko scrambles over to the phones and picks one of them up.
"All these orders at once!" he shouts as he puts the phone to his ear, "Hello! Zaiko Company!"
On the other line, a caterpillar-like alien speaks into the phone, waving his many feet up and down, "Give me 50 pairs!"
"200 pairs please!" shouts another costumer on the next line.
"Thank you! Thank you!" he calls out as he takes down the orders and prepares to ship the shoes out.
Zaiko is interrupted by the ground shaking around him. He rushes outside to see giant, greenish-blue Cyclopes standing outside. One of them lifts his foot and points to it.
"I want shoes," he says slowly.
"Huge!" Zaiko yelps in hesitation, "I have to lengthen the shoes and make them bigger!"
Noble pops out of the studio and shouts "osu" again, giving Zaiko another dose of determination. He immediately runs back into the shuttle and pulls out several pairs of shoes, fighting to stretch them to appease the giants wandering around.
Nani ga okotte mo
BARANSU torunda yo
Kakou suru no wa sukoshi kowakute mo
Kokoro wa machigatte inai kara
Zaiko began struggling with the shoes, trying to stretch them out and make them larger than normal. He tries to emphasize the stretchiness of the shoes as he was working to refit them. Most of the Cyclopes lost interest and began stomping around him, but he didn't let up. He began stretching and pulling at the shoes, continuing his advertising to try and bring out more attention to his large costumers.
Sou da yo
Nandomo hibi wo kuguri nuketa
Kono HAATO no
Kizu wo kakusu ki wa nai
After resizing the shoes, Zaiko hands a pair over to the Cyclops that asked for them, "Well, try them on!"
"Shoe!" the Cyclops said as he pulls the shoes on and stretches them, "Oh! They stretch!" he gazes at the shoes in wonder, "It's perfect!"
Saigo no toki ga otozureru made
Negau darou
Ima sara ni kake dashite
The other Cyclopes began crowding around Zaiko, giving out their large currencies, "Give me shoes!"
"Gimme!"
"Me too!"
Zaiko's eyes burst with hearts at the size of the coins, "Uho! Your coins are huge too!"
He returns to the shuttle after dropping off the currency he collected, realizing there was still a large pile of shoes left.
"There's still a stockpile left!" he groaned.
Noble appears behind him and shout "osu" a final time, burning his anxiety away and replacing it with more determination. Zaiko runs back to his stand and continues his aggressive advertisement to the alien inhabitants.
Ah ikutsumono
Chigau sekai ga hiraiteku
Kitto kotae wa motteru
Ah sono koudo de
Mieru sekai wa hitotsu darou?
Zaiko returns to Earth, running to his wife, who's busy sweeping the dust and leaves from the entrance of their store.
"I'm back!" he shouts enthusiastically. The wife looks up towards him.
"Otouchan!" she shouts as she runs towards him, "How was business?"
"Just so-so!" Zaiko answers, "I bought you a great souvenir!"
He brings his wife to Venus and shows her a giant store labeled "Zaiko's Mega Store Cosmic".
"Zaiko Mega Store is opening all over the place!" Zaiko shouts with glee. He then points to the sky, "I will make as many stores as there are stars in the sky!"
"You're the best, Otouchan!" the wife giggles with glee at her husbands rise to fame and wealth.
"Okayama-san," calls a voice from the Yuhi Town Hall, west of the town itself. A woman at the desk of the building looks around as she calls out again, "Okayama-san!"
An old, balding man wearing a blue coat over a pink shirt and brown pants walks over to her. He carries a cane for support as a Saint Bernard follows before him.
"Yes, yes?" he calls as he walks over to the woman.
"Okayama-san," the woman began, "Please go exterminate the Oni."
The man places a hand near his ear and leans closer, "Eh? I have poor hearing, can you repeat that?"
"Yes, yes," the woman mutters nervously, "The oni has been revived at Onigashima. Okayama-san, who has taken his hero's pension..." she then points to the door, shouting in encouragement and determination, "No, the Momotaro-san that once exterminated the Oni must now go and exterminate him once again!"
"No way! It's impossible!" Momotaro shouts as he and his dog made cross-signs with their hands, "It's already impossible now!" he throws his crossed hands into the air, shouting in fright, "It's absolutely impossib-!"
"Hello?" he interrupts as he realizes that the woman had slipped out leaving a sign on her desk that read "Sorry, I'm on lunch break" in Japanese. Terrified that his battle with the oni will do him in before his age does, the once heroic Momotaro began swaying towards the exit of the building, shaking and sweating like mad, "O...O..."
He shouts so loud, his dentures fly out of his mouth,
OUENDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!
"Hey, check it out, y'all!" Morris said as he walks over to a boarded, faceless statue of three characters, one being human while the other two resembled a dog, on left, and a monkey, on right. Sitting on the human's shoulder is a pheasant, its wings spread high and its beak open as if calling for battle. Derek stops beside him while Atsushi, Hajime, and Ittetsu appeared behind the two.
"Hey! Peach Boy!" Derek chuckles, "I didn't think he'd be such a big icon on this side of town."
"Agent know Momotaro?" Ittetsu asks, not looking surprised.
"Dude, you have no idea how many old, foreign fables we have lyin' around in that library downstairs," Morris chuckles, "We call it a second pastime whenever the holodeck breaks down or when Mr. Virus invades our systems and has to find somethin' to pass the time."
"Hey! I have an idea!" Derek said, turning to the small group of Agents and Ouendan, "Why don't we take turns seeing how we look as Peach Boy and his buddies?"
"Cool!" Hajime said. He, Atsushi and Ittetsu head over to the statues and took up positions behind them, Atsushi standing behind the dog while Ittestsu stood behind the monkey, and Hajime stood behind Momotaro. The two cohorts had to bend down in order for their faces to appear in the holes of the statues.
Morris laughs as he and Derek observed the three Ouen now resembling the characters in the Momotaro story.
"Lookin' badass, Haji," Derek said as he places his hands in his pocket.
"Ya think so?" Hajime asks as he places his hands behind his back.
"No doubtin' that, dawg!" Morris said, reaching into his pocket, "I should take a picture of this as a souvenir for-!"
"How dare you treat Ouendan with such disrespect!" shouts a voice from behind. Morris and Derek nearly jump as they turn to see Tsuyoshi and Kenshin almost standing an inch from their faces.
"Yo! Where'd you come from!?" the two shout as the Noble cohorts move closer to their faces, forcing them to bend back with surprisingly calm looks on their faces.
"First you discredit us, now you insult our very being!?" Kenshin spat as he brings up his throttling fist, "You two should be taught a lesson in respect!"
Derek looks up to Hajime who bent to the side of the Momotaro statue, placing one hand on the shoulder and resting the other on the monkey's head, "Look's like you ain't kiddin' when you said these guys didn't know anything beyond Standard English."
"Wait! Stop!" shouts a voice in hesitation. The two Noble cohorts jerk their heads over to Shinta as he rushes over to the rivaled group and stops in front of Morris and Derek.
"Kikuchi-sama!?" Tsuyoshi yelps as the two stumble back.
"What is the meaning of this!?" Kenshin demands.
"These guys aren't insulting us!" Shinta exclaims, "It part of American language!"
"What're you saying!?" the two exclaims in a harsher tone.
"It urban slang! It sound like insult, but are actually compliment! You have no reason to punish them for saying something others consider respect!"
The two stare at Shinta in anger before being separated from each other. Kaoru stands between them, staring down at the young Noble with the usual expressionless face. Shinta stares back at him, rather nervous, but defiant nonetheless. The tall chief twitches a frown before grabbing Shinta by the shoulder and shoving him behind the rest of the Noble group, then moves closer to Morris and Derek.
"Do you really think you could trick us into believing such nonsense?" he exclaims. Though he has no expressions of anger, just hearing the sharp tone of his voice was enough to make Morris and Derek perspire nervously, "We are not so stupid that we don't understand English when we hear it."
The two began to back away, throwing their hands up in defense.
"Well, in that case..." Morris mutters, "We'll make sure to avoid sayin' stuff that'd seriously offend you."
"Yeah..." Derek mutters as well, "No reason to be so uptight, big guy."
"Your spirits may hold true," Kaoru says as he brings his hands to his chest, "But I won't let you get off until I make sure you will watch where you flick your forked tongues."
Morris and Derek continued to back away until they bumped into the boarded statues. They look to either side of them, finding Tsuyoshi and Kenshin barricading their only other means of escape, bringing their hands up towards their heads.
"Kiyuin-san! You can't-!" Shinta tries to protest. But before he could finish his sentence, his three teammates threw their hands out, shouting "osu" in a boisterously loud voice.
Hajime suddenly appears in front of the two BA backups, throwing his arms out like a human shield. His eyes widen as he spazzes a split second before dropping to his hands and knees with his head dropped between his shoulders, his entire body trembling in uncontrolled fright. Even for someone who's put up with the combined force of Kai, Atsushi and Ittetsu's spirits for six years, getting hit by one as powerful as theirs was still enough to make him crumble to the floor in a terrified heap.
Kaoru frowns as he stares at the shaking Ouen rookie, "Naïve little Ouendan. These men insult you, and yet you insist on rescuing them?"
"N...naive...?" Hajime seethes in a shaken voice. He brings his head out from below his arms to stare at Kaoru with determination plastered on his terrified face, "I th-think...the n-naïve Ouendan ar-round here are y-you!"
"You are in no position to be making such brash judgments, Ouen runt!"
"At least I kn-now what's right and wrong," Hajime pushes himself to a standing position, his body still trembling from the effects of Noble's angered spirit, "I don't just take what I hear, turn it into fact and believe it like it was the blood of my life!"
Kaoru's frown increases in annoyance as he brings his hands to his chest again, "Conniving little..."
OSU!
The Noble chief's eyes widen as he stumbles away from the immediate group. He and the other Nobles turn to see Kai standing a few feet from Kaoru, hand stretched in front of him while standing in a sideways position. Ittetsu and Atsushi rush over to the Ouen chief as his dreadlocked counterpart regains his composure and turns to glare at him, Tsuyoshi and Kenshin rushing to his side.
"You have made a big mistake, coming here and interfering with our business." Kai said, straightening up.
"Your business?" Kaoru growls, throwing a gloved finger towards Morris and Derek, "Those Western Ouendan have been interfering with our duties, and you're just going to brush it off like it was nothing?"
"You took refuge in Asahi Town and erased any chance of them relying on us for aide. In a sense, you are no different than they are!"
"Don't you dare compare us to those Western Ouendan! We asserted ourselves with clear sincerity! They asserted themselves through lies and deceit, making people believe they are more reliable than the Ouendan who worked hard to please their every needs!"
"You cannot even comprehend the difference between compliments and insults through words alone! Therefore, you have no right to come into our town and tell us how to run our business! Nor do you have the right to tell us who can and cannot be allowed to respond to the outcries of the people in this city!"
Kaoru's glare increases seconds before faint voices grabbed the entire group's attention.
"Where have you been!? I've been calling you for five minutes now!"
The group, save Ouen and Kaoru, ran towards the corner where the Yuhi Town Hall could be seen. Momotaro stood at the entrance, pointing an annoyed, wrinkly finger at Spin, who threw his hands up in defense. His dog companion barks in equal annoyance.
"Are you Ouendan always this late!? Are you the only one who responded!? There should've been three!"
"Whoa, slow down, Oji-san!" Spin yelps, "I can't help you if you keep talking all at once!"
"Spin, wha'cha doin' here!?" Morris asked as he and Derek rushed over to the rookie Agent, "Chief'll kill ya if he finds out you snuck over here again!"
Spin looks over to the two backups, rubbing his head in hesitation, "That's what I told Ryu, but he kept pesterin' me to help some Peach Boy fight an Oni. So I come out here to find him and I get bombarded by an old man yelling at me for bein' late and shit."
"Why are you three still babbling!?"Momotaro complains,"If you're the Ouendan I called for, then hurry up and do your dance of encouragement so I can fight the Oni and go home!"
"Are you blind!?" Tsuyoshi exclaims, jumping out from behind the corner and running over to the three Agents, "These aren't Ouendan! They're a bunch of nobodies who think they can be like us!"
"Oh, not you guys again!" Spin groans as he, Morris and Derek turn to look at Tsuyoshi and Kenshin, who came out from behind the corner to join his friend's side.
"Your attempts at making people think you're Ouendan are about to be halted now that the real ones are here!" Kenshin spat.
"Really?" Morris mutters, "Well, they don't seem to be doin' a good job tryin' to stop us."
The two Noble cohorts immediately whirled around to find the members of Ouen tending Hajime's mental condition, not the least bit caring of the predicament on the other side of the corner. The rookie Ouendan had collapsed near the wooden statues clutching his hands tightly around his arms and trembling in uncontrolled fear.
"The effects should've worn off by now," Suzuki said, "Yet Tanaka-sama still shakes in fright."
"It's because he's not letting go of the Noble's spirit," Kai said, eyeing his rival in anger, "Kiyuin planned to use the squad's entire spirit to frighten the Agents and make them leave our country. That amount of spirit is enough to shake an entire city; and Hajime knows if he lets go, they would easily shoot their spirit over to the Agents and chase them out of both towns."
Kaoru frowns in annoyance as Tsuyoshi and Kenshin rush back over to him.
"You brat!" Tsuyoshi exclaims, pointing at Hajime, "This is all your fault! If you had stayed out of our way, those wannabes wouldn't have taken custody of your responsibilities!"
"Maybe i-if you'd just mind your own d-damn business instead of getting into ours, we w-wouldn't be in this predicament!" Hajime seethed, glaring at the two Noble cohorts in aggravation and fright.
"Release our spirits at once!" Kenshin ordered, "Those Western Ouendan must be punished for their insolence!"
"You want your spirits back!? Then get outta here and stop bothering us!"
"Are you completely out of your mind!?" Tsuyoshi explodes, "You're letting those fakes make fools of us and striping away our reputation and reliability!"
"Just leave them alone!" Shinta exclaims, grabbing Tsuyoshi and Kenshin's attention as they shoot a glare towards him, "I mean...you heard what Senpai said. If Ouen wants to let the Agents do most of their work, we shouldn't be trying to stop them from getting in their way. I'm sure whatever happened yesterday would be enough to keep them limited to activities other than cheering when entering Asahi Town."
The two were about to speak up with another voice cuts them off.
"Let's go." Tsuyoshi and Kenshin turn to look at Kaoru in shock as he eyes Hajime in bitter frustration.
"What're you saying, Kiyuin-sama!?" the two yelp.
"If that runt won't even relinquish our spirits, it means they are serious about letting these Western Ouendan infest their side of the city. We have no reason to stop them from doing what they want with their reputation." Kaoru gives Kai the same glance before turning around and walking off, his cape flapping around from the motion. Tsuyoshi and Kenshin look to Kaoru, then each other, before following after the tall Noble chief.
A few minutes after the three Noble's disappeared from view, Hajime stops trembling and crumbles to pavement, flat on his side, facing the statue he originally sat on. His spirit drops to a flicker of light that slowly grew as time passed on.
Shinta looks between where the Noble's went, then the black-garbed Ouendan. He attempts to move towards Hajime only to nearly to encounter Atsushi and Ittetsu blocking his path towards their fallen companion. The rookie Noble shrinks at the sight of their sharp glare and feeling of distrusting anger burning in their spirits. His eyebrow twitches as he slowly backs away, fretting what they might do to him.
"Matte!" shouts a voice. Atsushi and Ittetsu snap their heads towards Kai as he walks past them and stops near Shinta, seeing his cringing increase as well as the distance between him at the three Ouen. The tall Ouendan eyes Hajime, who slowly slipped onto his stomach, trying to pull himself onto his elbows, then the two cohorts again before walking past Shinta and down the road. The two remain still a few seconds before following after Kai.
"Kuso...!" Hajime groans as he climbs back into a sitting position near the boarded statues, "I didn't think their spirits would be that strong... My whole body feels like rubber..."
"Why you jump in their path like that!?" Shinta almost wailed, "You could've been killed with amount of rage you absorb from them!"
"I admit I was a bit suicidal shielding Morris and Derek from Noble's wrath," Hajime sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder and massaging the numbness out of his joints, "But...even if there was any other way around their oncoming spirit, they wouldn't be able to find it, given their lack of spiritual awareness..." he then looks over to Shinta, "Why did you come down here, anyway? It's not because you knew Noble was going to harass EBA."
Shinta hesitated a moment before placing a hand on the dog statue and scratching the back of his head, "I just strolling around, trying to straighten out these thoughts in my head. Everyone else still upset about what been going on lately, and I feel like I'm the only one who not feel threatened by it."
"New things are always scary, even to those who think they can handle it. The best thing for them would be to just stick it out 'til they become familiar with them."
"I'm worry 'bout what they're going to do with Agents. I was told Hayato-senpai challenge one of them to get pride back and I'm worried they might not endure what he has planned for them."
"It's not the first time they competed against an Ouendan. Whatever Noble does to them, I'm sure they'll be prepared for it."
Shinta looks down at Hajime before sighing and looking towards his feet.
End Notes:
No, I did NOT mispell "sempai". The romaji is spelled with an "n", not an "m" (Unless your Portuguese, then I won't blame you for the misunderstanding). I found this out by not only looking the word up on but also from a MegaMan X scanlation manga on Dr. Neko's site. And I also wasn't misusing the word whenever Shinta adresses Hayato simply as "Senpai". Most underlings or pupils treat the word "senpai" in almost the same way as though they were addressing their mentors as "sensei".