chi2lyn: I just get the feeling that if Chika and Honoka met that they'd probably just talk about the strangest of topics rather than anything related to their current situation. It might have gone into a talk about the quality of food if they had continued uninterupted.
Fayerjiff: I'll be doing my best to meet your expectations. :D
Instajolteon: Tbh, this is my first time udpating on a schedule. I usually update when I feel like it but I'm going to try hard to keep to the schedule I set for myself. I think I'm doing fine so far. :D As for the trains, Muse went back to Tokyo and Aqours went back to Numazu, so they didn't get in each other's way.
Resta U: Thank you! :D
AshuraX: I wanted to create some tension between the groups, but having Aqours shoot Honoka without reason made no sense. So Honoka used her sword. Also because Honoka probably wouldn't think to use her finger to write the kanji. Chika doesn't have much reason to be amazed by meeting Honoka in a AU with no school idols. Wouldn't DIa be the fangirl though?
WhiteBeaner: I needed one of them to shoot Honoka, and I picked Ruby because of her nervous nature. (based on what I've seen so far in the anime, anyway) She felt like the type to panic and pull the trigger in that situation, so I went with her.
Dessert Maniac: I didn't do any research on bullet wounds prior to writing that scene, which explains Honoka's lack of pain and the time frame laid out for her to heal. I tried to fix that in this chapter, a little bit. On the same subject, I did do more research for this chapter's main injury (though I won't spoil any more than that in the review responses!)
Aqours and Muse are becoming more and more involved with each other as the story progresses. I was originally going to have them fight more against each other, but I feel like having the two groups work together makes more sense. With that reasoning, this chapter was written.
I'm sorry in advance.
Warning: There is hand-holding in this chapter. Reader discretion is advised. :3
"Alright, here we go!" Honoka started the train's engines once more. It roared to life; power had been entering it through their hastily installed solar panel on their roof for the week of rest that she had been forced to endure. Her wound was far from healed; Maki was still changing the bandage on a daily basis, but Honoka could not stand sitting around for much longer. They had finally made contact with another bunker and she wanted to know more about their experiences.
"Okay, okay. Now sit down. It'll be a while before we get to Numazu City." Maki pushed gently at Honoka's back until the ginger left the control panel and took a seat. Umi assumed control at the front of the train, keeping an eye out for any oncoming traffic. It had taken them around an hour, give or take, to reach the point where they had run into the Numazu City bunker girls, and they would be in for a long wait to reach the actual city.
"Awawa! What should we do?!" Ruby was panicking as Chika and You lifted Riko into the train. Dia tugged the unconscious girl aboard, passing her to Kanan and Mari.
"We have to try the train line again! I can't let Riko-chan die like this! Get on!" The three youngest scrambled aboard the train, with Chika being the last to ascend. The door slid shut as she slammed the control panel. "Come on, work please!" With a groan, the train started to move.
Aqours had returned to their bunker in defeat after their run-in with the Tokyo bunker girls on the train rails only to find it completely dark inside. The few girls remaining there were huddled in their rooms, only coming close to tell of what happened to their bunker's electricity.
"It was cut off? How?" Chika gasped in shock as she and her friends learned of the news.
"We don't know. The lights started flickering, and the program warned us that it was shutting down, just like when we first figured out the solar panels were broken." The girl said. "Then they came. Other survivors, from bunkers all around the city. They claimed that we were in their way of rebuilding the city."
"I thought the only other survivors were those girls." You commented, referring to the other train from Tokyo.
"Apparently they had been living under their homes all these years. Only the rich could have afforded to build those bunkers for their own use." The girl continued, a bitter tone entering her voice. "Almost everybody ran away, because they were going to kill whoever stayed. Except us; we stayed to tell you in case you came back."
"And what are you going to do now?" Dia asked.
"Leave this place once it gets dark outside. There is nothing left here for any of us." The girl turned away after that, refusing to talk anymore with them.
Chika and her friends were discussing where they should go, now that their bunker was completely shut down and all of their fellow bunker girls were gone. She would have suggested going to Tokyo, but with the recent incident of Ruby shooting Honoka, it wasn't at the top of her list. Poring over a map with only the light of a target from one of their guns, they were ambushed by the other survivors. It wasn't a matter of whether they could fight or not; they just had to flee from the cramped area. "The plant! Meet at the plant!" She shouted, fleeing into the darkness from the bunker exit. With luck, her friends would make it to the power plant.
She was the first to arrive, her chest heaving. She glanced behind her. There was no sound, no movement in the dark that indicated she was still being followed. She walked into the hydro-electricity plant, finding that the line they had connected to their bunker had been severed somewhere between the plant and their shelter. "Not that it matters anymore…" Chika turned the plant's lights on and walked back outside as her friends started to straggle in, panting and exhausted from evading their pursuers. "Any injuries?" A quick glance over all of them showed her that she hadn't needed to ask. Most of them had gotten away with scrapes. Dia had gotten clipped by some weapon; blood was flowing from her forehead, forcing her to keep one eye closed. Riko's injury was more concerning; the knife she had been stabbed with was still embedded in her leg. Chika could only wonder how the other girl kept moving with such a painful injury.
That had been several days ago. With cleaning and bandages, Dia's forehead wound had begun to close, healing up. Riko, on the other hand, seemed to only be getting worse. At first, the fever that had sprung up was dismissed as part of the healing process, mainly by Riko herself. Now, as Chika looked back in the train at her, the girl was in a state of fevered unconscious. She had not woken up this morning and as Kanan changed her bandage, she could see angry red lines starting to spread from the injury. "Riko-chan…" If their bunker was still operational, everything would have been fine as they could have used their infirmary to dictate what their injured friend needed. Their only hope of saving their friend now rested in their ability to reach Tokyo's bunker.
Mari kneeled on the floor next to Riko, changing the almost dry towel for a new wet one, trying to lower the girl's temperature. Riko's breath came in short, quick gasps, which the blonde was sure was not a good sign. But without any knowledge on what else to do, she could only continue changing the towels until they made it to their destination.
"They're back!" Kotori announced, having taken over for Umi at the control panel. "The train from the other city!"
"What?!" Maki nearly shoved Kotori back as the redhead stared out the front window. "...wait, what are they doing?"
"Keep waving it!" Chika urged Ruby and Hanamaru as the two girls waved two towels out the window. She hoped that their message would get across to the Tokyo train, for it was unmistakably them. As the two girls continued to wave frantically, Chika slowed the train down to a stop.
"Slow down!" Honoka ordered, already heading for the door of the train. "They're not going to fight!"
"You don't know that!" Umi caught Honoka by her injured shoulder, making the ginger hiss in pain. "They shot you last time!"
"So what?! Look at them! They're waving the colors of surrender! I'm going to talk to them, at least!" The train stopped and Honoka hopped down from the train, ignoring any additional protest.
Chika hopped down from her own train, walking briskly to meet Honoka in the middle of the space. "We need help." She said, her voice strangely calm for the fear she had on the inside. "My friend might be dying. Do you have a medic?"
"Yes." Honoka turned back to her own train. "Maki-chan, bring the medical supplies!" Chika watched her as she ran back to her friends, nearly dragging the redhaired girl out of the train by her clothes. "When I say I need the medical supplies, you don't say that you don't want to help them!"
"I'm sorry, okay?!" Honoka nodded at Chika, releasing her hold on Maki. The redhead sighed and looked reluctant to help. "Lead the way…"
Chika and Honoka stood near the exit to the train as Maki examined Riko. She had kicked the rest of her friends out of the train, wanting more space to herself and her patient. "How is she?" Chika asked, fearing the worst at the worry lines on Maki's face.
"You're right about one thing. She will die if we don't do anything." Chika's stomach felt like it was trying to drop out of her body. "I can't do anything here either. The infection is in her bloodstream. Honoka, we need to get her to a bunker if we want to save her."
"How come you didn't go back to your bunker?" Honoka asked Chika as the train started to move. She had relayed the message to Umi to take what members of Aqours she could aboard and head back towards Tokyo. She had stayed on the Numazu City train with Maki to ensure that her friends wouldn't try anything.
To Chika's surprise, the ginger's expression didn't change much as she relayed the situation at Numazu City over to her. "D-Did you have that problem too?"
"We've had no trouble with power. And the only survivors we ran into we chased off." Chika stared at Honoka with amazement; this girl was far superior to herself in terms of leadership if she had the right to make such a judgement at the moment. "Ah, but there goes my hopes of a beach trip. Guess we'd have to find another beach city."
"That's not a priority, Honoka!" Maki scolded from where she still knelt at Riko's side.
"I know, I know~" Honoka said, laughing. A leader that was capable of joking around as well as making tough decisions-Chika would have to learn from her example. "So...everyone in your bunker is gone?"
"I don't know where they went. The bunker was invaded while we were hoping to reach Tokyo." Honoka nodded, secretly glad that her own bunker didn't undergo that same situation. Chika was strong for holding up despite the loss of her shelter and the possible death of one of her close friends; Honoka admired her for that. She didn't think she would be able to be so calm if she were in Chika's position. "As far as I know, we Aqours are the only members left of the bunker. We have nowhere to go."
"Maki-chan-"
"I already know what you want." Maki sighed again. "Just keep it to yourself until I can get Riko stabilized in the infirmary." Chika looked between the two Tokyo girls, a bit confused.
"Well, then, Chika-chan." Honoka clapped her on the shoulder, grinning. "Welcome to the Tokyo bunker! You'll be one of us now!"
"Didn't I say keep it to yourself until we got back?!" Chika stayed quiet as Maki snapped at Honoka. The news sank in and, even though Riko's life was still in danger, she couldn't stop a giddy feeling from rising in her chest. She and her friends would have a place to stay!
Chika followed Honoka to the Tokyo Bunker after getting the rest of Aqours settled at the school that had been claimed by Muse. Riko had been rushed to the bunker by Umi and Eri at Maki's orders, and she was now going down to see how her close friend was doing.
A machine beeped as it counted Riko's pulse. Tubes had been connected to the girl's arm, entering into her veins. "It's blood poisoning." Maki reported as Chika and Honoka walked in. "An infection in her bloodstream. I'm supposed to give her liquids and medicine as support until her body can fight it off. You're lucky, you know." She had turned to her patient and pulled Riko's ear at the last sentence.
"Ow, ow! I know…" Riko smiled apologetically at Chika, propped up on the infirmary bed by pillows. "I heard you talked Tokyo bunker into allowing us to stay?"
"Um, well, yeah. Or rather, Honoka-san decided it was okay and commanded everyone else to let us stay. Everyone's been nice to us, though!" Chika grasped Riko's hands in her own, careful not to jostle the fluid tube too much. "So get better soon. Everyone in Aqours is waiting for you."
Riko nodded, gripping Chika's hands tightly to show her determination. "Yeah. I will."
"Okay, that's enough." Maki separated the two of them. "It seems Honoka wants to show you around the place, Chika, and I need to watch my patient so she can recover from her life-threatening infection." Riko waved slightly as Chika was dragged out of the infirmary by Honoka.
"Living in Tokyo, you have to know your way around. Because you'll be helping us now, I need you to tell me what your group is capable of doing." Honoka said, looking stern for a change. Chika felt like a student being chastised, standing on the other side of the table from where Honoka sat.
"Well, we kind of went off on our own back at Numazu, but we were searching for fresh water when we first ran into you. So...is that helpful?" Chika didn't know what Honoka was looking for in her answer but the ginger nodded.
"Okay then. It's settled. Muse and Aqours will be working together from now on to claim more territory for Tokyo." It sounded more like that was Honoka's plan all along, but Chika went along with it anyway. She was getting a lot more trust than she had expected, considering that her friend was the one responsible for the bandage still on Honoka's shoulder. "Looking forward to working with you, Chika-chan!"
I gave a little bit of life at the Numazu Bunker during this chapter to explain why Aqours was in such a pinch. More on their life prior to escaping their bunker will be written once Kanan gets more screentime. Everyone else in Aqours I can write since I understand the basics of their personalities but I know next to nothing about Kanan. GIVE KANAN MORE SCREENTIME!
(Though my current favs are Riko, Dia, and Hanamaru.)