B CO-OP

It was the morning after the bomb incident and Michiru was currently in a room with a leaf on her head. She remembers when she made her arms grow and tried to replicate the feeling to turn into a human. She performs a backflip, hoping to transform into a human, but she remains the same."Ugh, This isn't working." Melissa, who arrived when Michiru started her attempt, looked at Michiru in bewilderment. "What are you up to now?" Michiru is Surprised to see Melissa behind her and regains her bearings. "Oh, I was hoping this would revert me to human form." This does not alleviate Melissa's confusion "You are as odd as they come Michiru. Oh, by the way, you got a phone call from the municipal office " Michiru looks intrigued. "A phone call?"

Mayor Rose's Office

When Michiru arrives at the mayor's office, the mayor's secretary, Koichi Ishizaki, hands her a folder. Koichi explains what they are. "These are 's proof of residency and insurance." Mayor Rose takes over."It seems they were still being processed. We appreciate your help with the medical center bomb incident. You helped us a great deal." Michiru smiles and nods her head. "Thank you and it was no problem."

Mayor Rose nods her head at Koichi and the man gives Michiru a slightly bulky envelope. "I know this is rather late, but this is compensation for your help in apprehending Grand Grandma and her associates and saving those children." Michiru opens the envelope and is shocked to find a hefty sum of money in it. While this would help her a great deal, she doesn't want to accept the money as it honestly feels like too much for her."I can't accept this! I didn't do it because I wanted a reward or anything. I did it because those kids needed my help and I wouldn't stand by and do nothing!"

Mayor Rose's eyes widen before a kind smile appears on her face. "That is quite noble of you. However, I must insist that you accept it as it wouldn't feel right not to give you something after all you've done for us." Michiru wanted to object but seeing Mayor Rose and Koichi's faces, she knew it would be futile. So she reluctantly accepts the money.

"With that out of the way, you are now a legal citizen of Anima-City. Welcome to the capital of beastmen." Michiru smiled gratefully at the mayor before a thought crossed her mind. "Thanks...Oh and I forgot, let me return this." Michiru places the phone that was given to her by Mayor Rose on the table. "That's alright, you can hold on to it." "But I don't have any use for it, it doesn't connect to the outside world's internet. No matter what I do, it only brings up the site for the municipal office."

Koichi explains to her why that is. "Yes, under the current laws of the Beastman Special Ward, information from human society is restricted." Michiru frowns at that. This was very unfair to the beastmen and it's no doubt that the ones who made that law were trying to make sure the beastmen got as little as possible. "That's not fair."

Mayor Rose decides to switch to a more pressing topic "Michiru, this is a good opportunity so pay attention." A screen lowered behind Michiru and a presentation came on. "Beastmen, or animalized human beings, are a separate species from homosapiens. Due to a special sequence of Beast deoxyribonucleic acid, we can make our bodies undergo transformation. Throughout ancient times, beastmen imitated the forms of the animal gods their tribes worshipped. As if they wanted to draw closer to the gods." Michiru was nodding along. She may not have been a genius in school but she was pretty good in class due to her ability to adapt to new information quickly.

"Alright, got it" With Michiru's formation, Mayor Rose continues "Thus, the animals we become are predetermined by our ancestors. A lion's child will be a lion, but what happens with interspecies mating? the result will either be a lion or a tiger, but never a liger. Further, humans who do not possess the beast DNA can never become a beastman." Michiru frowns at the photos of some families of beastmen. Of course not at the photos themselves but rather what they are representing."Yeah but as for me..." Mayor Rose nods"Yes, the unthinkable has actually happened when it comes to you."

The mayor stands before walking up to the window behind her and gazing at the city."Beastmen have always lived in this world, without coming into contact with homo sapiens. In forests, mountains, islands, and deserts. But with the recent expansion of humanity's domain, our discovery became simply a matter of time. Once the existence of animalized humans became apparent, conflicts ensued. Along the way, Anima-City was established and now here you are." Michiru takes in the information. In all honesty, she feels that it was unfair that the beastmen were treated like this when they have been around for just as long as humans. She really can't blame the beastmen for not wanting contact with humans since she knew many can be prejudiced."I see."

The screen then showed a slide about Michiru."We've examined your genome, It's different than normal beast DNA, it's unstable. But when you transform, your cells undergo a very explosive cellular mitosis. We believe this is likely the reason you can change shape at will, though it's just a theory at this point." Honestly, that was more than Michiru had when it came to her non-OOO transformation. She was honestly not sure why she could and is pretty sure it doesn't have anything to do with OOO. "So can I be turned back into a human?" Mayor Rose shakes her head "We haven't reached any conclusions yet, we will need a little more time. You can continue to rely on the beastman Cooperative for now." That was disappointing but Michiru knew it wouldn't be that easy and is willing to wait."Alright, thanks."

Michiru is about to leave the office when Mayor Rose stops her."Michiru, before you go there is something I'd like to ask you." Michiru freezes before looking at Mayor Rose confused"What is it?" The screen changes to show security footage of Michiru's fight with Grand Grandma's gang at the docks."You see I've been wondering if you could tell me about how you gained the ability to transform into...Kamen Rider OOO was It?"

Michiru thinks about telling her. In the short time she's known her she has been a kind, responsible and intelligent person. Michiru believes she can trust her and tells the Mayor about what happened years ago. Meeting Eiji, discovering the kidnappers, meeting Ankh, and Eiji making her his successor. All the while, Mayor Rose and Koichi listen intently. When Michiru finishes her story, Mayor Rose is intrigued.

"So it was this Eiji Hino who gave you the driver and medals." Michiru nods. "Yeah and when I first went to sleep at the Beast Co-op, I had a dream of Eiji transforming into OOO. I'm pretty sure that Eiji was OOO before I was." Mayor Rose nods "That does appear to be the case. Though I'm curious about this Ankh person. From your description, I'm certain that he is not a beastman." Michiru shrugged her shoulders "Most likely no, I couldn't really ask him since I never saw him or Eiji since that day."

Mayor Rose thanks Michiru for her time and allows her to leave. While she may not have found a way to turn back into human form, she was able to get officially registered and got a generous reward for her efforts, even if she didn't want the latter. Maybe today won't be so bad for her

Nina's Home- A Few Hours Later...

She jinxed it. She had just bought an (Illegal) SIM card that would let her phone connect to the outside world from Marie and still had money to spare. So far so good right? Well immediately after logging into her Facelook account, she discovered a live stream belonging to a girl in Anima-City.

When she went to approach her, she was knocked out, and that led her to where she is now, Tied to a chair while being interrogated by an annoying thug who happens to be a part of the same gang as those thugs she beat up yesterday. "Now spill it! What was your motive for getting close to the mistress?!" The thug transformed into his beast form, a pelican, and had his large beak close to her face. "Back off ya big beaked weirdo! I didn't even know who she actually was! I was just watching her on Facelook!"

"Facelook? No way! Are you really on Facelook?" Michiru and the pelican beastman look up to see the girl from the live stream. "Well yeah but mostly because I'm new here." The girl looks ecstatic at her answer "So you're from the mainland? That's so cool!" The girl jumps in the air and transforms into a dolphin beastman"You mean it! Where from? Tokyo? Shibuya? Harajuku? Omotesando?" The now-revealed dolphin beastman quickly asked Michiru multiple questions. "Closer to the countryside." The girl does not lose her excitement

"My name is Nina. What's yours?" The girl, now named Nina, introduces herself. Michiru looks at her form"Michiru, so you're a beastman." Nina looks very happy at her statement. "Does that mean I looked like a human to you? Alright! I pretend to be a human online but I'm really a sparkling beastman in disguise." She shoos the guard away with her tail. "You can leave now." The guard leaves

Michiru got to know Nina more, She doesn't like her father because he hates humans which doesn't go well with Nina's love for human things. She shows Michiru a box of things that washed ashore from the mainland. Looking at the single wireless headphone makes Michiru remember listening to music with Nazuna."Michiru you're so different from everyone else. People who come here never want to talk about the other side. Do you want to go back?"

Michiru contemplates this question, there are many things about the human world that she misses, her family, her basketball team, and her other friends. She misses them dearly, however, she also thinks about Anima-City and the problems they have, beastman hunters, unfair laws, gangs, and there's probably more that she doesn't even know about yet. She may miss the human world, but Anima-City needs her.

Michiru walks to the window and stares at the mainland "I want to see the family and friends that are there. But, I feel like I'm needed here." Nina looks at her confused. Michiru simply continues staring at the mainland 'Still, I do kinda miss it all.' Michiru remembers her times as a human and without realizing it transforms into human form. When she finally sees herself she is very happy to have her old look back. Nina had an idea and led Michiru to the beach in front of her house.

Michiru looks at Nina expectantly "So you gonna tell me why you led me here." Nina looks across the ocean at the mainland. "Listen, this girl Lisa on Facelook is throwing a house party, and guess who has been invited, yep me." Michiru eyes widen "Wait are you saying..." Nina grins at her "Ride on my back and we'll be there in no time, what's the problem if we're back before anyone notices."

While it would be cool to go to a party like that, Michiru knows that this would be a bad idea. There is no telling when her father could be back and if he finds out that she went to the mainland, he might try to cause a war with the humans. Not just that, but who knows what could happen to Nina if she is discovered. Michiru takes a deep breath "I don't think you should go." Nina is shocked "What, but why?!"

Michiru puts her hand on Nina's shoulder. "Look, I know you want to experience what being with humans is like, but it's too risky. Even if your dad doesn't find out you are gone, there are still some things that could happen to you there. Especially if you're revealed to be a beastman." Nina is about to protest but Michiru raises her hand to silence her "I'm not saying this to be mean or to crush your dreams. I'm saying this because you're my friend and I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

Nina wants to protest but she can see that Michiru is being sincere and truly wants her to be safe. She hangs her head in sadness. Michiru bumped her shoulder with Nina's "Hey don't look so glum. Maybe someday you'll be able to go there safely. For now, I can tell you about my time in my hometown." Michiru walked back to Nina's house with Nina herself following slowly before she heard a notification from her phone.

Nina opened her phone and saw it was a post from Lisa about the party. It showed Lisa wearing a rabbit mask on her face while taking a selfie, which also presented a room that looked like the place where the party would take place. On the post, it said 'This party is going to be awesome! Hope to see everyone there!' Nina frowns 'Lisa sounds so excited and the party looks amazing. I know Michiru has the best intentions but I NEED to go to that party! How can I get there without Michiru doing something to stop me, though?"

Nina contemplated an idea that, while she didn't want to do to her new friend, would guarantee Michiru wouldn't stop her. 'I don't want to do this, but it's the only way.' When Michiru and Nina arrived Nina took Michiru's hand "Hey Michiru, since I can't go to the party can you help me with something real quick!" Not waiting for an answer, Nina dragged Michiru to her rather large kitchen.

Nina gave Michiru some bags with different kinds of foods, drinks, and a flashlight. Michiru was confused by this, even more so when Nina led her in front of a storage closet. Michiru was looking at Nina who was fidgeting in place "Uh Nina, why did you have me carry this stuff to a supply closet?" Nina doesn't meet her eyes "Just so you know Michiru, I really do think of you as a friend and I really am sorry about this."

Before Michiru can ask what she means by that, Nina quickly pushes her into the supply closet and barricades it with a nearby shelf. Michiru recovers and bangs on the door "What the-Nina! What's going on!? Open this door!" Nina looks guiltily at the door "I'm sorry, I gave you some food and drinks in the bags. I promise I'll be back and free you before you know it." Realization dawned on Michiru "Wait, Are you planning on going to that party?! It's too risky, don't you dare go there."

Despite Michiru's screams and Nina's guilt, Nina left and headed for the party. Michiru continues to bang on the door before slumping with an irritated look. "First I meet Shirou and he locks me up two days later. Now I meet Nina and she locks me up to go to that party. What is it with people in this city locking me up?" Michiru screams for Nina but soon concludes she has already left. Michiru sighs "Guess I'm gonna have break outta her myself." Michiru brandishes the Medajaribur.

Meanwhile...

"Oh, Nina! Daddy's home" A man carrying an astounding amount of gifts called out for Nina. The man had a large, well-built body with broad shoulders, large traps, a wide, bald head, and sullen eyes. He wears a black suit and tie, a white collared shirt, and black shoes. This man was Nina's father, Giuliano Flip, most just call him Flip.

After a second he calls for Nina again "Nina!" Once more, silence. He moves the presents away from his vision, hoping to see Nina"Sweetcakes?" What he sees instead, is Nina's bodyguard bowing his head to the floor "Please forgive me." Flip's face freezes as he processes what this means. A few seconds later, he transforms into his beast form, a beluga whale, and gains an enraged expression.

Before Flip can begin to beat the bodyguard to a pulp, the sound of something being cut fills the air before the supply closet, along with the shelf blocking it, is cut into pieces. Flip and the bodyguard stares in shock as Michiru walks out the door with the Medajaribur in hand. The bodyguard sees her and thinks he found an easy way to get out of trouble.

The bodyguard marches up to Michiru "Hey, you were the one with the Mistress! Tell me where she is or I'll-GAK" He didn't get to finish his threat before Michiru grabbed ahold of his neck and slammed him against a wall.

"You listen up and you listen good, I haven't had the best day right now. It started out well with me getting my phone 'upgraded' and even found out today is my birthday. But then, when I approach this girl from Facelook, I end up knocked out and being held captive by you. Then I made friends with Nina, the one you're supposed to be guarding, and it was nice. However, when I told her that I wouldn't let her go to a party on the mainland cause it would be dangerous for her, she locked me in a supply closet and left, most likely to that stupid party!"

With each word, Michiru's face seemed to get scarier and scarier. "So now, I've got to go get her and drag her back here before she gets hurt and do it before her father finds out! You know who her father is right? The leader of that big gang here in Anima-City! I've never met him nor even heard of him beyond what Nina told me, but with what little I know, I know that when he finds out Nina's gone to a party with humans, he just might decide to start a war with them! Which by the way, I do NOT want happening. So safe to say, I am NOT in a good mood!"

Michiru holds the Medajaribur's tip mere inches away from the bodyguard's neck. "So here is what's going to happen, you will get out of my way so I can retrieve the girl YOU were meant to guard, You won't come near me in the future unless it's important, and finally you are going to never pull a stunt like that again. Are. We. Clear" The bodyguard was sweating profusely.

He had been wrong to think this was a chance to get out of trouble. This girl seemed to radiate an aura that demanded respect, almost exactly like Flip did to his men. He was trembling as he stiffly nodded while trying to keep the blade as far from his neck as he could in this situation. With that, Michiru lowered the Medajaribur before tossing the bodyguard to the ground. The man in question quickly crawled away to keep his distance.

Flip was simply observing all of this. This girl wasn't like many beastmen. In the work he does, he's seen a lot of focus lose their spine the moment they find out the one they're talking to is part of The Family. However, this girl didn't just back to someone of The Family, she ordered him and showed that she was not to be disrespected. Flip was honestly impressed with her and apparently, she is friends with his daughter and cares a great deal about her.

Flip walked up to Michiru who finally notices Flip's presence. Michiru narrowed her eyes at the bulaga whale beastman. "If you're one of that big beaked loser's friends I'd suggest you move. I've got a friend to bring back." Flip just chuckled. Very few had the guts to talk to him like that, and even fewer were alive to tell the tale. The bodyguard seemed to know this as well as he seemed to stammer in fear "D-D-Do you know who you're talking to!? That-" Once again he didn't finish as Michiru sent him a death glare and instantly silenced him.

Flip actually did laugh "HAHAHA...I should introduce myself since you're obviously new here. My name's Giuliano Flip, most who aren't one of my men just call me Flip. Michiru's eyes widened "Flip... as in..." Flip nodded "I'm Nina's father. That assessment you did of what what I would do is completely right by the way." Michiru visibly tensed before Flip continued "But I like your style and you seem to care about my little girl a lot. So here's what I'll do. I'll give you til midnight to bring my daughter home. However, if she ain't here by midnight, well...you already seem to know what'll happen."

Michiru frowns before nodding "I'll bring her back before then." With that Michiru races off to the B Co-op to retrieve the Ridevendor.

At the Beach

Michiru arrived at the beach with the Ridevendor. Michiru transforms the Ridevendor back into a vending machine and stares at canes. She takes out the note she had got when she gained the Ridevendor and Medajaribur. On the back, it had what looked like a pattern matching the Ridevendor buttons. Michiru looks at the buttons that match the one in the patterns. "Hopefully this'll help." Michiru inserts a cell medal into the Ridevendor before inputting the first pattern on the paper.

Immediately, a large number of can practically gush out of the Ridevendor.

[TAKO CAN!]

Michiru inspects one of the cans and opens the lid. She is surprised when the can transforms into a robotic squid!

Immediately, all of the many other Tako Cans opened and the Tako Candroids all flew around before forming a road on the water. "Woah" Michiru can't help but express her amazement. She walks the the road the Candroids form on the water and slowly stepped on it. After a few practice stomps to make sure it was sturdy, Michiru smiled before transforming the Ridevendor into bike mode and driving on the Tako Can-made road. The Tako Candroids continue to advance the road by switching places to ensure Michiru makes it to the mainland.

Docks

Shirou arrives at the docks to find Flip and his men parked by the docks. He is surprised to see they are not attempting to go to the mainland. They seem to be...waiting? He approaches them and they transform into their beast forms when they see him. "I'm looking for Flip." One of the car windows rolls down to reveal Flip wearing a black fedora and smoking a cigar. "Need something?"

Shirou approaches the window "You're planning to start a war with the human, aren't you" Flip chuckles "Not yet, and maybe no." Flip's answer both surprises and confuses Shirou. Flip elaborates "You see, my daughter recently made friends with this tanuki girl. She's surprisingly tough and cares about. So I told her that if she could manage to bring my daughter back before midnight, I wouldn't turn those humans into burger meat."

Shirou frowns 'A tanuki girl...don't tell me.' Shirou steps away from the car and takes out his phone to make a call.

Lisa's Party - A Few Minutes Later

Michiru was able to find where the party was thanks to finding Lisa's Facelook page. She was in an elevator waiting for it to get to the right floor. She was anxious to get there, especially since she found out from Lisa's post that Nina revealed herself as a beastman! Michiru feels her phone vibrate and sees that Shirou is calling her.

She frowns before picking up. "Listen Shirou, whatever this is, I don't have time. I'm on a bit of a time crunch." Shirou is currently on a boat while talking on the phone. "I know, I met with Flip at the docks. He and his men are standing by to see whether or not you make the deadline. Where are you?" Michiru's eyes widen before narrowing them at the floor number screen. "I'm in the elevator to the party. I was gonna go in and grab Nina." Shirou nods even if she can't see it. "I'm heading for the docks. Grab her and meet me there." Without another word, he hangs up.

Michiru pockets her phone and taps her foot impatiently. Finally, the elevator dings and it opens. Not wanting to waste time, Michiru rushes in and looks around for Nina. When she spots her...her eyes shrunk. There was Nina, trapped inside a fish tank in the middle of the room she rushed to the glass. "Nina! What is going on!?" Lisa herself looked at her "She was tired, So we thought we'd put her in some salt water. After all, She's a dolphin isn't she?" Michiru looks livid before focusing on Nina.

Michiru tries to break the glass, not wanting to use her sword for fear of hurting Nina, The glass stays strong but Michiru doesn't give up with a large battle cry, she transforms into her beast form and reals her fist. Her arm enlarges and when she strikes the glass, it shatters and water rushes out. Nina lays there before coughing out water. Michiru puts Nina's arm around her shoulder. "You ok?" Nina looks at Michiru sluggishly "Why are you here? Michiru smirks "Toget you, of course, you're my friend." Nina's eyes widen as Michiru leads her out of the party.

Mainland Docks

Michiru and Nina arrive at the docks. Michiru spots a boat with Shirou on it, when she and Nina get closer they see Marie there as well. Shirou sees Nina and looks towards Michiru "Looks like you did it." Michiru nods "Yep so let's get her home." Just as they were about to board the boat...

"I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere."

Everyone present turns to see where the voice came from and are shocked to find an unknown creature standing on the docks

Michiru narrowed her eyes, confusion written on her face "Who or what exactly are you?" The creature chuckled "Well I can certainly tell you I am no beastman nor am I a human." everyone except Michiru was confused by her answer. Michiru stepped forward "Are you...like Ankh!" the creature laughed "Well aren't you a smart one. I am Mezool and like Ankh, I am a Greeed." Mezool approaches Michiru "However I'm not here to talk about him. I'm here for you." Mezool points at Michiru before looking towards the boat. "But first..." Mezool shoots her hand in the boat's direction and a geyser of water pushes the boat back.

Shirou and Marie hold on tight as the boat is pushed quite a distance from the dock. Mezool seemed mildly surprised "Hmm, I expected it to go farther, That boat is tougher than it looks. No matter, I'll simply up the power and send you right over to that city of yours. Don't bother coming back, by the time you arrive here there won't be anything left of her."

When Michiru heard that, she turned to Nina who was still with her on the dock. Michiru realizes Nina might get hurt if she and Mezool fight, so she transforms her arm like before, grabs Nina, and toses her to Shirou "Shirou, catch!"

Nina screams as she is thrown through the air before Shirou catches her. At that moment, Mezool summons a stronger geyser that propels the boat toward Anima-City. Michiru looks back at Mezool "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get." Michiru takes out the OOO Driver and puts it on. She inserts the medals into the driver before turning it sideways. She grabs the scanner and swipes it along the driver "Henshin!"

Taka! Tora! Batta!

Ta-to-ba! Tatoba, Ta-to-ba!

Once more, Mezool chuckles "You really are OOO boy's successor. Not that it'll do you any good." OOO extends her claws and tries to swipe at Mezool but the greed dodges fluidly. OOO tries again and again to land a hit but Mezool dodges every attack. When OOO goes for another strike, Mezool dodges before countering with a kick that knocks OOO to the ground. OOO tries to get up but Mezool immediately kicks her to the ground. "Hmph, so this is the new OOO, I must say I'm a little disappointed." OOO gets on one knee 'I don't know why she wants me dead, but I can't afford to die now!'

The midsection of OOO's suit glowed, but not the normal glow, it glowed a bright aquamarine and the claws gained a hue of the same color. Mezool freezes in shock "Eh?" taking advantage of her surprise, OOO delivers a powerful rising slash to Mezool. However, OOO doesn't let up, she quickly dashes forward slashing Mezool without giving her a chance to breathe. Finally, OOO uses both of her claws to deliver an 'X' shaped slash.

Mezool tumbles along the ground before staggering to get on her feet. "What is this, those attacks weren't that powerful for OOO boy. How are they so strong?" OOO takes the scanner and swipes it along the driver

!SCANNING CHARGE!

OOO launches high into the air as three rings appear before she delivers her Rider Kick. "SEIYA!" The attack lands and Mezool is blasted away. As she is blown away two medals shoot out of her. When OOO lands she picks them up to see that both medals are blue with one having an electric eel on it while the other has an octopus on it.

OOO inspects the medals closely. "Kinda fitting that she had Core medals based on sea creatures, but where did she get these?" Mezool's groans snap her from her thoughts. Mezool clutches her chest as she stares at OOO. "You're so much like OOO boy and yet, so different. We'll call this a draw for now, but we will meet again." With that, Mezool summons a torrent of water at OOO. OOO quickly jumps out of the way and looks back at where Mezool was, only to see Mezool gone without a trace.

OOO cancels the transformation after seeing no sign of Mezool. 'Looks like she used that last attack as a diversion to escape. Why did she want to kill me so badly, and what's her relation to Ankh.' Michiru shakes her head, while she still has many questions, she has to go make sure that Nina arrives home safely. She runs off to get the Ridevendor.

Docks

Flip and his men were waiting at the docks when one of them spotted something. "Hey, look over there. They saw a boat heading towards them and at the front was Shirou carrying a struggling Nina over his shoulder. Flip sees this and narrows his eyes in confusion. When the boat parks near the group, Shirou jumps to the ground and walks toward Flip "Your daughter is safe and as promised, before midnight."

Flip looks at the boat Shirou arrived on and only sees a heavily panting Marie. "And where exactly is the one I made that promise with?" Nina looks at her father desperately while still on Shirou's shoulders. "Dad we have to go back there, Michiru's in trouble!" Flip raised an eyebrow and looked to Shirou for answers. Shirou frowns but elaborates "Someone was after Michiru at the docks. She forced us away so, Michiru threw Nina to me so we could get her to you. I'll be going back for her now."

Marie gives a disbelieving scoff which catches everyone's attention. "Are you kidding? That... whatever it was, pushed us away with a wave of its hand. I doubt that there is anything left of that tanuki girl." Nina does her best to look back at Marie in anger "You take that back!" Marie stands up and shrugs "Well sorry for being realistic. I'm not usually one to bet my own money, but if she somehow actually managed to survive that creature I'd slap all the money I scammed off people today."

The moment she said that one of the gang members saw something. When he saw what it was he blinked before rubbing his eyes and looking again, to check if his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, before screaming. This caught everyone's attention as the man pointed out at sea. Everyone was flabbergasted to see Michiru riding the Ridevendor on a road made of Tako Candroids. Shirou's face is frozen in shock while Nina looks on in immense relief. Flip lets out a hearty laugh "This Tanuki girl never ceases to amaze me!"

Michiru soon drives onto the floor of the docks before stopping in front of Flip, Shirou, and Nina. Michiru sends a confident smirk at Flip "I kept my promise." Flip smirks back "That you did. As promised..." Flip turns to his men "Pack it up boys, we're heading back." His men nod and begin to leave.

After Shirou sets Nina down, she glomps onto Michiru with tears streaming down her face. "I'm so happy you're okay! I'm so sorry I dragged you into this." Michiru smiles and gently pats her back. "It's alright, I'd do anything to protect my friends." Michiru looks at Shirou "Thanks for bringing her back safely. Shirou's eyes widen before turning his head away from her. "I didn't really do much. All I did was give her a ride, she's home now because of you."

Michiru separates from Nina and approaches Shirou "It's getting late, I'd be happy to give you a ride home." Before Shirou can give his answer, Flip interjects. "Before that, there's still one matter to attend to." Everyone tenses as Flip looks at Marie who was trying to leave unnoticed "Hey, mink." Marie freezes "What was that you said about if the tanuki girl made it back alive?" Marie immediately regrets her words but knows she can't say no in front of Flip. "Me and my big mouth." She takes out a bunch of money from her coat pocket.

On The Road

"Oh, so that's why Marie gave me all that money." Michiru and Shirou were currently driving the empty roads to the B Co-op. Shirou stares at Michiru before asking her "I thought you wanted to go back to that side, so why didn't you stay?" Michiru pauses before answering "I was mostly there to bring my friend home. Maybe someday I will leave Anima-City, or maybe I won't..."

Shirou is surprised at that last part "...Right now though, I want to know more about all the beastman and help however I can, I feel like it's my duty. Which is why for now, I want to stay here." Shirou remains silent for the rest of the drive as he contemplates Michiru's answer.

B Co-Op

When Michiru and Shirou enter Melissa calls for Michiru "Hey Michiru something came for you!" Michiru raises an eyebrow "For me?" Melissa gives her a pastry box with an envelope on it. Michiru opens the envelope and reads the contents. 'To my successor and legacy, I know that you will be a better OOO than even I was, Happy Birthday Michiru - Eiji' Michiru is surprised 'This is from Eiji?' She opens the box and finds a cake with three candles that look like her Core medals on it. It had a text saying 'Happy Birthday! Michiru Kagemori!'

Everyone else also sees the cake, Melissa is surprised "It's your birthday Michiru? Oh I'm so sorry, had I known I would have at least wished you a happy birthday." Michiru waves it off "It's fine, but you know, if you want, you can eat some with me. I'm certainly not gonna eat this whole thing on my own. You can invite Mr. Gem to have a slice too, Oh and of course you too Shirou." Melissa smiles and thanks Michiru before calling down Gem.

Later, Gem lights the candles for Michiru to blow out. Michiru closes her eyes and imagines her wish, before blowing out the candles. With the candles blown out, everyone enjoys the cake. As she is eating, Michiru looks back on her day 'This birthday was far from perfect but honestly, I don't really mind.'

She feels her phone vibrate and sees a notification from Facelook. When she opens it, she gasps. Her mother had sent a post of a birthday cake for Michiru's birthday 'Happy Birthday, Michiru. From Mom' Her finger hovers over the message icon...before refraining. 'I'll talk to you again someday Mom, I promise.'

AN: Hey everyone, Dragon here with a new chapter, Thank you all for patiently waiting for this fic to update. I truly enjoyed making this, especially the fight with Mezool. If you want to know what happened with OOO's power, you'll have to stay tuned and find out. With that, Thank you all so much for reading and I will see you all next time. Till then, See Ya!