"HEEEEEEY! ! GOOD MORNING, LADIES AND GENTLEMEEEEEEEEN! ! ! ! !"

Like the other day, all fourteen zombies are gathered in the basement of the mansion where Kotaro Tatsumi didn't hesitate to greet them all in a loud, boisterous tone. His greeting is so loud it can be heard outside the confines of the mansion.

It appears yelling good morning out loud isn't enough for Kotaro as he walks to Lily and repeats the greeting to her face, much to her discomfort. "G'morning! G'morning! G'morning!"

"Nnngh…" Lily whimpered out of discomfort.

"Hey, knock that off! You're freakin' her out!" Saki chided.

Though he stops pestering Lily, he pesters Gyro next, and like what he did to Lily, repeats the greeting close to his face. "G'morning! G'morning! G'morning!"

"Would you stop it? I'll shove my steel ball into your mouth if you continue." He threatened with furrowed brows.

Kotaro continued staring him down, seemingly affected by his threat before he obliged and returned to his position as he states, "In case you may have forgotten, we jumped into the event at Saga Castle yesterday. And I'm gonna be blunt with you…" He slams the chalkboard with his back turned, appearing dismayed over the girls' second performance and the mischief they have caused. "What I am about to say is… You did a ｢great｣ job!" He changes tune to a jolly one when he turns around with an open smile.

"Huh?" Everyone is surprised over his sudden change of attitude as they did not expect to see it coming from him. "I'm amazed you were able to keep the lid on the whole zombie thing in spite of playing hot potato with your head. The kindness you used to help each other…" Clenching his fist first, Kotaro spreads his arms wide with a big smile, exclaiming, "ONE for zombies! ALL for zombies!"

He goes to clap his hands for every girl on their seats as he says, "So this applause goes out to you girls! That was some ｢nice zombie-ing｣! Now, applaud each other! Go on! That was some ｢nice zombie-ing｣! ｢Very nice zombie-ing｣! And as for you, Sakura!"

"Y-Yes!?" The redhead exclaims in response.

"Your raps? Yeah. Good vibes. Uh-huh. Good rhymes. Yeah." He gives a thumbs up with a smile.

Emitting a laugh in response to his compliment, Sakura gives a thumbs up as she says, "Well..."

"DON'T GO GETTING FULL OF YOURSELF, DUMBASSSSSS!"

Kotaro suddenly shouted to her face. Sakura can feel her left eye twitching out of surprise and irritation as the producer proceeds to rant to the stunned zombies. "YOU THINK THIS IS THE TIME FOR FUN TIME HAPPY GRINS NOW THAT THE EVENT'S OVER!? SEEMS TO ME LIKE YOU'VE LOST SIGHT OF THE REAL OBJECTIVE HERE! YOU'RE THE LITTLE LOST IDOOOOOOOLS!"

After calming down from his shouting fit, Kotaro grabs a piece of chalk and is about to write something on the chalkboard when Kakyoin speaks up. "Tatsumi-san, may I have a word with you?"

He turns around only to be startled by the menacing glare Kakyoin has towards him.

ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴ

His darkened eyes didn't hide his enmity directed to Kotaro and the others noticed it as well, with Junko and Lily reeling nervously, Avdol and Bucciarati planning to keep him in line if a quarrel erupts and the rest keeping themselves out of any potential skirmish. As for Sakura, she expected Kakyoin wouldn't take Kotaro's sudden outburst kindly directed to her face.

"...Can you say something important by not shouting out of the blue? I swear I was gonna go deaf when you yelled close to me," Kakyoin informs with a scowl. "And I do hope you remember Sakura has a lot on her plate. Your outbursts could cause your message to be sent and muddled the wrong way."

"There's a possibility some of you may not hear what I have to say. Besides…" Leaning forward, Kotaro says, "I won't hesitate to shout to your face, Kakyoin-kun!"

"I won't hesitate to elbow your face if you dare do it, Tatsumi-san."

Kotaro goes silent after hearing his threat, his passive look cracking a little from the thought of an elbow planted to his face with that menacing glare of his. "Ahem! Let's… continue, shall we?"

Having reprimanded Kotaro, Kakyoin lets out a sigh, satisfied in chewing out the producer. He's not the only one, as Saki, Johnny and Narancia liked how he put the producer in his place, if only for a moment.

With a piece of chalk waiting to be used on the chalkboard, Kotaro announces, "As it stands, you zombie girls could keep at it for three billion years and still not become idols! And the task you pitiful idols should be focusing on next… is this."

Kotaro writes the letters G and E as he thinks up of an English word for the girls to read. Only problem? He doesn't know how to spell it.

Catching on to what Kotaro is doing, Johnny, being the only American here and knows English better than him, says, "Are you trying to spell an English word? If so, how about I help you spe-"

In an instant, Kotaro crosses out the letters before writing the word in Japanese, specifically katakana that roughly spells out, ｢Gerira Raibu｣!, or more accurately, ｢Guerrilla Performance｣!

Blinking when he sees he's like "screw it" and writes it in his native language, Johnny shrugs, saying, "Oh. Never mind."

"A guerrilla performance?" Sakura read the writing.

"He couldn't spell it out." Saki snickered.

"Sakura-han," Yugiri started asking her to learn what the new word means. "What exactly is a guerrilla performance?"

"Well… It's a kind of performance where you start singing and dancing in public without telling anyone." Sakura answered.

"Oh, so it's like testing a sword on someone who's passing by." Yugiri compared, taking Sakura's answer in her own perspective. Sakura sighs over her coming to a wrong conclusion.

"Huh… Wait, we're talking in the context of entertaining people, right?" Narancia chimed in, trying to make sure he's not interpreting it incorrectly. "It's not about guerilla warfare, is it?"

"No. This is all about idols, not an irregular armed conflict. Keep that in your head Narancia." Kotaro sharply told him.

"Alright, alright. No need to get worked up." Narancia seems offended by his rude response. "If you know so much about me, you should know I didn't bother finishing my education and isn't smart."

Everyone except Bucciarati, Tae and Kotaro looked at him curiously when he mentioned that. A select few saw him as someone who isn't bright based on their first impressions of him so to hear him mention he dropped out of school is new info for them.

"You didn't finish your education? Why?" Mamezuku questions, feeling a bit curious enough for him to ask.

The boy flinched from hearing his question. Not wanting to remind himself of his awful past, he tries getting everyone back on Kotaro's topic for the morning. "Uhhhhh… W-Well, it's… nothing to… worry about. Really! I swear! Hahaha…" He tried laughing it off with a nervous smile, but he looks down as if he doesn't want to tell the reason why.

Kakyoin sees him feeling down and believes it's a painful memory to remember. "Do you… not want to tell us Narancia?"

"Yes! I insist!" He shouted, standing up abruptly with pleading eyes directed at all of them. Seeing he lost his cool, he quickly apologizes for his small outburst. "Uh, sorry if I was being harsh. It's just… It's… a terrible memory. If anything, joining Bucciarati and his line of work is better than what I used to suffer back then…"

"Narancia…" Sakura muttered his name, feeling a bit of sympathy for whatever memory that landed him to work in a mafia at such a young age. Her eyes instinctively fell on Bucciarati along with the others, who came up with a reply so that they do not bother him anymore.

"Like he said, he's not gonna tell you all soon, so please drop the subject for his sake." Whether it's his commanding eyes or seeing a usually cheerful Narancia feeling gloomy suddenly, they abide by his words. They may not know yet, but they believe that what he may have gone through is anything but pretty.

Returning to the topic of guerilla performance, Sakura expresses her concern to the producer, saying, "Kotaro-san, if we do that, won't the police come after us again?"

"Don't worry!" Kotaro exclaims. "As long as you have makeup on, no one will guess what's up. You'll get a slap on the wrist at most."

"Quit wussing out, Sakura! How are we gonna run a rally if we let the pigs scare us?" Saki chided playfully.

"You won't be able to freestyle your way out of this one, either." He turns around with an arm raised and fist clenched as he declares, "This time, you're going to act like a real idol group and pull off this guerrilla show!"

"Um, excuse me…" A certain white-haired girl speaks up meekly.

"What's up Junko?" He asks in response.

"I've performed solo before, but never as part of a group."

"Well you're a loner!"

"L-Loner?" Junko parroted.

"That's right! Loneeeeer~!" Kotaro repeated. Seemingly ignoring her concern, he reveals, "The guerrilla show is ｢tomorrow｣ morning, in the plaza over the Karatsu Station!"

"Tomorrow!?" Sakura shouted in surprise.

"We're not going to get a song and dance number down with only ｢one｣ day of practice." Ai crossed her arms as she stated this fact.

"Then you're not getting any sleep then." Kotaro said. "Though considering you're zombies, you don't really need sleep, I guess." Even with this tidbit, Ai isn't convinced that a whole day of practicing is enough to pull off a guerrilla performance. Sakura thinks the same thing too, wondering if seven girls working together is enough to pull it off.

"Now then!" He suddenly exclaimed. "Before I end this meeting, I would like to tell our rancid Stand Users something important. Something that needs to be addressed before I forget it again."

"And what would that be, Tatsumi-san?" Kakyoin asks, him and the others being curious of what he wants to tell them.

Walking over them, Kotaro reveals what he forgot to say yesterday. "Your ｢nicknames｣."

"Nicknames?" The guys repeated in confusion.

"Just like how the girls are called Numbers Zero to Six to conceal their identity, I came up with nicknames based on your appearances, former occupation, and even your Stand's abilities. All of you are not idols so it's not like I'm gonna call you all Numbers Seven to Thirteen."

"I see. That's a clever way to keep our identity secret. What are our nicknames then, Kotaro?" Bucciarati asked.

"Starting from Kakyoin, I already gave him his nickname when he and Sakura woke up a couple of days ago. You all didn't get a chance to learn his nickname because you're all busy shambling around as mindless zombies," Kotaro remarked, reminding Kakyoin and Sakura of the code name and nickname he gave them. While Sakura is okay with being called Number One, Kakyoin remembers what he is called and, after thinking about it, isn't amused by the unflattering nickname he got.

But he didn't get to complain when Kotaro revealed his nickname to be Cherry Boy.

Upon hearing his nickname, Saki and Gyro chuckled from the silly name, Narancia is unable to contain his laughter as he struggles to keep himself steady, Ai, Junko, Yugiri, Lily, Johnny and Mamezuku are either confused or amused, and even a small grin is briefly seen on Bucciarati's face. The only ones who didn't chuckle at Kakyoin's expense are Sakura, Tae and Avdol.

"Hahahahaha! ｢Cherry Boy｣!? Really? That's your nickname?!" Narancia exclaims before he continues laughing.

"Hey, come on now. Stop laughing Narancia," Sakura tells him with a pleading look, not wanting to see Kakyoin get embarrassed more. "I agree it's a childish name, but you don't have to laugh at his expense."

"Okay… Okay… I'll stop…" Taking a breather, Narancia turns to Kakyoin and states, "Sorry for laughing at your expense. I didn't mean to embarrass you, as I find your nickname funny.

"It's alright Narancia. I don't take it against you." It's his reply to the kid.

"I don't get it… Why is Kakyoin-san called Cherry Boy? I don't see anything that relates to cherries." Lily pointed out, wanting to know why.

"Notice his earrings?" Kotaro pointed to the cherry-shaped earrings Kakyoin has. "They're shaped like cherries so that's one of the reasons why he's called that."

"And the other reason?" Saki questioned with a mischievous smile.

"He ｢likes｣ cherry so much…"

"…What?" Everyone questioningly looks at Kakyoin, who tries his best not to look embarrassed whilst glaring at Kotaro for his choice of words for his nickname.

"It's what Kotaro-san says," Avdol stated, agreeing with Kakyoin liking cherry as he remembers the boy's… interesting way of licking a cherry in his mouth at one point. "Kakyoin likes cherries in general. Not only that, there was one time when Kakyoin and I were on a train ride with our friends, where he showed a… unique method of enjoying cherries. Well! That's all I have to say so please don't think too hard about it." He quickly ends the statement to spare him from further humiliation.

"Uhhh… Okay…?" Johnny said, unsure of what to make of Avdol's statement.

"Can we move on? We would be sitting here all morning if we keep this for long." Kakyoin pleaded, who really wanted his humiliation to be over.

"What Kakyoin said! Let's move on to Avdol's nickname!" Kotaro thankfully agrees, his eyes going over Avdol as he's next to have his nickname revealed. The fortune teller hopes he has a less than flattering nickname compared to Kakyoin. He would not like to feel embarrassed as it goes against the proud image he likes to see himself as.

"As for your nickname Muhammad Avdol, I decide to call you ｢Fire Lord｣!"

Everyone took an instant liking to Avdol's nickname as it not only sounds badass per Saki's words, but it also fits with his Stand's power. Naturally, Avdol nods in approval, stating, "Fire Lord sounds fitting for me, especially to Magician's Red. Good thing it isn't anything embarrassing."

"Glad you like it. Hope you're not planning to destroy an avatar with a name like that." He chuckled, earning confusion from Avdol.

Bucciarati is next and Kotaro didn't wait to tell him his nickname: Zipper Man.

"…｢Zipper Man｣?" Bucciarati repeats incredulously, finding the nickname too…on-the-nose and somewhat ridiculous.

"That's right. Zipper Man!" Kotaro repeated. "Your Stand can produce zippers and there are zippers on your outfit. Therefore, it's an appropriate nickname for a man with a zipper motif like you, Bucciarati!"

"I see. While I understand why you came up with that nickname, it feels… inelegant in my humble opinion."

"Well, it's better than calling your Stand Zipper Man, right?" The producer added.

"What? No! Goodness no! My nickname should not be used for my Stand!" The former capo replied, offended at the thought of calling his Stand with his nickname "I suppose I… don't mind the nickname at all. Don't mistake my reservations as a form of any dislike against it."

Coming after Bucciarati is Narancia, AKA, Li'l Bomber as per Kotaro's words.

"Hold on. ｢Li'l Bomber｣? LI'L BOMBER?!" Unlike Bucciarati, Narancia dislikes his nickname from the start as he takes issue with a certain word, to the point of standing up to protest.

"Yes. You're Li'l Bomber. Take it or leave it." Kotaro repeated, not paying heed to his reaction.

"Hell no! There's no way I'll have a nickname with the word 'li'l' or 'little' in it! It's not fitting to me!"

"You're against the nickname because it has little in it?" Ai asked with a raised brow, bewildered he takes a dislike against that specific word.

"Duh! I'm 17, and as such, I'm no longer little, or even a kid!" Narancia discloses. With one finger pointed towards Kotaro, he exclaims, "And you! Why the heck did you think calling me that is a good idea? You're terrible at naming things or what?"

"'Cause you're the youngest member of your group! Oh, wait, that's wrong. Actually, you're the second youngest member among your group, right behind Kakyoin, who is also 17, by a narrow margin." He corrected.

"Second youngest?"

"And I'm the youngest overall among my group?" Kakyoin espoused in puzzlement. "How come you saw me as the youngest member?

"If I answer it here and now, we would be here all day because we have to use math!"

"Who cares if Kakyoin's younger than me!? I demand you to change my nickname into something that's still fitting but doesn't have 'little' in it!"

"I would like to see mine changed as well." Kakyoin concurred. "Calling me Cherry Boy is too unflattering for my taste.

"Sorry, but I can't change your nicknames. It's already etched in my head and I have no intention of doing it." A sound of switchblade is heard. "Don't you dare point a switchblade at me! Nothing's gonna change if you stab me!"

Seeing he's refusing to waver, Narancia eventually gave up, throwing his hands up in defeat before whining again over his nickname having "li'l" in it.

Phew. That could have gone worse… Sakura thought. While he agrees with Kakyoin wanting to change his nickname, she doesn't want any bloodshed to occur over the issue of not changing their nicknames.

Johnny is next and Kotaro seems eager to tell him his nickname, which is Nail Jockey.

"Hmm… It sounds… okay, I guess?" Johnny is accepting of his nickname, seeing it fits him like Fire Lord and Zipper Man.

"Great! Glad to hear it from you." Kotaro nodded with a smile.

"｢Nail Jockey｣? What does nails have to do with Johnny-han's nickname?"

That was Yugiri, who alongside the others except Gyro are wondering why nails are in his nickname and what does that have to do with Johnny. The jockey himself stated, "If you want to know, it's because my Stand, ｢Tusk｣, allows me to shoot nails as bullets."

"Oh? Your Stand, you say?" Yugiri seemed interested in his abilities, along with Avdol, Bucciarati and Saki.

"Yeah," Johnny nodded. "There's more to my Stand's ability because Gyro taught me about the Golden Spin, which is tied to Tusk ｢evolving｣ to its three forms but for now, I'll stop there…" Some curious members, like Sakura, Saki, Yugiri, Kakyoin, Avdol, Narancia and even Mamezuku, seem disappointed when he chose not to tell them more but decide to respect his privacy lest they want to catch a glimpse of his glaring eyes. Johnny appears to be slightly cordial, if a little distant to anyone not named Gyro, but there is something in that attitude and appearance of his that masks a hidden side that likely appears if certain conditions are met. Whatever it is, they decide to overlook it for now.

"…In any case," Johnny continued. "I have no further opinions of the chosen nickname, so I'm done running my mouth."

"That was quick. But acceptable nonetheless, Johnny." Kotaro seems disappointed he has no more comments regarding his nickname, but he lets it slide.

Gyro is anticipating hearing his nickname next and when he gets to hear Kotaro's nickname, he nods in approval.

"｢Spin Cowboy｣ huh? I like it. I got the meaning when you first said it. Nyo-ho~." Gyro grinned with his teeth out, exposing his golden teeth showing letters written on it that formed three words: "GO! GO! ZEPPELI!". Predictably, everyone has their eyes on him who are questioning his dental fashion.

"Why do you have gold teeth and words inscribed on it?" Junko asked.

"So everyone knows who I am when I show them my dazzling smile!" Gyro replied.

"Still, to make it golden and your name etched on it? It looks gaudy." Lily said with an unimpressed look.

"Eh, differing opinions. Can you believe her Johnny? She doesn't find my gold teeth appealing. It certainly looks good on me, right?" He pointed to his still open mouth. His teeth seemingly gleam to Johnny's unimpressed face.

"…Yeah, sure. It certainly looks impressive. I really want my name to be etched on my teeth as well." Johnny's sarcasm didn't fail to come out in response, like usual.

"Hah! See? He agrees with me!" Gyro exclaimed, completely blind to his sarcasm.

"He was being sarcastic…" Saki tried telling him but it falls on deaf ears as Gyro agrees with the nickname Kotaro gave him. "He's not listening…"

"And last but not least! Mamezuku-san! Your nickname will beeeeeee… ｢Peel Planter｣!" He revealed the last nickname with his usual volume. He then waits for Mamezuku to comment on his nickname.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…Are you done?"

"Huh?"

"You're done, right?" Mamezuku said, waiting for Kotaro to move away. "You told me my own nickname, so that means you're finished."

"…Well, before I do that, what do you think of your nickname first?" He asked, believing he must be thinking about what to make of his nickname.

"It's fine."

"…"

"…That's it?"

"Yes. That's what I think of my nickname. Satisfied?"

"Uhhhhhhh… Sure…"

Awkwardly walking backwards, everyone agrees that Mamezuku's reaction is anti-climactic. It's as if he doesn't like to engage himself in a social situation and prefers to be by his lonesome, only speaking if it's relevant to the situation at hand. Not to mention, they hoped to learn why he's called Peel Planter. While planter is self-explanatory, having the word "peel" in his nickname raises questions. It could refer to peeling fruits but that's only a guess.

"And with that, our zombie bodyguards are officially nicknamed!" Kotaro announced eagerly with hands on his hips. "Cherry Boy, Fire Lord, Zipper Man, Li'l Bomber, Nail Jockey, Spin Cowboy and Peel Planter. All of you better memorize them all, girls! It is crucial in protecting the identities of your bizarre bodyguards! And with that, this morning's meeting is adjourned!"

Leaving the basement, it is time for the girls to practice their guerilla performance in just one day. Sakura wonders if they can really do it, especially when they don't really need any sleep due to being zombies and only doing it out of habit. As Kotaro stated, they're gonna have to act like idols from now on if Saga needs to be recognized by a local idol group.

If they do that, she may hopefully recover some of her lost memories.

"So, Cherry Boy," Saki glanced at Kakyoin with a mischievous grin. "Can you elaborate Fire Lord's statement on why you like cherries so much?"

Much to his chagrin that is being brought up, he answers, "Can that wait? You still need to practice for your guerrilla performance." He reminded her, hoping she drops the subject and spares him from more humiliation.

"Nuh-uh! I'm not practicing until you tell us!"

"I concur. Your nickname is peculiar enough to warrant my curiosity." Yugiri said.

"Lily agrees!"

"Do you know how to plant a cherry seed then? If not, I can teach you how to do it if you want cherries." Mamezuku offered.

"Bet I can learn a thing or two from you, Cherry Boy!" Narancia snickered.

"Uhhhh… Sakura? Avdol? A little help here?"

As she and Avdol go to stop the five from pestering Kakyoin, Sakura hopes this day will go well.

To be continued

What changed?: A few lines from the beginning, and Narancia's reaction to Kotaro's nickname for him, and the scene after, is changed.

I know what you're thinking. How come Kakyoin is the youngest member of his group, behind Narancia? Well let's check their birthdates, date of deaths and use simple math!

Kakyoin was born on July 28, 1971 (this is my chosen date based on his Zodiac sign, so it's not official) and died on January 16, 1989, while Narancia was born on May 20, 1983 and died on April 6, 2001. By chronological terms, Kakyoin is older than Narancia since he died many years earlier than him, but taking their birthdates and dates of death in account, Kakyoin died six months later and Narancia died eleven months later. By this calculation, Narancia is older than Kakyoin by a narrow margin.

Hard to believe that the mature and level-headed Kakyoin is younger than the hot-blooded Narancia, right? When I found this out, I couldn't wrap my head around it, and the fact Narancia is technically older, at first. I could be wrong however because Kakyoin died many years earlier, so he could be the older one…

Oh well. Whatever floats your boat. Take either fact as true or not. I only wanted to write this to explain the age discrepancy thing.