Chapter 7 - A choice



“How do we know if you’re going to keep your words?” Rena asked.

“I just wanted to see how far four of Acchan’s foolish friends will go just for the sake of saving her.” Sasshi said.

“J-Just l-leave…” Maeda powerlessly said.

“No. We are bringing you back!” Jurina shouted.

“Well then, let’s not waste any more time and let the game begin.” Sasshi then clapped her hand twice. The zombies immediately started groaning and charging towards them again.

“Here we go again!” Yuko shouted.

As usual, Jurina swinged and slashed her scythe around, sending her shockwaves, not letting any zombies near her at all. But the amount of zombies attacking Jurina is getting more and more, causing her to start using a lot of energy. Rena on the other hand, couldn’t stay in the same spot as her katana isn’t really long to hold her position. She leaped on a zombie’s head to another head, firing shots that hit them in the head accurately. As a zombie tried to reach for her, she leaped into the air and released 10 shots from her semi automatic gun that hit their targets successfully before landing with a slash in a nearby zombie.

“120! 121! 122! 123!” Yuko continued to count her victims as she smashed every zombie’s backbone that she sees.

“122! 123! 124! 125!” Yuki, not wanting to lose to her rival, also counted her victims.

“They just keep coming! I’m getting really tired of this!” Jurina shouted, being annoyed. It seems that even by wielding an angel weapon, it doesn’t seem as if the number of zombies decreased at all. The number of zombies charging in is way too much for Jurina to handle.

“Hey, Rena-chan! I’m going to use my ultimate now!” Jurina warned Rena before flying up high to the sky.

Upon hearing this, Rena immediately warned Yuko and Yuki. “Grab on something, guys! This is going to get a little messy!” 

Jurina then held up her scythe and start spinning it around, faster and faster, creating a huge vortex that all the zombies into it while slicing them apart at the same time, before smashing her scythe down to the ground with a tremendous shockwave that slice all the zombies 360 degree around her. This of course, made Rena, Yuko and Yuki to dodge away from her area of effect.

“Wow! She’s really something, isn’t she?” Yuko praised.

“Jurina –sama always seemed so playful like a little girl. I have to be honest, this tremendous power doesn’t suit her character at all.” Yuki said.

Even after Jurina used her ultimate, the number of zombies did decrease a bit, but it wasn’t enough at all. 1500 is too big of a number. The most zombies Jurina took out with her ultimate is just a mere 250. Sasshi just sat on her throne beside Maeda’s cage.

“You seem to have pretty powerful friends, Acchan. I’m really entertained by them.” Sasshi said excitedly.

After a few more slashes from Jurina, she start to feel herself wobbling. The ultimate attack she just used had consumed most of her energy. Despite her stamina decreasing, Jurina didn’t want to give up at all.

“I will not give up! I will save Acchan!!” Jurina shouted again.

“Come on, Center. Activate me. Let me lend you some of my power.” A voice started to echo in Jurina’s mind, causing her to grip her own head on one hand, screaming in pain, while the other hand attempting a fury of slashes.

“Stop talking to me! Get out of my mind!!”

Upon noticing Jurina struggling, Rena immediately knew what was going on and started shouting. “Jurina! Don’t give in to it! Fight it!”

“What’s wrong with Jurina?” Yuko asked Rena.

“It seems like she’s in pain.” Yuki said.

“The demon within her is trying to win her over right now.” Rena answered.

“What?! Why now of all times?” Yuko asked.

“Whenever Jurina feel suppressed in a battle, it will be like opening a door to her demon form.” Rena answered.

“There’s too many of them, Center! You can’t do it alone! Activate me, damnit!!” The voice echoed louder and louder in Jurina’s head, causing her to scream in pain.

“SHUT UP! I SAID SHUT UP!!!” Jurina screamed and started swinging her scythe all over the place, slicing all zombies around her, sending shockwaves even into Rena, Yuko and Yuki’s direction. At this time, a black aura is seen to be engulfing Jurina little by little.

“This is bad! I need to stop her before she reach stage 2!” Rena said.

“What do you mean stage? There’s stages for Jurina-sama’s demon form?” Yuki questioned.

“The Jurina you see now is in the first stage of her demon form. I can still talk her out of it. Once those black aura engulf her completely, she will be in the second stage of her demon form. Once she reaches the second stage, the only way to stop her is to knock her out. That’s if you’re able to get close to her. Now I need both of you to help cover me while I try to get Jurina back to her senses.” Rena said.

“Got it!” Yuko and Yuki nodded as all three of them charged towards Jurina’s direction, fighting off zombies at the same time while evading Jurina’s endless shockwave attacks.

“STOP IT! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!! GET OUT NOW!!” Jurina is still screaming in pain as the demon within her kept trying to take over her body, causing black aura to continue engulfing her. Jurina’s shockwaves started to change colour from her original blue aura into a darker blue and sooner into black. One of Jurina’s shockwave managed to graze Yuko’s shoulder causing her to growl in pain.

“Argh! It hurts so much even if it’s just the shoulder.” Yuko growled before continuing her path towards Jurina.

Sasshi seemed very interested in this fight and started applauding and laughing. “This is the most entertaining fight I have ever seen!”

Upon reaching Jurina, Yuko and Yuki immediately stayed in their respective battle position while trying their hardest to slow down the zombies charging towards them. Rena immediately grab hold of Jurina’s scythe and arm. Jurina’s eyes are already starting to glow red. “Jurina! Fight it! Come on!”

Jurina then screamed in pain again, but this time the pain was too much for her to handle as she dropped her scythe on the ground while both hands gripping hard on her own head.

“Come on Jurina. You can do it. Close your eyes. Empty your mind. Chase the evil power out of your mind.” Rena said as both her hands caressed Jurina’s face. Jurina then closed her eyes and sat on the ground, trying her hardest to get rid of the demon side taking over her. The black aura seems to be slowly fading away.

“Alright. We need to leave Jurina like this for a moment. Let’s hold this ground by any means necessary!” Rena told Yuko and Yuki. The three of them tried to fend off all the zombies while protecting Jurina who is meditating in the middle. After about 10 minutes, the three of them were literally exhausted. During that time, Jurina suddenly leaped in front and smashed her scythe to the ground, creating a shockwave that sliced all the zombies in front of her. Jurina then looked at them and smiled. “I’m back.”

“Good to have you back, Jurina-sama!” Yuki said excitedly.

“Good work, Jurina! Now let’s continue our counter attack!” Rena ordered.

They have been fighting off these zombies nonstop for the past two hours. Anyone would have collapsed by now. But not these four. They had made a promise with a dear friend and they are going to fulfill it. Seemingly too exhausted, Yuko suddenly start wobbling and tumbled on the floor, panting crazily.

During that time, Yuki’s hand reached out to her. “Come on, Yuko-san. You can’t give up. Now’s not the time to rest. We need you.”

Yuko then grabbed Yuki’s hand and vaulted herself behind Yuki and delivered a kick to a zombie that was reaching for her. “Try to watch your back first before helping other people.”

Before they know it, only 10 zombies are left on the field. Others, either dead or immobilized. Jurina then immediately ended it with a scream and a huge shockwave that sliced up all 10 of the zombies at the same time. The four of them then tumbled on the floor, panting. “W-We did it…” Rena powerlessly answered.”

They immediately stood up when they heard Sasshi applauding like a fan in a concert.

Yuko then looked at her, confused “Is she like a wota or something? What kind of lord are you?”

“Good job all of you!! Very good job!! Woooooo!!!!!” Sasshi screamed like a fan all over again.

“Yup. She’s a wota. I can tell.” Rena said.

“Alright. Now let Maeda-sama out.” Yuki said.

“Sure. I will deliver what I promised.” Sasshi said as she snapped her fingers, causing the silver cage to open by itself, freeing Maeda.

Rena then reached her hand out for Maeda. “Come, Acchan. Let’s go home.”

Sasshi immediately leaped towards Rena’s arm, attempting to chomp it off literally before Jurina managed to pull her back.

“Hey! You didn’t keep your word!” Yuko shouted.

“I said I’ll let her out of the cage. I never said she could leave.” Sasshi said.

“You tricked us!” Jurina shouted.

Maeda then looked at them. “It’s ok, guys. I didn’t want to cause any more trouble to all of you. Just go.”

“Acchan, you can’t do this to us. We went through so much to save you!” Jurina said.

“Takamina is waiting at home for you. She misses you.” Rena said.

“She’s been crying her heart out ever since you left. We promised to bring you back home! We can’t break that promise!” Yuko growled.

“Maeda-sama, please. We’re friends, aren’t we?” Yuki smiled.

After contemplating for quite some time, Sasshi finally said “All of you sparked some of my interest it seems. So I want to play one final game.”

“Well? Spit it!” Yuko growled.

“Acchan. I’m going to give you a chance to leave. But this all depends on the choice that you’re going to make. So this time, Acchan will be the player, and the four of you be the spectators.” Sasshi said. Maeda nodded at Sasshi’s proposal.

“You have two choices, Acchan. First choice, you will be allowed to leave this place but you will not get back any of your precious memories. Second choice, I will give you back all the memories that you’ve been searching for and satisfy your own desires but you will have to stay here for all eternity. Make your choice.” Sasshi explained.

Maeda then smiled at Sasshi. “Sasshi, I think you made a mistake here. There never really was two choice in the first place. There always had been only one choice. Ever since I met these new friends, I’ve been thinking a lot. They were willing to go so far just to save a puny little zombie like me. They literally almost killed themselves to come all the way here and played with your little games. With these kind of friends to help me to live for the future? Who needs memories?”

Sasshi then smiled and nodded her head in an understanding way. “Very well, then. I guess it’s goodbye.”

Maeda then bowed her head in respect “Thanks, my lord. We’ll meet again next time.”

“Erm.. Wait.. You’re just going to forgive us like this? I mean we killed all your troops.” Rena asked.

“What, this? This is just a small fraction of the amount of zombies I have. I still have millions of zombies lurking in the mist over there.” Sasshi said while pointing at a misty area behind her.

“I don’t believe you! Show it to us then!” Yuko said, before getting smacked on the head by Rena.

“Don’t challenge her, Yuko. We’ve had enough.”

“Let’s go, Acchan.” Jurina said as she balanced Maeda on her shoulders and walked towards the exit.

“I have 353 knockdowns! Take that!” Yuko growled at Yuki’s face.

“I lost count.” Yuki said calmly.

“Then I win!” Yuko shouted.

“No. the reason why I lost count is because I knocked down way too many. Presumably, more than YOU.” Yuki said out loud.

“Be my servant, damn it!” Yuko shouted at Yuki.

“No! You kneel down and purr like a cat!” Yuki shouted back at Yuko. Rena, Jurina and Maeda just laughed at them arguing with each other like cats and dogs.

Sasshi looked at them exit through the wall and gave a smile of satisfaction. “Acchan.. seems like you’ve finally found something more important than your precious memories. I wish you luck in the outside world.”

Upon reaching Mayu’s home, Maeda noticed that Takamina was already standing outside the door awaiting their return. As soon as Takamina noticed Maeda, she immediately burst into tears and ran into Maeda’s embrace. Takamina gave Maeda a few light punches on her shoulder while sobbing her heart out. “Don’t do that again! Never do that ever again!”

Maeda then hugged Takamina tightly as tears started rolling down her cheeks. “I’m sorry to make you worry so much about me. I’m really useless, am I? I promise you I’ll never leave your side again.”

“Yuki!”
“Yuko!”

Two voices are then heard from inside the house as Mayu and Kojiharu ran out of the house and into their respective partner’s embrace.

“Yuki! Thank god you’re alright! I thought something bad happened to all of you!” Mayu cried.

“Nezumi-sama, you’re hugging me too tight.” Yuki said before giving a warm smile to Mayu and ruffled her hair.

“Yuko, are you alright? Are you hurt?” Kojiharu asked in a worried tone.

“Well, I had a little trouble at first. But let’s just say I got a little back up.” Yuko then shot a glance at yuki who replied with a nod and a slight smile. “Besides, who can hurt the great and powerful Oshima Yuko?”

“Waaaa!!!!! This is so touching!” Jurina cried her heart out at the beautiful reunion scene while hugging Rena tightly. Rena seems to tear up a little at this scene too.

Takamina then separated herself from Maeda. And said “Acchan, I have something to give you.” Before taking out a large brown envelope.

“What is this?” Maeda asked.

“Well, open it and you’ll find out.” Takamina smiled.

Maeda took out the content of the envelope to reveal a file. Maeda’s eyes widened in shock to notice that the cover of the file was named “Biography of Maeda Atsuko 1945-1965”

“I-Is t-this…” Maeda became lost for words as tears started to roll down her cheeks again.

“Well, I asked some help from Mayu to search for this, though.” Takamina said.

Maeda then broke out in tears. “M-Minami… Y-You actually found this for me…”

“You were a famous actress when you were still alive. You died in a tragic car accident. You see, my grandfather was actually your personal surgeon. I’m sorry he couldn’t save your life.” Takamina explained.

Maeda then pulled Takamina in for a passionate kiss, causing the other 6 girls to gasp in shock. Meada then separated herself from the kiss and smiled warmly. “If your grandfather would have saved me that time, I wouldn’t have been able to meet you.”

Takamina then returned the smile and asked, “Acchan, when I was sleeping.. I heard you telling me that you’re in love with me. Is that true?”

Maeda cutely nodded.

“I feel the same way too, Acchan. I love you. I always have.”



Chapter 7 – A choice
END



Next Chapter : Chapter 8 - Decoy