“Hey Chie-chan.”

Katsura Chie was greeted by her friend and co-worker as she walked into the room. Was it justifiable to be called a room? Perhaps ‘office’ suited better but Chie was no office lady or secretary.  The room/office was filled with folders, large volumes of books, a few computers and basic medical equipment.

“Hi Mina. Any change while I was away?”

Fujiyama Mina was a nurse at Minato General and it was her second year as an official nurse. Chie and herself had been friends since High School and went to the same schools since then. As far as Mina was concerned, her dream life was progressing just as planned. Both her’s and Chie’s seeing as they had the same dreams but for five weeks, things weren’t going according to plan.

“Still the same as they were yesterday, and the day before yesterday and the days before that.”

Mina looked the same as Chie felt and she had just got in for her shift of the day. She was totally exhausted and Chie was sure it was more than on a physical level. She wasn’t sure she would take another month of doing nothing but wait. They were both taken off their usual nurse duties, with two other nurses who had already left because their day shift had ended, and put in charge of looking after the special patients.

Two whole floors of the fourteen story building were off limits to unauthorised personnel and all rooms that almost numbered near ten and held four to five beds were occupied with said special patients that to make the situation even more special, all patients were brought in at the same time. According to witnesses, the information that Chie got, whatever happened to all the patients happened exactly at the same time.

It wasn’t just their hospital. They could only afford to give away enough rooms. The other girls had been taken to their sister hospital. All in all, there were just over one hundred and four girls. Well, one hundred and three as of a week ago.

“I tell you someone better come up with something soon because I can’t take any more of the press cornering me every time I leave this place or the parents.”

“Especially the parents. And here I thought it was the teachers that had it worse with them.”

They both laughed at that.

“And as if things weren’t bad enough, the weather is gotten worse too. I bet those paranormal guys are having a field day about this.”

Chie was right about the weather. It was miracle to have a glimpse at the sun these days. The skies were either falling in rain or blacked out with clouds.

“When did you last do the check up?”

Mina asked her friend after settling into her seat and looking through the handover from their other partners. Chie thought for a moment.

“Oh damn! Not since Rina and Mari left. We better go now.”

Grabbing the pads needed and Chie refilling the cart with supplies, the two were on their way to do their hourly trips to the wards. The fact that they were using the room/office at the top floor meant their trip was only a room away.  Chie found that she missed the long elevator rides. She never did look forward to seeing a whole lot of comatose girls.

The thing that got on Chie’s nerves the most though was the silence. Apart from the ‘beeping’ that they were used to, there was no other source of sound on the floor.  She was used to the machine beeping. It was the same as dead silence to the young woman who was used to hearing many noises, mostly of which were screams of pain from emergency patients.

She missed that too. She found herself missing a lot of things lately.

She opened her mouth to break said silence when before she even let the first syllable out, the silence she had just been whining about was broken but thrashing sounds and the beeping picking up speed.

“What is that?”

Mina squealed having been shaken out of her skin by the sudden noise. It appeared that Mina too was uneasy about the silence.

“I think someone is awake. Come on.”

Chie couldn’t hold Mina any ill feelings for asking the dumb question for she too felt her heart racing away from her thoughts. It was all she could do to try and keep up.

Drawing the curtain away from the source of the noise, the nurses were met with a wildly thrashing girl who looked to them like how a person who couldn’t swim would react when dropped in the sea.

“Quick Mina-chan, call the Doctor.”

“Ye…Yes.”

Mina fumbled with her cell and in no time she was screaming in the receiver that one of the patients was away. After the short phone call, Mina went to helping Chie restrain the wild girl. It was no easy task and by chance when Mina locked eyes on the girl’s face, she was almost shocked to let go. The girl’s eyes were wild and unfocused. It looked like she wanted to scream but Mina knew she wouldn’t for there was intubation in her throat for direct ingestion.

Mina was about to let that info be known to Chie when suddenly everything was still again. Just like that the girl stopped dead and her limbs went slack in the dumbfounded nurses’ arms. The beeping went back to normal as well, informing the two that the girl before them was back yet again to the state that the rest of the present patients were still in. The two looked at each other opened mouthed.

“Okay report. Who and who are awake? What’s their status?”

Chie and Mina turned in unison towards the entry where the excited Doctor had just burst in. It didn’t take long before he caught sight of the two still shaken nurses. He adjusted his glasses for they had come undone from the obvious run he had carried out. He walked towards the nurses trying to hide his excitement to no avail.

“Is that her? How much does she remember? How long has she been awake?”

He was already taking notes, of what, neither girl knew, as he made his way to them. The extra shine and hope he had in his eyes dies away once he was near enough to see that the girl in the bed was just like any other sharing her room. His brows furrowed as he bent forward towards the bed. He studied the patient carefully looking for signs of awareness. There was none.

“You had better have a good explanation for this Fujiyama-kun, Katsura-kun.”

He frowned at the two nurses with displeasure. The girl was as still as the rest of her roommates.

“She was awake just now Sensei. We were just coming in for the rounds when the monitor went off. She was thrashing and looked disoriented but then she…”

Mina didn’t finish but instead turned from the Doctor to the now very still girl. Apart from the wild bedding nothing gave off any report of what had just taken place. The Doctor didn’t seem convinced.

“If you would prefer it Sensei I could go print out the records from the monitor.”

“That would be helpful Katsura-kun. I will need to present it to the ministry when I go to report. It’s about time something happened here. As little as it may be, this change of events is very much due. Ever since one of those at the other hospital woke up, the higher ups were getting on our case saying stuff like we weren’t a good enough hospital. Get me all the recent data on…”

The Doctor paused without looking away from the form before him.

“Kashiwagi, Sensei. Kashiwagi Yuki-san.”

Attack of the Revered Joker

-IV-

The girl choked on her own blood. She could do nothing about it though. It could have been the fact that she was tied up on the wall looking to the world like she was being crucified. Her arms were spread out and wrists chained to the wall. There were bindings around her waist, knees and ankles. Her clothes that were her school’s uniform under a black and white ‘silver slumbering dragon’ designed jacket, were all torn in places as if she had been whipped by a steel whip. That all of course meant nothing to said girl because she was out of her senses. That was a result of all the relaxant drugs that were pumped into her system all night.

“She’s back Aneki.”

Reinya reported in a feat of heavy breathing. She was pumped from giving CPR to a person that was standing up or laying up or whatever their ‘victim’ was.  Their leader had messed the girl up good throughout the night and she had finally reached her limits. Her heart had stopped but seeing as they had been told by Nezumi-sama to not be too hard on this one, they could not afford her dying on them.  And so herself and Maebon had taken turns to resurrect her.

“Wow! I guess it’s true what they say about the brain. I mean after all we’ve done to her she caves when we get to the brain.”

Maebon spoke with great relief in her voice. If they had killed the girl she knew Nezumi would’ve given them their dues. The girls seemed quite taken with this one. It was quite a site to see the mysterious girl who everyone thought of as a cyborg for her lack of affection but when she had brought in their captive, she had spent a deal of minutes just watching her, studying her as if she was an ornament of great importance to her from the past she hadn’t seen for some time.

There was something about the captive girl to both their leader and Nezumi but to Maebon, she was just another person. Their leader was interested in the data of the captive they had been collecting all night than she ever was on anything else. She really did look the part of a mad doctor more at that moment.

“This is amazing! Her statistics are nothing like I’ve seen before.”

Aneki, or Meetan as other school mates knew her was quite mad with excitement. She saw the information before her but she couldn’t quite believe it. The last time she was that much impressed was when herself and Nezumi had studied that troublesome girl a year back. Now that she thought about it, this girl was from the same school. How Nezumi had missed her before, Meetan couldn’t say. That hooded freak was up to something and despite Meetan working for her she would not be told as to why. Meetan did not mind though, as long as she was allowed her fun.

Nezumi had brought more than a dozen girls to Meetan to collect data on and sometimes, okay most times the victims always left with side effects. Three of said girls were already dead including that troublesome one from a year ago. The bitch had left Meetan’s beautiful face not so beautiful. That was no problem for her though when it came to the pleasures of life. She still had the touch but she missed her flawless face damn it. And so she was quite happy to know the bitch had kicked it.

“You are quite something! I can see why Nezumi has her sights on you. I have enough data for Nezumi but I need more from you for myself. Now, why don’t you tell me more about yourself…with your body?”

Meetan purred as she set down the folder she had been studying then walked, or more likely sauntered over to the hanged girl. She spread out her arms to mirror those of the captive. Her breathing picked up the pace as her excitement grew even more. Truthfully Meetan had been holding herself back all through her ‘data collection’. It was time to thoroughly enjoy herself. Meetan laced her fingers with those of the chained girl. Spreading out her arms brought her body in contact with that of their captive where she started nuzzling, no, that was not true. She started rubbing her face from side to side on the captive’s girl’s blooded chest back and forth.

Maebon and Reinya looked at each other grinning.

The restrained girl could do nothing, not even move her head that didn’t go without fun of its own as the face was licked in slow, burning drags of the tongue that was a little longer than normal ones. The licks that would’ve been considered sensuous on any other occasion but instead looked dirty what with the face being covered in sweat, blood and other fluids. Meetan then brought her knee up and started to move it against the thighs of the girl. Her fingers then started to follow the path of the chained arms towards the main body. Meetan was getting lost in her desires as she slipped her hands through the holed jacked and grabbed at the flesh that she was massaging her face with. She squealed in delight at what she found within.

“I think I am liking you more and more. Too bad you can’t quite enjoy this with me. Oh well.”

The two other occupants of the room that was filled with science class equipment and large sinks, which made it out to be a lab, were now grabbing each other and giggling like mad sidekicks that they were. They never got tired of watching their Aneki do the sexing with her victims. It was of course more fun when they were the victims but watching was nice too.

“What are you doing?”

Then everything came to a stop.

Three heads whiplashed towards the voice. No one spoke. Meetan had all her limbs around the chained girl. She looked like she was assaulting a human sized cross with a human body on it. The rest of her body’s attention was on the chained girl but her head that was turned and looking stupefied towards their new company. Maebon and Reinya were the same. Their limbs wrapped around each other except their heads. Their mouths too were hanging open.

Nezumi was standing not two meters from the entrance.

Meetan finally got back to her senses, somewhat, as she succeeded in disentangling her reptilian limbs from the disoriented and badly abused girl’s body. Her cheeks were flushed red from both her inner blood and that of her victim. She went about smoothing her clothes but in truth was getting her wits about her back. Finally she faced her kinda boss.

“I didn’t expect you to stop by so soon.”

“So soon you say? In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s already morning.”

Nezumi didn’t show it but Meetan was sure she wasn’t pleased. Glancing towards the windows that were blinded due to obvious temperature with chemical reasons, she wasn’t surprised by the fact that she had missed the time pass. Time seemed to accelerate where scientific research was concerned. She shrugged as she turned her attention away from the table to find Nezumi inspecting her subject.

“What do you have for me?”

Nezumi didn’t look away from the chained girl as she spoke. When nobody moved or said a thing, she turned to the side but didn’t look to anyone is particular.

“Where is the data?”

She clarified. Maebon and Reinya fumbled for the computer to get the disk that they had stored on their findings. Meetan glared at them when they handed it to her instead of Nezumi. Everyone was so terrified of the girl it was ridiculous. She stepped forward and handed the disk to the cloaked girl.

Nezumi took the offered disk and after pocketing away in the side pocket of her backpack, she went back to inspecting the battered girl before her. After a few seconds of that she leaned in as if to whisper in the captive’s ear. Meetan couldn’t hear whatever she said but what Nezumi said next was more interesting to her. The bubble-gum loving girl finally stepped away from her interest and turned to Meetan.

“If you can keep her here, I might think about forgiving you for this.”

Nezumi flicked her thumb towards battered body to clarify what ‘this’ she was referring to.

“What do you mean ‘keep’ her here’?

“Do you ever know what goes on outside these four walls? Her…friends are here and you don’t need me to tell you for what…or who!”

Nezumi shook her head in what would seem like frustration.

“Aneki there is fighting going on down there.”

Maebon said as she and Reinya looked through the third floor window and into the front yard.

“Ooh I bet we are going to get a lot more subjects for our lessons from Aneki. I wonder if any of them will make it here.”

“So this is what you mea…”

Meetan didn’t get to finish her sentence as Nezumi had disappeared when she had turned towards her underlings. That girl really needed to work on her people skills. Who did she think she was, the god damned Batman?!

“Get the important stuff away. We are expecting uninvited guests and I don’t want my treasures getting caught in the crossfire.”

When the two didn’t show any signs of movement caught up in the action down outside Meetan repeated again.

“I meant right now damn it. Don’t forget that you too will ‘not be forgiven’ along with me if they succeed in taking her away. Now get a move on.”

Ω – Ω – Ω – Ω – Ω

“I still think that we should have brought more people with us?”

Shibuya tried not to shout but the frustration could still be heard in her voice. They had talked over what to do the evening before and they had decided to carry out their rescue plan in the early morning. The plan had originally been to bring with them not less than two dozens of people but their new leader had put a stop to that plan.

“We don’t need extra people. I doubt there are many waiting for us. The whole school couldn’t have conspired to kidnap a person. My bet is they had to keep it under wraps. They aren’t some evil organisation you know. Besides, Maeda doesn’t want us starting unnecessary fights.”

“And where is Maeda? Off somewhere she couldn’t even let us know. One of us is in trouble and she isn’t even here. Does she even care?”

Shibuya met the glare that Sado sent her way full on. She knew she was right. Truth be told, Sado found herself in doubt of Maeda most of the time but then she would remember what Yuko had told her. To be fare she sometimes thought that her personal feelings of hate…No. Hate was such a strong word. She didn’t exactly hate Maeda. Well, she might have been a little before when Maeda was making a mess of things in the beginning. She tried to think of her acknowledgment of Maeda as their new leader her fulfilment of Yuko’s wish.

She didn’t know where Maeda had disappeared off to but Sado couldn’t hold it against her. Sado hadn’t quite had ‘the talk’ with Maeda yet. They haven’t gotten down and spoke their thoughts like Sado used to do with Yuko. Was Maeda perhaps avoiding them because she too felt the tension between herself and the rest of Rappappa?

“So, are we going in or what?”

Sado snapped out of her thoughts when Gekikara spoke. She shook her head. She should not be thinking about unrelated things at a time like this. Herself and the three Queens; Shibuya, Gekikara and Torigoya were standing just outside the gate of Joker High. The time was just past six in the morning.

“Okay I will tell you one last time. Shibuya, you take the girl at the entrance and stop anyone who comes from entering until we are out. Gekikara and Torigoya, you each take the stairs at either side of the building to the fourth floor and check every rom downwards. I will start from the basement and make my way up. If things look like they aren’t going our way, we leave and come back full force. Any que…?”

“We came here to get BLACK. As long as she is in there, if she can’t leave for some reason then neither will I.”

“Look Gekikara, it won’t do any good if one or more of us is caught by them….”

“I am not leaving without BLACK!”

Sado was interrupted yet again by Gekikara. Damn that girl was so stubborn. This time though there was something different about her. She had been real quiet for Gekikara ever since Sado went to pick her up from one of her places she hangs out and had informed her of BLACK’s predicament. Throughout the meeting she had been real quiet. She didn’t even bite her nails, something she often did in lieu of talking. She wondered what brought on the change! Sado couldn’t remember Gekikara and BLACK being that close before. But really, it wasn’t like she was paying close attention. Sado chastised herself. She really didn’t pay attention to any of the other girls apart from Yuko. Things had to change soon. No, things were already different. She just had to add in her own changes. But she was getting side tracked once again.

“Fine. Do as you wish but we will be sticking to the plan. Whoever finds BLACK make sure you let someone else know too. In case we are split up, which is a given you know where the meeting place is.”

Sado spared one last look over the wall then looked to the rest of the gang. They nodded their heads in understanding.

“Let’s do this.”

Shibuya went first and the others followed in a sprint towards the main doors. The girl that was standing by the entrance and looking bored was taken by surprise but she found her focus fast as she was able to block Shibuya’s spinning kick. The force that came with the speed that Shibuya was running at was a lot to handle for the surprised girl. She was knocked into the left pillar that held up the shade at the front of the entrance. Sado, Torigoya and Gekikara ran past in that time.

Ayaka shook her head to clear it and try to take a good look at the truck that had hit her. She used her right hand to bring herself back to her feet using the pillar as a ledge. She looked around and found not four but one girl standing there before her. Everything about her parson screamed ‘GAL’. She had on those stupid loose socks, slutty short skirt, wavy hair that had pinkish threads through the dominant brown and was fastening her fingerless gloves.

She was going to enjoy wiping the girl’s face in the dirt but first thing first.

“That really hurt bitch.”

“Not as much as this!”

And with that Shibuya struck first. Having been only five or four steps, it took a second for her to be in her irritating opponent’s personal space for two more kicks. The first was with her right leg. Ayaka ducked under it but Shibuya was expecting that which is why her left leg was off the ground as soon as the right touched it for a reverse high. Ayaka was fast though. When she ducked the first leg, she raised her arms and caught Shibuya’s left. Not letting go of the leg, Ayaka braced herself then swung Shibuya by her leg then let go. Shibuya hit the right pillar with her lower back. The sound of the impact brought sweet satisfaction to Ayaka.

“Not so pleasant now, is it.”

Shibuya struggled to get to her hands and knees. Her back muscles smart like hell. Damn the body and its instincts of survival. It didn’t matter how many times you felt pain, your body never got used to it. It always hurt the same. But really, she was born to fight and pain was her favourite emotion.  She finally made it to her feet and after dusting herself off,  Shibuya went into a ready fighting stance.

“I was just warming up. Let’s get the real thing started.”

“That’s totally fine with me. I am Ayaka by the way.”

“Shibuya of Majisuka Gakuen. My fists wanna say hello too!”

With that Shibuya ran to Ayaka once again striking first. This time it was a left hook that Ayaka parried to the side of her face with the back of her closed fist. The right punch that followed Ayaka decided to dodge completely as she wasn’t that confident in her left hand. That seemed to be a bad move though as Shibuya bent her arm and swung the elbow at the unsuspecting Ayaka. Since it wasn’t a planned move, the damage to the head near the ear wasn’t fatal but it still hurt. Ayaka took a few seconds to shake it off and Shibuya let her. She needed to compose herself as well anyway.

Shibuya had been on the offense and she had gotten in a hit.

It was time for Ayaka to be the one on the attack the next time and she moved first. She went in with a flying kick that Shibuya easily dodged by bending backwards. Once she landed, Ayaka slid on the ground and did a scissor kick at Shibuya’s legs. Shibuya jumped in the air to dodge the kick. Ayaka knew she wouldn’t stay in the air long so she stayed on her hands and as Shibuya came back down to earth, she got her legs and Shibuya was brought off balance. Ayaka wasn’t done though. When Shibuya’s head came towards the ground and she used her arms to avoid hitting level, Ayaka flipped in a low summersault that drove her right heel into the back of Shibuya’s head.

The fiery Queen ate dirt.

Ayaka got back to her feet in a kind of street dance move. Shibuya didn’t want to give away a free so she hurriedly brought herself up too. She spat the dirt taste from her mouth with a look of disgust. Her face was also covered in dirt but apart from clearing her vision, she didn’t bother with cleaning it. When she was ready Shibuya met Ayaka’s eyes. They both knew enough of each other’s skills now to go all out.

Once again Shibuya went first. She rushed three punches in succession. Two of them connected. The third Ayaka wrapped her right arm around it then swung her left like a bat and struck Shibuya in the neck. She then strained Shibuya’s arm which forced her body to react by bending forward only to connect her chest with Ayaka’s raised knee. That knocked the wind out of Shibuya’s lungs. Ayaka took the advantage by releasing Shibuya who felt the sting of a right hook on her left cheek when she straightened up only to be forced back to the ground by said punch. Even as her head rang, Shibuya didn’t go down without a present for Ayaka. Just as her body leaned to her right, she brought up her foot whose sole connected with Ayaka’s left side of the face.

They both went down.

“Ha ha ha. Not bad…Shibuya was it? Not bad at all Shibuya.”

“Heh. I would say the same about you.”

They both laughed as they got back to their feet but something else grabbed their attention. There was a sudden crash from above and both heads snapped up to the source. Something had crashed through the window and was losing to gravity fast. To Shibuya though, everything moved in slow motion. The broken glass shards sailed with incredible slowness that was accompanied with several low ‘ting’ sounds. Among the see through and bright pieces of glass that reflected the morning sunlight which hadn’t quite hit the ground, a black figure was falling along. It didn’t take long for Shibuya to identify the figure once she caught the pattern on the back. On it was a familiar silver Dragon soaring over Mt. Fuji.

Gekikara was falling and fast!

Ω – Ω – Ω – Ω – Ω

Once inside, the three split into two groups. Gekikara ran to the right and ascended the stairs at the end of that corridor. Sado and Shibuya went left and not long Sado had to separate and head down the stairs to the lower level. Torigoya had a couple of more meters to runs before she reached the stairs.

Having run out of stairs to climb, Gekikara went straight to checking rooms or any other pathways. Both the hallways and classrooms were disturbingly clean. Gekikara and tidiness didn’t go well together. Tidy things were like a calling to her to mess things up and make them right again. This place was making her senses sing to go doing just about that. Gekikara wanted nothing better than to obey being one to always do whatever her being wanted. She acted on her impulses just as her favourite animal.

There was one thing though that went against her beliefs. Something that amazingly the thought of breaking it had never occurred to her. She had even entertained the thought often but it never clicked. She tried to imagine how it would look all broken yet she could not. It was like trying to imagine what air looked like. It was the only thing that she thought deserved…No…Was meant to be tidy; clean; innocent…Pure.

It was BLACK.

And as such Gekikara couldn’t go righting the wrong things while there was the right one that needed to be saved. As she passed room by room looking through the windows Gekikara just hoped that no one had tampered with the pure creature for she was going to mess them up all kinds of right. She passed Torigoya by the fourth classroom and continued on until the stairs to head down to the third floor.

Once she was there, not even one room away, Gekikara’s senses buzzed. There was light coming from the windows of the class in the middle. She didn’t waste any time as she skipped the first three and headed straight for said room.  She hadn’t even passed the first lit window when she froze in her tracks. Gekikara couldn’t believe her eyes. She didn’t want to believe that what she was seeing was real. Her body instinctually moved closer to the window as if the short distance would be enough to clarify things more – to make what she was seeing real.

It was blasphemous!

“No!”

The word of denial slipped through her mouth automatically. As if it would be enough to make the bad joke go away she screamed.

“NO!”

Gekikara’s mind mirror once again shattered.

The inside window gave into the force of Gekikara’s forehead. She didn’t wait for all the shards to clear before she dived into the room, over the sink not even minding the raised taps that dag into her soft flesh landed on the floor of the school lab. She then marched with intent towards the front. She absentmindedly grabbed one of the tripods as she went and we soon find out as to why. Maebon and Reinya had decided to get in her way. Gekikara wouldn’t have any of that. Grabbing Reinya by the hair after side stepping her weak punch, Gekikara smashed her head on the small shelf of plastic beakers then without stopping she hit Maebon with the tripod. The girl crashed in the chairs with a cry of pain.

Gekikara didn’t spare the girls another second of her attention. She rushed towards the chained girl and went about releasing her from the restraints.

“BLACK, it’s me Gekikara. Can you hear me?”

BLACK could only turn and nod her head. The effects of the drugs they had pumped into her system seemed to be loosening up. It was a while since she had been re-dosed. Gekikara couldn’t see the girl’s eyes as they were hidden by her wet bangs but she was grateful for that. She didn’t want to see what they had done to BLACK’s face. God help them if they did anything to it…

Gekikara was almost done with the first hand when someone tapped her on the right shoulder. Knuckles connected with her face when she turned. It was a powerful punch that hurt like hell. Then ‘yay’ to some more pain as her back connected with the point end of a desk. She counted her eggs when it missed her spine.

“Leaving me out of all the fun? I am feeling neglected here.”

Meetan faked a pout as she shook her hand. She then grinned down at the new girl. She wasn’t all that as far as Meetan could see. Really, was that the best their school could ditch out to come and rescue their mate? It was all a joke. Oh well, Meetan’s fun had been put to a stop but her engine was still hot. A twosome is better than one. Heh.

“Well, I gotta thank you for coming. Look at it this way, you won’t have come for nothing if you fail. You are going to be my mate of the day instead of her. She wasn’t gonna be any fun anyway, what with the not moving and scarcely knowing what would be going on.”

She cuckled.

When the girl standing above her licked her lips then turned her lecherous eyes below her belly, it was then that Gekikara understood. Her head filled with red in rage. She ground her teeth together so hard they almost shattered. Gekikara used the desk she had bumped into to stand up. Her hands came into contact with objects on top of it. Gekikara turned her head and saw that it was a work station with paper laid all around, pens, pencils, rulers and other stuff.

She grabbed a pencil.

“Ho ho? Did I hit a nerve there? Does she mean something to…you?!”

When she attacked, Gekikara threw a punch first, which was parried. She threw another one, this time Meetan side stepped out of its path. Gekikara wasn’t done though, she just reversed her body with a left punch which Meetan decide to catch and planned to counter attack but the mid fight speech was stopped due to shock.

A pencil was sticking out the back of her left palm that she had used to catch Gekikara’s punch…or tried to. She looked at it stupidly as the blood ran along the pencil until the droplet escaped from the tip facing her. It was when the pencil disappeared, ‘had it been there in the first place?’ It was when the pencil disappeared and Meetan saw threw the small hole that she finally screamed a bone chilling cry of pain.

Her pain relief was short lived as Gekikara grabbed her right hand and did the same thing to it that she just did to the left one.

Torigoya who had just arrived through the door was forced to hold her head in both the noise and the painful emotions that were buoying in the room. When she succeeded in cutting off the connection Torigoya looked up only in time for her to see Gekikara bearing on the now downed screaming girl. She was raining down punch upon punch upon punch on the body before her. Torigoya wasn’t sure if the girl that was being beaten was crying out from the pain in her hands or the beating she was receiving. It was horrifying to watch that Torigoya was forced to turn her head, only for her eyes to land of the form of BLACK.

Queue second shock of the minute. She forced herself to stay calm then she went over to the girl and continued on what Gekikara had started. The sounds from behind were very distracting though. Torigoya found her hands shaking for no reason at all. She once again thanked the gods that had forced her to deny Sado’s request of her to delve into Gekikara’s mind way back when. The complex girl had stirred so much trouble when she had just transferred that Sado had suggested the mind diving. Finally she was done with the lower bindings and all was left was the right hand. She let BLACK rest her weight on her shoulder as she released the last binding.

She was startled into losing her balance and thus sending both herself and BLACK towards the floor when the BGM (Back Ground Music) changed in tune.

“Get off me you crazy bitch.”

Gekikara once again crashed into chairs from the kick to her belly.

“What the hell are you two fools standing there for?! Come and help your boss.”

Reinya darted for the lab cooler to grab a sedative for Gekikara while Maebon came to her Aneki’s aid. Once she was back on her feet Meetan made a beeline for Gekikara who was still struggling to get up. There was blood flowing from her head down the side of the face with the scars. She had hit her head of one of the legs of the upturned chairs. When Meetan reached her, she grabbed her by the front of her seifuku blouse with her left hand. Her anger had overloaded the pain in her palms. Using her right to make a fist, she started punching Gekikara in the face with her own rage.

Torigoya wanted to help but she knew getting BLACK out of there was the plan. She didn’t like disobeying Sado but…but…Deciding on what to do Torigoya helped BLACK out of the room and into the corridor. She would text Sado then get back in and help Gekikara. They were partners and she would do all she could for her fellow Rappappa. She was almost past the broken window when the words reached her ears.

“I am gonna make sure you pay for this the rest of your miserable life! Say, can you fly?”

No.

Torigoya couldn’t believe it. They had just thrown Gekikara out of the window. She was sure they were on the third floor.

“NOOOOOO!”

Even if the height was not of the fatality level, many things could go wrong. The broken glass could land on its side and Gekikara might fall on it. She might land on her head at a bad angle. There was sure to be many broken bones. Torigoya couldn’t help the tears that trailed her cheeks. Why would they do a thing like that? She had to get to the others and fast.

It was then that the tall girl noticed she was alone.

Ω – Ω – Ω – Ω – Ω

Sado glared at the girl across from her. There was fire of battle in her eyes. No part of her body moved even a millimetre. She wasn’t planning on even blinking for that would be all it took to decide her fate.

Nezumi glared right back at her opponent. It was a funny sight for she was many inches shorter and all around smaller in size compared to Sado. You could imagine the sight of the two girls with very obvious differences in stature glaring at the other.

What made it weirder was the fact that the image it gave off wasn’t that of familiar sisterly squabbles but rather more of a western duel face-off.

“I’m gonna make you wish you stayed home today and enjoyed breakfast with Mommy little girl.”

Sado taunted to try and get the girl to lose focus.

“Wish all you want old hag for in a moment you will be cursing your very existence.”

Nezumi fired back from under her hood.

It was time.

Sado rushed Nezumi with three powerful punches; first with the left under hook, then a right cross and finished off with a straight on left that was meant to stun.

Nezumi parried all three using her small body as the shock absorber by jumping from the ground at the right time.

“No no no…You are doing it wrong. Let me show you how a triple…works!”

With that said Nezumi attacked. Sado thinking that the small girl was going for the same thing at her before raised her arms to defend but the pain that followed was enough to let her know how wrong she was. Instead of a punch Nezumi had turned her body sideways at the last moment to drive her elbow right into Sado’s plexus. The tall girl doubled over both from pain and the lack of breathing.

As she bent over fighting for breathe while clutching at her chest, Sado her head being grabbed by her short hair. While she was wondering why the fight suddenly turned into hair pulling, she soon found her battle to breathe made even more difficult. Nezumi had pushed Sado’s head lower down to meet her knee. Sado’s head snapped back up only for her teeth to clatter dangerously when Nezumi upper cut her.

Sado found her body flying up but didn’t get the luxury to enjoy the Superman thing because somehow the hooded girl was up there with her. Was she able to fly? Nah! That was impossible. The pain that followed from the punches and air kicks delivered onto her being seemed real enough. A half dozen or so hits later, Sado hit the ground.

“That…That was more than three hits.”

“Well, I lied. It was a sweet combo though, wasn’t it?”

“Bah! We still have two more rounds to go. Don’t count me out yet.”

“I guess there is no better time to say this so I will tell you. I haven’t lost to anyone so far at this and I, sorry to tell you, I doubt that I will lose to you.”

“Miracles do happen little girl.”

“Sigh. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The two took the time to once again glare at each other. Their eyes then turned to the LCD screens in front of their eyes.

Sado had gone down into the basement to start her search for BLACK, only to find just storage rooms and another room that reminded her of their own arena in the room behind Rappappa’s club room. It was quite a shocker for Sado in more than one way for instead of it being sparkly clean (Even the storage rooms were pretty tidy), it was a complete mess. It looked more like a torture chamber, workout room and storage room all rolled into one. But all it made her think was…

“Ooh! There is leather whip…And is that a horse!?”

So you see, she took some time enjoying what she saw, wondering why such a fitting room wasn’t anywhere to be found at their own school. She had to force herself to remember why she was there in the first place to get her body to move from the spot. Going back up to the ground floor, it was there she found the Computer room and the hooded girl that was behind the reason she was stalking a damn school in a different prefecture at such early hours.

“You! Where is BLACK?”

Sado had asked dangerously to the girl that looked up from the screen she was studying, looking to the world as if she was expecting Sado.

“BLACK?”

The hooded girl only raised an eyebrow at the question.

“The girl you kidnapped…Why did you do it in the first place? Are you insane or just picking a fight?”

The girl only stared at Sado as if she was the crazy one.

“It’s you…You don’t remember me, do you? I guess it’s a good thing you don’t. I wouldn’t want you getting in my way at this time. As to your question, if I wanted a fight, believe me you would have a fight. I took the girl because I needed something from her and I doubt she would’ve said yes had I asked nicely. And as for the insane part…Heh! Maybe just a little.”

Nezumi went back to her work.

“There is one question you haven’t answered; where is BLACK?”

“How about a game? If you win, I will tell you where she is. In fact, I might even let you walk out here with her.”

Sado fumed.

“You think this is a game? You sent your girls to damage our school then you kidnap one of the Queens and you think this is a game? Perhaps I wasn’t showing how serious I am.”

Sado walked purposefully towards Nezumi, her eyes blazing. It only took a blink to find that she was looking at an empty seat. The girl had disappeared.

“You would be shocked to know how much in life actually is a game. How about you then? Why aren’t the boys in blue the ones at our school right now? Didn’t occur to you to go to the police?”

Sado was shocked silent for more than one reason. The girl had spoken from across the room. When had she moved? And why had Sado not even considered the thought of contacting the police? The occasion more than called for it. She tried to answer but all that came out was…

“I…I…”

“Forget it. You wouldn’t understand anyways. Now, about that game…Oh don’t worry, if you frequent the arcades you will be familiar with it. Come now, I have finished setting us up.”

Sado didn’t know what to do but do as the girl said, for the time being. Sado placed herself into the place opposite Nezumi that she had indicated for her.

And so there they were, getting ready for round two of Melty Blood Actress Again, Sado’s favourite game lately. She didn’t know it was available for Computers as well. She would see to having a personal copy afterwards. She was playing as ‘Half Moon Ciel’ while her opponent was ‘Full Moon Arcueid’.

If the first round was anything to go by, Sado was getting her ass royally kicked. It was just a freakin’ game but really, who never got frustrated when they were losing at a game? Sure she was getting less damage than she did in the first round but all she did was drag out the time. She was being forced on the defence and soon it was broken through. There went the second round.

“It’s not over yet. If I win this, there will be time to settle things.”

Sado was sulking and she knew it but she was right.

“I am afraid it is over.”

The hooded girl spoke as she stood. Sado stood too as there was a crash of glass breaking, a scream and a weird sound. Something had happened outside.

“Looks like one of your pals is a goner. Oh well, you lose some, you win some.”

Nezumi grinned at Sado before she started for the exit.

“And what makes you think I will give you that chance?”

Sado was getting ready for a fight.

“Oh please, as if you could take me. Even if you could, the students will soon be arriving. Not the best place to be with only five of you. Or is four and a quarter? Heh!”

“Why you…”

“Do not fret. You will get a chance at your revenge soon enough if things go as I think they will. But for now I suggest you bail while you still can. Ta-ta!”

Sado wasted no time as she headed for the outside. She didn’t think of it when she found the corridor empty once she got there. Her mind was on other things and before long, she was back out. She hoped no one got hurt. She was in time to find Shibuya running towards the scene. Two people were there. One of them was getting up. The other was not. What in the world had happened?

Ω – Ω – Ω – Ω – Ω

Gekikara was falling and fast.

Shibuya could do nothing but stare as if in slow motion. There was nothing she could do about it though. It was like when a person who was being shot saw the bullet coming but didn’t have the ability to dodge it. That was how she felt at the moment as she saw Gekikara.

She felt helpless.

Ayaka could only look on as the girl plummeted towards the ground that was covered in glass. Shit was gonna hurt so bad if the person survived. Ayaka was a little relieved to see it was no one she knew, better yet, not Meetan. Even if it had been her, she wouldn’t have been able to do a thing about it she knew. And so, Ayaka could only watch the even unfold. She knew that it was wrong but there was a certain urge to see death.

As the two waited for the inevitable that would include messy sounds of flesh hitting a hard place and bones breaking – probably from all those horror movies – nothing of such happened. The glass shards kept falling but on others that came before. There was no body there. Even as the glass noise stopped indicating that it was over, there still was no body. Two mouths hang open.

Shibuya was at a loss as to what to believe. Where was Gekikara’s body? She was sure it would be lying there all bloodied and broken with glass sticking out and in it but there was no Gekikara. A sound of grunting got her attention. She saw someone carrying black in her arms only now that someone was collapsing on her knees, then forward to fall on top of Gekikara. It only took a moment of studying the battered clothes and spotting the familiar Queens’ jacket to identify who the person was.

“BLACK! Are you okay? Are you both okay?”

Shibuya asked as she ran over to the two.

“What the hell happened?”

Shibuya stopped at the sound of Sado’s voice.

“I am not sure. First thing I see is Gekikara crashing out the window then BLACK is there falling over her.”

Then as if she was enlightened…

“Hey, we found BLACK!”

Sado ignored the fashionable girl. She started for Gekikara and BLACK. Gekikara was struggling to get from under the collapsed BLACK.

“Sado we have a problem. Gekikara was thrown out the window and BLACK is gone.”

Sado turned towards the entrance to see a panicked Torigoya burst out of it. She looked scared.

“Calm down Torigoya. Gekikara is okay thanks to BLACK I think.”

Sado tossed her head towards where Gekikara was cradling a unconscious BLACK.

“Whoa…Are we under attack or something?”

It was a new voice that forced all heads to turn towards the gate. Two girls were standing there not knowing whether to proceed or back pedal back to where they came from.

“Shibuya and Torigoya get BLACK. We are leaving.”

Ω – Ω – Ω – Ω – Ω

Two figures were on the roof top of the school looking down on the five girls leaving the school grounds.

“Are you just gonna let them go?”

“I got what I needed, besides, there is the right time for everything.”

“Right you are Nezumi.”

A third figure cut into the two’s conversation.

“I believe you owe me two windows you two.”

The third girl finished as she came near Nezumi and the other. The new girl wasn’t alone. There was another with glasses walking alongside her who was for some reason holding a large umbrella over the first girl’s head.

“That will cost you eight hundred big ones to fix.”

The bespectacled girl shared. She used her free left hand to fix her glasses.

“Always with the numbers. Eh Pasoko?”

“And you are always the one with the secrets Nezumi…Joker.”

The shadowed girl said to the two with a bright smile.

“I told you to stop with that name already Riichi-kaichou.”

Matsui…or Joker as she was nick-named turned around to face the two girls that ran the school.

“So, kidnapping eh? That’s a new one. For a while there I was getting worried. What with all the good image you forced onto us Joker.”

The student body president of Joker High regarded Matsui. She had a smile on her pale face.

“Don’t blame her. It was my idea to lie low for a while. I just discovered something that’s much cooler. Besides, you were already on the top of the food chain in Chiba.” Then is a small voice she added, “in more ways than one.”

Nezumi spoke up as she turned to Riichi.

“Hey, I heard that. And you will never tell us whatever that cool thing is, will you?”

“In due time Kaichou-san, in due time. It does concern all of us after all but first…There is something we wish to discuss with you.”

“Just when I was wondering if you called me up here just to torture me with the cold air and the damned sunrise…”

The four left for the door off the rooftop.

Ω – Ω – Ω – Ω – Ω

……………………………….

…………………….

……..

……………………………………………………………………To Be Continued…………………………………………………………….

N/B

Lots and lots of characters changes have been made and more to occur. I will be posting the character update soon enough.

But for this chapter;

Maebon = Maeda Ami, Reinya = Fujie Reina, Riichi = Hirata Rikako and Pasoko = Nakanishi Yuka.