DJ: Vocaloid
Genre: Yuri
Pairings: Luka x Miku, Gumi x Lily, Akita x Yowane
Tags: Guns and explosions, Strong Language, Violence, Action, Drama

last edited at Oct 28, 2013 1:14AM

Forewords

　Caution: Big changes of characteristics, strong language, blood and gore. Allergic people are advised to press ^F4.
　If you have no problem with those contents, feel free to read on.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 candy76041820
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 2012-06-24 09:57:09
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Translation Started: 19:46:13, Sep. 15, 2013

last edited at Oct 26, 2013 8:30AM

Chapter Zero

　Land of Wid.
　Being the only continent of this planet, Wid have been growing countless lives, as well as watching their deaths.
　"Life and death, these are nothing but the most plain rule in the universe." Said someone over two hundred years ago. "Lives large as fixed stars are also determined to burn out one day, so what can be done by humble ground-prowling beings like us?"
　However, humans are able to create miracles with their very own hands. Fifty years after the still-echoing exclamation, from inside a research institute, located in a country named "Mando", came the first cry of a newly born artificial life. No, maybe it should be considered as "greetings" instead, since the new life didn't come with the needs of filling her lung with air -
　High-performance computing chips as brains, shape-memory alloy used for bones, covered by self-repairing materials, even with human-like shaped bodies. They are artificial life forms that completely created by human. They are called "humanoid".
　To begin with, humanoids can't give birth to their young, which led to incomplete public opinion viewing them as merely "robots with high lever AI". Despite of humanoids' deeper and deeper influence into everyday life, and ever-increasing similarities with human as days went by, the opinion lasted for tens of years, until changed by a newly founded corporation.
　Because the employees throughout the corporation consist of only humanoids, and on the business license wrote "development / manufacture of humanoids".
　Life forms are primarily defined by being able to duplicate individuals similar to themselves with resources, and there's no doubt that humanoids' creating new ones fits the definition. It was not until that day did humanoids were recognized and given same social status as human. All's well that ends well.

　- Only if things were that easy.
　Mankind is rather contradictory. Towards the existence born from their own hands, the attitude changed rapidly from friendly to hostile. Humanoids can outstrength and outsmart human beings very easily because of their half-mechanical structure. Driven by hatred of "competitors brought up in own hands", excessive actions were taken:
　- From secret hostility through public accusation.
　- From verbal scolding through direct violence.
　- From swinging baseball bats through flying bullets.
　- From street fights through city-wide riots.
　Struggled and struggled, humanoids finally got fed up and left the forest of reinforced cement. They went to the east end of the continent, and a homeland named "Neusen" was built where once was a life-less wasteland.
　One hundred years passed since then.
　Coincidentally, excessive people with exterminating the other party in their minds took powers on both sides. Some peace-loving human and humanoid were exiled from their homes. Wandering around without a goal, they ended up meeting in the south part of the world. They intentionally ignored the difference among them, and build their own ideal country named "Shyar" with their hands joint.
　Different from the peace in Shyar, tense situations between Mando and Neusen never loosen up even for a most tiny bit. The ever-lasting conflict extended so long that civilians on both sides even got used to roaring made by heavy bomber planes, to an extent where the noise started acting as lullabies. In Mando, saying even goes like "hospitals will get filled up with insomnia patients if nothing happened throughout the day."
　Needless to say, there are always thrill-loving people. Those human and humanoid settled down in the no man's land among the three countries, and led lives of pirate. They are referred to as "Hagail".
　The fittest survives, and so did the Hagail people. After all these years, weak groups were either wiped out by Mando or Neusen forces, or got absorbed by stronger ones. In the end, the remaining groups counted about only ten or so. Mando and Neusen are too busy with each other to take care of those Hagail groups, while Shyar, who holds an indifferent attitude towards them, kept its hands off as well. Certainly there were opinions suggesting of conscripting a Hagail group or two (with supplies such as food or money) to own advantages in both Mando and Neusen, but the Hagail groups tended to ask unbearable amounts, which put ends to the opinions.
　Usage of massively destructive weapons was also put into consideration, but estimation of affected area showed that they are double-edged swords. That has been why the conflict remained conventional seesaw battle.
　It's on this very land where our story begins.

last edited at Oct 25, 2013 2:23AM

Chapter One

　"Luka, hurry up. The sun is rising."
　A forest at night is undoubtedly explanation of the word "dangerous". In addition to various kinds of poisonous insects and blood-thirsty beasts, there are also hazard of people - Hagail ambushes.
　This large forest growing in the central area of the Wid land is a key place where main roads connecting Mando, Neusen and Shyar meet. Of course, there is nobody who doesn't want to keep distance from here, but paths around the forest take up at least four hours' ride. As a result, people will only enter this forest in large groups (no less than thirty personnel) in daylight, and keep themselves away after nightfall.
　But still, there are exceptions. Transport convoys and special strike teams sometimes make attempts to enter. Only a few of them succeeded, while the others never left this sea of death.
　Seconds before present, two well-armed soldiers fell in a pond of their own blood. Two girls are now standing by the corpses, who should be the only cause of the soldiers' death.
　The girl who was speaking just now wears a black shirt, a skirt of same color, and her twin long ponytails are black as well. Her red eyes shine brightly and coldly in the dark. She then crouches, reaching for a knife precisely stabbed through the thin gap between bullet-proof ceramic plates. It's obvious that the killer is rather skilled because of the knife's position, where it just cut an artery in two, indicating that this girl is not to be judged via only appearance.
　The other girl, previously called as "Luka", is in a black dress. She wears pink short straight hair, and is carrying a crossbow on her back. The corpse nearby is killed with an arrow in his neck which slightly points upwards, with lukewarm blood still flowing out. Luka ambushed him from within the grass off the road.
　"Zatsune, you need to take a look at this." Luka picks up a rectangular box from the dead body. It sounds like there's some kind of foamed plastic paddings in the box to protect fragile things.
　Zatsune, the black twin-ponytailed girl, walks up on Luka's words. Luka hands over the box, and then Zatsune opens it to have a look inside.
　It's a long object folded in the middle, where a pivot is installed. One half seems to be a handle, with the other half shaped streamline on the outside while edged on the inside. Zatsune tries to open the two halves, only to find that they can only be rotated into a right angle. "What on earth is this? Seems like a sickle though." Zatsune spins the object in her hand. It feels good.
　"Wait. What's that?" Luka notices a red button-like thing on the handle part.
　Zatsune flips her hand and sees it as well. She pushes it with her thumb.
　Then there comes a small buzz. The edge on the other half becomes dark red, too.
　"What's this...?" Zatsune carelessly puts her hand near the edge, but immediately gets stopped by Luka. "Wait! Watch it." Luka picks a small broken branch up from the ground, and puts it near instead.
　The wood stick gives a burst of white smoke on contact with the edge, before it breaks in two. Surprised Zatsune turns the switch off at once, then the red light disappears. "This is... amazing." Luka looks at the branch held in her hand. It was cut neatly, just like having been cut by a real sharp knife.
　"Perhaps this is a sickle for real. Isn't Neusen developing some kind of new weaponry? I remember reading that in their newspaper last time, in ambushing a transport convoy." Zatsune switches on the sickle again, and carefully folds it without turning it off. The switch slides off automatically as a result. "Ah, there's even safety. Nice."
　Luka searches the box again and picks up a piece of paper. Even if it's dark at present, some symbols and drawings are still visible under the dim moonlight. Zatsune then puts everything back into the rectangular box, "Let's clear this place up and get going. We can have a closer look then."
　After a thorough search, the two hide the bodies. Zatsune holds both soldiers' rifles in her hands, puts two pistols in holsters bound on her legs, and carries the box on her back. Luka carries some supplies such as ammo and ship biscuits with both arms. Then they sneak out of the forest and run towards their shelter.

　Two kilometers south-west to the forest there is a small hill, which had been once populated by miners. Yet there is only a ghost village remaining at present, due to depletion of natural resources. The reason why Luka and Zatsune selected here as their shelter, however, are the village's being near to the forest, and its consisting of empty housings, which in turn are easy choices of hiding supplies like food and weaponry.
　"Here comes another bunch~" After Zatsune enters Luka, who kicks the door close. The sun is now rising, however with both of the girls lacking of interest to watch.
　"Lemme see..." Zatsune drops herself into a chair, puts the rifles onto the table nearby, and extracts the box from her back.
　Luka, too, puts what she had been holding on the table, and starts counting. "An XM8 Carbine: with Integrated Sight Module, M320 underslung grenade launcher, five 30-round full magazines, and ten 40mm low-velocity fragmentation grenades; An M27 IAR with EOTech holographic sight and 3x magnifier, extended bipod foregrip, three 150-round full drums; Two M9A1 pistols with suppressors, eight 15-round full magazines. Six frag hand grenades. Four packs of ship biscuits."
　"Why. Not many of supplies, are those." Zatsune concentrates herself in reading the manual-like paper from the box, with her legs crossed. "The name is... 'what what cutter, trial model, mark what', blah blah... So this comes with a rechargeable battery, which lasts for four hours after a full recharge? Seems a little short to me."
　"Well that means save energy." Having collected all the miscellaneous things and moved them into another room, Luka is now standing in the kitchen, with a frying pan in her hand, preparing to make egg pies. "How do you want your pie, Zatsune? Well-cooked?"
　Zatsune puts the manual away. "Yeah. Well-cooked as always. - And a little saltier." Then she picks the sickle up, feels it by spinning in a pattern.
　Luka reaches for the salt bottle. "So what's the sickle called again? Trial model?"
　"Yeah. Why?" Zatsune picks a rusty old nail from nearby wall corner, and tries to cut it with the sickle. "As sharp as expected, huh."
　"But I'm always feeling it'll bring trouble to us. If in our hands." Luka turns off the cooker, and then separates the finished egg pies onto two plates.
　Zatsune returns the sickle into the box, and sits by the table with her hands washed. "What do you mean?"
　"Trial model means that it's the only developing prototype." Luka brings the plates to the table. "It's likely for Neusen to come after the sickle."
　"Well not like coming for US." Zatsune picks one of the pies with her chopsticks. She then blows it at the notice of hot vapor rising from the pie. "Fwuuuu. There are Hagail groups other than us here, you know."
　Luka opens a chili sauce bottle, and surfaces her pie with the sauce. "You can't be too cautious. It's possible for other to witness us just because we are not alone here."
　"Ah! I want the sauce, too!" Zatsune reaches for the bottle.

　Luka's worries turns out to be a bulls-eye. Three days later, Zatsune is looking at three people walking towards her when washing clothes under the afternoon sun. The leader is a playboy, followed by two bruisers who seem to be bodyguards.
　"Identify yourselves." Says Zatsune without even raising her head. As long as it's obvious that they are coming for the sickle, Zatsune decides to play some tricks on them first.
　"Words are that you got some kind of goods the other day. Our master wants to have a look." One of the bodyguards orders with a hoarse voice.
　Zatsune smiles coldly. "Why do I have to show that to you people? It's my private property since I picked it up."
　"You shameless bitch!" The bodyguard gets pissed off. The playboy instantly stops his man with a folding fan in his hands. "Don't be rude!"
　"I cannot have an agreement with your words, miss." Playboy turns to Zatsune. "All of us are in this same business, so why don't we do each other favors?"
　Walking up, he attempts to harass Zatsune with his hand. Zatsune throws herself forward to avoid the hand, does a handstand subsequently, and kicks him in the face. "Begone as long as I'm busy with my laundries." Says Zatsune upside-down.
　"Master Kamui!! - How dare you bitch kicking our master! Fuck you!" The two bodyguards, naturally becoming unable to stand this, run up to tear Zatsune's skirt.
　Then come two suppressed gunshots, and blood holes suddenly appeared on the bodyguards' stretched hands. Zatsune turns her head, and see Luka lazily lies herself on the windowsill, with a suppressed M9A1 in her hand. "Wanna touch her?" Luka pretends to blow on the pistol's muzzle.
　"Ju... Just you wait! - The hell with that..." Playboy, knowing his disadvantage situation, runs away in a hurry, leaving his wounded bodyguards behind. They quickly make their escape, too. Still handstanding, Zatsune winks to Luka. "Good job!"
　Luka puts the pistol away. "Can't you turn back up? You look silly like that." And adds comment to herself. (I can see your panties here.)
　"Don't mind~" Zatsune changes to normal standing. "Ok then. Done with the troublemakers, now I'm continuing with my laundries. - Gotta wash my hands first."
　"Why not just wash in that? Anyway you have to do the rinsing later." Luka gives a glimpse at the washing basin. "But do you really think it'll be ok to let them be?"
　Zatsune stands with her arms akimbo, looking at the backs of the three. "Fine with me. I won't believe anyone inside our area dare to touch us without second thoughts."
　"Then what about outside?" Luka asks back.
　"You mean the Neusen people? Well I'd come much earlier if I were them." Zatsune gives herself a stretch, and crouches beside the basin again. "It should be good these days. How about we go for an outing?"
　Luka curls her lips. "Never seen a Hagail person as leisure as you."
　Zatsune pretends to be angry. "Nonsense! JUST ARE YOU GOING OR NOT??"
　"Ok ok ok~ What do you want for tomorrow lunch?" Luka bursts with laughter. Zatsune immediately drools. "Curry rice!"
　"Just what a foodie are you?!" Luka turns back and heads for the kitchen, singing.

　　　とおくまでつづいてく レールのうえ
　　On the ever-lasting rails
　　　あのころとかわらない でんしゃにのりこむ
　　Boarding the changeless train
　　　ゆうたちすぎて はしゃいでいる
　　Overlapping with the seasoned self
　　　がくせいにあのころの じぶんをかさねる
　　With the student self

　　　えにかいたような ほしぞらをきみとみてた
　　Together with you, looking up to the painting-like starry sky
　　　おさなきひの ぼくにはまぶしすぎて
　　The sun, even though it's still young, is too dazzling to me

　　　あしはやにすぎてゆく にちじょうのなかで
　　During the flying everyday time
　　　あじけないやりとりで かわいてくこころ
　　Meaningless talks, arid minds
　　　ときがすぎるのも こわくなくて
　　But the flying time itself is not to be feared of
　　　つたえたいおもいぜんぶ かさねたくちびる
　　Since all the thoughts are placed on the overlapping lips

　　　なつのおわり ひろがるほしぞらのした
　　In the end of summer, under the borderless starry sky
　　　はかないゆめ いつまでもつづくとおもってた
　　I believe that this unreal dream could last for ever

　　　えにかいたような ほしぞらをきみとみてた
　　Together with you, looking up to the painting-like starry sky
　　　おさなきひの ぼくにはまぶしすぎて
　　The sun, even though it's still young, is too dazzling to me
　　　なつのおわり ひろがるほしぞらのした
　　In the end of summer, under the borderless starry sky
　　　はかないゆめ いつまでもつづくとおもってた
　　I believe that this unreal dream could last for ever

　Once upon a time, a family lived in Shyar. Its members made such enormous contributions to the country that they were given noble statuses after Shyar was founded, and were respected by the Shyar people.
　However, as the time went by, the family descendants degenerated into selfish maggots, and finally got driven out by the angry people.
　The family members then settled down inside a mountainous area, not far from the Hagails' influence. In memory of the glorious old days, they built a luxury palace there, with their only savings, as their final shelter.
　After twenty years of business with those Hagail groups, they managed to build up a considerable amount of wealth. Under the leadership of a young master, who was born in the very year when they were exiled, the families started to take measures in order to return to Shyar. This young master has been respected as "Master Kamui".
　Today Kamui went in confidence that the two girls will comply to whatever he said, just like other Hagail groups who live on the supplies bought from him. However, he never knows that both Zatsune and Luka are so stubborn, and even daring to kick him in the face. Naturally, he's by no means forgiving this. "Those assholes!! How dare you disobey me!!" Regardless of his elegant image, Kamui spits to the carpet.
　"Please calm down, my master." The butler runs up in small paces, bringing a wet towel on his arms, and gives a hint of "just hurry and clean it up already" to some maids standing by with his eyes. "May I ask what might it be to offend you like that?"
　Kamui drags the towel violently, and wipes wildly on his face. "Who are those bitches in the abandoned mine?"
　"One is named Luka, and the other is Zatsune." After taking out a small notebook from his pocket, the butler has a quick look browse through it. "They made offense to you?"
　"What else do you think!" Kamui finds his butler to be a scapegoat. Of course he won't talk about the truth of himself kicked and his men shot, or he'll certainly lose his prestige - even though the bruise on his face has already given him away. The butler cleverly pretends not to have seen it. "They are nothing but two ignorant women. They don't deserve your anger."
　Kamui glares at him. "Bullshit. I'm gonna have my revenge on them."
　"..." Sensing the tension, butler backs off after Kamui puts the towel back to his hands, thinking. (Revenge? Those two are by no means easy targets. You'd better give up, my master.)

last edited at Oct 25, 2013 2:24AM

Chapter Two A

　"Oh yeah yeah. Ok. I got it." A blonde girl closes her cellphone in some meeting room, with the door shut tight.
　On the ground it's only an abandoned industrial area, while under the ground there's an unknown huge shelter structure. This is where the most confidential Neusen Military Research Center is located.
　The structure consists of multiple vertically laid floors, which are garage / helicopter hanger, living / office area, factory, and warehouse, top-down respectively. Each of the layers has a height of no less than ten meters, and an area of two hundred meters square. The way traveling among these floors, are also bold ramps instead of petty elevators. The only entrance to the whole structure is hidden in an unattractive abandoned warehouse, while a chimney near it acts as the air vent.
　Back to the meeting room, the blonde girl, whose hair is combed in a single side ponytail, turns to another girl with long gray straight hair. "Yowane, what do we do? The trial model is lost."
　Yowane glares at her. "It's only YOU to blame! Why the hell did you only send two men to deliver such important things? And even went to Mando to perform field tests instead of testing it in our base."
　"That's only for maintaining secrecy, you know..." The blonde changes the topic with her face red. "That aside, how about we go out and search it ourselves first?"
　Yowane walks up to a map on the wall. "What route did you order those two to go along?"
　"I ordered them to go around in the south. But since report says that the bodies are discovered in the forest, I suppose they just changed route on their own." The blonde points to the green area on the map. "I'm gonna get a helicopter ready."
　With her words, the blonde heads for the door, when she gets grabbed by Yowane. "Wait. Helicopters are magnets to eyes and anti-air fire. Get a road vehicle instead."
　"Wilco. But aren't you easy to get carsickness?" The blonde laughed.
　Yowane gets irritated. "It's because you are driving too recklessly!"

　"Akita! Let's get going!" Arriving at the car park in the top floor and with a big package on her hand, Yowane calles out for the blonde girl who has taken the chance to have a nap in the driver seat of a civilian-painted four-seat SUV.
　Akita talks in her sleep. "Uhh... I'm, I'm full..."
　"Hey..." Yowane somewhat feels ashamed, while suddenly gets naughty. She throws the package into the back seats, then pinches Akita's bubble-making nose.
　"..." Akita doesn't respond. The interested Yowane doesn't release as well.
　It's not until half a minute later does she get panic on Akita's motionless. "Akita! Akita! Wake up!" Yowane hurriedly retracts her hand.
　"PHEW~!" Akita gives a deep breath, and opens her eyes. "Why. You trying to suffocate me?" Smiles Akita.
　"What the - DON'T YOU SCARE ME LIKE THAT!!" Blushing in bright red, Yowane starts to throw punches at Akita in shame. "Damn you Akita! Damn you! Should have chocked you to death!"
　Akita wards off the attack. "Come on, just forgive me already~"
　"Not gonna happen before knocking you on your damn head!" Yowane raises her fist. With an evil grin on her face, Akita stretches her head out into Yowane's attack range, who in turn emblematically hits her backhand a couple of times.
　Akita sits back and turns the ignition key. "Ok, now that you are done with me, let's go, Yowane."
　"Hmph." Yowane boards the SUV as well, still pouting.

　Different from the common sense of holding important secrets deep inside, the NMRC locates at a remote region at the border of Neusen. Although there indeed is a checkpoint on the way here from central area, it's nothing more than an empty shell consisting of neither sentry soldiers nor security facilities. The idea is to fool Mando's recon planes and satellites, making them supposing the more valuable targets are much deeper inside the country.
　After tens of kilometers' drive along the road all the way to its end, Akita stops the car. "Then what, Yowane? Where are we heading?"
　Yowane takes a look at a map and a compass in her both hands. "Let me see... That hill. Go around it clockwise." She points to the left.
　"Oh." Akita steps on the throttle pedal. "Rocks ahead. Hold tight~"
　"Uwah! Easy!" Yowane hurriedly turns around to grab the package. "We can't afford to damage the tracing device."
　Akita asks while driving. "Tracing device?"
　"I installed a signal transmitter onto the battery of the trial model. As long as we are within one kilometer, this tracing device will respond." Yowane takes out a small box, which has an antenna stretching out from it. "That region is no wider than ten kilometers at its widest part. We should be able to locate the trial model in several passes."
　"When did you do that?" Akita turns her head.
　Yowane smiled in complacency. "Ever since the design phase. - AHEAD OF US! LOOK OUT!!" She screams at the sight of a tall big cactus right in their way.
　"What the!?" Akita turns the steering wheel sharply, in Yowane's another scream, who almost gets thrown out. "WHAT THE -"

　"Here we are." The SUV finally pulls to a stop beside a small hill. Akita applies the hand brake. "Is it here? Yowane?"
　"Huh... yeah, let, let me... puke for a while... eew..." Yowane's naturally white face now is turning even more colorless, and her head is peeking out from the window.
　Akita puts the gears to neutral, then reaches across to comfort Yowane by rubbing down her back.
　"Wah... uoh..." Yowane is throwing everything up, from what she ate at the dinner the day before yesterday to literally today's breakfast. After some painful and serious puking, she sits back at last. "Wah, why do I, have to, suffer like this every time with you... As, as if I had some serious mistakes in my previous life..."
　"Sorry~" Akita laughed cheekily. "Every time, isn't it?"
　Yowane gives her a glare. "Don't you say any more than this - Eew..." A sourness suddenly gushes up, thus stops her from saying any more than that.
　"The trial model will be long lost if I don't drive such fast!" Akita manages to find a good excuse this time, which gets immediately broken by Yowane. "You lost it to begin with!"
　"It's not that I intend to lose it." Akita mumbles. "That aside, why does a humanoid like you get carsick? Isn't it what only humans do?"
　"'Humanoid' and 'human', huh..." Yowane gives out a deep sigh on Akita's words. "Wouldn't it be much better just to ignore this little difference."
　Akita frowns. "But they are driving us away!"
　"Don't you dare to say that you never even had a thought about wiping the low form of animal entirely from this planet." Yowane glimpses her.
　Akita lowered her head from being pointed out directly. Humanoids are made similar to human, which means they have emotions as human as well, including the repulsion towards different species.
　"It's no less than ten years had we stayed there in Mando before leaving it. You should have known humanity well, shouldn't you." Yowane wipes her face clean, and takes out a bottle of water to rinse her mouth. "Break up with our creators, while sharing their weakness. What an irony."
　Akita loses her words. Yowane, too, with her eyes closed, lies back in the chair silently. For a time, the only sound between them is a song played from the onboard audio player.

　　　きみとなつのおわり しょうらいのゆめ おおきなきぼうわすれない
　　The summer spent together with you is finally over. Though I can't forget the enormous dreams and hopes about future
　　　じゅねんごのはちがつまたであえるのをしんじて
　　I believe we can still meet each other ten years later, in August
　　　さいこうのおもいでを…
　　With this best memory...

　　　であいはふっとしたしゅんかん かえりみちのこうさてんで
　　The first moment we met, at the crossing on our way home
　　　こえをかけてくれたね「いっしょにかえろう」
　　You said to me, "Let's go home together"
　　　ぼくはてれくさそうにカバンでかおをかくしながら
　　Ashamed, I hid my face behind my bag
　　　ほんとうはとてもとてもうれしかったよ
　　While actually I was more than happy

　　　ああはなびがよぞらきれいにさいてちょっとセツナク
　　O fireworks filled the night sky seem a little sad
　　　ああかぜがじかんとともにながれる
　　O it disappeared with the wind and time going by
　　　うれしくってたのしくってぼうけんもいろいろしたね
　　It was happy, it was exciting, in the adventures and games
　　　ふたりのひみつのきちのなか
　　Inside our secret base

　　　きみとなつのおわり しょうらいのゆめ おおきなきぼうわすれない
　　The summer spent together with you is finally over. Though I can't forget the enormous dreams and hopes about future
　　　じゅねんごのはちがつまたであえるのをしんじて
　　I believe we can still meet each other ten years later, in August
　　　きみがさいごまでこころから「ありがとう」さけんでたこと
　　The "thank you" you shouted with all your heart at the last moment
　　　しってたよ
　　I knew it well
　　　なみだをこらえてえがおでさようならせつないよね
　　Holding the tears back, farewell is heartbreaking to say
　　　さいこうのおもいでを…
　　This is the best memories...

　　　ああなつやすみもあとすこしでおわっちゃうから
　　O the summer vacation is almost over
　　　ああたいようとつきなかよくして
　　O the sun and the moon should get along well
　　　かなしくってさびしくてけんかもいろいろしたね
　　It was sad, it was lonely, in fights and other events
　　　ふたりのひみつのきちのなか
　　Inside our secret base

　　　きみがさいごまでこころから「ありがとう」さけんでたこと
　　The "thank you" you shouted with all your heart at the last moment
　　　しってたよ
　　I knew it well
　　　なみだをこらえてえがおでさようならせつないよね
　　Holding the tears back, farewell is heartbreaking to say
　　　さいこうのおもいでを…
　　This is the best memories...

　　　とつぜんの てんこうで どうしようもなく
　　Sudden news of transferring schools shocked me
　　　てがみかくよ でんわもするよ わすれないでね ぼくのことを
　　Please write to me, please call me, and please don't forget me
　　　いつまでも ふたりのきちのなか
　　Always inside our secret base

　　　きみとなつのおわり ずっとはなして
　　The summer spent with you is already over, while all I did was talking to you
　　　ゆうひをみてからほしをながめ
　　Watching the sunset, looking at faraway stars
　　　きみのほほをながれたなみだはずっとわすれない
　　I can't forget the tears on your face
　　　きみがさいごまでおおきくてをふってくれたこと
　　Your hand swung until the very end
　　　きっとわすれない
　　I absolutely won't forget it
　　　だからこうしてゆめのなかでずっとえいえんに…
　　So, just let me keep dreaming about that forever...
　　　きみとなつのおわり しょうらいのゆめ おおきなきぼうわすれない
　　The summer spent together with you is finally over. Though I can't forget the enormous dreams and hopes about future
　　　じゅねんごのはちがつまたであえるのをしんじて
　　I believe we can still meet each other ten years later, in August
　　　きみがさいごまでこころから「ありがとう」さけんでたこと
　　The "thank you" you shouted with all your heart at the last moment
　　　しってたよ
　　I knew it well
　　　なみだをこらえてえがおでさようならせつないよね
　　Holding the tears back, farewell is heartbreaking to say
　　　さいこうのおもいでを…
　　This is the best memories...
　　　さいこうのおもいでを…
　　This is the best memories...

　"Still feeling sick?" Several minutes later, Akita turns to Yowane and asks.
　Yowane nods. "Nah. I'm fine now." She slides the zipper on the package open, taking a dress out. "Here, put this on."
　Akita takes it over. "A white dress? Why, it looks good to me."
　"There's a family exiled from Shyar. On the surface they claim to be declining aristocrat, while actually they are doing black market business with almost every Hagail group: Firearms, food, medicine, everything." Yowane takes a white parasol out in addition. "Words are that they hired a large number of servants. Even if the trial model isn't here, there might still be somebody who knows a thing or two about it. That's why we are heading in."
　"Then shouldn't we disguise as maids? This lady outfit is eye catcher for sure." Akita is about to wear the dress directly over the military suit she's been in until now, when she realizes that it would not only seem stupid and also tending to blow their cover up, and simply takes off everything. Although she's not wearing a bra now (which is required in Neusen military forces since its steel skeleton will bring trouble in emergency situations), Akita isn't embarrassed a bit at all since there's only one people, or Yowane that has been her old friend ever since they are manufactured, by her side at present in this no man's land.
　Yowane also puts on a swallowtail suit, and ties up her long gray hair with an extra-large bowknot. "Well that's because we don't have the time for gradual infiltration now." She then gets two pairs of white silk gloves. One pair for each.
　Akita is stopped when she started to step out. "Hey! Are you thinking you can just go in like that?"
　"Why?" Akita gets curious. "What's wrong?"
　Yowane is holding a pair of golden high slipsole sandals in her hand. "You forget these!"
　On hearing her words, Akita quickly lifted the hemline of her dress, only to find her shoes are left unchanged. She takes them off in a hurry, throws them into the car, and changes into the sandals. Yowane then wiped their faces with a towel, and does some make-up for Akita with her portable make-up kit.
　After all those dressing up work, Akita and Yowane successfully turned to a pair of one young lady and her female servant. Akita opens the parasol. "So where are we going next?"
　"This way, Miss Neil." Yowane bows down with her words, only to give Akita the creeps. "Stop, Yowane, just... you just lead the way. It's somewhat too abnormal... And what's with that 'Neil' thing?"
　"Alias." Yowane winks. "Oh yes, you can call me 'Hecca'."
　Akita almost trips over her own feet. "What the heck kind of name is that... I'd prefer calling you 'Snowwhite'."
　"NO 'SNOWWHITE' ALLOWED!!" Yowane calls out.

　"You see that? The purple house over there." Yowane points to a big building at distance. "That where the family lives now."
　"Eew. That's rather disgusting." Akita doesn't even want to look twice. "I'll never paint my house like that. Even cream color, brick red or pure white will do."
　Curling her lips, Yowane expresses her agreement. "You've said it. I suppose there are some kind of religion reason. Otherwise it have to be that they all have some kind of disease in their brains."
　"True that." Akita nods hard, causing her blonde hair to shake violently - The single ponytail also got untied since it doesn't look suited with a young lady at all.
　Although dislike, Akita has to force herself to walk up towards it, with Yowane following several steps behind her.
　On the second floor balcony sits Kamui, drinking coffee and reading newspapers. After a glimpse of a blonde princess walking by with a servant, it doesn't even take a second for him to be filled with lust. Since he just got rebuffed at Luka and Zatsune's place, Kamui's attitude to them consists of both hatred and thirst - thirst for another kick. Seems that he's kind of masochism.
　Within such situation, the playboy naturally won't take Akita and Yowane (although he doesn't know their names for now) as anything other than surrogates. Hurring back to his room, Kamui grabs a purple suit, puts it on, then rushes out to strike up a conversation with the beauties outside, leaving the wardrobe door creaking like "just shut me down properly already".
　Akita can't help but laughs at the sight of a purple person hurrying out from the gate. (Why don't you just run up here instead of taking the trouble pretending to be some good guy?)
　(Pfft.) Yowane giggles silently as well.
　Having approached the two girls, Kamui puts on air and greets them. "Oh, beautiful ladies, what brings you here?"
　"We are merely taking a walk. Might I be talking to... the famous Master Kamui?" Akita askes in a polite tone.
　"Much pleasure to meet you. My name is Kamui." The playboy almost blossoms with happiness, while putting a calm face. "Who might I..."
　"The name is Neil. This is my maid, S-Hecca." Akita nearly bursts out with "Snowwhite". Yowane gives her a discontented glimpse, only to get ignored.
　On Akita's words, Kamui's face showed a confused look for one second. Although he rapidly puts the usual look back at once, Akita and Yowane have already both noticed the change in facial expression. "We are travelers from south of Shyar." With the acute observation gained from the military force, Akita instantly adds.
　"Oh my goodness, such long a way. May I humbly invite the two of you to rest and have a cup of tea here in my house?" Asks Kamui, telling himself that the two girls are lured into his trap, while unknowing about the totally different truth.
　"Hmm..." Akita plays cat and mouse with him.
　Kamui has completely fallen for her. "Doesn't matter. Please make yourselves at home." He insists. "Serve the ladies with all we've got!" Kamui orders his servants.
　"If you insist, excuse us for interrupting." Akita sets her step into the yard. Yowane follows her after making conclusion of being safe for the time being.
　Kamui points to a desk with a huge parasol covering it. "This way, please." He then pulls two chairs for both of them. "Fine tea will be ready soon."
　"What a nice place." This comment from Akita is honest. The house, while rather plain when viewed from outside, is much more luxurious than what Akita and Yowane thought it was. Swimming pool, BBQ oven and even one small golf field can be found here. "Such a big yard takes a lot of men to take care of, doesn't it?" Akita seats herself in one of the chairs. In the meantime the tea is served. Yowane then takes out a small flask, pours several drips into the cup, and stirs for a couple of seconds with a small silver spoon - It's not about Akita being fond of certain flavor, but testing for poison: You can never be too cautious.
　"We have some servants for that." Kamui glances to some maids waiting several steps farther, when the butler hurriedly shows up and whispers with him. "For sure?" Kamui looks anxious.
　The butler nods frequently. "For sure. I've witnessed it by myself."
　"... So that settles it." Kamui then turns to Akita. "I'm terribly sorry, but something has suddenly come up for me. Can I have you stay here a little longer?"
　"It's ok. We can take our time." Even though Akita gets curious, she just pretends to be calm. "So would you mind us to take a walk around?"
　Kamui doesn't give it a second thought. "Of course I don't mind. Just say the word when you need it. Excuse me to take my leave." He bows again before turning around and heading out together with the butler.
　It would be easy to guess what could have drawn this playboy away from the beauties right in front of him - Luka and Zatsune. On hearing the news brought by his butler of their presence in a small forest, Kamui's mind already gets away.
　Having confirmed that Kamui has left, Akita exchanges looks with Yowane. "Still not responding?" Akita lowers her voice.
　Yowane takes the device out under the cover of her body, and then has a quick look. "Nope. As expected."
　"Then let's see what they will say." Akita looks at the maids Kamui mentioned just now. They have formed a circle and started kicking a shuttlecock.
　"Ok." After putting the tracing device back, Yowane looks around. "I'm gonna ask those people."
　The two stand up and head for the crowd. Noticing the guests coming, the maids stop playing at once, and their leader comes up. "What can we do for you, miss?"
　Akita waves her hand. "It's nothing. Just have fun as you were. Well may my servant join you?"
　"With pleasure." The leader replies. Yowane then walks up into the circle. "My name is Hecca. Nice to meet you." Yowane bows with her greetings, which causes a micro unrest among the maids. "Whoa, she's so tall and beautiful!" "Good-looking even in men's clothing!" "And she has such a good shape!"
　(Men's clothing...) Akita almost can't hold back from bursting with laughter on hearing the maids' gossip. Yowane keeps saying to herself. (Damn Akita! You gotta be kidding me!)
　Thus they have been playing for a while. Thinking that the maids have had enough asking trivial questions like "what eye liner do you usually use", Yowane pretends to strike up a conversation without deep thoughts. "Why does it seem to me that Master Kamui's face is covered with bruise?"
　"Well isn't that a good guess." One of the maids sticks her thumb up. "Actually he came home like that yesterday."
　Yowane begins paying extra attention. "What happened?"
　"I'd say that our master met a difficult opponent this time. - Here!" Another maid kicks the shuttlecock to the other side. "He took two of his best men with him, yet came back with a broken tooth. His face swelled as if it was slapped, too."
　"Yeah yeah. The two bodyguards were also shot in the hands. Blood kept gushing out. Eew, even talking about that now still give me the creeps." A younger maid chips in.
　Yowane remembers her role as a servant, who is not permitted to say too much, just before asking some further questions. Instead, she gives Akita a hint while turning back to catch the shuttlecock.
　Having been listening to all their talk, Akita gets her and picks up the topic. "Then would you please tell me where did Master Kamui unfortunately get hurt? It'll also be necessary for us to keep away from dangerous places."
　"I heard that it was an abandoned mine. But words also came that there are people living there. I'm just not sure." The younger maid answered in a relatively high pitch. Akita and Yowane decide to stop asking before getting suspected, too.
　Pretending to be taking a walk around the yard, Akita spends about half an hour before she comes back to pick Yowane up. "Ah, it's so late. We have to be leaving."
　"Please wait up, Miss Neil." The maid leader leaves the circle. "As Master Kamui has stated, you can to stay here for the night."
　"Unfortunately we have some private affairs to handle. Sorry for the inconvenience." Akita insists. "Hecca, we are leaving."
　The maids then line up to see them off. "You are welcome to come back at any time~" Synchronously they say.
　"See you~" Akita swings her closed parasol.

　Afraid of being tailed, the two took a long route around before arriving back at the SUV.
　Akita changes back to her suit in haste. "Phew. Finally we are out. The highheels are killing me. Yowane, give me a massage after we go back."
　"Not gonna happen!" Yowane laughs, squeezing the clothes back into the package, and kicks Akita on her butt. "Just get in already."
　"Yowane you meanie!" Akita jumps into the driver seat taking advantage of the momentum. "What now?"
　Yowane throws the package into back seats, then boards the car from the other side. "What did the young one say just now? Abandoned mine?" She takes the map out.
　Akita inserts the ignition key. "Yeah. Lead the way."
　"Hmm... Go between the two hills, then turn right." Yowane flattens the map to show Akita the road. "Let's go. - Drive steadily!"
　"O~k~" Akita giggles. Yowane pinches her really hard. "Just you wait! I swear I shall puke right onto you next time!"
　Akita turns the key. "Fine with me. Anyway you get to do the laundry."
　"Akita you bastard!!"

　"Le~li~haas~" Zatsune puts on an extremely happy face.
　Atop the hill, Luka and Zatsune are now sitting on the ground with a plastic sheet laid under, and are each holding a lunchbox in their hands. Zatsune's contains curry rice with beef as her wish, while Luka is having braised fish on top of rice. A small bottle is placed nearby as well.
　Luka picks the bottle and drinks a mouthful from it. "Nah, you'd better watch out not to have your mouth exploded."
　Zatsune's faces are bulged. "Lat's 'cauz Luka's foods are lilihaus~"
　"Just choose one between eating and speaking already." Luka hands over the bottle. "Don't get choked."
　"Mugu. Mugu." Zatsune drinks some water to flush the food down her throat. "Puhaa~ Luka you sure won't have any trouble in marriage. You cook faultlessly, and look extremely beautiful."
　Luka blushes. "Anyway I'm a humanoid, that means I can easily change my appearance via replacing certain parts, doesn't it? For cooking, having my memory chips filled with some cookbook data is enough."
　"Cooking is by no means that easy." Zatsune swings her index finger from side to side. "Even if following the same cookbook, different people cook different food. You know why?"
　"Why?" Luka seems confused.
　Zatsune points to herself. "Because preferences have imperceptible affections over human actions. For instance, I like chili flavor, then I'll be likely to put some more chili; My younger sister likes sweet food, and we run out of sugar very often. Besides, the minimal adjustment on the control of heat-level and time will never get written in any cookbook."
　"You have a sister younger than you?" Luka notices a detail. "Never heard of it."
　"Not blood relatives, though. She's human, the same as me." Zatsune looks up to the sky. "About five years ago, a city in Mando got airstricken that day, whose name I can't recall. After nightfall, I went there to see if I was lucky to find some food supply. I was digging in the rubble pile when a tiny call for help came to my ears, so I pulled her out." With her words, Zatsune puts the emptied lunchbox down beside her. "She told me that her parents were killed in the bombardment, while she was the sole survivor."
　Luka thinks for a while. "Five years ago... It was only two years since I met you. No wonder I don't know about that."
　Zatsune continues. "She seemed similarly aged with me, and was as lonely as well, so I hid my identity and took her to Shyar, the more peaceful country. I stayed with her there for about two years or so before she became able to make a living. Right before I leaved, I told her about my occupation as Hagail, but it was beyond my expectation that she didn't even get scared a tiniest bit. She only asked me to adopt her as my sister, in exchange for my leaving." Zatsune's face becomes so tender that is totally unknown to Luka. "Anyway since she had already been homeless, I adopted her for the sakes of both of us, so that we could rely on each other. - How about we go and visit her next time? I've been missing her recently, you know."
　"That would be a literal 'next time'." Luka looks around for a bit. "Now let's solve the problem -"
　"Right before us!" Zatsune suddenly jumps up with an M9A1 pistol in her hand, ordering loudly. "Show yourselves!"
　Compared with her, Luka leisurely puts everything together, then extracts that XM8 from under the plastic sheet. Not only inserting a fresh magazine, she also reloads the M320 with a frag grenade and a clicking sound.
　Almost the same time with Zatsune's words do the figures come into view, whose leader is that playboy who came last time. "How are you, my ladies?" He greets with a hypocritical smile. However, his hairstyle is in a total mess, which reveals that they have chased all the way through the forest which Luka and Zatsune had been in.
　It's naturally for Zatsune to get pissed off when her recall for the good old times was interrupted, so she decides to play with him for a bit in the beginning. "Ah. You are that..."
　The playboy get reeled in. "Oh? It's my pleasure to be remembered."
　"That... That what? 'Kabuki'?" Zatsune puts on a face of "I don't remember". Luka adds comments. "Hey Zatsune. Don't say such harsh things with such a harmless face. His name is 'KamuED'."
　(You are even harsher...) Zatsune says to herself. The humiliated playboy tries to make correction. "... The name is Kamui. I apologize to you for my men's improper deeds last time we met."
　"Cut the bullshit. Just say it if you want the sickle." Zatsune raises her M9A1 as a signal of getting impatient.
　Kamui's lips shake with a twitch. "I came with peace in my mind. But if you insist, I have to make use of violence to force you give me what I want." His men also aim their weapons to Zatsune with Kamui's words.
　"Don't you boast. You'd have never come if peace is really in your damned head." Zatsune keeps criticizing while squaring up.
　Luka browses through their opponents. "SCAR-H CQC with EGLM, M26 MASS standalone mod, M1014 semiautomatic shotgun with extended ammo tube... Another mixed group. - Zatsune, pay some attention to your sickle. Don't damage the equipment, especially that Mk18 CQBR with ACOG sight. I'm getting that." She points to the enemy closest to her with the XM8.
　"No problem~" Zatsune makes an ok gesture.
　Although Kamui is nothing more than a stupid playboy, he has already learned his lesson through the kick yesterday. Nonetheless, while threatening with advantage in number is what there is in Kamui's mind, the one who just got pointed by Luka can't hold himself back. "What roosters are you, bitches?! Man let's do this!"
　The idiot goes for the trigger while shouting. But the two act even faster: Zatsune has already put three bullets in his head before making holes on the carotid arteries of another two; Luka tears one enemy with a direct shot from the M320, blasting three of his friends away at the same time.
　It is not until now do the remaining enemies realize what happened just now and start to fire back. Luka dodges their fire with two sequential forward handsprings, meanwhile killing another one in the progress. Zatsune, in contrast, jumps up, opens the sickle, and then slashes downwards from above.
　The only opponents left after Zatsune's actions are Kamui and two of his men, their legs shaking helplessly before Luka delivers one bullet to each of them. Aside from blood holes appearing in their faces.
　Zatsune swings the sickle in a pattern before putting it by Kamui's neck. "Whaddya think?"
　Only trying to be brave takes Kamui's all remaining strength, needless to say talking. Luka chips in while collecting the firearms. "What's the point of asking? Just kill him already."
　"Nope!" Zatsune smiles evilly, putting the sickle back to her skirt pocket instead to swap out the M9A1. "My sickle will get contaminated if used to kill you. I've been thinking of shooting you instead at first, while the fu~ture~tel~ling I did yesterday showed that you still have some days to live, so I'm sparing you piece of shit this time."
　Saying that, Zatsune pulls the trigger to dig a trench of blood in Kamui's face. "That's another mouth for you~" Zatsune then kicks Kamui on his ass, putting the pistol back. "Get lost!"
　Kamui flees with his hand covering the wound, leaving tens of dead bodies behind. Luka keeps watching as he disappears, then asks. "Why don't you just do the killing?"
　"Isn't he doing black market business? We Hagail groups won't get supplies without him." Zatsune approaches some corpses, and crouches down. "Even if we aren't buying anything from him, we still should leave a way out for others, shouldn't we?"
　"True that." Luka opens the M320 barrel, replaces the empty shell with a new grenade. "- Hey, the two over there, how about we face each other directly?" She suddenly raises her voice, sending one bullet onto a rock a little faraway with the XM8's selector switched to semi-auto.
　Zatsune stands up, carrying two SCAR-Hs, one on each of her shoulders, and reaches for the sickle in her skirt pocket. "So you noticed them, too?"
　"Humanoids are installed with sensors, you know." Luka picks the Mk18 she's been wanting up, and puts it onto her back.
　"That's cheating!" Zatsune laughs, and turns to face the slowly approaching figures. "Here they come." Her face darkled, Zatsune gets a tight grip of the sickle, thinking. (Just don't you make trouble, or you'll be in it.)
　The other party finally closes up. It's a shorter blonde girl with a single side ponytail, and a taller girl wearing straight light gray hair with an ultra-big black (with a blue stripe in the center) bow tied behind her neck.
　They are Akita and Yowane. When they approached in their SUV, a purple van together with voices from the hill top got their attention, so they decided to hide the vehicle and watch after a brief discussion.
　Having arrived at the top, they sensed another humanoid, thus the girl with pink hair, saw Kamui tricked by another black-haired girl, and got the tracing device responding. Although they don't have even a slightest bit of liking towards Kamui either, they still hid themselves behind a big rock and watched, because the theory of "the enemy of my enemy" doesn't apply here.
　After Kamui fled, Akita and Yowane didn't have time to discuss what to do next before the rock was shot at. They had no choice but showed themselves.
　Luka takes a look at their military uniforms. "The NMRC?"
　"That's right." Yowane makes up her mind. "You two form a Hagail group? A pair of human and humanoid?"
　Zatsune steps up. "Correct. You are coming for this, aren't you?" She points the sickle at the other party.
　Akita frowns. "What if I say yes?"
　"I believe you saw that bastard just now." Zatsune lowers her voice on purpose.
　Akita and Yowane certainly know what she meant, and it doesn't take a second for the atmosphere to tighten up. None of the four says anything - they just keep looking daggers at each other. Even if the only firearm explicitly shown is Luka's XM8, the sickle in Zatsune's hand still speaks for itself. As with Akita and Yowane, although unarmed at present, they are still able to draw their M9A1 pistols hidden behind their backs. What's more, the distance between the two parties is best for pistols with aiming lasers.
　Half a minute has passed before Yowane suddenly speaks. "Ok then. Akita."
　"Me?" Akita turns to look at her.
　Yowane makes a "please" gesture towards Zatsune. "The trial model, in my opinion, is worth of nothing unless held in your hands. I'll entrust it to you from now on." She then steps back, showing that she has no hostile intention at all. "It would have desired a good owner like you if it could think."
　Akita gets anxious instantly. "Wait! Yowane, aren't we coming to get it back?!"
　"I don't care anymore. Even if it comes back, the project will still get cancelled anyway, by those old pieces of junk, for sure." Yowane reaches back for her own pistol. Getting aimed at immediately by Luka, Yowane smiles to her to give hints of "I'm not trying to attack", then unloads the pistol neatly and cleanly. "Let's just give up this time, Akita." Says Yowane, disarming Akita after leaving her gun on the ground as well.
　Not only Akita, Zatsune feels curious, too. "What the... What the heck do you mean?"
　"Literally giving up. We don't claim the trial sickle anymore. It's yours now." Yowane picks up Akita's hand. The latter is still hesitating. "But if we just return like this..."
　Yowane swings her head. "I'll do the talking. I'll report it as that one of the two soldiers got killed with a fallen rock instantly, and the other is injured so badly that he didn't make it till the rescue team arrives. As with the trial model, it got smashed to pieces, too." Yowane makes a lie offhand. "In such ways, the outcome will be us being scolded, and you two will be trouble-free. What do you think, Akita? As well as you two?"
　"Yowane..." Akita is moved. However, a pair of children voices come in no time. "So in the end you are the bad guys! Rin and Len are going back to tell our sister Meiko!"
　"Who's that?!" All the four of them gets startled. Akita recovers first. "Screw that, we are tailed! Even if we paid special attention!"
　Yowane covers her face. "The hell with it. I'd rather prefer to being tailed by someone else..."
　Compared with the scared two, Zatsune's reaction seems calmer. "There! Luka!" She points to the direction where the voice came from.
　Without answering, Luka briefly aims her M320 before firing it. The grenade, however, only hit the ground behind the two escaping children. But Zatsune have followed up with redundant equipment thrown away in advance. "Eat this!!" She shouts, having run through the explosion smoke at her full speeds, and throws the sickle at the disappearing small figures.
　When the three catch up, Zatsune has been holding two small heads in each of her hands, which have flicking sparks coming out from the necks instead of blood. "Is it these two kids?" Zatsune tosses both heads across.
　Akita and Yowane carefully catch them and have quick looks. "It's them without doubt, but they are only normal Kagamine recon robots..." Upset, Yowane randomly throws what's in her hand away.
　"I suppose they have already transmitted the message back to their base via the vehicle-mounted radio station." Akita points to the foot of the hill after doing the same as Yowane. There's an auto-piloted six-wheeled ATV turning around beside their SUV, and then heading back to Neusen.
　Luka immediately raised the M320, before long does she realize that she had only brought two grenades with her today. Zatsune also spits in regret. "Shit! So they get away at last."
　"... Fine. Let's go home." Luka puts her XM8 back, then turns around to pick the picnic things up, together with the loots. Zatsune naturally follows, meanwhile the two who just lost all their ideas also set their paces behind.
　Akita looks down. "Now things are really screwed up."
　"Well... Even if we had already gotten fed up there at NMRC over all those years, I still feel reluctant to leave like this somehow." Yowane gives a self-mocking smile. "So we are still bound together after all. How about going to Shyar with me, Akita?"
　"... Ok..." Akita, who completely lost her always-continued self-confident spirits, approaches Yowane like a timid animal. Yowane gently embraces her subsequently.
　Zatsune stops on their words. "What? You are going to Shyar for real?"
　"Where can we go other than there?" Yowane fondles Akita's blonde hair.
　"Well since it's our deeds that cause all these, maybe we should invite you to come to rest at our place tonight." Zatsune points herself, "And help us in bringing stuff home."
　Luka turns back, too. "That's right. We are a small Hagail group after all. I don't think Neusen will come for us anytime soon. And isn't the last sentence what you really have in your mind?"
　"Just watch your steps -" Zatsune is unable to finish her sentence before Luka, who has been concentrating on criticizing, trips over a fallen branch badly. Zatsune immediately bursts into laughter, while Akita gets amused on the scene as well.
　Luka picks herself up while rubbing her head. "Ouch... That hurts. Luckily it didn't leave a mark. - What do you think, you two?"
　"We were enemies minutes ago, you know." Akita mumbles.
　"Not now." Zatsune suddenly stretches out to give Akita a flick on her forehead. "Remember, I'm Zatsune, and she's Luka."
　Akita glares back. Yowane can't help but smiles. "'Zatsune', huh. You can call us Akita and Yowane."
　"No problem." Zatsune nods. "Luka! What do we have for dinner?"
　"Noodles!" Luka answers loudly.
　The sun, while setting, paints the evening sky in orange red.

last edited at Oct 25, 2013 2:25AM

Chapter Two B

　"These two bastards! I should have known that they are disloyal to us!"
　NMRC, the presidential room. After putting the telephone receiver back, a middle-aged woman named Meiko kicks a nearby chair away in anger.
　"Just let them be." Another similarly aged man walks up, and restores the unlucky chair back up. "Anyway they don't know much about important secrets."
　"NONSENSE!" Meiko gets even angrier. "How dare they destroy our recon robots! Traitors must die!"
　She then dials another number. "Get a squad ready right now!" Having hung up, Meiko turns back to the man. "Tomorrow you lead the squad, Kaito! I want them, dead or alive! You hear me?!"
　Kaito answers in a feeble voice. "Roger that~"

　The Kamui residence. Atmosphere in the hall is abnormally stifling, because Kamui himself is sitting in a chair, amuck.
　"..." Kamui keeps silent with his hand covering a piece of gauze on his face. Three team leaders of his men are exchanging looks in anxieties.
　Several minutes passed before Kamui speaks. "From tomorrow, no one is getting vacation. Training lasts twelve hours per day."
　"Yes, sir..." Leaders answer nervously.
　"In addition, you, go find the best killer on the continent. I want those bitches DEAD!" Said enraged Kamui. The mentioned butler thinks to himself. (Even I feel ashamed for you to get disgraced twice sequentially by the same people.)

　"Luka, I'm helping." On noticing Luka working alone in the kitchen, Yowane rolls her sleeves and approaches her to offer help. Even though it's because of Luka and Zatsune's deeds that things become like this, Yowane still feel uncomfortable idling as a guest.
　Luka was planning to call on Zatsune at first, but she didn't give second thoughts about it on hearing Yowane's voice. "Then get three cucumbers, wash them and slice into thin shreds."
　"Ok." Yowane reaches for the cucumbers, while picking up a topic. "Can I ask you something?"
　Luka is chopping the scallions. "What's that?"
　"How did you become Hagails?" Yowane asks gingerly. "Well you can choose not to answer it if it troubles you."
　"There's nothing about trouble or whatever." Luka smiles. "I was manufactured in Shyar thirty years ago, a model focusing on the musical abilities. The family adopted me were two humans. They let me babysit their daughter. - Seems you and Akita are rather early models? A dozen of decades?"
　Yowane turns the tap off. "Something like that."
　Luka gives the knife to Yowane as she's done with the scallions. She then moves the chopped fragments into small dishes, and takes out some eggs to be broken into a bowl. "Several years ago, the child started making a living after graduation from a college. Although my work as babysitter had actually finished ever since she entered the senior high, the families didn't let me leave, and had always been regarding me as one of them. Especially the child, she almost took me as her own older sister." Luka opens the induction cooker and puts a frying pan upon it in advance, then starts beating the bowl of broken eggs with two chopsticks after adding some drops of cooking wine. "I learned my cooking skills there and then, too."
　Yowane reaches for an empty plate to put the sliced cucumbers in. On noticing Luka starting beating the eggs, she makes a guess about what Luka is cooking, and picks two tomatoes up. "Are these needed?"
　"Peel them and cut into petals." Luka nods without stopping with her hands. "- But you know, anything could happen. Two years ago, the three went travelling, however had a traffic accident on their way back. The adults got killed on the scene, while the child was severely injured, too. When I finally made it to the hospital, the child was only able to say her last words." Luka puts the beaten egg bowl away, lifts a bucket of peanut oil and pours some into the frying pan, where the remaining water drops have already been vaporized. "You can have a guess about that."
　Yowane also puts the cut tomatoes into another plate. "What was it?"
　"She said. 'Sis... sing the lullaby... again... for me...'" The oil heats up very quickly. Luka puts the chopped scallions, followed by the egg fluid and tomatoes, starts frying, beginning singing in the meantime.

　　　だんご だんご だんご だんご
　　Dumpling, dumpling, dumpling, dumpling
　　　だんご だんご だいかぞく
　　Dumpling, dumpling, dumpling family
　　　だんご だんご だんご だんご だんご だいかぞく
　　Dumpling, dumpling, dumpling, dumpling, dumpling, dumpling family

　　　やんちゃなやきだんご やさしいあんだんご
　　Naughty grilled dumpling, gentle sweet bean dumpling
　　　すこしゆめみがちな つきみだんご
　　Always dreaming moon-watching dumpling
　　　おすましごまだんご よつごくしだんご
　　Poker-faced sesame dumplings, strung in four
　　　みんなみんなあわせて ひゃくにんかぞく
　　With everyone here, we have a family of hundreds
　　　あかちゃんだんごは いつもしあわせのなかで
　　Baby dumpling lives in happiness everyday
　　　としよりだんごは めをほそめてる
　　Old dumpling always narrows his eyes to a line

　　　なかよしだんご てをつなぎ おおきなまるいわになるよ
　　Dumplings get along well, forming a large circle with hands joined
　　　まちをつくり だんごほしのうえ みんなでわらいあうよ
　　Upon the dumpling planet, dumplings build a town to live happily in
　　　うさぎもそらでてをふってみてる でっかいおつきさま
　　Rabbit is waving its hand in the sky, together with Lady Moon
　　　うれしいこと かなしいことも ぜんぶまるめて
　　Happy things, unhappy things, let's just mix them to a sphere

　　　なかよしだんご てをつなぎ おおきなまるいわになるよ
　　Dumplings get along well, forming a large circle with hands joined
　　　まちをつくり だんごほしのうえ みんなでわらいあうよ
　　Upon the dumpling planet, dumplings build a town to live happily in
　　　うさぎもそらでてをふってみてる でっかいおつきさま
　　Rabbit is waving its hand in the sky, together with Lady Moon
　　　うれしいこと かなしいことも ぜんぶまるめて
　　Happy things, unhappy things, let's just mix them to a sphere

　　　La la la la la la la...
　　La la la la la la la...

　　　だんご だんご だんご だんご だんご だんご だいかぞく
　　Dumpling, dumpling, dumpling, dumpling, dumpling, dumpling, dumpling family
　　　だんご だんご だんご だんご だんご だいかぞく
　　Dumpling, dumpling, dumpling, dumpling, dumpling, dumpling family
　　　だんご だんご だんご だんご だんご だんご だいかぞく
　　Dumpling, dumpling, dumpling, dumpling, dumpling, dumpling, dumpling family
　　　だんご だんご だんご だんご だんご だいかぞく
　　Dumpling, dumpling, dumpling, dumpling, dumpling, dumpling family

　"Sorry for bringing up unhappy things." Yowane lowers her head in regret.
　Luka adds some water to the pan. "Only some old memories. - Using their savings, I managed to have their burial held, after which I left Shyar." She starts stirring in the pot with the ladle. "It was not impossible for me to get another job there, but I still left to seek a change in my mood."
　"Then she met me." Comes Zatsune's voice. The two turn together, then find it turns out to be Zatsune and Akita peeking from outside the door. By the way, Akita is bending herself with Zatsune on her back. "Having history classes?"
　Luka bursts in laughter. "What's with that. Even if we indeed are having history classes, shouldn't it be given by Yowane? You guys are much older than me."
　"One hundred is only a number~" Yowane is boiling the noodles in another pot. "So Zatsune, tell us your stories."
　"Mine?" Zatsune unmounts herself from Akita's back, enters the kitchen and lies back onto the door frame. "I'm born in Mando. My parents are killed in an airstrike when I was nine. I was sent to buy things from nearby supermarkets when I heard the explosion. The house was already leveled before I could turn back to have a look." Zatsune flattens her hands. "Everyone were telling me to join the army and have my revenge, but I just rejected and ran away, with going to Shyar the only thing in my mind."
　Akita chooses to crouch down outside the door as the kitchen is filled up. "And then?"
　"I didn't make it very far outta Mando before met and captured by a Hagail group." Zatsune recalls. "But since I was a little girl back then, they just didn't give me harder works than the laundry and cooking. I kept wandering about every day with them those days. At first I felt uncomfortable, but soon I became thrilled instead, after getting used to the Hagail life."
　"Thrilled?" Akita lifts one side of her eyebrows. "Aren't frightened?"
　Zatsune puts an "of course" face. "Absolutely. You know, this war have been lasting for at least one hundred years or so, while I'm just sixteen now. I just grew up hearing the gunshots and explosions."
　"True that." Luka pours the ready sauce out to a bowl. "How do you want the noodles? Rinsed with cold water or not?"
　"Rinsed~" The other three says synchronously. Luka moves her sight among them from one to another. "What' with that extraordinary high level of synchronization? Though I want my noodles rinsed, too."
　Zatsune raises a finger. "That's what the saying goes like, 'foodies think alike'."
　All of them burst with laughter before starting to lay the table. "Is there anyone who would like to drink alcohol?" Zatsune asks.
　"Only me." Yowane shakes her head. "But I'll pass since we'll be travelling tomorrow."
　Zatsune's eyes light up for a second. "That'll be nice. We don't drink, either. - So let's drink tea instead." She fetches a tea pot, then fills the cups for each of the four. "For new friends!" Zatsune proposes a toast.
　"Cheers!" All the four empty their cups.
　Akita brings up the discontinued topic. "Zatsune, go on, what happened later to your Hagail group?"
　"Later?" Zatsune spoons the sauce onto her bowl of noodles. "I grew up later. Another day we were ambushed by another group. One of our support gunners got shot and fell on the scene - but didn't die. I filled up his vacancy instantly by picking his M249 up and killing an enemy grenadier. That shocked the opponents so much that even the only one machine gun of mine could pin them down. Others took the advantage and closed in. It didn't take much effort for us to have all of the enemies killed." She then mixes the noodles with some sliced cucumber. "During the cleaning up, we discovered that the grenadier killed by me at first was the leader of his group." Zatsune can't help but smiles.
　"Whoa. That's some first-class merit." Yowane sticks her thumb up.
　Zatsune grins complacently. "Isn't that. Considering me to be promising, our leader decided to give me the grenadier's weapon: an M4A1 carbine with an M203A2 underslung grenade launcher attached, and an Aimpoint Comp M4 red-dot sight. That had been the first time I ever held a weapon. - Ah, just the one laid against the wall there." Zatsune points that way.
　"Then how did you meet up with Luka?" Akita turns and has a look at the gun.
　Zatsune chews down some noodles. "I happened to get sent to Shyar to buy some medicine later. When I came back, the camp is completely silent, with literally nobody present. I thought they all went out to do some 'work', and just waited there. No one ever showed up with it getting darker and darker, so I went to the usual place for them to make ambushes, only to almost get myself a heart attack."
　"What happened?" Akita picks up her cup to drink.
　"Our leader was lying against a tree, with blood all over his body, and a knife stabbed into his chest, which was the fatal strike for sure." Zatsune sighs. "I was about to give up when I found one of them still breathing. He only told me some letters, 'NMRC' something..."
　Zatsune stops talking. Certainly do Akita and Yowane know about what she means: What could it have been other than "Neusen Military Research Center", where they had been belonging to up until today, for the letters to stand for? Akita asks gingerly. "Za, Zatsune, that knife... Have you been keeping it?"
　"..." Zatsune silently unties a sheathed knife, and tosses it to Akita. "Here."
　Akita extracts it before taking a deep inhale. "Yowane, this is..."
　On her words, Yowane approaches and have a closer look. There are four letters explicitly carved on the knife, which read "Haku". "Isn't this... Isn't this the one lost in your strike mission the next day I lent it to you?" Yowane stares with her eyes rounded.
　"... If that's the case, the big man I killed... was your leader..." Akita tosses randomly onto the table, and lays herself back into the chair dejectedly.
　"..." Yowane isn't able to find anything to say, either. The only thing she can do right now is staring into Zatsune's red eyes.
　Luka smiles wanly. "What's with that? A twist of destiny? That's some hell kind of development."
　"How about this, Zatsune." Yowane suddenly comes up with an idea. "You kill me and Akita right here, right now, and take our bodies to Mando. I bet you'll get reasonably paid if you claim that you killed us. That should make up the loss of your comrades. What do you think?"
　Having said that, Yowane closes her eyes, waiting for Zatsune to kill herself. As with Akita, she just keeps looking at Zatsune anxiously.
　Then come some clicks, followed by a slap, and Akita's cry of pain. Yowane can't help but opening her eyes to have a look, only to find Zatsune to be standing in front of herself. She then slaps Yowane in the face.
　"Huh?" Yowane covers her face with a hand. Zatsune angrily scolds. "What the fuck are you people!! Idiots?!"
　"Are you thinking that Zatsune could ever do that?" Luka concentrates on eating noodles.
　Zatsune turns back and knocks on the table. "What are we gonna do with the remaining noodles if I kill you here?!"
　"PFFT!! JUST CUT THE NONSENSE ALREADY!!" Almost spouted her mouthful of food, Luka jumps up and starts stabbing Zatsune's head with her chopsticks. Zatsune keeps dodging. "Whoa! Wait Luka! I get it so stop! Hey! STOP!!"
　Luka continues chasing her for a minute before letting her go and returning to the table to go on with eating. Zatsune then turns to Akita and Yowane, who are still covering their hurting faces. "I'm not betraying my friends. Even if you had killed my comrades, I also ruined your careers. We call it even with the two slaps taken into account."
　"You two still remembering what Zatsune said when making the toast?" Luka picks her emptied bowl up and starts to fill it with noodles once again.
　"..." Akita and Yowane exchange looks.
　Luka emphasizes the key point. "She said it was 'for new friends'. How will she go for the kill after accepting you as friends?"
　"That's it." Zatsune inserts herself between Akita and Yowane, embracing the two with her both arms. "So don't you worry anymore. You'll get escorted safely to Shyar without even losing a single hair."
　On her words, Luka unexpectedly puts the bowl down onto the table, then stretches out to pull a hair off from Akita. "Now you lose a single hair."
　"IT HURTS!!" Screams Akita, almost jumping out from the chair. Zatsune pouts discontentedly. "What are you doing, Luka? Don't be so uncooperative."
　"Don't pull my hair even if you cooperate!" Akita covers her face with her right hand, and her head with her left hand. There are also tears in her eyes. "It's surely my unlucky day today!"
　Yowane suddenly bursts into laughter. Zatsune releases the two and stands back up straight. "Why are you laughing?"
　"Huh? Ah, sorry. It's been over fifty years since I last saw such interesting person like you, so I couldn't help it." Yowane grins with a smile.
　"So you mean I'm dull, right? I feel sorry for making you accompanied by such a dull person like me!" Akita becomes jealous.
　Yowane gives her a glimpse on purpose. "Well you'd better reflect on having me throw up what I ate for dinner yesterday."
　"... Yowane you idiot!! Uwaah!!" Akita gets so angry as to starting crying loudly. Yowane comforts her at once. "Well I was only joking, you know? Don't cry. Here." She then carries Akita onto her leg.
　Before Akita is able to complain about "why even you are bullying me", some cracking sounds come. "What's that?" Asks surprised Akita.
　Then the chair Yowane's been sitting in turns over backwards in less than a second! The unlucky couple literally get a violent bump. It's because the wood chair's right-rear leg couldn't support two person's weight and broke.
　Upon the fall, Yowane fell with her face up, while Akita fell with her face down. In one word, their lips overlapped accurately.
　"Whoa!" The two turn red instantly. Akita tries to push herself up at first, only to hear Yowane's moan, with her hands feeling weird as well. She turns even brighter and lets out an even louder scream after lowering her sight and having a look at what her hands are put upon - you all know what they are.
　Not only has Zatsune already been laughing wildly, but also does Luka spout the food out for real.

　After all those noisy things, none of them could have kept her appetite, thus they had the table cleaned. However considering about Akita and Yowane's being unable to have eaten much, Luka takes several packs of ship biscuits out, which were obtained the first day. "Just have some of this if you get hungry later."
　"Anyway they were your things to begin with~ Then fell into our hands together with the sickle~" Zatsune is saying redundant things before getting glared at by Luka. She then has to change the topic. "I'll bring you to Shyar tomorrow. To where my younger sister lives."
　"Sister?" Asks Yowane. Luka can't help but laughs. "So Zatsune, you have to finish your story."
　Zatsune seems to have no choice. "Then I'll go on with that~ Where did I stop last time again?"
　"... Of course, here." Akita slides her leveled palm horizontally before her neck, her face red.
　"Ah, yeah." Zatsune doesn't take it seriously. "Later that day I came back to the camp. I built a small flatbed cart with some wheels and wood boards I found, and took some time transporting my fallen comrades back. Then I burned the entire camp down together with the dead bodies, after collecting as many supplies like ammo, food and medicine as I could." She makes a gesture of igniting a cigarette lighter. "I had been wandering about for several days, pulling the cart behind me, before coming across these abandoned houses here."
　Luka nods after looking around in the room they have been in. Zatsune continues. "Then I settled down here, going on with my life as a Hagail. But I've been different from other groups since I don't have business with a family nearby, who have been doing black market business of trading necessaries with others. Just can't put up with their complacent look of having grips of others' lives, you know. I'd go to Mando to make contacts with other black market dealers myself at most."
　"The family you are talking about, isn't their present master the playboy named 'Kamui' you met earlier today?" Yowane chips in. Zatsune gets surprised. "You know him, too?"
　"We've been to his house before coming here at the hill. After he hurried out for you, we followed him here." Akita reaches to massage her ankles on recalling the unpleasant times with those high-heeled sandals.
　Luka's eyes light up at once. "So that means you brought other clothes with you today?"
　"Certainly! It's absolutely impossible for us to have made our entrance just in these military uniforms, is it. Why?" Akita grabs her own collar.
　Luka gives the final verdict. "Then you'll be wearing those on the way to Shyar tomorrow."
　"No problem with that." Yowane nods before turning to Zatsune. "What about your sister?"
　"Your unit doesn't equip aerial vehicles, does it?" Zatsune asks in the first place. Unprepared for being asked about that, Akita thinks for a while before answering her. "Nah. We've always been underground, so there aren't any reason for any aerial vehicle to be assigned to us, are there. Why do you ask?"
　Zatsune takes a deep breath on hearing her. "That's good for it. Five years ago, the radio said about a city being airstricken in Mando, so I hurried there to see if I could make some profits. I dug for almost a night before hearing someone calling for help. It turned out to be a human girl aged same with me."
　It's not until now does Akita grasp Zatsune's words. She waves her hand. "That had nothing to do with us, you know~ All the aerial vehicles, including planes, helicopters, hot air balloons, et cetera, are neither designed nor manufactured by our unit."
　Zatsune gives Akita a relaxed look. "Strange enough, what I thought was merely rescuing her, while I became finally unable to leave her alone at all after seeing her face. She just looks EXACTLY the same as me."
　"Huh?" Luka shows being surprised with her mouth open in a circle. "You didn't mention that at all atop the hill, did you. Don't tell me you two are actually blood relatives?"
　"Nah." Zatsune shakes her head. "I instantly asked her whether she has any siblings, only to get a negative answer. She said if it weren't for her family being having only one child for several generations, she herself would have considered me as her own older sister. It became unable for me to leave her on her own, so I took her to Shyar with my identity and occupation hid from her."
　Yowane lowers her sights. "What about her parents? Deceased?"
　"All killed in the bombardment. She was the sole survivor. We moved to a remote town in Shyar, and had been living there for two or three years. She's got a good voice, so she managed to find a job as vocalist at the local orchestra. I decided to go back to my life as Hagail after her becoming able to make a living by herself." Zatsune pats on the M4A1 in the corner. "Since I had kept paying visits back here every some week in those years, it's unlikely for me to lose these properties in such a distant place like this."
　"Didn't you give any thought of quitting being a Hagail?" Asks Luka.
　Zatsune shrugs. "I did. But I'm also sure that I've already turned unsuitable for normal lives with all my personalities and experiences."
　"Cest la vie." Yowane sighs. Zatsune continues recounting. "I told her about my being a merciless Hagail, thinking she'd get frightened, while getting merely a 'yeah' as her answer. I was surprised. 'Aren't you scared?' Then she came back at me with a 'You'd have gone for the kill back there in Mando, if you really wanted to.', which made me speechless right away."
　Akita has a thorough look over Zatsune's face. "You don't look scary to begin with, do you. Except for the red eyes."
　Zatsune makes an angry face with her eyes rounded up. "Like this?"
　"AH-HAH!" Luka bursts in laughter. "What's with that funny look!"
　"..." Zatsune changes into a dejected look. "What am I, a clown?"
　Yowane tries hard to keep herself from laughing. "Go on, go on. How did you say goodbye to your sister later on?"
　"Later on~ Later on I got no idea other than telling her that I was going back to being a Hagail again directly." Zatsune makes some gestures while speaking. "Then she said. 'I can let you go, but with one condition.'"
　Luka asks while having known the answer in advance. "What's that?"
　"It was 'Adopt me as your sister.'." Zatsune raises her head. "I asked why she came up with such a question like that in surprise. She said that since I had been looking after her in her parents' place, she had already been considering me as her own sister. - That sounds just like what it was with you, Luka. - Having given that some thoughts and agreeing on it, I called her with a 'sister'. She immediately burst in tears on my words, keeping calling me 'sis', holding me tight, and rubbing tear and snot all over me."
　The other three just start to imagine Zatsune's nonplussed appearance, who doesn't have her mind on it. "What I could do was carrying her onto the bed after she fell asleep, tired of crying, and leaving a note to her saying I would be back later. While I haven't been back in the following couple of years."
　"Then you will be able to go back to visit her tomorrow. I suppose that she's been waiting for you as well." Akita turns to Luka. "Then how did you come across each other?"
　Luka picks the topic up. "I got lost on the way to Neusen. While wandering about, I arrived here and heard gunshots coming from a village in front of me. I, being different from this guy who has been growing just within the fights, immediately got so scared as to being unable to flee, standing stupidly right in the middle of the road." She points to Zatsune while speaking.
　"Of course no one would have anticipated you to be such a professional warfighter as you are now back then." Teases Zatsune. "The time I came back did a large number of figures come into my vision, with dust kicked up behind them. They must be thinking of looting my properties while I was away. How could I have allowed that? Grabbing my M4A1 then approaching the window, one grenade delivered from the underslung grenade launcher ripped a guy into pieces with a direct hit."
　Akita laughs. "That would be some special delivery."
　"I took cover at once to chamber another grenade, when they started shooting randomly at my house in a hurry. Funny enough, the ragtag mob didn't have their responsibilities dispatched properly. There was even no gunners designated with suppressive fire. All of them, with no exceptions, knew nothing more than keeping the trigger pulled. They didn't realize the magazines were already exhausted on time." Zatsune laughs. "Hearing that there had been only one M240 shooting anti-air for some time, I peeked out and started to flatten them, beginning from the M240 shooter, one after another."
　"They were obviously not capable for firefights against Zatsune, for trying to escape after losing some men. Then a goddamned guy saw me standing there afar. Be, because I, being a humanoid, seemed more good-looking than average human girls to them after all, those perverted minds changed their routes to capture me whilst fleeing, their eyes lit up with lust." Luka blushes, "I was about to react and run away, when another person came after them, ripping those pieces of shit to pieces with another grenade."
　Luka's pun successfully amuses Akita. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, huh."
　"I was wondering why they ran sideways instead of straightforward when I saw a beauty wearing pink long hair in those bastards' way." Zatsune makes a gesture of climbing out from the window. "I immediately went out from the window, sent a grenade out, then finished some survivors off."
　"Having noticed the help coming, I stopped from running away. It was not until the figure came across the explosion smoke which was obstructing my lines of sight did I realize that I was saved by a teenage human girl with black twin ponytails." Luka smiles.
　Akita looks at Luka's face this time. "Wait, Luka. Zatsune was talking about long hair... So you had your cut afterwards?"
　"Yeah. It was troublesome in fighting, so she had me cut it." Zatsune makes a scissor with her index finger and middle finger. "- I asked who she was, and what did she come for."
　"I found no reason to hide anything, so I just told she that I'm a humanoid from Shyar, and lost my way to Neusen." Luka imitates the tone back at that time.
　Zatsune does the same. "I frightened her of there being disordered, the civil defense siren sounding all day, and herself even being likely to get conscripted when walking on the road. As she's unable to go to Mando due to being a humanoid, I also persuaded her to head back for her own sake."
　"Well it's not what it is like in Neusen, you know..." Yowane somehow sweats. Luka puts on a poker-face. "Since the reason I exiled myself from Shyar was to get my mood changed, there are no way I was going back, thus I refused her like 'I'm never going back. Maybe you can let me join you.'"
　"Although surprised at her insistence of becoming a Hagail with me, I didn't give it a second thought as she had already made up her mind. Not to mention that her cooking unexpectedly taste exactly like my own parents." Zatsune smiles in satisfaction. "She even managed to give me more surprises: Several days later words came that a Mando transport convoy were scheduled to pass by, so I was about to contact other Hagail groups for a joint operation when she came and stopped me, carrying an HK417 with a 20-inch long barrel and telescope optics, and two fragmentation hand grenades, and saying 'Don't take trouble. We can do this on our own'."
　"Zatsune immediately asked me 'You can shoot?' I said of course, then persuaded her by performing a complete decomposition of the rifle and zeroing of the scope." Luka puts her hands akimbo, her face grinning proudly. "I then asked her for a map, which she showed me instantly."
　Zatsune stands up, does searching in the drawer before showing a map found inside to Akita and Yowane. "The ambush here, the C4 demolition location here, and the extraction zone here. All the notations on this map, except for the anticipated route of the convoy I drew, were made by Luka." She points on the red and blue lines drawn on the paper.
　Yowane marvels while studying the map. "Oh, my, goodness! Luka you make even better operation plans than our professionals! As if it's made particularly for being published as tutorials!"
　"The war could have been over long before in two months only if there were people like you in either side's war room!" Akita says indignantly. "Those old hags, they are no match for even one percent of you!"
　"Hey, what's with that? You guys trying to steal her?" Zatsune pretends to be irritated. "Just so we are clear: Luka is my partner, and I'm not lending her to anyone!"
　Luka follows her words. "Hey what's with that? Am I being treated as some kind of things?"
　"..." Zatsune decides to silence herself after realizing that the topic will likely go wild. Luka certainly knows what she's thinking, and just smothers her laughter with a hand.
　Akita removes her sights from the map. "And then you two went hunting by yourselves?"
　"Of course. We had a great time hunting back then." Zatsune grins with a complacent smile. "Afterwards did I learn that Luka is a much better sharpshooter than me. Let's put it like this: If I'm, with a bolt-action MSR, the best sniper rifle at my hand, going to shoot at a can placed at four hundred meters, I'll make at least two misses or so after emptying the 20-round magazine. As with she, a continuous hit streak of at least thirty is guaranteed, even with a semiautomatic M110 SASS. - Believing in her self-confident look, I decided to take a risk and headed out with her. We placed some remote-detonated C4 packs on the road upon arrival, and then took cover. Before long the convoy showed up and went right into our trap, with the first and last vehicles accurately blown over by two explosions. Then Luka showed her marksgirlship by switching her battle rifle to semiautomatic mode and using it as a sniper rifle. Twenty-one headshots with a 20-round magazine."
　"How come the extra one?" Asks Yowane.
　Zatsune makes a gesture. "The first bullet flew through two heads."
　The speechless Akita and Yowane look at each other. She even got an accuracy over one hundred percent by simply dividing the body count by the number of shots fired! Akita squeezes her word out from her teeth. "Say Luka, if you are to give a shooting lecture, every sniper on this planet is going to attend it."
　"No matter how the model is up to date, there are absolutely no match for you in the Neusen Army... What's more, you were a babysitter in the beginning, weren't you? A civilian model like you are likely to make everyone valueless in Neusen." Yowane doesn't hesitate to make praises. "Also could you make such perfect operational plans. Zatsune is the luckiest person all over the world to meet a versatile genius like you."
　Akita alternatively looks at the two. "I bet the war will finally get to its end via your hands."
　Beyond her expectation, neither Zatsune nor Luka have had given thoughts about that. "Huh?"
　"... Fine with that. I was only making analogies..." Akita nearly falls from her seat, thinking. (Yeah, it's somewhat good to be unambitious...)
　Zatsune continues ignoring Akita's comments. "There were no more than thirty people in the convoy, not to mention that only three or four remained after Luka's show. So I just rushed down and finished them off with Yowane's knife, in order to conserve ammo. Even I had taken some rifle grenades with me, I didn't get the chance to switch off the safety of my grenade launcher." Zatsune reaches for her M4A1. "Then I said to Luka when cleaning up the battlefield. 'You humanoids are so convenient. Just uploading whatever program needed into the memory chips should be enough. Your hands don't shake at all, compared with us human beings.' Do you know what her answers were?"
　"What did she say?" The two humanoids certainly get interested.
　Luka scratches her hair. "I said: 'That didn't seem so difficult to me. I only had a grasp on the rhythms.' Then Zatsune fell into thoughts for a long time before coming back with a 'can't catch up with you!'. - What do you think?" Luka turns to Akita and Yowane.
　"Can't catch up with you!" The two answer in no time. Luka gets even more surprised. "Is it that hard?"
　Zatsune is having her eyebrows twisting in complex patterns. "That's certainly that hard... Even if your model focuses on musical abilities, what business does that have to do with shooting firearms?"
　"Haven't I said 'rhythm'..." Luka turns head away, then suddenly recalls after seeing the clock hung on the wall. "Ah! I almost forgot. Zatsune, let's go get some paint spray cans. We won't even make it to Shyar's most remote areas unless we cover the military features up." She jumps up while saying.
　Although the SUV is painted in a civilian style, several military signs still remains at unattractive places all over the car. To make things worse, even the gasoline in the fuel tank is military-exclusive. It's certainly impossible to go to Shyar like this.
　Regardless of the already set sun, the four of them have to keep fighting against the paint job with candle lights.

last edited at Oct 25, 2013 2:25AM

Chapter Three

　"Hmm, let me see... Clothes changed, keys taken, military signs painted, Shyar cash and identity card in my pocket. What else, Luka?" The next day, Zatsune has been circling around the SUV for some time at about five o'clock. Akita and Yowane, in their alternate clothes, are sitting on the back seats.
　Luka has a checklist in her hand. "... There should be nothing, I think." She ticks the items on the paper one by one.
　"So aren't we taking some weapons? In case of emergency, or whatever." Akita feels a little unease.
　"I have the sickle with me. You hide this knife under your seat." Zatsune is holding some firearms in her arms. "As well as these four M9A1 pistols and some boxes of cartridges."
　Akita takes them over, lifts her seat and hides everything under it. Zatsune is worrying about where to hide the sickle, when Yowane calls her. "Wait, Zatsune. Lend me the sickle for a moment."
　"Here." Zatsune hands it out. Yowane opens the handle part by turning it quickly, extracts the battery, and scratches a piece of chip from an unattractive place. "This is the signal transmitter we installed in the beginning. Though it's already useless now." She assembles the battery back, biting the chip to pieces before spitting them out.
　Zatsune fetches the sickle again, when she suddenly comes up with an idea: She gets a roll of adhesive tape and sticks the sickle under the SUV's chassis. In order to prevent it from falling, Zatsune even applies several strips.
　With everything ready, Luka locks the door - although lock is by no means a match of bullets here, a locked room only indicates itself to be owned - and sits into the driver seat. Zatsune boards from the other side. Luka then takes a pair of ultraviolet-proof sunglasses out from her pocket. "You don't need to say a thing later at checkpoints. I'll do the talking."
　Akita feels surprised. "I thought the driver to be Zatsune."
　"She? Yowane's gonna throw yesterday's noodles up if Zatsune's driving." Luka laughs while turning the ignition key.
　Yowane blushes. Zatsune curls her lips. "You don't even know the way."
　"Yeah. Just lead the way already." Ignoring her, Luka shifts the gear handle and steps on the throttle pedal to leave the small village far behind.
　Akita turns her head to look at the house where she was sleeping in last night, when something suddenly comes into her mind. "Hey, what are our identities?"
　"You are the lady, Yowane is your maid, Luka is hired as your driver, and I'm only a hitchhiking stranger." Zatsune tells a lie offhand without any preparation.

　"So you two are partners for real: the bad driver Zatsune knows the way, while the good driver Luka has no sense of direction..." Yowane sighs after twenty kilometers' ride along the road to a small town ahead. "I'm not feeling anything even if I'm bound to get carsick every time riding with Akita."
　"While I think that's just normal?" Luka biases her head. Then the other three say synchronously. "Yeah. So you'll be talking about that rhythm thing, won't you."
　Luka doesn't answer. Just at that time a turning approaches, where Luka intentionally steers the car violently through, making Yowane give out a scream. Zatsune immediately uses that as excuse. "Do that again and Yowane's puking onto you later."
　"... Just you wait, I'll speak ill of you in front of your sister!" Luka mumbles. Akita criticizes while reaching to massage Yowane's back. "Who does Zatsune's sister believe in more, she or you?"
　Luka is about to say something before arriving at a checkpoint. So she just keeps silent.
　Fortunately, the soldier quickly lets them pass after seeing a Shyar ID card and a glance into the car checking for illegal items, even without asking any question. "Say, Zatsune, where did you get that from? It works so well." Luka asks after confirming the checkpoint has shrunken to a small black dot in the rearview mirror.
　"Last year I went here to buy some medicine with you looking after the house, you remember that?" Zatsune checks the route with a quick look. "Ah, turn right at that crossing. - My genuine ID still works till now, but it has the permission of only one people and a small car, not a larger SUV like this. When I saw a small advertisement flyer pasted onto an electric pole, I thought it would be possible for us two to come together one day. So I called them and had one faked for fifty dollars. Haven't thought about being utilized so soon, though. Anyway since it's only a remote town, they won't check so carefully after all."
　Luka pays no special attention, while Akita and Yowane sweat somehow.

　Arriving at the small town where she once lived, Zatsune points to a relatively high building, which seems to consist of fifteen floors or sixteen. "See that apartment building there? Stop under it."
　Luka stops the car as Zatsune says, and applies the hand brake. Akita turns herself to face outside, then reaches for the ground slowly with her feet in high-heeled sandals. Yowane is lending her a hand. "Phew. Here we are, finally."
　"Luckily there's no big changes here over these years." Zatsune looks around, crouches after confirming about nobody's being around, and unsticks the sickle from under the chassis. Akita, who has already landed successfully, turns back to take the knife out and hands it over to Yowane. Each of them then take an M9A1 and some ammo with her - Although they are useless for now, taking them with themselves means it won't be necessary to come back and fetch them later.
　Luka turns the ignition key, extracts it from under the steering wheel, and puts the key back into her pocket. "Don't know whether your sister's at home now."
　"It's Sunday today, which means she should be in. I've got the keys with me, though, so we aren't likely to have any trouble." Zatsune takes a set of keys from her skirt pocket, and inserts her index finger into the ring, rotating the keys. "Unless she had the lock changed. Let's go up."
　After entering the entrance gate, Zatsune calls the elevator, then presses the button for floor nine.
　It didn't take much time for the four to arrive. Coming out following Zatsune's lead, they go through the hallway to stop before a gate at the end. Zatsune opens the lock with her keys, and says "I'm home" before going in and changing into slippers. Akita, Yowane and Luka do as Zatsune do with a "Sorry for intrusion"; Luka also closes the gate behind her after herself entering in the last place.
　It's completely silent in the room. "Seems that she's sound asleep now." Zatsune goes across the drawing room, and peeks into a door before making an "ok" gesture with the rear hand. "She's in as expected." Zatsune turns around, beckoning. "Come in."
　The three enter the room after Zatsune, who approaches her sister's bed, and calls in a gentle voice. "Miku~ Miku~ Get up~"
　The sleeping girl responds unconsciously. "Mmm... Let me sleep a little... Five minutes... Sis... - SIS!?" She awakens herself in great surprise, only to find her vision filled up with Zatsune's face. "Za, Za, Za, Zatsune, sis...?" She even get speechless.
　"It's me, Zatsune. I'm home, Miku." Zatsune answers even more gently. Not to mention Akita and Yowane, who just get to know Zatsune for no more than one day, but also does Luka, who just saw that aspect of Zatsune yesterday, get astonished: Where did the trigger-happy and talky Hagail girl go?
　Regardless of what they are thinking, however, the sister has already gotten her emotion runaway. "Sis, sister is back! Really back! Zatsune sis, I've been missing you a lot! Uwah~"
　The once asleep girl holds her older sister so tightly with strength from nowhere, that Zatsune starts to roll her eyes - She's doing that on purpose, of course. Without doubt is Zatsune capable to break free easily, nevertheless which would be a little apathy.
　Zatsune manages to extract her right hand, patting her sister on the back. "Yeah. I came back for you, my sister."
　"Uwaaaahh..."

　"Now, now, stop crying. I'm here, after all." Zatsune rubs her sister in her hair.
　"Yeah..." She sniffs before noticing the three beauties who have been looking at her for a long time. "Sis, who are...?"
　Zatsune releases her sister, and beckons to the three. "Come here. I'll do the introductions."
　The three approaches on her words. Zatsune starts from one side. "This pink one, Luka, is my partner."
　"Hello, I'm Megurine Luka. Just call me Luka." Luka introduces herself. "Nice to meet you."
　"Nice to meet you, Luka sis." Sister nods.
　Zatsune continues. "This golden one is Akita. Although being a lady for now, she'll be no longer one after taking this dress off."
　"The name's Akita Neru. Akita is ok." Akita doesn't wait for the girl to answer before pulling Yowane near. "She's Yowane Haku. You can call her Yowane or Snowwhite."
　Yowane raises objection. "Told you no 'Snowwhite' allowed!"
　"Nice to meet you two." The girl greets. Zatsune has something to complain, too. "Why. That's my line."
　"Anyway you'll be saying something like 'this white one is Yowane', won't you. Should you go representing us only with hair colors. Say, aren't you gonna introduce your cyan sister, the black one?" Akita makes fun in Zatsune's tone.
　Zatsune gives a glare at Akita before moving on. "This is my precious younger sister, Hatsune Miku. Call her Miku. - By the way, my name sounds similar to hers. My name is Zatsune Miku." She adds.
　Luka has a question. "Why don't you share a family name instead of a given name?"
　"That's because I adopted her given name after I met her. Anyway with so many years passed, I had already forgotten what my given name was." Zatsune concludes in one word. "Ok then, the three of you, get out. Miku's getting up and changing." She then claps her hands.
　"Well..." Miku seems to have something to say. Zatsune asks. "Why?"
　Miku blushes. "You... you too, sis, can you get out for a while as well? I, I can put my clothes on by myself..."
　"What are you talking. What's with an older sister helping her younger sister changing clothes for the first time after two years? - You three, aren't you going? Just, go, already." Zatsune stands up to drive the other three out, and shuts the door with a loud "bam".
　After that come words like "So~ It's getting such big." "Wh, where are you looking at! Sis~!" and so on, which don't sound good in any aspect. The three exchange looks with each other, and burst into laughters in low voices.

　"So how many days are you people gonna stay for this time, sis?" Inside the drawing room, Miku, in a gray shirt and a gray skirt, wears similar twin ponytails with Zatsune. The clothes look the same in styles as well, only with Miku's being more conservative. In addition, there are dark red decorative lines on Zatsune's clothes, while they are cyan for Miku's.
　"Not only for days." Zatsune pulls Akita and Yowane with her both hands, one for each. "These two are gonna be living with you permanently from now on."
　Miku jumps in joy. "YEAH! Another two older sisters!"
　"Won't you ask about our identities or races?" Luka can't help but asks. After all, Zatsune's and Miku's families were all killed in Neusen's operations; A civilian model from Shyar as herself seems to be fine, but the two ex-soldiers from the Neusen Army can't mean too much of enemies to Miku.
　Beyond Luka's expectation, Miku hops up and hugs Zatsune from behind. "You are Zatsune's friends, thus my friends of course. Even though it were really you two who killed my parents, I still believe that it was only due to orders from your leaders." Miku peeks out from aside.
　Her sparkling smile dazzles Akita and Yowane, who have been feeling guilty for all this time since meeting her, badly. "My goodness, just what saintly and healing radiance is she giving out... My eyes and heart hurt so badly..." Akita puts a dejected face. Yowane looks serious as well. "Akita, I've never sensed so much guilt until now..."
　With her head lowered, Luka approaches Zatsune, then pats her on the other shoulder. "Zatsune, you winner of life..."
　"So when did the topic come to me." Zatsune mumbles.
　"Then, what about you, sisters?" Miku releases Zatsune to get some snacks from the kitchen.
　Zatsune turns around. "We'll also be staying for several weeks. To tell you the truth, Akita and Yowane are runaway high-level personnel from the Neusen Army. Up to now the Neusen people should have known that they came to me, and have likely dispatched troops to get us all at one time."
　"Uwah. So you really do need to hide yourselves for some time, don't you." Miku isn't scared for a tiniest bit. "You can hide here safely these days. I won't tell anyone."
　Yowane gives a wry smile. "Well no one would blame you if you give us out. Anyway we are wanted, alive or dead."
　"... Sigh. Having already lost my families, I should have been dead under the rubble pile back then. Since this life was saved by sis, I'm not having any worries other than wishing sis and her friends to be safe..." Miku lowers her head.
　The other four silence themselves. Akita and Yowane especially feel guilty. Just think about it: two sixteen-year-old human girls like Zatsune and Miku should have fallen into such difficult situations as to lose all their families, and struggle for their own lives. Although that's all caused by the long-lasting war, but none of the four war-participants, Akita, Yowane, Zatsune, and Luka, could absolve herself from the blame. Akita fights, Yowane develops weaponry, Zatsune turns from victim to killer, and Luka joins Hagail while being a civilian model. Those four literally blood-handed people are now seeking cover from such innocent Miku - JUST WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?
　"... Well, let's put that aside." Zatsune changes the topic. "What are you doing for your job, Miku?"
　Miku bumps the refrigerator door shut after fetching drinks. "In the small orchestra, as before. Now I've been promoted as the first vocal accompanist. Sometimes I even get to sing in place of the lead vocalist when she's absent."
　"There isn't any paparazzi or something, are there~" Akita asks half-leisurely half-seriously. Miku certainly knows that she's afraid of being tailed. "Only in backstage. What's worse, since there's been no concert held these days, and the young people aren't coming to begin with, I'm by no means getting any fan." She puts the drink bottle onto a desk, together with five glasses. The remaining four approach then. "'Young people', as if you are old enough." Zatsune pats on Miku's head, who grins in a smile.
　Luka's eyes light up for a moment. "Ah, so you are singer. That makes me your colleague."
　"Luka sis sings, too?" Miku is a little surprised. No wonder that's beyond her expectation since she's meeting the three (other than Zatsune) for the first time.
　"Save the 'sis' thing; Only 'Luka' is fine. - Luka is a musical-abilities-focusing humanoid, who was manufactured in Shyar thirty years ago." Zatsune picks the bottle up, and fills the glasses in Miku's place.
　Miku gets delighted. "Ah-huh, so Luka is not only sis's partner, but also my partner!" She conveniently omits the "sis" as Zatsune said. "As long as we are all free today, why don't we go singing?"
　"That would be a little..." Yowane hesitates, while Zatsune agrees. "Fine. After all they won't be coming anytime soon, let's just have some relaxation."
　Luka and Akita agrees as well. Then Yowane doesn't give it second thoughts.
　Having received their agreements, Miku happily runs back. Others are supposing her to be changing clothes to go karaoke outside, before she turns back after opening another door and calls. "Here, here~"
　"Huh?" The four don't get it. Zatsune walks up first, followed by the other three.
　Arriving at the door, Zatsune is looking at a rather professional set of devices in the room: LCD television mounted on the wall, CD/DVC player, home theater PC, Dolby Digital 5.1 surrounding sound system, mixer, standalone tone generator, synthesizer, microphones, even the walls are covered by acoustic materials. "What the... Were these devices here before I left back then?" She's rendered speechless.
　"It's natural for sis not to know about that. Half a year after you left, the orchestra leader promoted me since I sang well, saying that I would possibly get to be the lead vocalist if I try harder." Miku turns the main power on. "I saved up money to buy these one by one."
　"Sis... that must have been hard for you..." Zatsune is almost unable to find anything to say. "There's no need even for a lead vocalist to spare a room specially for singing in her house, not to mention buying such set of instruments, is there?"
　Miku answers seriously. "It's my dream to become an independent musician, or form a small band by myself."
　"... Well, sis will support you~" Zatsune sighs before noticing a small notebook lying on the ground by her feet and picking it up. "This is?"
　"Ah, they are the songs I wrote." Miku hurriedly comes up and takes the book, then flips several pages over and shows it to Luka. "Say Luka, this is the song I've been working on, but only with the lyrics. Would you like to compose or arrange a melody to it?"
　Luka approaches to browse through the lyrics. "... Ok. I'll be using the instruments."
　"No problem." Miku selects the tone generator, synthesizer, HTPC and microphones on the mixer, then starts MIDI editor on the computer. Luka puts on the monitoring headphones and tries playing some notes on the synthesizer's keyboard, then starts humming adlib with her eyes closed. Yowane, with the drink bottle in her hand, takes seat together with Akita and Zatsune in the sofa since they hardly know anything about all those musical staff, drinking and watching the TV - It seems to be connected to the computer as the monitor, where Miku's operations are showed.
　Luka opens her eyes after a while, and turns to Miku. "Ok, let's begin recording." She then takes a stand beside the synthesizer, and mounts a microphone onto it.
　"Ok." Having waited her words for so long, Miku immediately turns on the main output switch. "Five, four, three, two, one, start." She performs a five-second countdown before clicking the "Start Recording" button in the MIDI editor.
　Luka starts singing while playing the melody on the synthesizer's keyboard, in the tone which she used to sing the lullaby in.

　　　とおくで とおくで ゆれてるいなほのうみ
　　Far away, far away, in the ocean of rice waving with the wind
　　　ほをあげ ほをあげ めざしたおもいでへと
　　Raise the sail, raise the sail, setting out towards the memories
　　　ぼくらは きょうまでの かなしいことぜんぶ
　　All the sad things we have experienced together till today
　　　おぼえてるか わすれたか
　　Can you recall it, or not?

　　　ちいさなてにも いつからかぼくらおいこしてくつよさ
　　Despite being small, the hand contains enough strength to overtake us someday
　　　うれたぶどうのしたないてたひからあるいた
　　Walking out of the days spent crying under ripe grapes
　　　ちいさなてでも はなれても ぼくらはこのみちゆくんだ
　　Even if not being holding the small hands, we will still go on
　　　いつかくるひはいちばんのおもいでをしまって
　　On that day, the best memories will be terminated

　　　きせつはうつり もうつめたいかぜが
　　With season passes, the cold wind
　　　つつまれてねむれ あのはるのうたのなかで
　　gets surrounded by and falls asleep within the song of spring

　　　ちいさなてにも いつからかぼくらおいこしてくつよさ
　　Despite being small, the hand contains enough strength to overtake us someday
　　　ぬれたほほには どれだけのえがおがうつった
　　The face once covered with tears showed smile again
　　　ちいさなてでも はなれても ぼくらはこのみちゆくんだ
　　Even if not being holding the small hands, we will still go on
　　　そしてくるひは ぼくらもおもいでをしまった
　　On that day, we will terminate our memories

　　　ちいさなてでもいつのひがぼくらおいこしてゆくんだ
　　Despite being small, the hand will overtake us someday for sure
　　　やがてくるひは あたらしいきせつをひらいた
　　On that day, new seasons awaits us.

　"Wow~" After Luka's singing and playing, none of the four react in time even to clap her hands. Miku's eyes sparkle with heart shapes while clicking the "Stop Recording" and "Save" buttons. "Luka you are a real genius! Peerless even among humanoids! Your creator is just great!"
　Luka scratches on her head. "Well I don't think that deserves it? I just arranged a lullaby I had sung before to your lyrics, you know."
　"That's still some good job to have an arranged version as good as the original song." Yowane is qualified to give such comments since she just listened to Luka singing the original version yesterday. "There's no doubt that you deserve Miku's praises. Absolutely."
　Akita joins the fun, too. "I've confirmed again, that Luka your very existence is a foul play."
　Embarrassed, Luka lowers her head. Zatsune pats on Miku's head. "Say, if you are really gonna form a band, it won't do unless you leave a position vacant for Luka."
　"That's of course!" Miku does some editing before saving the changes and making two backup copies. "As long as she's coming, I'm leaving all the vocalist, lyricist and composer positions to her."
　"Just spare me of the lyrics." Luka chips in at once. "I'm not that literary."
　Paying little attention, Miku shuts the MIDI editor down and launches the karaoke program. "Alright. As long as you come. - Then let's pick songs to sing to." Saying that, Miku picks some of her favorite songs. The other four approach and start to do the same.

　At the same time, in the empty village located at the foot of the hill, a Neusen squad have been searching.
　"Sir, we are unable to find any of the four targets." One soldier reports to their leader, Kaito.
　Kaito takes his pocket watch out on hearing him. "Even if we've been searching for two hours or so since six o' clock?"
　The vice leader chips in. "Or have we been the wrong place?"
　"... Maybe. Rest for ten minutes before searching for the last time. We are to head back if still unable to find." Kaito thinks before giving orders to the soldier.
　"Yes, sir." The soldier goes away. The vice leader asks while looking at his disappearing figure. "Then what are we gonna say to Meiko?"
　Kaito raises his head. "About her? Intel was off, blah blah blah. Anyway I'll do the talking."

　"Yaah~ Tired of singing." Zatsune drops the microphone onto the sofa. "That's a long time since relaxing last time."
　The other four lay themselves beside her. "So Akita turns to sing well, too." Luka turns to give her a look.
　"Don't you take old models easily." Akita makes a funny face.
　Miku looks at the clock. "Ah so it's noon already. I'll go make the lunch." She stands up and turns the main power off. "What would you like?"
　"What food are there?" Zatsune follows her sister. "Let me have a look."
　Arriving at the kitchen, they see some vegetable placed on the floor. "Well... Not really appetizing to me..." Zatsune mumbles when she opens the refrigerator and notices a jar of salad sauce. "How about a vegetable salad?" Her eyes light up.
　The others nod as well. Yowane washes her hand. "You people allergic to anything?"
　"Ah, I can't put up with coriander." Zatsune answers at once. Miku bursts in laughter. "I haven't bought any."
　"Now that's what my sister is like. Come and have a kiss." Zatsune throws herself onto Miku, who evades hurriedly.

　As always, stories are told while having their lunch: Zatsune concentrates the two years into five minutes, while leaving the corresponding parts to Luka, Akita and Yowane themselves. Miku is enjoying so much as to having three bowls of rice.
　After the meal, noticing Yowane and Luka getting sleepy, Miku starts to allocate the rooms. "Akita and Yowane sleeps here. Luka sleeps with me. Zatsune in the sofa over there." Miku grins in a smile.
　Akita and Yowane certainly have no problem with that, while Zatsune has some objection to raise. "Why do I have to sleep by myself! Even if we had been sleeping together all those days!"
　"Maybe I'll lose my virginity sleeping with sis again." Miku blushes.
　"Why is that..." Zatsune stares at Luka in jealousy, pretending to start crying.
　Luka just ignores her. "That's because you've been harassing her since this morning."
　"Mo~mmy~ My sister has entered the teenage rebellion period~" Zatsune cries before getting dragged away by Akita with a "stop saying random things!". Meanwhile Luka looks at Miku then Zatsune. "Honestly, is that really ok for you even though it's been two years since she left?"
　"No problem, no problem~ That's what Zatsune is like." Miku says, walking back to her own room to get the spare blankets.

　Akita and Yowane get jobs as salesgirls some days later, at a store attached to a nearby gas station. They even had the car repainted entirely, and features like the engine and chassis numbers completely overwritten. Nonetheless, they are still feared of the cover blown up due to the car's shape, as to give Luka the keys. After all there are buses available.
　Zatsune and Luka stay at home to do the housework. Miku, on the other hand, keeps working and practicing singing as usual. Akita and Yowane just answer that they are only tenants when asked. Things keep going smoothly for them.
　Kaito gets scolded by Meiko back at the base. "You piece of junk, should you be unable to find four targets, blah blah blah." Something like that. The kill order gets left unsettled at last.
　Kamui keeps his usual life, with asking his butler about his progress of hiring killers every once in a while. Although the butler is bored, he doesn't dare to show it explicitly, and only palters with Kamui every time.
　It is worth mentioning that Miku and Luka get along well so rapidly that Zatsune even gets jealous. Akita and Yowane just have a good laugh at them. Certainly haven't Zatsune and Luka ever thought about breaking up, though.

　After hiding for two months, Luka and Zatsune decides to leave since everything seems settled down.
　Miku, Akita and Yowane help bringing the luggage down to the ground floor. "Be careful during your travel~" Says Miku.
　"How about changing that into 'be careful in firefights'? Your sis is gonna fight with her life, you know." Zatsune pretends to pick a fight.
　"I'd rather say that to others to warn about not fight with you since no one could beat you." Miku curls her lips while making Zatsune speechless. Akita can't help but laughs.
　Yowane takes a bag from behind her. "Yeah right, here's something for you." She opens the bag.
　Others see four sets of headphones, each with different color and style. "What are these?" Zatsune reaches for one in dark red. An antenna sticks out from the speaker unit together with the microphone.
　"Ah, that's just yours." Yowane says while taking the remaining three out. "The gray one for Miku, the one with golden edges for Luka, and this one with blue-violet stripes for me."
　Miku and Luka each takes hers. Akita points to herself. "Where's mine?"
　"This is for outdoor communications. Since you have your cellphone with you, you don't need one, do you." Yowane makes a gesture of making telephone calls after putting her headphone on.
　Akita mumbles. "Yowane's bullying me..."
　Yowane just turns to the three in ignorance. "Ok then, put it on. The switches are within easy reach. No matter where you are, you are able to use this as long as you are on this continent. Or you can select who you'll be talking to." She walks a little farther away before making a few touches on her headphone. "Zatsune, Luka, Miku, do you read me?"
　"Loud and clear." The three answer in turns. Yowane then comes back and gives the matching rechargers.
　Zatsune sticks her thumb up. "Wah. How did you have time to make these good devices?"
　"No wonder you've been stealthily busy at the night these days. You turn out to be doing this." Akita suddenly realizes. "But aren't those using the public satellite channels? Won't we get intercepted?"
　Yowane shakes her head. "Nah. It's encrypted. Say Akita, give me your cellphone later. I'll install the programs to make it able to talk with us."
　"Ok." Akita nods. Zatsune takes the luggage and boards the car together with Luka, who puts the sunglass on. "We are going for now."
　"Bye-bye~" Miku waves her hand.
　Looking at the dirt blown up by the leaving SUV, Miku was putting her hand down when she changes to bite her nails. No one knows what she's thinking.

last edited at Oct 25, 2013 2:26AM

Chapter Four A

　"Zzz~"
　This is Mando, a two-story house. Two girls are sleeping with their limbs crossed with each other's. An electric calendar sitting on a cabinet beside the bed is showing "09:24" on its screen, with the alarm-clock sign dimmed. Obviously, they are not having any particular activities today, or they wouldn't have been sleeping like this. In addition, their appearance of holding each other tightly and the similar pajamas they are wearing both show that there have been a special relationship between them.
　The two girls wear grass-green and blonde hair. The former one is short and messy, while the latter is short and straight. However due to the whole night's sleep, the hair style of either of the two has already become - how to put it, "scary"? - Well it's just kind of extraordinary, after all.
　"Gumi... Don't leave me..." The blonde girl has obviously slept out of her minds, as to talk in her sleep. According to that, the "Gumi" should be the green-haired girl hugging with her.
　Unconscious Gumi didn't hear her words. To make things worse, the blonde doesn't stop sleeptalking with a suffered expression. "Gumi... Don't go... Gumi... Gumi... No... GUMI!!" She even scares herself wide awake with her own cries.
　"WAAH!!" Gumi almost has a heart attack. No matter how soundly she was sleeping, there is no reason for her to not get waken up with someone crying beside her ear at zero distances. For a while, their actions even get symmetric: One hand biased to support the body, the other pressing on the heart beating wildly at a velocity of 240bpm. They are breathing deeply and rapidly as well.
　"Phew~ What the heck are you doing, Lily? Trying to scare me to death -" Gumi is about to complain when she notices that the culprit has tears in her eyes, as if having cried just now. She then gets an idea of what's happening. "Lily? Had a nightmare?" Gumi calls the girl.
　Lily rubs her eyes. "Yeah..."
　"Well you know, dreams are usually opposite from the reality." Gumi embraces Lily. "Just take it that way."
　"..." Lily pouts on Gumi's shoulder. "It's not like I'm worrying for you or whatever..."
　Gumi can't help but bursts in laughter. "Ah-hah~ So lovely is my Lily who gets tsundere at times like this~
　Lily blushes instantly, before pushing Gumi away. "Ju, just who is tsundere! - Gumi?" She gets surprised on Gumi's sudden disappearance.
　Then she sees Gumi lying on the ground, with her legs still on the bed, who is mumbling. "Or~ onidere~?"
　"HEY!" Shouts Lily.

　"Say, are there any contract incoming today?" With a toothbrush in her mouth, Lily passes Gumi who is operating their computer.
　Gumi scrolls the mouse wheel. "... Still nothing."
　"Strange. We had been running our business pretty well before, you know." Lily mumbles while brushing her teeth. "Maybe we'll have to seek other jobs if things keep going like this."
　"I don't know any trade where two knowing-nothing-but-killing mercenaries are needed." Gumi smiles bitterly.
　Although the contracts of killing or escorting come in a low frequency of once per a month or two on average, the rewards have never failed to provide the two girls with a peaceful season. However even they know well that the money doesn't come easily, and have been carefully spending it only for the most necessary things, no contracts have come in the recent three months at all. In other words, the world is at peace and they are going to starve - despite of the remaining savings' being able to last for at least a year at current pace, being aware of potential crisis is always better than not.
　"Sigh." Lily puts her coat on after doing some make-up, and pushes the door open with her purse in her pocket. "I'm going to pay for the water and electricity bills for this month."
　Gumi walks up and takes the newspapers fetched by Lily from the letterbox. "What would you want for breakfast?"
　"Rice fried with kimchi, with a well-cooked fried egg on it. And sprinkle some ketchup." Lily steps out.
　"No problem." Gumi waves her goodbye. "Take care~"
　After seeing Lily off, Gumi closes the door, then puts on an apron and opens the refrigerator.

　Lily comes back right after Gumi has the rice fried together with kimchi. "I'm home~" Calls Lily. "Is my breakfast ready?"
　"That's so fast." Gumi moves the rice onto a plate, then pours some fresh oil to heat up, and turns around for some eggs. "Don't tell me you weren't able to make the payment because the place wasn't open."
　"Quite the contrary. I would have been waiting long in the queue if there were many people." Lily takes her coat off to change back into the pajama.
　Gumi cracks the two eggs separately into the frying pan. "So unusual. - One, two, three!" On seeing the albumen coagulates, Gumi flips the eggs over with a shake of the frying pan. Lily takes the ketchup out from the refrigerator while applauding. "Nicely done!"
　"Ah-hah." Gumi smiles proudly. "Say, would you like to write something on the egg? With ketchup?"
　"There's no enough room, is there?" Lily puts a face of taking it for granted. "I'd rather write on cakes with chocolate."
　Gumi turns off the cooker after another two flips, and separates the two eggs by laying each of them onto a plate of fried rice. "Why. How many are you going to write?"
　Lily adlibs a poem. "Gumi Gumi my beloved, such a flower-like green beauty; Whatever happens to us, never am I making her lonely." She even puts her hand next to her face with the palm to the front, and curls the middle and ring fingers back. "Kila~"
　"Believe it or not, I'm going to write the 'green' word with wasabi paste." Neither does Gumi's face blush nor does her heart race. "Aside from whether being flirty, that's way too long. It doesn't match your tsundere character, too. - Bring along the chopsticks." She takes the plates to the table.
　"What's with the tsundere character thing..." Lily mumbles while extracting two pairs of chopsticks. "Neither should it be counted as a character since that happened only once in the morning, you know."
　Then Gumi gets a hold onto a flaw in her words. "So you aren't denying that you were tsundere back then?"
　"..." Lily keeps silent while stabbing Gumi with her chopsticks nonstop. Gumi only laughs without dodging.
　That aside, they still needs to sit down and have the meal. Gumi breaks the egg into pieces and mixes it with the rice. "What's in your mind about today?"
　"Nothing special~" Lily lays the newspaper on the table and has a quick look through while eating. Unable to find interesting things, she decides to abandon them. "What about you?"
　Gumi shakes her head. "Nor do I. Maybe we'd better just go back to sleep after breakfast."
　"Eating and sleeping, one after another, what are our difference from pigs?" Lily makes fun of herself, pinching on her belly. "I'll be growing a life-buoy here."
　"Well, even if we are able to make a living for now, seeking another job is still important. As long as the contracts won't be coming in fixed periods." Gumi fills her mouth with the food. "While we are always too lazy to do the seeking, though."
　Lily sighs as well before concentrating in eating.

　After the meal, Lily is nodding off when Gumi suddenly calls out. "Whoa! A contract!"
　"Really?!" Lily immediately gets wide awake and approaches to have a look. It turns out be an e-mail. "Two kills. Reward isn't a problem." The e-mail doesn't even have a body besides a subject. Being brief, though.
　Gumi replies at once. "Name, age, sex, appearance, occupation?"
　"Teenage Hagail girls. Name and appearance are available once the contract is made. No photos, only addresses." The other party doesn't show a tiniest bit of sincerity. Gumi turns and asks. "What do you think, Lily? Do we make the contract now, or after doing the recon by ourselves?"
　"... The sooner the better. Anyway no one knows when the next contract will be coming." Lily thinks for a while, "What's more, it shouldn't be difficult for us to kill merely two Hagails. We even annihilated Hagail group of tens, you know."
　Gumi nods. "True that. - How many do you plan to charge them?"
　"As always. Starting from a hundred thousand dollars, adding fifty thousand for each kill, let's make it two hundred thousand dollars." Lily makes a cash-counting gesture.
　Gumi answers the mail as told. The other party seems be considering for a long while before agreeing with an "ok". There's also a picture attachment, which turns out to be a map, with an abandoned mining hill in the south of the area of Hagail influence circled in red.
　"Here?" The two stares at the map displayed on the screen. Gumi frowns. "Let me see... It shouldn't be hard. After all we could just snipe atop the hill."
　"Then that's a deal." Lily makes the decision. "Tell them the account number, and ask for the down payment."

　Before long does the two log into the online bank and find the other party to have a hundred thousand dollars readily remitted. "Those people, despite lacking of sincerity, never run short of money." Lily gives a cold smile.
　Gumi opens the inbox again, and a new mail comes in as expected. Lily reads it out. "What are the names... Zatsune and Luka? One has black hair and red eye, and another wears pink hair?"
　"Seems they can't provide us with anything useful anymore." Gumi takes a look at the time display on the screen. "Let's do some recon later at night."
　"Yeah." Lily walks into the bedroom, then comes back with a set of keys taken out from the cabinet, and finally hangs them onto a clothes hook beside the door. "So let's -" Lily turns back, looking at Gumi with a smile.
　Gumi transfers the money to their secret account, shuts the computer down, approaches Lily with a grin as well, and embraces her in her arms. "Go~ to~ bed~ to recharge ourselves~"
　They nudge into the bedroom like dancing waltz, hugging.
　"Ah. Set the alarm clock, or we'll oversleep." Even their voices synchronize perfectly.

　Kamui's butler takes a deep breath. "Master, I have done hiring killers." And then he adds a redundant comment. "Two beautiful girl killers, in addition."
　"Beautiful girls?!" Kamui's eyes sparkle with lust before he corrects himself. "I mean, the two at the hill, even though it's better to capture them alive, I won't mind if they get killed."
　Seems that he has shifted his interest away from Zatsune and Luka at that moment. - The most rapid lust arisen in the world.

　The evening.
　Awakened by the alarm clock, the two do some brief washing before putting on clothes and heading out with the keys taken from the hook.
　Arriving at the garage, Gumi scrolls the roller shutter up to reveal an ordinary van. Then the two pass the vehicle to enter a cubicle before coming out with some weapons in their hands: Gumi has a 10-inch CQC version of HK416 mounted with vertical front grip, ACOG sight and suppressor; While Lily is carrying an AA-12 with 32-round drum, and an infrared DV. After all the two are only going to do some recon work there, not firefights, therefore they are only taking minimum self-defensing firepower.
　The two board the van from the front doors, then depart for the abandoned mining hill along the road in high speeds.

　Different from manned Shyar checkpoints, Mando ones are merely equipped with automatic or remote-controlled machines such as cameras, card-readers, lifting bars and sentry weapon stations. The formal words are electromagnetic jammers scattered all over the Mando territory are able to effectively jam humanoids' wiring, disabling them consequently, and thus could exempt soldiers from taking risks to have close looks. Nonetheless, discerning people can easily tell that they are only busy fighting the war, therefore unable to deploy personnel to the checkpoints.
　Thanks to that, though, do weapon carriers such as Gumi and Lily have chances to take. Having their pass card swiped to leave the Mando territory, they drive for another while before a fuzzy figure in the dark comes into their views.
　"Whoa, should there be such a small village here. I bet the two Hagails are hiding in one of them." Lily retracts herself from the window, through which she was just peeking out to look. "If not in a mining cave."
　"I'd be living in a normal house if I were them. Why hide deep in a cave while there being bright sunlight and fresh air?" Gumi turns the headlight off to prevent alerting the opponents.
　Lily puts her DV down. "But that means we'll have to change to large calibers. Otherwise we won't get them behind the walls."
　"Seems that we are running low on .50 sniper rounds. How about buying some tomorrow?" Gumi picks a notebook out, and browses it under the dim light in the car.
　It's legal for civilians to possess firearms in Mando, so there are quite some gun shops. Of course the firearms permitted to appear in civilian households consist only of semiautomatic or single-fire pistols, and rifles and shotguns with long barrels, therefore the destructive Mk48 LWMG, M32 MGL and even an AT4 anti-tank rocket launcher can by no means be shown in public, not to mention the M2A1 HMG hidden in this very van. As with where did they get those, however, the credits go to black markets for sure.
　"Then we are getting them next night." Lily flattens her hands.
　While they have been talking, the village has already approached. Gumi stops the van at a distance before the two push it into the woods extending down along the hill to hide. They then bring the equipment with them and sneak up the hill along the road.
　Arriving atop the hill, the two of them manage to find a relatively good view down upon the village, and prone to watch it using the DV.
　"What. I'd never believe that there's such a compound down there. Thought it's only a collection of small bungalows." Lily looks at the intersecting gray outlines displayed on the DV's LCD screen. "Without some overwatch, those who want to perform CQBs in there will certainly get CQB'd down."
　"Then let's make it like this. You provide overwatch here with the M107A1 sniper rifle, while I close in down there with my knife. You then shoot the farther target when I go for the near kill at the same time." Gumi comes up with an idea. "Anyway that's the only large caliber sniper rifle at our hands right now."
　Lily pans the camera. "Fine. - Ah, lights here. And an SUV. This should be where they are living."
　"Huh? They didn't mention about cars at all in the e-mail." Gumi gets curious.
　"... Whatever. A car makes no difference at all. Here, you see it? That should be those two." Lily points onto the screen, at two regions shaped like people, which are moving indefinitely.
　The two discuss for a bit longer before returning to the car, and starting it to go back.

　"So you've really said it, Zatsune." Hiding in a hole in a tree, Luka looks at the flying dust faraway on the road.
　"Of course. What do you think I was asking Yowane to buy me a doll to bring back here for?" Zatsune pushes herself up among some grass, and comes up to pull Luka out from the hole. "After losing such many men to us last time, Kamui surely want to get some revenge by hiring some professional assassins." She pats some fallen leaves off herself.
　Luka nods. "True that. Let's head back and continue with the rearrangements. Those Neusen people really messed our house up. - So do you think they are gonna bring trouble to Miku?"
　"Unlikely. First of all, Shyar is officially keeping neutral, thus Neusen daren't to directly send troops there. Secondly, I don't think the relationship among us has been discovered yet." Zatsune frowns. "In addition, Yowane and Akita will take Miku and hide if anything happens for sure."
　"Although it's those two that Neusen wants, to begin with." Luka smiles wryly. "Then shouldn't we get guestready?"
　Zatsune almost trips on hearing her sentence. She at once gets a grasp of a tree nearby. "What's with that word?"
　"Abbreviation of 'ready for guests'." Luka acts dumb.
　Zatsune curls her lips. "Then say the full phrase."

　The second day, Gumi goes out to purchase gasoline, ammo, etc., while Lily stays at home to make adjustments to the firearms - They even have a mini firing range built behind their house. By the way, there's actually more to the cubicle behind the garage: Not to mention those destructive devices placed explicitly, another door is hiding somewhere in the shadow, which leads to a basement used as a warehouse.
　Zatsune and Luka, however, act as if nothing ever happened. They only pay a visit to the hill top. No one gets what they are thinking.

　Another evening comes rapidly, when Gumi and Lily enter the garage again. Nevertheless, Gumi gets an XM8 Compact with an ISM mounted this time, while Lily is holding an M107A1 with a 10x telescope in her hands, and carrying a SCAR-L STD with suppressor, red-dot sight and 3x magnifier, and angled foregrip on her back.
　Since the weather forecast said the sky would be clear tonight, they aren't bringing any night-vision devices while driving towards the hill along the same route as yesterday.
　Having arrived at the foot of the hill, they immediately separate: Lily climbs the hill for a sniping position, and Gumi sneaks up to the target house with a map in her hand, which was drawn according to what Lily's DV recorded previously.
　Lily mounts her M107A1, and takes aim at a target farther inside the house through her scope. After noticing Gumi approaches the door and gives a gesture, she fires a red tracer with the SCAR-L.
　Seeing the red line in the sky, Gumi confirms that Lily is giving an "do it" signal, then performs a three-second countdown before kicking the door with her full strength.
　Meanwhile Lily pulls the trigger of the sniper rifle. A caliber of .50 means a loud noise for sure to begin with, while Lily doesn't have a special suppressor attached in addition, therefore a thunder of gunshot immediately tears the silent night in two. Watching the bullet smashes through the window glass and penetrates into her target mercilessly with an orange-red trace left behind, Lily gets a feeling that the other half of reward is falling into their pocket for sure.
　Despite of that, Gumi gets a bad feeling instead at the instant her foot lands on the door: It isn't even locked! No matter how useless locks are within Hagail regions, people are still locking their doors in order to make themselves feel safe. Now that she felt no resistance at all, it is by no means a good portent.
　Even though Gumi has all those thoughts in her mind, her body has already entered the room due to its inertia. To make things worse, the lights are suddenly turned on! Clearly somebody is here. Gumi, in her dazed vision, only sees a blurred figure in front of her.
　Nevertheless, Gumi hasn't been a mercenary for nothing all these years: She immediately raises her XM8 for a long burst of five or six rounds at her opponent, then does a handspring aside to distance herself, while pushing the red sunglasses on her head.
　She then notices that it's a red-eyed girl in black, wearing black twin-ponytails, who has been staring at Gumi with something like a sickle in her hand, standing in front of her without a wound on her body - No wonder she didn't get shot at all, since it would have been strange for the rounds to hit as Gumi just shot them randomly.
　"Who the hell are you people?" Zatsune raises the sickle, with its power off. Seems that she plans to capture Gumi alive.
　Gumi, of course, won't know a thing about that. "The ones coming for your life!" She gives another burst of five bullets, tosses the gun away while Zatsune dodges her fire, taking her knife out and closes in to stab.

　At the same time, everything suddenly changes for Lily: She doesn't even have time to react when the room suddenly lights up right in the middle of her scope, before she hears someone running near behind her. Not hesitating, Lily grabs the SCAR-L and turns around to shoot.
　Beyond her expectations, the coming one acts even faster. She jumps up and performs a kick at Lily's head while she's turning. Lily lowers her head to evade this attack, tosses her SCAR-L away as well, and squares up with a knife in her hand.
　Lily notices that her opponent is the pink-haired Hagail girl who is supposed to be implanted a hole just now under the moonlight, and can't help but bursts out. "Luka?!"
　"That would be me." Luka asks back. "You came to kill me? Hired by Kamui?"
　By no means could Lily have known who her employer this time is, since all the "sender" fields of the e-mails are nothing but a pile of garbled characters. "Never did he say!" Lily pushes herself forward against the ground, and sweeps her knife to the other party.
　Luka kicks up trying to disarm Lily while leaning back to avoid the blade. Lily swings her arm down in advance to bump Luka's leg away, and approaches to stab again with the momentum acquired. Luka handsprings backwards. "Skilled, aren't you!"

　After exchanging some blows with Zatsune, Gumi feels things are getting even worse: Even though it's not possible for Hagail people to know nothing about melee attacks, the girl in front of herself is extraordinarily skilled compared with others despite of her age.
　(Not good. Aside from screwing the assassination, Lily might be in trouble, too!) Thinking that, Gumi fakes her move and escapes the room. Zatsune follows up.
　Gumi gets even more anxious after failing to get rid of her chaser several times, and wasting such much time. She changes her direction straight to Lily. Certainly won't Zatsune give up chasing.
　Zatsune then have two figures fighting at some distance to the front into her vision: One is golden, and the other is pink. The latter is Luka without doubt. Having noticed that the green-haired girl before herself raises her knife to stab, Zatsune hurriedly calls out to warn. "Luka! Watch out!"
　On hearing Zatsune's warning, and a glimpse of Zatsune and another green figure running up to herself, Luka lowers her head and pushes her palms at her opponent with a stamp on the ground from her rear foot.
　Lily, who has been attacking Luka's upper body just now, gets caught by surprise, and doesn't regain her balance before staggering backwards for some ten steps.
　Gumi fails to stab Luka in her back. Seeing Lily getting pushed back, she forces herself to stop to perform a roundhouse kick. But she forgets about her chaser, Zatsune - who reaches out and blocks her kick. "Did you get hurt?" Zatsune walks up to Luka.
　"Nah. Neither of us could get the other." Luka turns into defense upon reinforcement's arrival, and stands beside Zatsune.
　Gumi turns back as well, approaching Lily in a circle around while on guard against Zatsune. "You ok?"
　"Yeah." Lily rubs her chest to catch her breath. Then she squares up again from the support of Gumi. For a moment, things have turned from a one-on-one duel to a two-on-two confrontation.
　However since both Gumi and Lily know that they can't win against Zatsune and Luka, they attempt to flee after exchanging a look. Nevertheless, the other two acts even faster by besieging them from both sides.
　Upon confirming of unable to escape, Gumi sighs. "Lily, what do we do now?"
　Lily smiles wryly. "What do we do. - Let's DO THIS!!" She suddenly rushes towards Luka, her knife raised again. Gumi dashes to Zatsune as well.
　Luka dodges the blade by moving to her left, and throws a uppercut from under Lily's body. To her surprise, Lily doesn't even try to evade. She releases her knife, grabs Luka's arm, and then pulls her opponent down with her full strength. The two is rolling on the ground now.
　Gumi throws the knife at Zatsune's face, who leans back to dodge. Gumi then changes into a handstand, with her feet kicking continuously.
　Zatsune steps back several times before she comes up with an idea. She pushes her palms out just as what Luka did then - and they land on Gumi's hips. Gumi hurriedly regains her balance by landing her feet back, then stands up and shout. "You two perverts! She went for Lily's breasts and you went for my hips!"
　"What the heck?" Zatsune can't help but criticizes. "Do I have the time to distinguish your hips from whatever during a fight?"
　Then Zatsune notices Luka and Lily rolling about along the gradient of the ground behind Gumi. To make things worse, they are right nowhere but atop the hill right now - In other words, a cliff is just nearby! Even though the hill is relatively low, it still has a height of at least fifty or sixty meters. How could they keep themselves from literally breaking into pieces if they are to fall from such heights? Zatsune immediately rushes around Gumi towards the two on the ground, trying to block them from the cliff.
　Gumi gets surprised at her opponent's actions, and subconsciously dodges aside to give way, before she notices the rolling two behind Zatsune. She gets scared to death at once and starts to run up following Zatsune.
　Arriving at a proper location, Zatsune pulls into a sudden stop when the two rolls into her.
　Unfortunately she is a little off from the optimal location. The two aren't stopped after bumping into Zatsune's legs, but have a turn in the direction and continue rolling down.
　Zatsune calls out in terror and reaches for the two in vain. Then Gumi arrives in time, and manages to stop those two accurately.
　The next thing Zatsune and Gumi see is that all the four eyes of Luka and Lily are spinning. "Bleh... I, I'm gonna throw up..."

　"So~ are we fighting again~?" Luka lies dazed against a rock, with Zatsune crouching aside to massage her on the back.
　"..." Lily, who is lying on Gumi's laps, lifts her eyelids and exchanges looks with Gumi. "Nah." Gumi puts her sunglasses up back to the top of her head. "Anyway we seem unable to kill you. We are giving this up. - Lily, remember me to remit the money back. If we are getting back."
　Lily pretends to give her a lesson. "The only thing you know is money. 'Money isn't everything', you know?"
　"There will be nothing without money." Gumi fills her up. "Well we aren't getting any income after this failure today, are we."
　"True that..." Lily sighs, "Never thought of quitting this job so soon. - Gumi, help me up." She pushes herself up. "Let's get another job back. If we are getting back." Lily even emphasized the last sentence.
　Saying that, Lily places half of her weight onto Gumi, and steps out together with her, when Zatsune calls. "Stop. You think you could just get away like this?"
　"Why. Just come and kill me if you have that strength left in you." Gumi ignores her.
　"Have I said anything about killing you?" Zatsune carries Luka onto her back, and catches up with a few steps. "You are leaving your guns behind?"
　Lily takes much strength to turn and give her a glimpse. "You just take them. Why do I care about two guns with my life at your hands?"
　"Can't you people have enough about that?!" Zatsune gets angry at her words. She grabs Gumi's arm with her own. "C'MERE!" Zatsune drags forcefully, ignoring the M107A1 and SCAR-L left on the ground.
　"Whoa!" That hurts Gumi, who has no other choices than following Zatsune like a lamb. Nor could Lily choose since she has been hanging herself on Gumi.

　Having descended the hill, Gumi whispers to Lily when Zatsune pulls them toward the village. "What's with this? She's gonna cook us?"
　Lily bursts in laughter. "Why bother. Are we some kind of food?"
　At the moment, the four have arrived at the door. Zatsune turns around and backs into the room while watching Luka's head for not bumping into the door frame, with Gumi's hand still held tightly. "Put her down." Zatsune sets Luka down into the bed, then pulls a chair from a side. The XM8 Compact has been lying on the ground all the time before Zatsune kicks it away - the little thing makes scratch sounds like "you trying to disfigure me?".
　Although confused, Gumi can only do as Zatsune said, and seats Lily in the chair. Zatsune, on the other hand, turns and enters another room before coming back thoroughly-equipped: A first aid kit in her left hand, a basin of clean water in her right hand, and two towels on her shoulders. "Hey you, the green one, quit staring and help me wash the towels." She points to her shoulder with her chin.
　Gumi gets even more confused. "Towels?"
　"Yes!" Zatsune crouches to put the basin and first aid kit down, and tosses the towels into the water with a shake of her shoulder. "That way, it's the kitchen. Go wash your hands. Hurry."
　"Un, ok..." Gumi goes to wash her hands, and comes back to twist the towels to dehydrate them.
　Zatsune is taking a pack of Band-Aids when she notices Gumi finishing with a towel. She takes it, approaches Luka to clean her of the dirt on her face and clothes - which got onto her when she was rolling on the ground just now - and sticks Band-Aids onto the scratch wounds. "You too, clean your partner up and do something to the wounds." Says Zatsune without even turning her head.
　Gumi thought that Zatsune was asking her to help with Luka's treatment, and have been staring at them with the other towel in her hand before hearing Zatsune's words, after which she hesitates to start handling with Lily. Zatsune, on the other hand, turns back to take seat on the bedside after finishing with Luka and starts to stare at the other two.
　Zatsune says when Gumi applies a Band-Aid onto Lily's last wound. "I'll make us something to eat. I'm starving after all those fights."
　She then stands up and heads for the kitchen carelessly. Gumi can't help but asks. "Aren't you feared of us killing Luka while you are away?"
　"You'd have gone for the kill back out there, if you really wanted to." Zatsune cites what Miku said before when she stops at the door and turns to ask. "Cold dish. You have any allergies?"
　"Coriander~" Lily answers instantly. Luka bursts with laughter. "Ah-hah. Quite the same as Zatsune."
　Zatsune stops again before stepping into the kitchen. "Say, what are your names?"
　"Don't be so fastidious at a time like this." Gumi pokes Lily. "- Ah. I'm Gumi, and she's Lily."
　Luka sits up on the bed. "Never mind~ Looks like you two already knew what we are called. So how about we make friends?"
　"... Huh?" This time Gumi gets completely confused.

　"Well, if we are coming for your lives?" Gumi mumbles with chopsticks in her hand.
　Zatsune concentrates on eating. "What's the point of that now? Anyway you won't get my life."
　"While they nearly took mine." Luka seems compatible with Lily, though.
　"Well if you really fell back then, Gumi could have been chopped into minced meat for long by now." Zatsune says a scariest thing with a plainest face.
　Gumi can't put up with it. "I'll ask it straight. Just, what, on, earth, are you guys make friends with us for?"
　Zatsune remains silent. Luka grins. "Want to know?"
　"For sure." Gumi and Lily nod synchronously.
　"We don't know, either." Much to their surprise does Luka come up with that. Gumi literally slips down under the table immediately. "Don't you tantalize us!"
　Ignoring her, Luka continues. "Or rather should you have asked 'why not make friends'. You couldn't kill us, and we don't want to kill you, so why don't we coexist peacefully under five principles?"
　Lily counts on her fingers. "I know about peaceful coexistence. But what's the five principles?"
　"Name, age, sex, appearance, occupation." Says Luka, on whose words Lily nearly falls off her chair, too. "What the... Why does it sound so familiar to me?"
　"Aren't those what I asked the customer that day..." Gumi climbs out from under the table.
　Hearing Gumi mentions their employer this time, Zatsune can't help but picks in. "Say, just who send you two to kill us? I have a guess about that, though."
　"They didn't say. Only telling us about that five aspects of you." Lily recounts while eating. "Nonetheless they don't seem to be familiar with you."
　"That's Kamui without doubt." Luka leans her chin on her hand. "Unfamiliar with us while having such private enmities, there's no other people than that pervert. - What does the saying go like, no news is good news?"
　Gumi takes seat in the chair again, pushing her sunglasses subconsciously. "That's the way it is. Although an opposite way."
　Zatsune looks at the oval red lens. "So why are you wearing sunglasses even at night? Even if it worked just now."
　"Lily gave those as birthday present. She said she won't marry me if I lose them, so I've been wearing them at all times." Gumi takes the glasses off, blows them for the dust and puts them back on.
　Lily curls her lips. "Gumi you idiot. That was a lie, you know."
　"Well I'll put up with it even if you are lying to me." Gumi grins.
　Gumi and Lily have been talking topics about marriages as if taking it for granted, while Luka almost spurts her food. "Don't tell me you guys are a couple. And even a les one..."
　"Why. Isn't love the only necessity?" Asks back Lily with complete self-confidence. Luka lowers her voice. "But, two human girls can't... make babies..." She blushes.
　"That's what we call love with impure motives." Gumi raises her index finger.
　Such are they talking when Zatsune puts her chopsticks down. "I'm full~ I'll go and fetch the two rifles."
　Lily makes fun of her. "What are you, some miserly landlady?"
　"Let's not waste resources." Zatsune stands up and steps out. "Isn't it you who told me to take them?"
　Luka changes the topic. "Gumi~ Why don't you ask her about fearing you two killing me while she's out or not?"
　"Aren't we friends already? Why the killing thing?" Gumi asks back.
　Zatsune sticks her thumb up. "You've said it."

　Luka hasn't finished cleaning the dishes when Zatsune returns with Gumi's and Lily's weapons.
　Gumi is replacing the hinge on the door damaged by her kick, with nails bit in her mouth and a hammer in her hand. "Say, Zatsune."
　"Huh?" Zatsune decides to wait outside since the door is being repaired at the moment.
　"The two rifles are yours now. Anyway we've made up our minds to quit being mercenaries." Lily is holding the door. "The XM8 as well. As our apologies."
　Luka criticizes remotely from the kitchen. "Since you have many of those back in your home, don't you."
　"The M107A1 is the only in .50 caliber." Gumi knocks the nails in. "Although there are ones of smaller calibers."
　"As expected." Luka wipes her hand dry and enters the room. Noticing it's getting brighter outside, Luka widely opens her mouth. "Yawn~ I'm going back to sleep. You may as well make a bad on the floor. Sorry for the inconvenience, though."
　Luka says while pushing the blankets away, then throws herself onto the bed even without undressing. "Just try to put up with our smells... Zzz~"
　"... Asleep already?" Lily biases her head.
　Zatsune turns sideways and pushes her way in between the two at the door. "That's what she is like, able to fall asleep as soon as she touches the pillow. Even if she's a humanoid."
　She said it without paying special attention, while Gumi does. "Then you are a human?"
　"Is it that uncommon for a human to be accompanied with a humanoid?" Zatsune keeps playing with the unloaded guns, their safeties turned on.
　The two exchange a look. "Well I can't say, since we don't have any humanoid back there in Mando." Gumi opens and closes the door for several times. It seems fully repaired. "You two both come from Shyar?"
　"Only Luka is. I'm from Mando, the same as you two." Zatsune negates a half.
　"..." Gumi gets speechless. "No provocation to your friendship, but don't you dislike humanoids? Neither do we, though."
　Zatsune shakes her head. "Compared with humanoids, I hate those war-declaring idiots. Just why do they have to fight?"
　"We even made friends with two old models of humanoids who betrayed the Neusen Army as high-level officials two months ago." Luka suddenly chips in. Zatsune turns to her. "Aren't you sleeping?"
　"I'm awake because you people start telling stories." Luka points to herself. "Since I had been a babysitter, I'm naturally sensitive to those."
　Zatsune criticizes. "Isn't your model focused in musical abilities?"
　Luka plays dumb. "Don't mind such details."

　"I'm just astonished. I won't have any doubt even if someone is telling me that it's you who invents the proverb of 'out of blows friendship grows' right here at this moment." Lily shrugs after Zatsune and Luka recounting their stories from getting the sickle through escorting Akita and Yowane to where Miku lives in Shyar.
　"Who was that again, KamuED? Just how awful could a man be? Was he a hungry ghost in sexuality in his past life?" Gumi adopts an indirect expression in her last sentence.
　Luka bursts in laughter. "You could have as well said 'monk'. And I'm not a good example in mocking people."
　"I'd say he is much too shameless, if you ask me. Thinking of hiring assassins after losing to you, that's just abject for him." Lily complains. "Even as hired guns we aren't to be supposed to have the say."
　"So what about you switching your aim and killing him instead?" Zatsune proposes half-jokingly. While Gumi takes her seriously. "You get it. Mercenaries obeying their targets' words to kill their employers, that surely is making a sign of quitting."
　Zatsune sweats. "Hey... I was just kidding..."
　"Say~ why did you become mercenaries to begin with?" Asks Luka.
　Lily sighs. "That would be a long story~"

　　Ten years ago.
　　"Yuri! Yuri! Where are you?!"
　　In a small town of Mando, a pair of a man and woman keeps walking along the streets in the evening while shouting. They are a couple of parents, who have been looking for their daughter in Grade Four in the elementary school, who hasn't been home since her school was over.
　　The two have been searching for a couple of times along the several routes from the school to their home in vain, and none of the shop assistants they asked gives an answer other than "never seen her". At last, they decide go home and see if their daughter had come back.
　　However instead of the girl, when they open the door a note lying on the ground comes into their view, saying. "If you want your daughter back, you are to remit fifty million dollars to this account within half a month: ..."
　　Since the poor couple are nothing more than salariats with few savings, how could they have fifty million dollars ready in half a month? Even if they sell themselves, they aren't getting five million dollars. They immediately call on the police.
　　"Your daughter is the second one." The female police officer complains. "Should the suspect do it again within only one week. He's surely belittling us, isn't he."

　　In the yard of an ordinary civilian house, the doors of the warehouse are shut tight. It's very dim in there due to the lack of an electric lamp.
　　"My, my name is Yuri. What is your name?" Two little girls are sitting on the floor, their hands tied in front of themselves. One blonde girl has overcome the fear of being kidnapped, and is looking curiously at the other girl, who seems aged same with herself.
　　"I am Megumi..." Says the other while the door opens with a squeak.
　　The two turn and see a woman aged about twenty comes in. "Shh. Here's some bread and water. Eat quietly." She bumps the door close with her back, puts a round bread and a glass of water in her hand down to the ground, and makes a gesture of keeping silent. "I'm bringing these as my father falls asleep after drinking."
　　"Thank you, sis~" Yuri thanks in a low voice, and tears the bread in two to give Megumi a half.
　　After the bread and water disappeared into the children's stomachs in no time, the woman takes the glass, peeks out to confirm that nobody's around, and then sneaks out with extreme caution. The door gets latched again in a clang.
　　Yuri looks at the pitch-black exit. "Who is that big sis?"
　　"'The man who kidnapped you is my father.' That what she said." Megumi imitates the woman's tone back then. "But she will not tell me her name. Only brings food to me every day."
　　Since Megumi doesn't know much, Yuri changes the topic. "Then do you live nearby?"
　　"My home is across the river." Megumi wants to point out the approximate direction, but fails due to her loss of the sense of direction. "I went to the riverside to play when my parents were out, then I got lost. That uncle came and asked me about the telephone number to my home. I thought he was going to tell my parents to come and get me, so I told him. And he gave me a bread because I didn't have my lunch. I didn't know why, but I fell asleep after eating the bread. When I woke up again, I was here."
　　Yuri gets scared somehow. "Was the bread the big sis gave us the same?"
　　"In the beginning I thought so, too. She took a bite because I was not eating. I ate it after seeing she was fine." Megumi shakes her head. "Big sis is really a good person. Not like the bad uncle at all."
　　"Phew." Yuri wipes her cold sweat.
　　Megumi takes look at Yuri. "What about you~?"
　　"I came home, got captured in a big bag when I was opening the door with my keys. Then I was carried here." Yuri makes gestures with the tied hands top-down, while receiving no reactions from Megumi. "- Megumi? Megumi?"
　　"Zzz~" It turns out that Megumi has fallen asleep. Yuri then says nothing, and raises her head to look through the vent window into the rectangular navy blue night sky.
　　A passenger plane happens to pass with flashing light dots of red, green and white. Lily can't help but starts to sing the theme song of an animation she watched several days earlier on the TV.

　　　　きえるひこうきぐも ぼくたちはみおくった
　　　We've been chasing the disappearing contrail
　　　　まぶしくてにげた いつだってよわくて あのひから
　　　However we ran away in the end because it was too dazzling
　　　　かわらず いつまでもかわらずに
　　　The weakness has been lasting unchanged ever since that day
　　　　いられなかったこと くやしくてゆびを はなす
　　　But nothing lasts forever. Even feeling regretful, I still let go

　　　　あのとりはまだうまくとべないけど
　　　Even that bird is yet unable to fly well
　　　　いつかはかぜをきってしる
　　　It always knows when the wind will be blowing
　　　　とどかないばしょがまだとうくにある
　　　Although the unreachable place is still faraway
　　　　ねがいだけひめてみつめてる
　　　Having secret looks will be fine

　　　　こどもたちは なつのせんろ あるく
　　　The children walk on the rails in summer
　　　　ふくかぜに すあしをさらして
　　　Gentle winds touch their bare feet
　　　　とうくには おさなかったひびを
　　　Recalling the old times as a child
　　　　りょうてには とびだつきぼうを
　　　Hopes go flying away from my hands

　　　　きえるひこうきぐも おいかけておいかけて
　　　We've been chasing the disappearing contrail again and again
　　　　このおかをこえた あのひからかわらず いつまでも
　　　Unchanged ever since we went over this hill
　　　　まっすぐにぼくたちはあるように
　　　As straightforward as we are
　　　　わたつみのような すよさをまもれるよ きっと
　　　We are able to keep the strength of Poseidon within

　　　　あのそらをまわるふうしゃのはねたちは
　　　The spinning wings of windmill in the sky
　　　　いつまでもおなじゆめみる
　　　Keep chasing the same dream
　　　　とどかないばしょをずっとみつめてる
　　　Staring at the unreachable place all the time
　　　　ねがいをひめたとりのゆめを
　　　Please, have the birdie's dream come true

　　　　ふりかえるやけたせんろ
　　　Looking back at the hot rails
　　　　おおう にゅうどうぐもかたちをかえても
　　　Even the cumulonimbus's shape changed
　　　　ぼくらは おぼえていて どうか
　　　I hope we still remember
　　　　きせつがのこしたきのうを
　　　The yesterday when the season remains

　　　　きえるひこうきぐも おいかけておいかけて
　　　We've been chasing the disappearing contrail again and again
　　　　はやすぎるあいず ふたりわらいだしてる いつまでも
　　　We always burst in laughter for signaling each other too soon
　　　　まっすぐに まなざしはあるように
　　　As straightforward as lines of sights
　　　　あせがにじんでも てをはなさないよ ずっと
　　　We won't let go of our hands even if wet in sweats

　　　　きえるひこうきぐも ぼくたちはみおくった
　　　We've been chasing the disappearing contrail
　　　　まぶしくてにげた いつだってよわくて あのひから
　　　However we ran away in the end because it was too dazzling
　　　　かわらず いつまでもかわらずに
　　　The weakness has been lasting unchanged ever since that day
　　　　いられなかったこと くやしくてゆびを はなす
　　　But nothing lasts forever. Even feeling regretful, I still let go

　　Before long does the police have a lock-on of the kidnapped due to all kinds of traces. Four days later in the morning, the two children get grabbed out by the kidnapper in their sleep, like one small chicken in each of his hands. "Get me some cash and a car, or I'll kill them!" He hides himself in the safe corner beside the window, which is invisible from outside, calling out hysterically with a knife in his hand.
　　"We have both of them ready! Just show us the children, and we'll give you what you want!" The police negotiator shouts back with a loudspeaker.
　　The kidnapper has no choice other than pushing Yuri and Megumi to the window. One police officer confirms that the two children are safe, then approaches with a suitcase of money and a set of vehicle keys. The kidnapper reaches out from the corner to get them - which is the fatal mistake. The officer suddenly tosses the items away and crouches to make room, when a gunshot comes and a hole appears in the kidnapper's right shoulder. The opposite wall get painted by a spray of blood as well.
　　The two children get scared to a freeze. Nevertheless, the kidnapper switches the knife to his unwounded left hand, then slashes towards Yuri who stands closer to him. The police sniper sends another shot in a hurry, which unfortunately misses the target.
　　Megumi reacts when the blade is about to land on Yuri by jumping and pushing her down. The knife, too, is grabbed by that woman with her bare hands. "Stop it, father."
　　"You bastard! Let go!" The kidnapper attempts to retract the knife with brute force, which is held tight by her daughter. "Haven't I said it before? Things are bound to get like this for sure." She doesn't pay any attention to her now bleeding hand.
　　Meanwhile the police officer comes in through the window, cuffs the kidnapper neat and quick, and then opens the room door from within. Doctors rush in and take the kidnapper out on a stretcher, then bandages the woman of her wounded hand. Finally two police officers pick the girls up, and take them to their parents outside.
　　"Yuri! Did he hurt you anywhere?" Asking Mother anxiously, crouching to embrace Yuri.
　　Yuri shakes her head. "No. Megumi pushed me away." She then extracts herself and runs to meet with Megumi, who is running here as well. "Are you hurt?"
　　"I am fine. The big sis stopped the knife." Megumi has changed into another jacket, with a blood-stained one in her hand. "The blood is hers. Let us go and see her."
　　The two run up to the woman. "Big sis, thank you for taking care of us these days." Yuri looks at her hand wrapped in gauze. "Your hand..."
　　"It's not something serious." She supports herself with her other hand onto another police officer's shoulder, and walks to a patrol car.
　　Megumi follows her. "Big sis, you have not told me your name."
　　"Well~ since it's all over now, I'd tell you." The woman turns and smiles. "I'm Kasane. Overlapping sounds, literally."
　　According to the police, as his own daughter, Kasane doesn't get called upon as a witness against the kidnapper. Instead, she gets sent to the hospital, with the fees paid by the police. Words come later that Kasane sets out towards another end of Mando after leaving the hospital, since when have Megumi and Yuri never heard of her again.

　　Yuri's family moves to another town later. In the beginning her parents intend to have Yuri transfer school, which gets disapproved by Yuri herself.
　　After some days of mental care, Yuri goes back to school in the following new term. She stands on her toes to read the class-division tables stuck onto the wall. "So~ I am in... Here, Class One... Megumi too?!"
　　Their names are written clearly on the paper. Yuri turns around in great surprise, only to find Megumi running up to her with a same expression on her face.

　　And they become best friends afterwards. Having been sitting next to each other for the remaining two years, they enter the same junior high and even senior high. Though they are separated into different classes since Yuri chooses arts while Megumi chooses sciences.
　　Even with that, however, each of the two still regard each other as her twin sister: going shopping together, doing homework together (since English and mathematics are the same for them), travelling out together, even starting love affairs with others and breaking up at exactly the same day, same time. Things keep going smoothly between them until someday near the final of the second year of senior high -
　　"So~ which college am I going to?" Megumi mumbles with an investigation sheet in her hand on their way home, which gets grabbed by Yuri who is walking aside. "Just, watch, your, steps. It's not good for your eyes, you know." She inserts the sheet into the bag carried together between them.
　　Megumi turns her hand. "Where are you going?"
　　"Nowhere." Yuri sighs. "My parents aren't in good health conditions in recent years. They all resigned prematurely. Even though it'll be able to afford my studies in a college via combining their pensions and my finding some part-time job at that time, I'm still feared of them catching some serious diseases. That would be rather troublesome." She counts on her fingers. "So I'm thinking about finding some full-time jobs, and attending some vocational schools after I have some savings. What about you?"
　　"I..." Before Megumi could speak come two figures in front of them. "Yo, beauties, you have any valuable jewelry with you?" One of them has a short knife without a handguard in his hands.
　　Yuri glares at them bravely. "You coming for our wealth or our beauty?"
　　"One for each!" The other dashes up. Megumi subconsciously tries to protect herself with the bag, which gets grabbed by the stronger man and thrown to his partner. He then pushes Megumi down and starts touching her on various places.
　　Even if thinking of rescue, Yuri can't approach her since she's stopped by the robber with his knife. "Shit. Money-less students. Even the cellphone doesn't sell much." He searches violently in the bag with one hand, tossing the books about, and holding the knife in his other hand.
　　Then the robber takes a piece of paper out. "What's this?" He flips and turns it. "'Investigation after Graduation'? 'Go to colleges'?"
　　(Ah, that's the...) It's not until then does Yuri get to know that it's the sheet held by Megumi just now. While the robber smiles evilly. "Say, the green one over there is going to fucking colleges. Anyway she's gonna get fucked in the future, how 'bout we do her now?"
　　"Good idea." The pervert reaches for under Megumi's skirt on his words. Megumi immediately covers herself there. "NO! No... stop..."
　　"'No stop'? Ah-hah, such active." Says the pervert releasing his belt after tearing Megumi's skirt open. "Digging in~"
　　Strength comes from nowhere to Yuri as she witnessing her friend's about to be violated. She throws herself onto the robber, who turns his head to watch and lets his guard down a little, then grabs his hand and pushes it back!
　　The knife has been held normally with its blade pointing out. After Yuri's push, it turns for half a circle and goes into the chest of his owner. Yuri then presses down with almost all her bodyweight, levering the blade upwards against one of the robber's costae, and making an even larger hole in him.
　　It's nowhere but his lung does the robber gets stabbed. As everybody knows, normal intrapleural pressure is lower than one atmosphere pressure. How could have the robber survived with air flowing massively into his chest with blood through the broken lung? Blood immediately comes gushing out from his mouth, with his hands losing strength. Seems that the robber is by no means alive any longer.
　　Confirming her enemy's death, Yuri pulls the knife out with her both hands. Ignoring the spraying blood, she opens the robber's hand with brute force, and rushes up to her friend bringing the knife with her.
　　The pervert hasn't paid any attention to his partner's death since he's been concentrating on violating Megumi. Shouting "DIE!!", Yuri holds the knife in her both hands with the point downwards, then performs a clockwise roundhouse stab right into his back.
　　Despite of being a short knife, it has made its way of an extraordinary depth literally through its victim. Even half of the handle has gone into his body.
　　Megumi notices the sharp point coming out from the pervert's chest, and pushes him away instinctively. Yuri, taking the chance, approaches even nearer and turns her hand counterclockwise with her upper body leaning to her left. The knife consequently gets turned a right angle, killing his victim before he even had a chance to give his death screams.
　　Yuri breathes heavily pushing the dead boy away with all her remaining strength, and sits down beside her friend.
　　Megumi, who has been breathing as heavy as Yuri, exchanges a few looks with her, then suddenly springs up. Despite the embarrassing situation of herself being almost vacant down her lower body, and her panties removed halfway to her knees, she starts crying right upon grasping her friend.

　　Certainly have there been residents nearby who called the police. Nonetheless, according to the scene and some witnesses, the police only consider Yuri as justifiable defensing, and release them soon after going through some regular procedures. Although there're still some objections about her killing the robber, they just turn a blind eye to Yuri, who's merely a girl under eighteen.
　　On their way back home, Megumi moves her steps slowly with Yuri's jacket covering her lower body - to prevent wardrobe malfunctions. "Thanks, Yuri."
　　"Not between us, you know." Yuri walks after her. "If you insist, you might as well take it as a reward to your rescuing me during the kidnapping."
　　"Wasn't it merely a near miss." Megumi isn't giving much attention.
　　Yuri brings the old topic up. "So which college are you going again?"
　　"... It comes to me just now." Megumi turns her head. "I'm not going to any, either."
　　Yuri gets surprised. "Then what will you do?"
　　"Become a mercenary with me." Megumi makes a gesture of pistol.
　　She just has her words said easily, on which her friend gets even more surprised. "HUH?! - You aren't having a fever, are you?"
　　Saying that, Yuri reaches for Megumi's forehead, who isn't evading at all. "As long as we've done some killing already. By the way, aren't there some kind of Hagail or whatever outside our country? People won't ever make it to Shyar with them going wild out there. I bet there'll be rich people hiring guns as escorts."
　　"How are we getting employed with ourselves being merely two girls, even if we could fight?" Yuri points the problem out. "You know, I only took them by surprise just now. Won't I screw things up when confronting them face-to-face?
　　"No problem with that~" Megumi seems optimistic, though.

　　After graduating from senior high, they tell their families about going out to seek jobs, and go to another town after getting some travelling expenses. With that said, however, the two actually combine the leftover of their money with the savings from their part-time jobs during the whole third year in the senior high, and attend a training camp set up recently while faking their ages.
　　Although the half year's training is rather harsh, the two of them manages to struggle through with strengths from nowhere. Having finished it, Megumi founds a website to advertise themselves as "good-looking twin-flower fighters". Even if Yuri doesn't think highly of it, what she could do is only watching the contracts flowing in one after another, and the balance in their bank account multiplying rapidly. It doesn't take too long before the two buy some land nearby, and have a small two-story house built with a backyard and a garage, as a permanent base.
　　However everything could happen - Yuri's parents pass away that year due to uncured diseases. The two sell the old house after the burial, and have their backyard rebuilt into an in-door shooting range with the money, together with a basement as ammo cache. As with Megumi's parents, they have been basically adopting a laisser-faire bringing their child up, which is a good news to Yuri and Megumi as well.
　　When Megumi is writing the webpages, she once asks Yuri. "Let's just adopt some codenames. It'll be unsafe and inconvenient to use real names, after all. What do you think, Yuri?"
　　"'Lily' is fine for me." Yuri answers instantly. Megumi almost get choked with her own saliva. "Isn't that your real name..."
　　"Reverse thinking, reverse thinking. Is there anyone who adopts a codename equal to his real name, generally?" Yuri takes an encyclopedia off a shelf nearby. "As with Megumi, how about calling you 'Gumi'?"
　　Megumi doesn't feel like to oppose that. "Although it's ok to me, why do you only take the trailing two syllables? Any meaning in that?"
　　"Here, it means this in another language." Yuri points onto the "Cornus officinalis" entry. "Isn't your advertisement about 'twin-flowers' or something? Since mine is a plant name, why don't you adopt another one?"
　　"... Well, if you insist, Yu - I mean, Lily." Megumi, or Gumi, changes her way of addressing her friend at once.

　"So recklessly, aren't~ you. Especially you, why go to a mercenary camp instead of a college?" Luka gives Gumi a poke directly at her head.
　Gumi leans back with the momentum. "Don't mind such details."
　"Should you play dumb similarly as me!" Luka pokes again. "Lily you too, haven't you even asked about what she's thinking?
　Gumi dodges by turning sideways. Lily flattens her hands. "Never. Or maybe I myself wanted to, actually?"
　"I'd say that since you've seen blood in your childhood, you get some violent tendencies in your subconsciousness. Lily in particular." Zatsune picks in. "Now I'm doing the asking for you. What were you thinking back then?"
　"'What was I thinking'...?" Gumi raises her head. "I can't quite recount it now. Maybe it just came to me temporarily when I saw Lily fighting extraordinarily bravely?"
　Lily gives the poke this time. "That's because you were going to lose virginity!"
　Gumi eats her poke without dodging. "Well~ yeah, Lily, let's get married after going back."
　"PFFT!!" Luka spurts all over Zatsune's face while drinking some water. Zatsune hurriedly goes for a towel. "Why. Is it that surprising?"
　"Sorry for that." Luka spits her tongue. "- So are you serious?"
　Gumi puts on a poker-face. "Of course I am. You see her? So moved although Darby and Joan with me for so many years." She points to Lily.
　Luka turns to see Lily, whose eyes sparkling with hearts, have been mincing like a maiden on Gumi's words. "Ma, marriage... with Gumi..."
　"You sure about the usage in that expression?" Luka mumbles.

　It's not until the sunrise when they finally decide to end their subconsciously extending talk. The sleepy four squeeze themselves into the bed and take a nap in disarray.
　Zatsune wakes up in the first place in the afternoon. She quietly gets out of the bed and the room after noticing Gumi and Lily hugging each other tightly.
　Luka wakes up in the second place. Being unable to find Zatsune in her vision, she approaches the open door to the weapon cache, in which she sees that Zatsune has been making comparisons between a SCAR-L STD in her left hand and an XM8 carbine in her right hand, flipping them over and over indefinitely. Luka walks up. "Zatsune? You thinking of fighting again?"
　"Yeah. Go and teach that KamuED a lesson." Zatsune puts the rifles down, and brings the M4A1 to put aside from the living room.
　"What's with that popularity of 'KamuED'." Luka bursts with laughter. "Why, didn't you say to leave a way out for other Hagails?"
　Zatsune disassembles the weapons of their accessories in advance and puts them aside. "Not going for the kill, just giving a lesson. Since Gumi and Lily have failed the mission, an asshole like him will be saying something like 'It doesn't matter as long as you two compensate me with your bodies' or so for sure." She imitates the other party's tone. "We are going primarily to make sure he's no longer thinking of us, secondarily to warn him against thinking of Gumi and Lily."
　"You've said it." A sentence comes unexpectedly. Luka turns and see both Gumi and Lily have come to watch them. "We are to give him lectures as well." Gumi sticks one of her fingers up. "Lily, the ten hundred thousand dollars aren't going back. Anyway they are no short of such amounts."
　Zatsune biases her head. "Aren't you talking about getting married after going back?"
　"That's AFTER we go back. At least we aren't heading back soon." Lily blushes.
　Gumi makes fun of her. "Still blushing even for now?"
　"... Damn you Gumi. Just you wait, I'm bound to enjoy you after we go back!" Lily makes a grope gesture.
　By the way, Kamui himself is acting as always at this time, which includes drinking coffee, reading newspapers, and daydreaming - about being surrounded by a lot of beautiful girls. Neither does his butler ever know that he had asked for a big trouble.

last edited at Oct 25, 2013 2:28AM

Chapter Four B

　"What? You are going to lecture Kamui?" Akita's question comes through the headphone.
　Zatsune smiles proudly. "You get it. So what intel have you gathered at his place that day? About his house?"
　"Nothing really... He only treated us some tea in the yard. We didn't enter the house." Yowane sighs.
　"... Bad enough even before the beginning..." Zatsune immediately loses her motivation. To her surprise, Akita continues. "But I can barely recall that his house is surrounded with a circle of walls. There's a little gap of some meters' width between the back door of the building and the wall. Maybe you can try your luck there."
　Luka deprecates. "That means we still have to climb over the walls. It would have been better to attack front the front, since the primary goal is to scare them. Their men shouldn't be problems with the four of us."
　"Four?" Akita surely hasn't known about Gumi and Lily yet, neither has Yowane. "When did you find two partners?"
　"Two mercenaries from Mando." Zatsune concludes in one word. "Only have we gotten to know each other after having a fight."
　Yowane feels uncertain about whether to surprise or to laugh. "Man - just how big are you people making it? Two mercenaries from Mando after two former high-level personnel from the Neusen Army, are you trying to pull a multinational army together?"
　"Well if you say it in that way, it is." Luka flattens her hand. "Then we'll be doing it. Bye."
　"Good luck~" Miku picks in unexpectedly.
　Zatsune and Luka take their headphones off and cut the power, when they notice Gumi and Lily staring at themselves. Luka raises her headphone. "This one?"
　"What's that hi-tech thing?" Lily guesses. "Some new model of walkie-talkie?"
　Zatsune shakes her hands. "Nah. Home-made by Yowane."
　"Do you need me going to Shyar to ask her to make you two a matching pair?" Luka takes a look at Gumi's envious expression. "As congratulations on your marriage."
　"Luka you are a good guy~" Gumi immediately gives a moved look. "- Not like I'm rejecting you or what."
　Lily complains. "Just can't you people stop talking about marriages?"
　"Well well~ change of topic, change of topic." Zatsune pacifies. "So basically Akita meant that we can only force our ways in through the front door. Would you like to do it during the day or at night?"
　Gumi raises her hand. "During the day, as long as we don't need to sneak. Plus we'll be having better visions."
　"Then let's make it tomorrow morning, nine o'clock. We'll be starting upon arrival." Lily looks at her watch.
　Zatsune comes up with an idea. "Say don't we need to do some recon now? It'll be easier for us to make plans."
　"Why not." Saying that, Luka takes the car keys and heads out, when Zatsune pulls her to a stop. "You stay at home. I'm going alone. It's worse with more people for works like this. We may as well talk via our headphones."
　Luka nods. "True that."
　It comes across Gumi as well on seeing Luka setting out. "Well, since we'll be quitting, do you want to take possession of our ordnance?"
　"Nah. Maybe you'll be needing them sooner or later." Zatsune rapidly rejects. "I'm keeping feeling you'll be fighting again within a few quiet days."
　"Zatsune's jinxing mouth tends to be turning out accurate at times like this. You'd better listen to her and keep the firearms to yourselves." Luka shakes her hands while speaking ill of her partner.
　Zatsune bounces back as expected. "Although I have a jinxing mouth indeed."
　"Well, let's hope for it failing us this time." Lily sighs.
　Zatsune is about to make fun of her with "why is the bride down like this", when she realizes that it's still unclear "whether which of the two is the bride and which is the bridegroom or they are both brides", causing her to remain silent.

　Leaving the sickle plugged into a socket on the wall to recharge, Zatsune goes for some recon in the car while the sun is still up, bringing a suppressed Mk18 and a pair of binoculars. The other three is picking in the weapon cache room: Luka takes an M27 with holographic sight and 3x magnifier, ammo drum, and an M320 which also acts as a foregrip; Gumi holds an SCAR-L STD with red-dot sight and underslung EGLM in her hand, while carrying an M1014 with extended ammo tube; Lily removes the M107A1 of its telescope and brings an ACOG from aside.
　Gumi finds it interesting. "Ah-hah. Luka is the support gunner, Lily is the designated marksman, I'm the rifleman / grenadier, so we'll be forming a fire team with a team leader."
　"What's with that professional expression with the ragtag four of us." Luka is speaking when communication comes through her headphone on her head. "Hey, Luka. I've arrived."
　Luka's tongue slips. "Ah, team leader."
　Zatsune gets curious. "Team leader??"
　"We've formed a fire team by chance here, whose roles are nearly complete except for a team leader." Luka concludes with one word. "What's the situation over there?"
　"A rather large yard surrounded with a wall of cement and bricks. The gate is a normal steel one." Zatsune peeks in via the binoculars. "The people number... isn't small. After all it's a large yard to take care of. Some of Kamui's men are patrolling in small groups of two or three, while others are training. Maybe it's since he have lost several times to us, Kamui's been feeling disgraced."
　Luka sniffs at it. "That's just good. We'll be teaching them that 'quantitive superiority doesn't make up for gaps in strengths' this time. Any other people there?"
　"Many. Mostly maids. Seems that they are only involved with the housework." Zatsune gives a bitter smile. "It's gonna get harder if we don't want to hurt them."
　"What the..." Luka gets speechless for a moment.
　While Zatsune comes up with an idea. "So maybe I can sneak into the building to see what it's like inside? I'm not seeing any monitoring cameras around, and it should be impossible for those men to find me."
　"Fine then. Take care." Luka advises. "Don't think of assaulting alone. That won't teach him a lesson."
　"Roger that~ Then I'm out for now." Zatsune cuts the comm.

　Zatsune comes back after it becomes pitch-black outside. "How's it been?" Lily is carrying the M107A1 on her back.
　"Sniper rifles are of a~bsolutely no use there. No commanding elevations are available nearby." Zatsune points to some guns aside. "Take another one instead."
　Lily pouts. "I just have the ACOG sight mounted, you know." She turns and starts picking again.
　"What's it like inside the house?" Gumi takes the M1014 out. "Such as layout, wall thickness, et cetera?"
　Zatsune brings pen and paper to draw. "Simply a long hallway with many rooms attached on its side and staircases on its ends, a normal caterpillar layout. I've had a touch on the wall, and it feels rather thick. They even have the walls all wrapped up with soft materials, which means we might just use shotguns without worrying about ricochets or wall penetrations."
　Due to Zatsune's words, Lily picks out an XM8 DMAR and mounts it with ISM, then fetches a few ammo drums together with the matching speedloader. Gumi also modifies her SCAR-L with a short CQC barrel. "You thinking of machine gun CQBs?"
　"You've said it." Lily reaches for the tracers when she suddenly stops. "Say, are there anything flammable?"
　Zatsune takes the tracers away in advance. "Seems the wall-wrapping soft materials are. You'd better use normal ball rounds only." She scratches her head. "But we don't have special breaching shells for locked doors. You two have any experience with that?"
　"We have been using breaching charges or even normal C4~" Gumi installs the barrel. "Or maybe we can just use slugs instead?"
　"I don't think so. Those are bouncing back for sure. I'd recommend these." Luka opens a drawer to get a box of Frag-12 out. "HEAP warheads. Should be enough against a door lock. However there's only these two boxes remaining, so just try to conserve."
　Zatsune's eyes sparkle. "Whoa. Luka when did you get these goods? Why don't I know about it?"
　"It's when we were ambushing the transport convoy. Even if we didn't have shotguns for that moment, I still noticed these special boxes, which turned out to be such good things." Luka recounts. "While I was thinking of telling you, we both fell asleep once we were back, after which I forgot it completely."
　"Well I got really tired back then. We were busy carrying those things home from the noon to the sunset, running back and forth for five times or six." Zatsune relaxes her shoulder. "Even now my arms still feel sour from recalling that."
　Gumi estimates while reaching for the high-explosive armor-piercing shells. "Five or six roundtrips for two... Don't tell me you got these firearms in this room all at once back then?"
　Luka shakes her head. "Nah~ They were only transporting food. They didn't have many firearms with them. Only conventional things like grenades, bullets, rifles and machine guns."
　"Weren't Kamui and his henchmen coming to pick fights the day we met Akita and Yowane? The firearms carried with them weren't less than the convoy did by much." Zatsune recalls for a bit.
　Lily finishes filling a drum, loads it onto the gun, turns the selector to semi-auto and does a test-fire of a few rounds at safe places outside the window. "So why don't we start making plans? About something like where to enter, how to enter, and what to do after we enter."
　"Let me see." Luka takes the sketch map from Zatsune. "Well... The yard gate is a normal steel one. Then let's just smash our way in in cars."
　Lily turns the safety on and unmounts the drum, then starts with another after filling up the former. "We also have an M2A1 in our van. Gumi, what's the ammo count?"
　Gumi counts with her fingers. "About four hundred. Just say the word, what are you going to use it for, scaring or killing? Either way we've got enough ammo."
　"What's with that? Are you guys using your van as infantry fighting vehicles?" Zatsune takes her Mk18 off, removes the suppressor and attaches an M26 module. "Even to have a .50 HMB installed. That's able to tear people into pieces as easy as cottons with loud shots. It's scary even only with its sounds. So why isn't it an M134?"
　"You surely know how many bullets an M134 need, don't you." Gumi makes a gesture of counting money. "How could we paupers have afforded it."
　Luka makes a finger snap. "It won't get any better with a heavy machine gun. You just shoot some rounds outside to the sky, in order to intentionally give them time to respond, and to warn the civilians to hide. Then we get them all by once when the fighters come out. Machine gun bullets and grenades go to crowded places. Then we'll discuss it later after cleaning the outside up.
　"That's a helluva good plan." Zatsune has to ignore the sickle since the "Recharging" red light is still on. "Thought we just start the firefight instantly."
　Luka sighs. "Shouldn't we leave a way out for those maids? We have no business with them after all."

　The second day. All the four eat their fill before driving to Kamui's house in two cars with weapons.
　Arriving outside the wall, Zatsune has a look into it with her binoculars. "Huh? They are getting up so early?"
　Kamui's men are standing in a few lines to listen to their leaders. "Watch out for any suspicious person! Just block the bullet with your bodies if you have to! Never allow anyone to touch our master, you hear me?!" One of their leader is walking to and fro.
　"Yes, sir!!" The henchmen shouted.
　Gumi can't help but bursts with laughter. "That just feels like it. Don't know if they fight, though. Lily, do it."
　"Copy~" Lily crawls into the cart behind directly from the copilot seat. She pushes the lid open, mounts the M2A1 up, then deactivates the safety, chambers the ammo belt, and pulls the cocking handle twice before raising the muzzle and performing a short burst. "BANG BANG BANG!!" Sounds the gun.
　It immediately falls into a riot inside: Not only do the maids get running about scared, but also does the leader who has been walking fall face-down. "SHIT!!! - Speak of the devil!?"
　He then crawls up to give orders, only to find his men have all gone prone like him. "What the fuck are you waiting for?! Just go get armed already!! You, you and you, go protect our master!!"
　Not until then do his men get up on by one, and run back to the building in groups of two or three, then come back with arms. Many figures also appear from a number of small windows on the ground floor.
　Luka applies the 3x magnifier. "What's with my deja vu of some kind of fortress... They are bringing double-barreled shotguns out? And even with machetes? Are you guerrillas from somewhere?"
　"Let's go. Maybe the miscellaneous have already had made their escape." Zatsune shifts the gear. "Luka hold on~"
　Luka peeks out from the window, and raises her M320 to send a grenade onto the gate. How could a normal steel gate stand with that? It gets totally destroyed at once. Luka then retracts herself to chamber another grenade, while Zatsune pedals down on the throttle. Roaring, the SUV smashes easily through the broken gate into the yard. Gumi's van follows in immediately, with Lily's machine gun mounted in it pointed towards the crowd in their direct front, tearing five people or six apart with a single pull on the trigger.
　Even the henchmen are indeed prepared, they are still taken by surprise when faced by such grand openings, and hurriedly start shooting randomly at here, while the three other than Lily, who is operating the heavy machine gun, have already gotten off and taken cover behind the cars.
　The SUV is military model to begin with, which of course comes bullet-proof; Although the van seems normal, bullet-proof steel plates have already been applied within it. Thus Lily has nothing to worry about, and keeps suppressing the windows with the M2A1.
　Gumi sends a grenade into whichever window Lily suppresses with her grenade launcher. Though named "low-velocity", the trajectory is almost a straight line across such short ranges, and Gumi can as well get a bulls-eye via aiming the red dot at the upper edge of the windows. Zatsune takes her shots with the Mk18 from the other side, while Luka flips the 3x magnifier aside and starts cleaning the yard up.
　The yard belongs to Kamui, but it seems to be the home field of the four once the firefight begins: In no time do the henchmen all become unable to fight after suffering serious losses. Lily ceases fire. "Is there anyone left?"
　"Seems none." Luka bravely steps out after peeking out and having a look around to confirm of no movements.
　"Then let's head in. I bet that Kamui asshole is hiding in his own room." Zatsune stands up as well, and pulls the M26's handle to have a shell chambered.
　Lily gets off the van with the XM8 in her hand. The four approaches the entrance in small steps. Zatsune peeks inside to make sure about no movements before all of them enter in a line, and separate to proceed in groups of two towards the staircases along the hallway. Even if some survivors try to ambush them from the rooms, they consequently get shot to honeycombs by the two shotguns of Zatsune and Gumi.
　There are also some people hiding in a stairwell, who gets flattened by Zatsune with bullets, shells, buttstocks or even punches and kicks. Luka follows up, stamps on them and finishes them off each with a three-round burst from her M27. Red and white fluids spray onto their skirts, but they just keep pushing their way onto the second floor with ignorance.
　Seeing Gumi and Lily having arrived from the other end, the four regroup at a three-way junction in the middle. "So this is Kamui's room?" Lily has a look at an elegant wooden door. "I'd feel bad if I blow it up."
　"Isn't it the same to kick it open." Gumi fills the ammo tube of her M1014 with shells, and puts a Frag-12 directly into the ejection window. "Fire in the hole." She then goes back for a few steps, while loading a fresh magazine onto her SCAR-L.
　The other three spread out and load their guns. Gumi takes the shot at below the door handle, and the HEAP shell immediately smashes the look into pieces with a big bang. Zatsune doesn't wait for the explosion smoke to disappear before she runs up and lifts her leg to kick onto the door. "Open sesame!"
　The two door planks open to the inside on Zatsune's kick. Zatsune retracts herself aside with the reaction force, while Lily and Luka at once breach in with the two machine guns.
　There are also bodyguards as well as Kamui and his butler. But they have never given thoughts that the four should perform explosive breach in the first place even without trying to push the door open, and are all flattened under the machine gun fire before they could react. Kamui himself, on the other hand, takes a Glock 18C out to return fire, which gets sent away flying instantly by Gumi who has just switched back to her SCAR-L with one bullet. Luka and Lily then searches other corners - The room is U-shaped. It seems that two walls are built on purpose to pull the entrance door in and form the three-way junction outside.
　Luka opens the cabinet, and lifts the bed sheet to have a look at under the bed, only to find some maids shaking in fear. Luka points out with her muzzle. "Get out. It's none of your business here."
　"Awawa~" Having confirmed of being spared, the maids crawl out and flee in a hurry.
　Lily finds no ambushes as well. "Clear!" She then searches Kamui.
　Zatsune extracts the sickle from her skirt and swings it open, then approaches with a grin on her face. "You know what we are coming for this time?"
　"... Yes, I know." Seeing the sickle in her hand, Kamui only thinks that Zatsune is merely coming to warn himself about not to give thoughts towards her and Luka and her sickle.
　"You, know, nothing!" Beyond his surprise, Zatsune suddenly removes the smile away from her face, puts the sickle into her left hand, and slaps Kamui in his face. "Who are they?"
　Kamui unconsciously shakes his head due to the shock of the slaps. Zatsune slaps him again. "You don't even remember about hiring assassins?!"
　Luka can't help but laughs. "Well, I think it's this butler who made the contract."
　"It, it's me who hired the killers of my own accord, and has nothing to do with Master Kamui..." The butler hurries to justify Kamui. Zatsune gives him a glimpse. "Who has asked you to talk? Gumi, Lily, just do as you like to do him."
　"As we like?" Gumi, who is holding the SCAR-L in her hands, gets surprised, and exchanges looks with Lily and Zatsune. "We've never have a preference about killing people."
　Lily looks around as well when she notices the Glock 18C. She comes up with an idea. "Say, Gumi, how about letting me do this?"
　"Fine. Anyway you are mine yourself." Says Gumi. Lily picks the pistol up, and sets the selector to full-auto. "Is it 'I'm yours' or 'You're mine'?"
　Gumi is about to talk back when Luka stops them. "Stop stop stop stop stop. No flirting now~ you two."
　"... Luka you are a bad guy!" Gumi pouts.
　Luka pretends to complain. "You have just said about me being a good guy previously before mentioning me being a bad guy now. Just am I a good guy or a bad guy?"
　Zatsune violently chips in. "You are a humanoid, not a guy!"
　Luka gets speechless. Lily smiles while pushing the muzzle against the butler between his eyebrows. "Well, it's ok. Just take it like that I'm Gumi's."
　Although Lily has a smile on her face, her finger is keeping pulling the trigger. What's more, this Glock 18C has been loaded with a long 31-rounds magazine - The first bullet kills the unlucky man neat and clean, with all the remaining thirty bullets trampling what should only be called a pile of minced meat. Body fluids come out spraying all over Lily's body, who doesn't mind at all.
　Gumi gets a little frightened with her eyes round up. "Lily, that's... a little scary for you, to be honest."
　"Didn't I say that she's been having some violent tendencies?" Zatsune forces Kamui to watch all this till the very end by holding his head. "Give it another thought, and one hundred machine gun bullets is waiting for you."
　Luka gives Zatsune a glare. "Don't be such a waste!"
　Zatsune releases her hands. "Just an analogy. - Say, get me a rope or whatever to tie this asshole."
　"How about this?" Tossing the emptied Glock 18C away offhand, Lily turns around to approach the bed and picks the bed sheet up, then folds it into a thin strip and ties a knot on each end.
　"Hey, come and make a cocoon~" Zatsune, who gets interested, puts the sickle back into her skirt's pocket.

　"Whoa. So you two are really making a fortune this time." Lily walks here and there like a cleaning robot.
　Having hanged the Kamui-cocoon down from his room's balcony, the four go to pay a visit to the warehouse for temporary storage of black market goods. Afraid of there being any flammable or explosive things in the room, Gumi just kicks the door open after smashing the lock with normal shells instead of blowing it up.
　The four see all kinds of supplies on the shelves after their entrance: dehydrated rations, gasoline cans, bullets and grenades in different calibers, weapon parts like spare barrels, medicine, bandage and absorbent cotton for wounds, et cetera. Even though the amount is not large, they nearly make a small museum when put together.
　Zatsune gets dizzied. "The hell with it. Never made dealt with him before, or I could have known about such a vast business scope.
　Luka looks around. "We should be able to take them after some filtering. In the two vehicles of ours."
　"That just pirate-like for you." Gumi almost starts drooling as well. "But it would be strange not to want to take those goodies all."
　Zatsune makes an embracing gesture. "Then why don't we just take them~ Anyway they are free. So let's do some designation: I take the bullets, Lily takes the weapon parts, Gumi is on guard back by the cars, and Luka follows us to ensure safety. Bring as many as the vehicles can take, and weapons are of high priority."
　"Aren't taking the foods and medicine?" Lily has two packs of ship biscuits in her hand.
　Zatsune points backwards behind her. "We'd better leave some way out for the maids here. - Shouldn't we, Luka?" She turns to ask.
　"Don't follow my lead on such matters." Luka complains while sticking her thumb up.

　"A harvest~ a REAL harvest~" Sitting along the bedside, Zatsune can't stop herself from grinning.
　Luka is lying beside her, tired to death. "Just can't you transfer your excess strength from your mouth to your legs?"
　"How can it be counted like that." Zatsune flattens her lips. Although the amount brought back with the two cars is not a large one, it still means a large sum of income to Zatsune and Luka: At least they won't be worrying about ammo for several firefights.
　Gumi and Lily take their rest for a long while. "So we'll be going now." Gumi suddenly stands up.
　"Aren't you guys having a meal here?" Luka sits herself up.
　"There is no strength left in any of us to make a meal, is there?" Gumi points to Luka, who is still shaky from tiredness.
　Zatsune makes a gesture of holding a steering wheel. "Take care while driving. We are not going to see you off out."
　"Ok. It's been a pleasant cooperation with you today." The two come up and clap hands with Zatsune and Luka.
　Before long comes the start of the van starting and driving off. Luka looks at the disappearing figure through the window. "They came as enemies just in the beginning, while having become friends now."
　"..." The energetic Zatsune doesn't say a word. Luka feels strange and turns around. "Zatsune?"
　Zatsune lowers her head. "I've been feeling that, apart from Gumi and Lily, we will be fighting soon as well. And even Miku, Akita and Yowane might get involved."
　"... Same as before. I just hope for your jinxing mouth failing us this time." Luka sighs and turns again to look out the window. Since she's not lying for now, Zatsune pulls the folded blanket behind Luka for her to lean, with herself leaning onto the other side.
　Several leaves fly spinning by the window in the winds, one of which changes its route to Luka and gets caught in her hands. She then starts to sing with something on her mind.

　　　かぜさそう こかげに うつぶせてないてる
　　Crying under a tree shade dancing in the wind
　　　みもしらぬ わたしを わたしがみていた
　　I look at the neither unmet nor unknown me
　　　ゆくひとの しらべを かなでるギターラ
　　Guitars are played for deceased people
　　　こぬひとの なげきに ほしはおちて
　　And meteors fall for the people who won't come back

　　　ゆかないで、どんなにさけんでも
　　"Don't go!" Even if I cry out
　　　オレンジのはなびら しずかに ゆれるだけ
　　I only see oranges flowers waving silently
　　　やわらかな ひたいにのこされた
　　The memories remaining on the young face
　　　てのひらのきおくはるか
　　Memories of palms, have gone already
　　　とこしえの さよなら つまびく
　　With the farewell melody played with the fingers

　　　やさしいてにすがる こどものこころを
　　The childish heart leaning on your gentle shoulder
　　　もえさかる くるまは ふりはらいすすむ
　　Gets left far behind by the burning wheels
　　　ゆくひとの なげきをかなでてギターラ
　　The sighs of the fallen are played from guitars
　　　むねのいと はげしく かきならして
　　Picking the chords in the heart

　　　ああ かなしみに そまらないしろさで
　　O, on the pure white free of sadness
　　　オレンジのはなびら ゆれてたなつのかげに
　　Fall the waving shadows of orange flowers in summer
　　　やわらかな ひたいをなくしても
　　Even though we are losing the young face
　　　あかくそめたすなはるか こえてゆく
　　It's still able to cover the distance from the beach painted by the setting sun
　　　「さよなら」のリズム
　　For the farewell rhythm

　　　おもいでを やきつくして すすむだいちに
　　Out of the land with all the memories burnt out
　　　なつかしく めぶいてゆく ものが あるの
　　Grows some precious shoots of memories

　　　あかつきの くるまを みおくって
　　Seeing the train of dawn off
　　　オレンジのはなびら ゆれてる いまもどこか
　　Which place are the orange flowers waving at for now
　　　いつかみた やすらかな よあけを
　　Before the sunrise which have been greeted for many times
　　　もういちど てにするまで
　　Comes to us for another time
　　　けさないで ともしび
　　Don't put the small fire out
　　　くるまは まわるよ
　　And may the wheels keep turning

　"HACHOO!" Lily sneezes, and then closes the window. "Bless me."
　Something suddenly comes across the driving Gumi. "Ah. We didn't leave them with our contacts."
　"Well I think they don't have cellphones either. The only way of contacting might be their headphones." Lily takes her handkerchief and wipes on her face. Gumi nods. "Um, true that."
　"So what would you like to do this time?" Lily suddenly changes her tone, just like when they decided to become mercenaries back then - with the only difference of that they are quitting now.
　A checkpoint on the border of Mando approaches while they are talking. Gumi reaches out to swipe the pass card. "... How about buying a small cart and running a snack stall?"
　"Yeah. Get a big one. I'm joining you..." On Lily's words' fading out, Gumi turns to have a look. "Lily?"
　It turns out that Lily has fallen asleep due to the rising temperature and shakiness in the car, together with the tiredness after a fight. Gumi can't help but smiles looking at the sleep face of her beloved.

　"One, two, three!" Several daring maids manages to pull the Kamui-cocoon up the balcony, ignoring the bodies lying about on the floor, and pitches in untying him.
　Kamui doesn't regain his consciousness before he sits on the floor and rests for a good while. "Ah, fortunately nothing happened to our master..." Maids all take a deep breath.
　"They are gone?" Kamui tries to stand up. A maid hurriedly helps him up. "All gone. They even took most of the goods with them. But nothing beside those disappeared."
　Kamui takes a look at what was his butler on the floor. "Who's left here?"
　"We maids are the only ones left. Your henchmen have all..." Another maid lowers her head.
　"... Get things ready." Kamui picks a bullet shell up, and then tosses it away randomly. "I'm going Shyar to get some men."
　The maids exchange looks. "Then what about here?"
　"Clean it up and bury the bodies. I'll be back." Kamui steps out and disappears behind the corner.

last edited at Oct 25, 2013 2:28AM

Chapter Five

　"Growl~" Lily is woken up by her own stomach before she notices that it's time for dinner.
　She then sneaks out on her toes to do some washing since Gumi's been sleeping beside her. Lily washes some rice, puts it into the electric rice cooker, then goes to the refrigerator and finds two frozen blocks of chicken breasts to put into the microwave oven to defrost.
　The oven dings after thirty seconds. Lily gets the meats out, slices them into one centimeter cubes, and then pickles them with flavorings including starch, cooking wine and soy sauce in a bowl while starting the cooker to preheat some oil.
　When smoke comes up from the frying pan, Lily puts the pickled meat in to fry it quickly before scooping it out with a strainer. She then fries the flavor out from dry chilies, scallions, ginger and garlic and puts the fried chicken back.
　Then a plate with a mixture of cucumber cubes and peanuts coming from aside surprises Lily when she's busy flipping with a spatula. She turns and finds it to be Gumi. "You forgot these." Gumi pours the mixture into the pan. "Why are you using chicken breasts?"
　"No chicken legs left." Lily spits her tongue. "When did you wake up?"
　Gumi turns on the water tap to wash the plate and the bowl Lily used for pickling just now. "When the oven dings."
　"Just come and help already since you are awake already, honestly." Lily complains like spoiled. Gumi almost gets killed instantly. "There's no way my Lily could be such lovely! Just let me kiss you already or I'll enjoy you later~"
　Saying that, Gumi at once puts the tableware away and jumps onto Lily. Lily doesn't dodge at all. "Don't do that while I'm cooking. After all aren't you gonna enjoy me later no matter whether I let you kiss me now."
　"... There you get unlovely when criticizing..." Gumi pouts.
　Lily turns the cooker off and puts the Kung Pao Chicken into a plate. "Then how about I enjoy you later?"
　"Li, Lily takes the lead..." Gumi's nose starts bleeding before she turns around to get some paper to plug into her nose. Lily can't help but laughs. "Well well, let's get to eating. I've been starving. - Even if you are talking about me being tsundere, aren't you as troublesome as me."

　Inside Miku's house in the remote town in northern Shyar.
　"That's some ra~ther good job you've done there." Akita imitates the tone of some TV program being broadcasted aside.
　Yowane picks in. "But the Kamui family is still a large one after all. As with the saying goes, 'a centipede dies but never falls down', you'd better beware of him coming back at you someday. Even though whether the 'someday' will come soon or late is unknown yet."
　Luka smiles bitterly through the headphone. "It'll be the best for things not to develop as such. You too, since they should certainly have some henchmen over there in Shyar according to their scale, had better be careful not to get recognized."
　"Yeah, we will." Yowane nods. "Say, what happened to the two mercenaries?"
　"They have gone back to Mando, talking about quitting." Zatsune answers. "And they are getting married to each other."
　Akita gets surprised. "Married? - Well even if we are planning to do the same."
　Akita pays no attention when saying things, and nor does Yowane, while Zatsune at once spurts at the other end of the line. "PFFT!! So here comes another couple?!"
　"Love will come in time, won't it." Luka is optimistic, on the other hand. "It's not less than a hundred years that the two have been together for. I won't believe it if they are not marrying. Plus, since humanoids are manufactured in factories, isn't it easy to just make a child."
　"... Even if you say so..." Zatsune gets speechless. Miku gets in unexpectedly. "Hey. You guys want the rice to be harder or softer?"
　Luckily Miku has always been leaving her headphone in the living room, so that she didn't hear their conversation about "getting married and giving birth to babies". Akita quickly turns around. "Ah, harder."
　Miku is a little surprised when she notices both Akita and Yowane are wearing their headphones. "Telephone call from Luka and Zatsune sis?"
　"Yeah, yeah." Akita nods perfunctorily. "- Eh? What's that smell?"
　"Smell? ... WAAAH!! IT'S OVERCOOKED!!" Miku hurriedly runs back to the kitchen. Zatsune can't help but laughs. "That's my sister, as reckless as always."
　Yowane looks out a window. "She's rather calm outside, while acting like a child back at home. We even feel unsure about which her character really is now. Lovely, though."
　"Of course the childish her at home is the real her." Zatsune answers instantly. "Miku isn't as scheming as us, you know."
　Yowane shrugs. "True that."
　"DINNER'S READY!" On Miku's loud call from the kitchen, Akita steps out. "So we'll be going for the dinner. I'm hanging up."
　"Bye." Luka and Zatsune cut the comm.

　"Had better find somewhere to refuel." Mumbles Kamui, looking at the blinking refueling-machine-shaped icon on the dashboard of his sports car.
　Although Zatsune has nearly emptied his house with others, what they have taken were only armaments such as ammo, and the garage hasn't even been given a single look at, which saves Kamui from the dilemma of having to go to Shyar on foot.
　But with that said, this sports car is also painted in purple particular to the Kamui family. Afraid of being recognized, Kamui had to find a repainting shop in a remote town in Shyar to get his car repainted into not-so-attractive sapphire blue.
　The car almost ran out of fuel just before leaving the town after the paintjob redone. Kamui was forced to find a nearest refueling station on his GPS navigator and head back.
　He is looking around randomly during the refueling process when he notices two female shop assistants talking as nobody's visiting in the shop attached to the refueling station. Even if it's blurry behind the glass, he still manages to make out them being a smaller one and a taller one, with blonde and gray hairs respectively. (It's... Neil and Hecca that day? Why are they working here as shop assistants?) Many questions come up to Kamui, who decides to drive the car a litter farther down the road and walk back to approach the shop in small paces.
　It turns out to be them indeed on closer looks. Kamui is thinking of going in to ask directly before he realizes that it's hard for him to answer if they ask about why he has come, so he only heads back to his car and continues driving.
　While driving, Kamui keeps thinking. (They claimed to be travelling from southern Shyar, however are working here at a small town in northern Shyar now. That means that they were telling lies back then, and their names were aliases, too. Plus, there are only a few celebrity families in Shyar. According to them having never introduced their family, it's either that they don't belong to upper classes, or that they are just some upstarts - but it's rather unlikely for upstarts to talk in such manners. What's more, even though they looked like a lady and her servant, and their ways of talking suit that too, their actions just seemed capable and experienced instead of being spoiled.)
　As he thinks has he entered a neighboring city. Arriving at a real estate agency, Kamui pulls his car to a stop into the parking lot beside the building, and walks into the agency. "I want to buy a house on higher floors." Kamui says to the clerk in the counter. "Floor 23 or higher."
　According to Shyar's rules, residential buildings are as tall as twenty floors at most, to ensure its residents being able to escape in time upon disasters like fire and earthquakes. It's either that this customer doesn't about that or that it's a cipher. "I'm terribly sorry, but we only have ones on floor 20." The clerk probes while staying calm and collected. "But the room is a duplex with a small attic. Is that fine?"
　"Ok. Anyway I'll only be placing some antique in the attic." Kamui gives the countersign, which makes the clerk to change his look immediately. "Fine. Please come with me." He leaves the counter and leads Kamui to the back. Confirming of nobody's being around, the clerk presses a switch on a wall aside.
　The switch looks like a lamp switch while actually being a different one: Some clicks come with the suspended ceiling opens in a relatively hole, and a spiral stairs made of steel descend from within. The clerk climbs up with Kamui following.
　Up to the top, it turns out to be a rather large meeting room with furniture like sofas and tea tables. "My master, please wait here for a moment." The clerk goes back down with those words.
　Another middle-aged man comes up later. "Master Kamui, why have you come here in person? Just send some men to relay the word is fine." He seems a trusted henchman of Kamui.
　"There has just been some situations." Of course Kamui is by no means going to tell him explicitly of embarrassing things like "my men are all dead", even if it's because of the opponents' being too powerful but not their being too weak. "Look up some people for me."
　"Right away." The middle-aged man brings a laptop computer from a side, opens it and presses its power button. He then launches a program after the computers' starting up and enters some password to access a querying screen. "What are they?"
　Since the Kamui family is doing black market business, it's natural for them to have implanted informants into various parties all over the continent. For the sake of simplicity, the informants all upload their intel onto a secured website run by the Kamui family. Kamui himself and his close henchmen can do the analysis and summery with special programs.
　Kamui recalls. "Two of them. One is named 'Neil', short and blonde. The other is 'Hecca', tall and gray hair. Include similar results."
　The middle-aged man enters the search conditions, then the computer shows some results on the screen after some processing. "Please have a look." The middle-aged man turns the computer towards Kamui.
　Kamui browses through the photos on the screen. "... Yeah, that's it. 'Akita Neru' and 'Yowane Haku'. - 'Last occupied in Neusen Military Research Center. Location unknown right now.'?" Kamui gets surprised while having a puzzle solved: No wonder they seemed capable since they had been in the army.
　There's still more below. "Neusen now has a kill order on those two for 'disclosing national secrets', blah blah..."
　"... Got it." Kamui suddenly comes up with an idea. "Have an informant in Neusen arranged to meet up with me, at the outskirts of Neusen."
　The middle-aged man takes notes down onto a notebook. "Yes, sir."
　"Plus, get some secret-keeping men to my house. Have them do the following once they arrive." Kamui starts to browse through other intel while giving orders.

　Several days later, a morning in Neusen.
　"Excuse me." Someone's knocking at the door. Meiko turns her head. "Come in."
　The man enters. "Our men found this during the patrol this morning." He then takes a swelling envelope out.
　Meiko takes it over, and notices photos of Akita and Yowane pasted onto it. "What the?" Meiko frowns. Kaito swings his hand on her expression. "You may leave now."
　The man salutes and turns to leave, not forgetting to shut the door. Kaito approaches Meiko. "What's this?"
　Meiko opens the envelope and lays the ingredients outside onto the table. They consist of two satellite maps, a map of a city block, and a design sketch of a building. Intelligences such as longitudes and latitudes, and surrounding environments are labeled together on the maps. A letter is also included.
　"These are... A small town in Shyar, and south to the forest...?" Kaito refers to the world map hung on the wall. "What's the letter saying?"
　"Akita Neru and Yowane Haku are now living in a high apartment in Shyar... The Hagails are using an abandoned mine as their shelter?" Meiko gradually curls her lips. "Heh heh heh. Very good. - Kaito, go kill the four for good right now. You hear me?"
　Kaito hesitates. "But Meiko, after all Shyar is officially neutral. Going and fighting there directly is..."
　"I'm in charge here, and I'm taking the responsibility, so what are you afraid of? Just get manly already!" Disdains Meiko.

　Half an hour later, fifty well-equipped soldiers have gathered in an opening outside the industrial area, with a V22 Osprey commandeered from some other base and several transport trucks ready to go as well behind them. Meiko is designating the tasks. "... I lead Team Alpha to go around to a certain town in Shyar! Kaito you lead Team Bravo to the mining hill! You are authorized to kill the targets if they resist! Hooah?!" The loud noise made by the rotary wings forced Meiko to shout.
　"HOOAH!!" The soldiers turn around and separate into two teams, each of which heads to their corresponding vehicles. The Osprey takes off instantly after the last man is onboard, and rotates its wings to accelerate towards Shyar.
　Meiko is holding the design sketch of the apartment building in the cabin. "We are to make the insertion at low altitudes at first, and rope down here onto the top of the building. Two of you go down the fire escape to cover the rear, and another six of you follow me down this staircase. Others wait here aboard. Then breach in upon arriving this floor. We are getting them, alive or dead...."

　Zatsune has been collecting the laundry outside at that time. "Well it's so sunny today. They got dried up so quickly."
　"And so shining as well. Honestly, how could it get such shining with it having just rained the day before yesterday?" Luka picks some clothes pins off the steel wire when she notices some black points appearing far away from the road and coming towards themselves, with dirt flying about behind them. She turns and have an attentive look. "What's that?"
　The points have been approaching in high speeds, and are soon enlarged into sizes which allow the two to see it clearly - they are some trucks with signs of the Neusen Army painted upon them. Zatsune feels strange. "The Neusen Army? What are they doing here?"
　"Anyway let's get prepared." Luka runs back into the room to get some weapons, with Zatsune following her.
　Within such urgent a situation, Zatsune takes a Mk46 with a bipod, and Luka picks Zatsune's M4A1 with an M203A2 mounted offhand. Since they seldom have time to load their weapons, the two just rushed to the window with ammo in their hands separately, just in time when those trucks pull to a stop horizontally at a distance. Some soldiers are jumping out in small groups, while the others are taking their aim here and seemingly waiting for the command of searching.
　Luka adjusts the rear sight to the estimated distance then takes her aim. The chamber is already loaded with a grenade, only waiting for the trigger to be pulled.
　Zatsune pulls an ammo belt out from an ammo box and starts to chamber it. However on seeing the bullet tips to be in black and red, and text of AP/API written on the box, Zatsune can't help but grins. "Hell yeah. I got a box of armor-piercers here without even knowing." She flips the receiver lid open, installs the ammo belt, and pulls the cocking handle.
　"Are we doing this?" Luka turns the safety of the grenade launcher off. "If they aren't coming for us by any chance, we'll be in trouble later."
　A leader-like man points here while the two are talking. The soldiers consequently spreads out and starts approaching.
　"... Seems like they ARE coming for us." Zatsune mounts the bipod onto the windowsill, and aims at the leading man. "They are mostly likely to pick up a fight since they have already formed a skirmish line. Send them a grenade no matter what - FIRE!!" She suddenly raises her voice and applies force on the trigger.
　Several AP bullets at once fly out, and accurately penetrate into the man's chest after covering the distance. Blood instantly come spraying out behind the man, who falls over as well.
　A bazookaman takes aim and attempts to fire his AT4 when Luka's grenade comes in time. The flying frags immediately slices his carotid artery open, disabling him to get his rocket launched once for all.
　Having successfully taken the leader out by surprise, Zatsune rapidly switches her targets, especially to those firing back from behind the trucks. She doesn't need to aim at the heads carefully, and just keeps sending bursts of three rounds or five out - since she's firing AP rounds. Luka flattens those who don't have time to take cover, and fires another grenade.
　It couldn't have been any more accurate for her to have the distance estimated. The grenade has just gone in through the gap between two trucks. The unlucky soldiers hiding behind the trucks to avoid Zatsune's fire at once get blown away into blood men.
　Having there being hardly anyone to fire back, the two of them exchange a look, and get out through the window one after another to go in for the kill. In no time do all of the some twenty opponents get finished up.
　"That'd be rather hard to touch us for you twenty people or so." Luka is taking the finishing shots when she sees her partner bends down and pulls the dog tag off from the leader she has killed in the first place. Zatsune's expression immediately changed after taking a brief look. "Shit!"
　Luka gets surprised. "Huh?" She approaches to look.
　It turns out that texts of "Kaito, vice president of NMRC" are written on the dog tags. Luka gets aware in no time. "It's!"
　Zatsune turns on her headphone and makes the call without any hesitate. "Akita! Yowane! Something's -"
　"GRENADE!! YOWANE MOVE!!" Akita's shout gets transmitted through together with gunshots in the background.
　"Take things and go to Shyar, quick!" Having no time to go on with the cleaning up thoroughly, Zatsune grabs a hand grenade up from a dead body. Luka also takes the AT4 CS with her considering it to be likely useful afterwards. The two then rush back to their house.
　Zatsune bites the pull ring off the grenade, and tosses it back over her shoulder. A loud explosion comes consequently from the corpses.
　The SUV gets started in less than half a minute before starts running along the road to Shyar.

　The remote town in Shyar, several minutes earlier.
　"Ummm, Yowane, buy me some cold medicine..." Akita, lying in her bed, mumbles weakly to the microphone of the handfree headphone of her cellphone.
　The drop of temperature caused by the rainfall the day before yesterday made Akita caught a cold (even if she's a humanoid, the temperature controller of her body still malfunctions during such extreme changes in the environment), who consequently asked for a two days' sick leave. Yowane, on the other hand, gets dragged to go shopping by Miku since she's off today. On Akita's words, Yowane turns to ask Miku walking beside her. "Well, are there any drug stores nearby specially for humanoids?"
　"That would be far. Over in that block." Miku points her hand. Then a buzz comes over their heads from the sky. Miku gets surprised when she raises her head to see a black shadow flying near in high speeds. "A plane? Flying at such low altitudes and speeds?"
　Yowane raises her head too. "Plane... OSPREY?!"
　The shadow draws near, and it turns out to be a V22 with Neusen army paintjobs. Yowane immediately realizes their disadvantage, and calls on Akita in no time. "Akita! Run! The Neusens are coming!"
　Despite of her hurting head, Akita springs up and grabs the black plastic bag which has the four pistols (Zatsune and Luka left all their weapons except for the sickle on their departure, just in case if anything happens) and the ammo in it. She then kicks into her shoes, bumps the door open, storms into the stairwell, and sits onto the handrail to slide downwards.
　Even if nine floors are by no means a low altitude, Akita manages to make her way down to the ground in no time. She throws herself onto the gate to open it. "Yowane! Where are you?"
　"Go straight from the building entrance!" Yowane says, then turns around to give Miku a push. "Hurry and run for your life! The farther, the better! Hide yourself somewhere! Never get out unless we get to you!"
　"Um, ok!" Miku hurries away to the opposite direction on realizing that things are getting serious. Yowane turns around and runs to meet up with Akita after confirming Miku to be far out of reach.
　Akita staggers her way near, pulls the bag open to arm themselves. "What now, should we run or fight?"
　"We will be sitting ducks for the Osprey even if we run. I'd prefer fighting for our lives instead." Yowane makes up her mind. "Anyway they are coming for us, not Miku."
　"If you say so!" Akita chambers her pistols and turns the safeties off.
　The two take cover crouching behind a cement roadblock. Akita even fires at the sky twice as a warning. "Firefights! Danger close!"

　Upstairs. Team A led by Meiko only met a widely open door and didn't find anyone in the room. Having realized that the beans have already been spilled out, Meiko calls with her walkie-talkie. "All of you, get down here!"
　Suddenly a soldier raises his voice when Meiko is speaking. "Look at that! Isn't it a target!?"
　All of them turns to look along his pointing hand, then see a blonde single-ponytail running away on the ground: isn't it Akita. At that time the soldiers waiting aboard the V22 have arrived as well, the entire team then chase down in a hurry.
　Yowane is covering the building entrance when she sees a Neusen soldier running out. She takes the shot after aiming the targeting laser directly at her opponent's forehead. Akita flattens the second guy synchronously. The machine gunner hurries to deliver covering fire, while the two have already retracted behind their cover.
　Meiko gets irritated on her men being such cautious. "What are you afraid for? There are just two! Push on!" She picks up an UMP45 to run outside.
　Seeing their leader rushing out, the machine gunner at once moves his line of fire away to prevent friendly fires. However Akita and Yowane take the chance and peek out to flatten him down with one bullet from each.
　Getting more angry at this, Meiko stops to pick up a hand grenade from the fallen body and tosses it out. Others gush out from the entrance as well.
　"GRENADE!! YOWANE MOVE!!" Akita shouts on seeing the incoming pineapple. Despite of the suppressing fire, she jumps to the grenade and throws it back.
　It doesn't take two seconds since the grenade fly out from Akita's hand before it explodes, shatter the glass windows of the shops alongside the street into pieces. Akita falls back to the cover. "They are all out there!"
　Yowane takes her aim at a rifleman. "Conserve the ammo!"
　"I know it!" Akita takes a chance and sends another two bullets out.

　Turning the clock back again -
　"Gumi, we've run outta chili sauce for broiled cold noodles. Come with me and purchase some from Shyar, will you?" Lily hangs herself behind Gumi onto her neck by her surprise, and whispers directly to Gumi's ears. "Are~ you~ com~ing~?"
　Gumi spits her tongue out with her face turned blue. "Yea, yeah, I'm going... Lily let me go... I'm choking..."
　"Let's-a-go~" Lily releases Gumi and jumped back to change her clothes, with Gumi herself taking several deep breathes before recovering. "Phew... Damn you Lily, I almost get killed just now. I won't let you sleep tonight!" Gumi grins evilly at her lover's figure.
　Having the door locked, the two come downstairs and drive their van towards Shyar - Anyway since they'll be passing through Hagails' regions, not only do they take both the HK416 and the AA-12 as personal defenses, the M2A1 in the cart isn't removed as well. Of course, they have had the machine gun disguised as a refrigerator with painted cardboards to prevent getting their cover blown. The two smaller guns are hidden under their seat on the other hand.
　Arriving in the outskirts of the remote town, the two get off the road prematurely in order to avoid the trouble of getting their pass checked at checkpoints. Through twists and turns, they sneak into the town via an unknown gap among the wild grasses.
　A buzz from the sky and some cracking sounds come on their way to the wholesale warehouse located in the other end of the town. Lily gets surprised. "Anywhere performing a ceremony? They even have small planes sent flying in addition to setting firecrackers off?"
　Gumi answers to both likings. "How about going to have a look? After all we are free."
　"Yeah." Lily peeks out through the window and roughly estimates the direction. "Turn right at the coming crossing."
　Gumi steers the car as she says. However both of them become more and more suspicious as they drive: It sounds more like gunshots instead of firecracker explosions! Lily even gets speechless after she has a subconscious look up to the sky. "Say, Gumi, what's that in the sky do you think..."
　"V22?!" Gumi gets astonished on raising her head to see it as well. "Plus... it's paintjob is the Neusen Army style! Have they declared wars with Shyar when we don't know about it??"
　"Let's go~ That's worth some attendance." Lily climbs back to remove the disguising cardboards away into a stack aside, unlocks the stand and the safety of the heavy machine gun, and pushes the covering lid open to peek out - As with a leopard can't change his spots, they aren't getting rid of their love of fighting as mercenaries even if they have quitted from being ones.
　Then a girl with cyan twin-ponytails runs near with all her strength on their way approaching the Osprey. She just seems to have been chased by some flesh-eating monsters.
　Gumi hasn't been paying attention before the girl draws near, when she notices that the girl resembles Zatsune exactly! Gumi can't help but slows the car down and peeks out to ask. "Zatsune?"
　In no time does Gumi realize that she has just made a mistake. She is about to step on the throttle pedal when the girl pulls to a stop instead. "Wh, who? Sis?! Where are you!?" She starts to look around.
　Lily comes up with memories. "Wait, Gumi, stop. I remember Zatsune mentioning her before." She gets back into the cart and slides the side door open to ask. "Are you Hatsune Miku? Zatsune's younger sister?"
　"Ah! You know my sis? Where is she?" Miku hasn't thinking about meeting someone who knows her sister here.
　"She~ should not be here. We weren't with her." Lily shakes her head when her heart softens again on Miku's about to cry. "So why are you running?"
　Miku points back to the Osprey hovering afar in the sky. "They, they suddenly showed up. Yowane told me to run, while she might still be there together with Akita..." Miku is saying when she notices the heavy machine gun in the cart. "Ah, you have weapons. Could, could you please help Akita and Yowane? They are friends of my sis, too..."
　Lily turns her head and exchanges a look with Gumi, who turns around as well then sticks her thumb up. Lily turns to Miku again on that. "No problem. You just go hide yourself, and we are going right now."
　Miku runs to a nearby cover as she's been told. Lily slides the door back, mounts the M2A1 up, loads the ammo belt and pulls the cocking handle back twice, then grabs the rear grip tight in her hands. "Go!"
　"Copy!" Gumi stamps hard onto the throttle. The car rushes swiftly towards the center of the firefight.

　"Got another!" Akita sends two bullets out with her both pistols. Noticing the bolts both get caught, she goes prone back to change the magazines, while she only touch one remaining. "Last mag!"
　Yowane retracts as well. "You have the ammo box with you?"
　"Yeah!" Akita inserts the magazine into one of her pistols' grip. "Don't tell me to refill them now!"
　"What else can we do?!" Yowane urges. "I'll cover, you do it fast!"
　Akita has no choice but to pick an empty magazine up from the ground. However when she has only gotten a few bullets in her hand, a noise of car tires rubbing on the ground comes followed by a sudden stop beside the two.
　"Who?!" Akita and Yowane both get surprised and raise their heads to look. It turns out to be a black van, with a girl wearing grass-green messy hair jumping out from the driver seat with an HK416 in her hand, then taking cover behind the vehicle. "Akita Neru, Yowane Haku?"
　"We are!" Akita feels relaxed since the coming person seems friendly. "Who might you be?"
　The green girl peeks out for a three-round burst. "Twin-flower fighters from Mando! Gumi & Lily, at your service! Kila~" Gumi has to say the sound effect with her mouth since her hands are busy holding a rifle.
　"Just stop advertising already, will you?" Another voice comes from atop the car, where a blonde girl is holding a pitch-black heavy machine gun. "Eat this!" Lily pushes the trigger lever down, and flames instantly come bursting out with bullets from the muzzle.
　Meiko gets enraged when she sees the enemy reinforcements coming. "What the fuck?! Kill those two together!!"
　Nonetheless it's always easier to be said than done. The soldiers have no other choice than running for their lives when confronted with an M2A1's firepower. Meiko grabs her walkie-talkie violently. "What the fuck are you pilots waiting! Get the MG destroyed! NOW!"
　The Osprey ascends slowly and turns its head on her words. Lily hurriedly raises her muzzle to shoot the engine pods at the ends of its wing. However the M2A1 is fed with a regular 4:1 ball/tracer belt, and is only to damage one of the engines in such a hurry.
　It's worth mentioning that V22 planes have mechanics to connect the two propellers to be driven by one engine, thus the failure of one of the two engine is not getting the whole plane down. And when Lily changes her aim at the other engine, the V22 has already adjusted itself into a shooting angle, aiming its nose at the van.
　"Shit! Not so very good!" Gumi rushes back to attempt to drive the car away, when another help comes unexpectedly: A high-explosive dual-purpose grenade flies all its way up and scores a direct hit on the cockpit! The Osprey immediately starts shaking violently before turning back and flying away. Seems its copilot has been killed in the explosion.
　Having seen other reinforcements arriving, Yowane takes a deep breath and turns to look as well. The newcomers turn out to be two girls driving an SUV. One of them wearing pink hair and black dress holds an M4A1 with a grenade launcher, and is peeking her upper body out through the copilot window. The other girl with her left hand holding an Mk46 and her right hand on the steering wheel beside the former has black hair and red eyes - who could they have been but Luka and Zatsune?
　Yowane is more happy than surprised to see them. "Why are you coming too!?"
　"Hearing that you are having a firefight over here!" Zatsune stops the car horizontally, gets out to hide herself behind the engine, then mounts the bipod onto the engine lid before delivering a long burst.
　The enemies has been peeking out bravely to wait for an explosion since the M2A1 gets busy against their Osprey, thus the fleeing of the V22 naturally forces them to scatter about in a hurry. Nevertheless, Zatsune is shooting nothing other AP bullets, which are able to penetrate thin sheets of steel and wood with great ease. They have to seek cement and brick walls for cover after some unlucky ones of them get implanted with blood holes into their bodies.
　Luka, on the other side, runs to the van. "Watch out for backblast!"
　On her words, Luka takes aiming-off allowances for her AT4 and pulls the trigger. HEDP rocket then flies towards the Osprey along with the M2A1's line of fire.
　The Osprey originally plans to regain a stable stance before coming around back to deal with the heavy machine gun. However as it has finished turning, Luka's rocket arrives as well - With its previously undamaged wing getting a direct hit, the V22 becomes completely out of control, and starts falling to faraway places while beginning to roll.
　"Boom!" A fireball shoots up. Onboard ammo get detonated without exception.
　"NICE!!" Lily calls out while her muzzle at the enemies' covers. Even though the reinforced cement of civilian specifications is capable of stopping small pistol and rifle bullets, how could it block a large caliber like .50? The poor soldiers find themselves caught within a dilemma: being pinned down by the small arms firepower, while bound to get torn up to pieces with the M2A1 digging in their covers.
　The now disrupted Meiko has to run back into the building to hide making the best of a short gap of the crossfire, swearing. "Kaito you asshole! How can you let the two Hagails escaped! And even come here to interfere!"
　Were her saliva poisonous, Zatsune and others would have already been killed for twenty times or above. But since she's not a snake - it's still necessary even for snakes to have a bite. Her curses mean nothing but only waste of her strengths.
　While she's cursing, the gunshots outside suddenly stopped. Meiko is about to have a peek out before someone tosses a small metal chip inside.
　"What the fuck is this?" Meiko picks it up as it seems free of danger.
　It turns out to be nothing but Kaito's dog tag. Taking a deep breath, Meiko is about to say "Kaito is dead" when another one says it in advance. "Your vice-president or somewhat, named Kaito, gets a few holes in him with my AP bullets."
　Meiko raises her head to see a person turning the trial model sickle in the hand, and carrying a light machine gun on the back. "If I were you, I'd put the gun down actively since that might save my own life." Noticing Meiko raising her UMP45 in an attempt to resist, Zatsune at once knocks the submachine gun away with her sickle backhand.
　"... You nasty flies, don't you count this as winning over me today!" Meiko spits maliciously.
　Zatsune turns around to get behind Meiko. "Cut the bullshit. Just GO already~" She aims her leg at Meiko's butt.
　Having been kicked out of the building entrance, Meiko stumbles to a stop, only to see her men died all over the ground. Another pair of stereo voices come from behind. "Have a thought about what to say to your dead soldiers."
　Before she turns to look, Yowane and Luka have already gone around before her.
　Meeting her vendetta humanoid enemies, Meiko immediately gets fired up. "Betrayers! How dare you say that to me!"
　"Hey, I was manufactured in Shyar, so is there any betrayal to begin with? And since you are nothing but a defective waste aged some ten years, aren't you showing some respect to your elders?" Luka points to Yowane.
　Yowane complains. "Haven't I said that one hundred is only a number."
　"As long as we were manufactured even before the country of Neusen was founded and thus there's no loyalty among us to begin with, who is betraying?" Akita walks up with her hand busy refilling a magazine.
　Zatsune comes back after slipping upstairs to lock the door even during such a small time gap. "Say, Akita, Yowane, how are you guys going to deal with her? Others are bound to come if we don't settle this fast."
　"Well about that..." Akita is thinking when she notices Lily, who is now holding an AA-12 picked up somewhere. She walks up on a whim. "Hey, machine gunner!"
　Lily mumbles. "Since when did I change my occupation. - What's up?"
　Akita points to the van. "Lend me the M2A1 for a minute, will you?"
　"... It's ok for sure, but why?" Lily nods.
　"You'll see it later." Akita runs into the van in small steps before peeking out in the gunner position. "Zatsune, Luka, Yowane, fall back~" Akita calls.
　Luka gets surprised. "Isn't her running if we get away?"
　"Can't you pin her down then?" Akita curls her lips. She removes the ammo belt, bends down and comes out again in a little while with a bullet in her hand, whose tip is colored green and a white ring next to the green part. "Isn't it too professional for you guys to even have this Mk211 with you?"
　"Such a waste!" Although Gumi is shouting, she is only saying it with an relaxed attitude of seeing a play.
　Akita manually chambers the bullet, covers the receiver lid back and pulls the cocking handle. "To me it seems like letting her off too lightly with other kinds of bullets."
　Zatsune gets what Akita's thinking too. She firstly puts two bullets in each of Meiko's feet, then drags her to sit in the wall corner before she even has time to scream. "Fall back, fall back. Watch out for getting involved in the explosion." Zatsune pushes Luka away. Yowane backs off on her actions as well.
　Akita takes her aim, and pulls the trigger. "Die, you scumbag!"
　After the bullet penetrates the metal skeleton in the head, it hits the cement wall where it detonates.

　"Sorry, Miku, for getting you involved into such nasty matters." Zatsune jumps out from the copilot seat.
　Having had Meiko shot in her head, Yowane got inside the van as well, and all of them fled with the heavy machine gun retracted back. Gumi picked Miku up, who had been hiding at the same place all the time, and led Luka out of the town along the same secret route in which the came in the first place. Zatsune was commenting meanwhile. "I wouldn't have spent the fifty dollars if I had had known about this path~"
　As a result of a brief discussion, since there are electromagnetic jammers in Mando, the three humanoids can't go there, which means they had to head back to the mining hill.
　After driving all the way back to Zatsune and Luka's shelter, the very first thing they see is the scene where either complete or deformed corpses scattered all over the place. That shouldn't be a problem for others, but it's almost the first time for Miku to see dead bodies with her own eyes - not to mention the amount.
　While they are expecting Miku to get scared badly, she doesn't pay any special attention to what she sees on the other hand. Gumi can't help but asks. "Aren't you scared?"
　"Since it's Zatsune sis and Luka who were fighting, isn't it determined to become like this? I think~" Miku acts as if nothing happened. "So in the end, you two are?"
　"Twin-" Gumi is about to bring the "twin-flower fighters" thing up when Lily glares at her. "No advertisement!"
　Gumi behaves herself. "- Two humans from Mando. I'm Gumi and she's Lily. Ex-mercenaries." She then turns to Akita and Yowane. "We've been hearing about you from Zatsune."
　"Ah, you guys are the two mercenaries who went with them to lecture 'KamuED' last time, aren't you?" Yowane managed to recall.
　Luka almost spurts. "Why has that become such popular?"
　"'KamuED'?" Meanwhile Miku knows hardly a thing.
　Zatsune concludes in one word. "Good kids aren't supposed to know. Bad kids aren't supposed to know, too."
　Miku complains. "So sis is treating me as a kid again!"
　"Ok, ok. We've been waiting for your cooking." Luka pacifies. Miku immediately turns clear. "Then I'm going to the kitchen~"
　Miku hops her way into the house on her words. The remaining six thinks synchronously. (Even though something seemed to be opposite, she is still a little kid as expected.)
　"Have here cleaned up first." Zatsune follows her into the room and brings two shovels back out. "Luka and I are to dig holes. While Yowane, Gumi and Lily, you three are to collect the weapons and ammo; Just leave them on the floor in my warehouse, we'll have them arranged by ourselves later. Since Akita has caught a cold, she's heading into the room to have a rest."
　On her words, Zatsune steps away with Luka. The three of them start talking while beginning to do the collection. "Hii~yaah. So Zatsune's jinxing mouth had it predicted again. We aren't leading peaceful lives soon for now." Lily picks a hand grenade up.
　Gumi unmounts the ammo box from a light machine gun. "True that. Had we known about this development, we would have had the wedding ceremony held somewhere back there."
　Having the firefight all the day long, Akita has already been feeling worse about her fever, and is heading to the house dizzily when she almost trips on Gumi's words. "A, a comrade! Call, call on me and Yowane when you'll be holding your wedding! If in Shyar!" She is breathing heavily - yet unknown about it being because of whether excitement or disease.
　"Huh? You two are also lovers?" Lily turns her head.
　Yowane gives her helping left hand to Akita with a standalone EGLM held in her right hand. "Haven't you heard about that from Zatsune?"

　After having the cleaning up done in great effort, since it's the evening already, the gang starts a dinner with random talking as always. Akita isn't having an appetite due to her fever, so Yowane had a bowl of porridge cooked for her.
　"So why have there been only les couples around me?" Zatsune puts on a long face. "Even though it shouldn't be a problem with current technologies, the density is too high."
　"Maybe you can just pair up with Luka." Akita does the coupling remotely in the bed with her bowl of porridge in one hand. "Or, or whichever of you with Miku."
　Lily curls her lips. "Are love affairs that simple? Or is it that you are losing consciousness because of your fever?"
　"Just~ kidding~" Akita shakes her hand. Even Zatsune and Luka have been paying no attention, Miku blushes and lowers her head to keep silent. Everyone thinks she's just ashamed and isn't giving it second thoughts.
　After the meal, Zatsune and Yowane go out to find a place to rest - There's room for at most two people in the double bed and another two sleeping on the floor, while there're three left with nowhere to sleep right now. They have to find an empty house nearby and clean it up for at least the coming night. Anyway there have been nothing other than empty houses here.
　Luka is arranging the incoming goods today. "Um... .50 sniper rounds in 10-round paper packs... Why there's a separate 3x magnifier here? ... M320 standalone version... SCAR-H LB with a bipod and an ACOG sight... Ah, Frag-12!..."
　"Say, I'm having a familiar feeling every time I look at this room of yours." Lily is leaning against the door frame. She's about to help when Luka stops her, and thus she doesn't insist. "It seems similar to my house." Lily takes a look at the shelf made of wood planks nailed onto the wall, which have accessories and tools such as extended bipod foregrips and speedloaders placed all over it.
　"You have such a warehouse in your house?" Yowane asks. Lily nods. "It's a basement, with some things like ammo in it."
　Gumi sticks a finger up. "After our firefights back there, is Shyar going to have some revenge upon Neusen, considering the latter to have started an undeclared war against it?"
　"I don't think so?" Akita biases her head. "Hasn't Shyar been shouting slogans for all the time? Maybe it's going merely 'official protest and claim compensation of how much of money', I suppose."
　Lily makes a pistol gesture. "But aren't there Neusen corpses on their ground, and a crashed V22? I can't think of other things than a war."
　"Well, it depends on whether they are going to make things more serious." Luka chips in while connecting two leftover ammo belts.

　Words come later to prove Akita's guess: Shyar has only asked Neusen for a large amount of money as compensation. Giving it a deeper thought, they manage to make out that since Akita's gunshots at first had scared the civilians away, and the crash site happened to be a no man's hill, there had been no Shyar casualties. Thus, Shyar officially claims that they have "Shot a Neusen military aircraft down due to violation of Shyar airspace", while Neusen can tell nothing about the truth: Because the concerned personnel are dead, there's no call to account at all. They have to make excuses of "malfunctioning navigation systems onboard", while handing the money over to pacify the other party. Actually, it's Shyar having a grasp on Neusen's disadvantage in their mind: as long as fighting a war against Mando, it's by no means a good idea to have another enemy.
　The voices against the war inside Neusen have been loud since the very beginning, and they get even louder at this event. Streets are filled up with marching people every day, which seem like having some kind of festival ceremonies. The authorities were suppressing it at first, but soon lazily stops their action: After all it's only an unorganized mob, which gets more excited upon being given attention onto, however will cease the actions gradually once the attention is gone. As for the unlucky yet lucky (for having no native casualty) town, it only spends five percent of the compensation to have the damaged buildings repaired or rebuilt, with the remaining ninety-five percent of the money flowing into the pockets of you-know-who for sure. In one word, the event is settling down with nothing settled at all.
　But thanks to the long-lasting war as well, it's only this small town which starts to take stricter security measures, with its siblings still turning a blind eye to it, and therefore Zatsune and others can successfully find another town deeper to the south to live. As with the unknowing-about-the-truth public opinion, they only think it to be a complete incident, without even realizing the possibility of it being brought by some troublemakers (as what Yowane self-mocks) - Even though some conspiracists happen to make that out, the public just ignore that as jokes.

　"Ah, here comes the truck of the moving agency." Luka runs out the door on hearing some horn sounds, with Akita, Yowane, Gumi and Lily following her.
　Zatsune and Miku are jumping out from the SUV in both sides. "Come and give hands." Zatsune beckons.
　Without further talking, all of them go up to untie the ropes, then carry various boxes into the room, in which Miku is giving directives about where to put them.
　Thanks to the bigger strengths in numbers, the whole truck load of items gets quickly finished. Zatsune signs her name on the credentials, and the truck soon drives off. Luka, on the other hand, picks up an electric drill to make holes in the wall, preparing to install the rack of the wall-mounted television.
　Zatsune and Luka sold some of their supplies like ammo in the black market for some money, while Gumi and Lily withdrew another amount saying that since they would feel boring heading back to Mando alone. They combined the money to buy some land in the town south of Shyar, and had a big house built large enough for all the seven of them to live in. When Gumi makes fun of the situation being similar to the one of her and Lily back then, Zatsune's sentence of "how about letting you handle all the building and decorating work this time" immediately makes she speechless: As we all know, it's much more troublesome to decorate a house than to build it. Luckily Zatsune was only kidding, or Gumi would even go as far as fighting her to death otherwise.
　The complete house turns out to be nothing more than an enlarged version of Gumi's house: a two-story one with a backyard, a basement, and a garage, with the only difference in the rooms' being large in both numbers and sizes. Anyway the amount of people is given. There are four bedrooms upstairs: one for Luka and Miku, another one for Gumi and Lily, a third one for Akita and Yowane, with the last one occupied by Zatsune herself - In the beginning Miku would like to have a bigger room for the three of them to live in together, but Zatsune only shook her head, saying that her living alone would be nicer. She didn't talk about any reason but only grinned when asked about. The common facilities like the kitchen, the drawing room and the bathroom is located in a line of smaller rooms downstairs, the two vehicles stopped in the garage, while it's not worth mentioning of the usage of the basement.
　After finishing basic decorations like the paintjob, they calculated the transport fees to be even higher than straightforward local procurement, and bought miscellaneous things like furniture and necessaries. Only Miku couldn't give up with her rather professional equipment back at her old apartment, who gets accompanied by Zatsune returning back there to find a moving agency to transport all of them to the newly built house, and deployed them into a room downstairs specially as a studio. The two parties then quietly fetched the non-revealable things, and had Gumi's old house sold at quite a price as a decorated second-hand house.
　It's not worth to mention that Akita and Yowane find a job as shop assistants nearby as before, and that Gumi and Lily still run their snack stall as before as well. Zatsune and Luka, having noticing themselves infamous in this region, and thinking of being relatively safe, find another part-time job together with Miku, too.
　It takes five weeks or six for them to have such affairs settled completely and thoroughly. Miku proposes a celebrating party one night, when Lily opposes. "Let's put it off for another few days."
　"Why?" Miku gets confused. "Won't it be meaningless after such a long time?"
　"We've decided to get married next week." Lily sticks herself onto Gumi. "It'll be saving some money to hold such a celebrating party altogether with a wedding ceremony, won't it?"
　Not until her words does Miku realize. "That'll be a good idea if you say so. Then are we holding it in somewhere like a hotel or just here in our house?"
　"Just make it in our backyard. Neighbors are welcomed, too. Anyway we aren't having -" Akita turns to ask Gumi before saying "relatives", since her parents should still be alive. "Are you inviting your parents?"
　"Nah. After all they are against me marrying Lily. We even had a fight about that last year, you know." Gumi shakes her head. "So what about you guys? Aren't you getting married as well this time?" She kicks the ball to Yowane.
　To be honest, Yowane is giving it her thought, too. But she still gets ashamed when found out by other people like this. "We are... well..."
　Zatsune insists on her analogy even if it's way out in the left field. "Anyway you guys have been together for at least one hundred years. Shouldn't the probation period already be over~"
　"Don't mess with us." Luka kicks her away on her butt. Akita suddenly hugs Yowane by surprise. "Yowane~ Marry me~"
　"Do, don't be so impatient..." Yowane subconsciously attempts to push her away, but Akita hugs as tightly as an octopus does. "You are telling me to wait even after all these one hundred years?"
　The remaining of them all gets fired up as well. "Marry her, marry her, marry her~"
　"How dare you guys tell me not to mess with it while you are doing it yourselves?" Zatsune lies on a sofa farther in distance, mumbling with her face buried in the gap between cushions.

　"Luka~" The next day, Miku peeks out from her studio downstairs.
　Luka walks up and is about to ask "why" when she sees Miku stealthily making a gesture of "shh". She follows her into the room. "What, are you planning for some tricks?"
　"The two couples are marrying, so I've been thinking of giving some presents~" Miku touches her fingers with each other. "But I have no idea of what to give."
　"As long as you have entered this room, why don't you write a song?" Luka proposes at once.
　Miku's eyes light up. "Luka is thinking the same thing as me?!"
　"So aren't you having some ideas." Luka criticizes, which gets completely ignored by Miku. "How about I write the lyrics and Luka you write the song?" She shakes Luka's hands while holding them in her own.
　Considering herself to be free for these days, Luka nods. Miku gets even more insatiable to her surprise. "And we are singing together at that time~"
　Luka would have been long gone if it were another person she's been talking with. But somehow she only can't deal with Miku. "... Ok then."

　Upon the day of the wedding come several neighbors: mainly some irrelevant people, consisting of the shop owner of which Akita and Yowane have been working in, some regular callers to the snack stall run by Gumi and Lily, et cetera. Since the yard is not relatively large, such population density turns out to be exactly fine. Of course by no means are the newlyweds showing themselves, and Miku and Luka are busy in either the make-up room or the kitchen, respectively, thus it's only one of Zatsune who is running about in the yard while delivering the tea. Although being asked about "why there's only you", she just remains silent and grins.
　The wedding ceremony starts at two o'clock in the afternoon, when the nosy parkers instantly confirm that they haven't come in vain - The scene where two blonde beauties of Akita and Lily, who has been growing their hair out, step forward in snow-white wedding gowns, even manages to make Luka the MC mumbles "good-looking".
　There's even more people getting envious among the guests when the other two show up: Gumi's hair color seems a little unfit with her formal clothes, but Yowane's gray hair gets unmatched together with her black swallowtail. Luka stealthily gives the drooling audience a glimpse, thinking. (Just you wait to get your ears pulled by your wives back at home.)
　Despite of their envy, the ceremony is finishing within minutes. "So in the finale of this wedding ceremony, please be quiet~" Luka turns around suddenly. The guests follow her to see Zatsune and Miku coming up, carrying synthesizer and loudspeakers with them.
　Miku connects the wiring. Luka takes a deep breath before she puts her fingers onto the keyboard.

　　　かほそいひが こころのはしにともる
　　With thin flames lighting up on the heart's edges
　　　いつのまにかもえひろがるねつじょう
　　The passion starts burning wildly
　　　わたしのちょう ふきそくにとびまわり
　　My butterfly dances irregularly in the air
　　　あなたのてにりんぷんをつけた
　　To spray the powder onto the hand of yours

　　　からみあうゆびほどいて くちびるからしたへと
　　Having the crossing fingers released, from lips to tongue tips
　　　ゆるされないことならば なおさらもえあがるの
　　The more it's allowed, the more it burns

　　　だきよせてほしい たしかめてほしい
　　I want to hug you, want to confirm your thoughts
　　　まちがいなどないんだと おもわせて
　　To let myself know that nothing is going wrong
　　　キスをして ぬりかえて欲しい
　　I want to kiss you, want to paint your lips with my color
　　　みわくのときによいしれおぼれていたいの
　　To drown myself in such charming situations

　　　そくばくして もっとひつようとして
　　Bind you with myself to make me more important to you
　　　いとしいならしゅうちゃくをみせつけて
　　As long as I love you, I'm letting you see my insistence
　　　「おかしい」のが とまらなくすきになる
　　It's becoming "strange" because I'm falling in unstoppable love with you
　　　いけるトコまでいけばいいよ
　　If we can go somewhere else, let's get going

　　　まよいこんだこころなら かんたんにとけてゆく
　　Confused hearts can melt easily
　　　やさしさなんてかんじるひまなど ないくらいに
　　Even before feeling gentle

　　　くりかえしたのは あのゆめじゃなくて
　　It's not that dream that's been repeating
　　　まざれもないげんじつのわたしたち
　　But the real us to do so
　　　ふれてから もどれないとしる それでいいの…
　　I have been well knowing that we aren't coming back from the touch in the beginning, but that's fine...
　　　だれよりもたいせつなあなた
　　Since it's you who is more important than anybody

　　　よあけがくるとふあんで ないてしまうわたしに
　　To the me crying, feeling unease about the coming dawn
　　　「だいじょうぶ」とささやいたあなたも ないていたの？
　　Are you crying as well while comforting me?
　　
　　　だきよせてほしい たしかめてほしい
　　I want to hug you, want to confirm your thoughts
　　　まちがいなどないんだと おもわせて
　　To let myself know that nothing is going wrong
　　　キスをして ぬりかえて欲しい
　　I want to kiss you, want to paint your lips with my color
　　　みわくのときによいしれおぼれていたいの
　　To drown myself in such charming situations

　　　ひきよせて マグネットのように
　　Drawing each other near, just like magnets
　　　たとえいつかはなれてもめぐりあう
　　We are bound to meet again even if we are to be separated someday
　　　ふれていて もどれなくてい それでいいの
　　Touching each other, unable to go back, it's just fine with me
　　　だれよりもたいせつなあなた
　　Since it's you who is more important than anybody

last edited at Oct 25, 2013 2:29AM

Chapter Six

　"Hey, Miku, Luka, guess what I've heard today?" Akita starts a conversation on the dinner table.
　"What?" Luka concentrates on eating.
　Akita says while making gestures. "The boss in our shop. He recorded your song last time, and is now playing it in the shop."
　"Pfft!" Luka nearly spurts her food out. She hurriedly covers her mouth. "... Cough, cough. Even if singing means to be heard by others, that's a little too much."
　Miku mumbles. "At least tell us~ I'd be giving him a copy of higher quality."
　"Then how about you go sell it?" Zatsune has some business senses. "Say Miku, this might just be your first step on your way to your dream of becoming a musician. It's not bad to try it out after all."
　Lily rolls her eyes. "Have some CDs burnt. Heard that there'll be some kind of festival held next month. I'm planning to run our stall there with Gumi, so are you guys gonna sell your songs there?"
　"I remember that there are many customers listening to your song. Seems that they all think highly of it." Yowane recalls. "I bet it'll be selling quite well there."
　"Or you can choose to become a network singer, with me doing the advertisement?" Gumi is experienced in running websites.
　Miku and Luka exchange looks. "Miku, what do you think?" Luka starts to count with her fingers. "It sounds good to me, as well as profitable."
　Miku hesitates. "Um, but if by any chance..."
　"No chances~" Akita pats on her chest. "Given your quality, there should be holes in their heads who wouldn't buy it."
　"What's with that self-confidence as long as it's not your song." Yowane criticizes. Akita just ignores her. "How about it, how about it?"
　Not until now does Miku nod. Gumi makes keyboard-typing gestures. "Let's put it like this. I'll set a website up for you, while you burn some discs to sell at the meantime, with only a website address written on the cover except for the song list. It's just like a survey: if the results on the website are good then everything is ok, otherwise we just quietly shut the website down and you won't get much too embarrassed either. How about this?"
　"Then who are the actual salesgirls?" Lily points the key question out.
　Yowane points her hand. "Aren't you two going to get your snack stall there? Just dispatch them as bonuses."
　"..." Everyone gets speechless.

　Speechless as they are, Luka and Miku have a discussion and decide to let Gumi and Lily dispatch their discs as bonuses like Yowane says. The two only keep going into the studio after each meal in that month. Although unable to know about what's it like inside, everyone knows for sure that they are having a rather hard time according to the appearing dark eye circles on Miku's face.
　At times the two can't come up with ideas, others start brainstorming; Lily even gets to become the secondary lyric writer, who at least contributes two songs with lyrics in the total of twelve songs in the disc.
　One month passes and the CDs get manufactured smoothly, while Miku and Luka are tired to death. Nevertheless since the only remaining thing is to sell it, the two just rest at home waiting for the news.

　"Wow, the access count..." Gumi, sitting before the computer, stares at the line graph shown on the screen. "Hey guys, come and see this. It's only one week after the festival."
　The others go up and look at the line, which is showing a completely standard exponential growth. "Isn't it because you've uploaded some weird things onto your website~" Akita intentionally uses a naughty tone.
　"Not gonna happen." Gumi curls her lips. "Only the preview versions of the songs. I didn't even write personal introduction thing."
　"Well, Miku, I won't say anything other than congratulations. Congratulations on your first success." Zatsune pats Miku on her shoulders with a somewhat great expression on her face.
　Luka snaps her fingers. "So now we'll be thinking about our next album."
　"Don't be so hasty. Haste makes waste, you know?" Miku shakes her hand, which gets criticized by Lily at once. "You just admit straightforward that you are exhausted for now."
　Miku spits her tongue. "Tee-hee. I got found out~"

　According to their recent success, the two decides that they will be selling next albums online. By the way, since Gumi is busy running their snack stall with Lily, Yowane takes the control of the website: Anyway she's doing a part-time job, which means she only needs to make some adjustments.
　As long as they are officially selling their songs, the two have to find their duo a name. Miku is having a hard time thinking about it with Luka when Lily chips in. "Do you still have the lyric of the song which you sang at the ceremony with you now?"
　"Yeah? Why." Miku fetches that notebook. "Some pages from the rear."
　Lily takes it over, and browses through the pages slowly instead of flipping directly to the last pages. "Ah, so you write all your songs here... Here. This one, 'Magnet', what do you think?"
　"Any special meaning?" Miku asks. "We did consider it in the beginning, but couldn't find a proper explanation, so -"
　"Any necessity to have a special meaning? Isn't being liked by yourselves enough?" Lily asks back.
　Luka bursts in laughter. "That's just like you."

　Their second album comes out four months later. Among the majority of new songs, there are also some remixed or rearranged versions of older songs. Even if it slightly feels of rehashing, it's Gumi's idea to do so: She picks some songs with the highest play counts, and says that since the last discs are completely sold out and there are still so many people wanting to hear our songs, we should try to satisfy those.
　It can't be any better for the gap of four months to be scheduled: Right at the time when they are almost forgotten, their unexpected return successfully gets themselves popular again. And Gumi's practice has indeed grasped many audiences. As a result, not only the native residents but also do people from the neighbor town get familiar with the name of "Magnet". There are even karaoke stores holding special competitions: Any one or group can sing to the instrumental tracks in the album, after which the audiences get to vote; As long as the percentage of audiences who think that it sounds very much alike the original version, the singers will be rewarded for some amount of money. Once get interested, Gumi and Lily go to participate in the competition, and win a second prize.
　Another four months pass before the third album comes out. The arrangement of the songs remains unchanged, but the buyers are coming as far as all across the whole country from the other side of Shyar this time. Although Luka has some worries about this being too public, she just decides to overlook it since the only publicized information is the duo's name of "Magnet", not to mention any unrevealed personal information.
　Nevertheless Zatsune one day suggests of going out for a trip during the dinner, after her noticing Miku's tiredness somewhat shown on her face. It's just early summer at the moment, so Akita's searching for summer resorts online when she finds a small beach in the south of their home. As the summer is just in its beginning now and there shouldn't be too crowded in places like the beaches, they decide to go to the seaside in some days.
　By the way, the van with the massive-killer is by no means easy to get through checkpoints, thus Luka buys a normal four-seat car in advance, and returns the SUV's key to Akita to let she take Yowane, Gumi and Lily, while herself going with Zatsune and Miku.

　"It's summer! It's ocean!" Upon getting on the road labeled "Towards Some Beach", Lily at once peeks her head out from the window and shouts.
　Gumi reaches out to pull her back. "We haven't arrived yet."
　"Just some early excitement." Lily pouts.
　Then Gumi immediately pushes her face up unexpectedly. Lily is caught with a reverse kiss by surprise. "Uwah, Gumi you naughty girl..." Lily blushes while her hand stretching out to hug Gumi.
　"The idiot couple back there, just have a pick on the situation before you flirt, will you." Akita and Yowane in the front seats criticize synchronously ignoring the atmosphere. Gumi gives them a glare. "Don't you two just come and give us a synchronous criticism."
　They are having a good time, with the situation in Luka's car similar. "Luka, I'll set the tent up with those four. You two may go playing first." Zatsune puts her elbow onto the opened window frame. "Anyway this trip is for letting you and Miku have a good time, to begin with."
　"And you are actually planning to place some surprises in the tent?" Luka knows that things won't be that easy as soon as she notices the evil smile on Zatsune's face.
　"No! No spoilers allowed!" Zatsune acts as if she's been stricken by a lightning bolt.
　Miku biases her head. "Spoiler? So you have been to the seaside before?"
　"Nah. Zatsune's face is everything you need to make out what she's plotting." Luka shifts the gear. "All written on the face, without exception."
　"Plus, won't I be taking my dear sister if I'm going seaside?" Zatsune turns her head around and winks.
　Luka curls her lips. "Yeah~ yeah~ I have known well that you have a younger-sister-complex."
　"Luka is always giving me away..." Zatsune puts on a hurt face. Seeing Miku laughing, she gets even excited. "And even my own sister is making fun at me, I'm too embarrassed to live on~"
　"Ok ok, we'll feed you with broiled meat later at night." Luka's tone is completely what to use to pacify a little kid. As expected for a former baby-sitter.

　"It's -" Akita jumps out from the car, and is about to shout when she suddenly changes into another voice. "It's here. Let's get the things ready." Gumi and Lily are grinning and staring at her from behind, while Akita just pretends as if nothing's happening.
　They carry all the things down from the top racks and out of the trunks down to the ground. Zatsune takes the hammer and the tent pegs with her, and finds an open ground with Gumi to start setting up the tent. Yowane is watching the angle from aside. "This way, a little closer... Stop stop stop stop stop, it's tilting. Push it to Gumi a little... O~k, that's it."
　Lily is going to set up the roaster when she's stopped by Luka, who says that she'll start broiling later at night. The two of them then walks away to install the beach parasol, table and chairs. Miku and Akita is blowing the life-buoys up - Actually they had been planning to bring an inflatable duck boat, but there's no room to place it aboard the cars.

　"Phew~" Lily gets out from the surface, and removes the wet hair wisps sticking on her face with her hand. "Even if still a bit cold, it's the coolest that no others are here."
　Gumi swims near slowly. "True that. I got completely sick of last time..."
　"Last time?" Miku sits on a life-buoy. She and her sis both can't swim, so they are floating with the life-buoys. By the way, Akita is now burying Yowane with the sand on the beach.
　Lily counts with her fingers. "Ah, it was two years ago. We finished an escorting and decided to go playing somewhere. Then we heard about a public natatorium nearby."
　"It was a hot summer back then, too. The natatorium seemed rather large from outside, so we thought that there shouldn't be many people in it, and bought two tickets in order to get cool in the pool." Gumi flattens her hand. "Then we immediately regretted about our actions once we entered the building."
　"There were many?" Luka suddenly shows herself between Miku and Zatsune from underwater. The two get scared screaming and almost fall through their life-buoys.
　Lily gets a hold of Miku. "More than mere 'many'. The pool seemed just like a pot cooking dumplings, and is populated by all colors of swimming caps. Gumi nearly caught a trypophobia, and we instantly ran out."
　"Eew. That'd be kind of frightening." Zatsune gets back up on her own. "Why were there so many?"
　"Who knows. Having had escaped from there, we saw a granny selling cold drinks at the entrance, so we went asking her 'are there so many people around this time every year?' And she answered 'around this time every season.' We had no choice but retreat with one ice-cream for us each." Lily continues.
　Gumi complains. "Honestly, why don't they just open up a branch pool somewhere else?"
　"That would mean quite some cost. Perhaps equal to the extra income." Luka turns around to swim back to the beach. "Tired already~ I'm going back to have some rest."
　"Ah, I'm going too~" Miku clumsily flaps her arms and legs to catch up.

　In no time does the sun sets. With their stomachs growling, they starts to broil meat.
　Having the roaster set up and lit up, Luka is holding a bamboo clamp in her left hand and a pair of steel chopsticks in her right hand. "Come on! Bring the meat on! Gonna broil you until the juice flows on!"
　"What with that tricky grammar?" Yowane brings the ice bucket with meat. "And it sounds that something's gone off to me."
　"Well~ well~" Luka plays dumb. She pushes the ice shreds away and reveals the previously sliced meat packed in plastic bags. Gumi brings the washed vegetables with her, while Akita is dispatching the tableware and sauces.
　Before long the surroundings get filled up with broiled meat smells. "Sss~hah!" Gumi, being both impatient and starving, puts a slice of meat directly into her mouth without even dipping into the sauce, and consequently gets slightly burnt.
　"Not so hasty. Isn't there still much left." On seeing that, Lily sticks her slice of blown lukewarm meat on her chopsticks out. "Say, aah~"
　(There they are, flirting again.) Yowane is thinking when she notices Akita looking at herself with expectation written on her face. She sweats. "What are you looking at me for, want to say 'aah' to me or be said 'aah' to?"
　Irritated Akita blushes and shouts. "Yowane you blockhead! I want both!"
　"... Just how greedy are you..." Yowane immediately gets speechless, and approaches Akita with her own plate.
　Zatsune has been looking for a while before she turns to Luka. "So do you need me to feed you? Anyway you have your both hands occupied."
　"Then come on." Luka is busy with the broiling and only approaches with her mouth without even looking. And unexpectedly comes Miku's unclear voice. "Huha, heeah hyou hah~"
　"Pardon?" Luka doesn't get it. She turns to have a look.
　It turns out to be Miku biting onto Zatsune's chopsticks, while holding a slice of meat on her own chopsticks towards Luka like an acrobat. Zatsune translates. "Maybe she was saying 'Luka, here you are'."
　Luka gets puzzled. "Then what's with this transmissibility?"
　"... Blockhead." Zatsune mumbles together with the two couples. Miku seems to be getting tired from holding the meat up, for she starts moving her hand to signal to Luka about hurrying up and eating it, with a voice of "uum~ uum~" coming from her mouth.

　Although the common practices at summer nights are adventures toward unvisited places, there is only an open beach here, without a suitable place to hide to scare others, thus all of them have no other choices than sitting around the camp fire and talking.
　Yowane flattens herself onto the ground. "Ah~ hic." And she's even hiccupping.
　Akita makes fun at her. "How much have you eaten before you hiccup?"
　"Did I feed you more or I ate more?" Yowane curls her lips.
　"Heard about some regimen of 'a full breakfast, a good launch, a little dinner' before, which I regard as bullshit." Luka chips in. "It can by no means be called living unless having your stomach filled up three times a day."
　Gumi disdains her. "You foodie!"
　"Some-cious said. 'Food and sex are natural needs'." Luka puts on a poker-face. "Aren't you letting yourself down if you don't eat well?"
　Zatsune involves herself. "True that. It's the only clincher to eat while you still can for people who have to think about the next meal or even the one after that during one meal, like us."
　Lily gets speechless. "Even if saying this from my mouth is somewhat Marie-Antoinette-alike, but it's not that everyone is like you two. And isn't that usage incorrect?"
　"It's not Marie Antoinette but Marie Leszczyńska who said the original word. And that's another famous misuse as well, you know?" Gumi gives an irrelevant criticism.
　Lily pretends to be angry. "Just you beware! Friendly fire makes you die faster!"
　"I'm bound to possess you if I really died before you because of that." Gumi gives a grope gesture. "Then I'll do some naughty things to you with your own body when you are sleeping~"
　"Eek! Gumi you pervert!" Lily screams and throws herself onto her, her fists raised. The two quickly get into heated struggling.
　Luka gets proud of herself. "See what I mean? 'Food and SEX are natural needs'." She even emphasizes on the word "sex".
　"Told you that it's a misuse!" Lily turns back to shout as she is pushing Gumi onto the ground below her body. While Gumi takes the chance and gets Lily down to the ground with a hard pull instead.
　Miku looks at the two fighting. "So it's really a long time since I'm so full like this."
　"Um..." Everyone gets speechless instantly. Zatsune puts on a long face. "My good sister, don't mention such dark pasts at times like this, will you?"
　"Yeah, yeah. Young people are supposed to live for the time being~" Akita chips in. Luka suddenly bursts with laughter looking at her, which gets glimpsed back by Akita.

　Despite of their plan to spend one more day here on the beach, to set off some fireworks and to smash some watermelons, they are forced to get packed up and head back prematurely because Zatsune notices that it's very likely to rain cats and dogs with many dark clouds over in the sky when she peeks out the tent the next morning.
　Having arrived at home, they all storm into the bathroom as well - their skins have already become solar salt fields; Even if they did do some washing with the freshwater brought with them, they couldn't have it done thoroughly since the water amount is limited.
　Even if it's a little crowded for the seven of them to get in at the same time, what they need is only a brief shower from the nozzle, which isn't taking much time. Yowane takes seat before the computer with a bottle of milk from the refrigerator. "... Whoa, so much order arriving in only one day?! How many are there left in our house?"
　"Some eighty." Akita turns her head to have a look. The CDs cases are stacked up in packs of ten into a height of nearly half a man's height.
　Yowane browses through the history records. "Seems that we'll need to add such numbers to the amount next time."
　"Hey, Luka. I've come up with an idea of our next album." Miku is watering some plants with a watering can.
　Luka turns her head. "What is that?"
　"Plants and seasons, how about it?" Miku bends herself down to have a closer look, and sees a white trace among the green leaves. "Ah, this is blossoming. - AND HERE COMES MY INSPIRATION!!" On her words, she runs into the studio at once.
　Luka follows up. Then come some preludes from the unclosed gap between the door and its frame.

　　　あわくさいた はなのかを
　　The leftovers of the quietly blossoming flowers' smell
　　　のこし きせつはすぎます
　　Have already gone together with the season
　　　あめもあがり そらにくも
　　There's only cloud remaining after a rain
　　　あおいかぜが そよいでる
　　Which gets blown to and fro in the cyan winds

　　　きょう あしたとふたりが
　　Today, and tomorrow, the two of us will be together
　　　あるく ときのかたわらで
　　Despite of the flowing time, beside us there are
　　　かわらずに ゆれている
　　Unchanged, waving thoughts
　　　おもいでが あります
　　About our old times

　　　えいえんを えいえんを
　　Everlasting, everlasting
　　　さいても かれない
　　It will flower and won't wither
　　　このむねの ときめきは つきない
　　Inside this chest, the heart is beating non-stop
　　　だれよりも だれよりも
　　More than anyone, more than anyone
　　　あなたを みつめて
　　I only look at you
　　　はてしなくこのきもち
　　With this never-ending emotion
　　　ずっと…
　　Forever...

　　　あのひ ふたり であったのは
　　The day when we met
　　　せかいじゅうで いくどめに
　　It should be one of the
　　　おきたきせき なのでしょう
　　Countless miracles in this world
　　　だれにかんしゃ すればいい
　　And who should I thank for that

　　　ああ あなたの みらいが
　　O, your future
　　　きっとわたしには にあうと
　　Must be similar with mine
　　　そう いえないよるもある
　　Certainly there are also unspeakable nights
　　　なきそうに なるけど
　　when I almost cried

　　　えいえんを えいえんを
　　After eternity, after eternity
　　　すぎてもあせない
　　It still won't fade
　　　かぜのなか そらのした まつの
　　In the wind, under the sky, I'll be waiting there and then
　　　しんじたら しんじたら
　　If you believe, if you believe
　　　あなたの えがおが
　　Your smile is
　　　わたしのはなになるから
　　Going to become my flower
　　　きっと…
　　For sure...

　　　えいえんを えいえんを
　　Everlasting, everlasting
　　　さいても かれない
　　It will flower and won't wither
　　　このむねの ときめきは つきない
　　Inside this chest, the heart is beating non-stop
　　　だれよりも だれよりも
　　More than anyone, more than anyone
　　　あなたを みつめて
　　I only look at you
　　　はてしなくこのきもち
　　With this never-ending emotion
　　　ずっと…
　　Forever...

　Half a month later, the fourth album comes on time. Even if they have two hundred more manufactured, the discs still get sold out in no time. In the end the local express delivery company is even have a truck spared specially for them, which goes on a trip all around Shyar to deliver goods.
　And the shop Akita has been working in even get a banner up, saying "the only designated direct sale in Shyar", and there are even customers coming on their own from places without express delivery stations. The shop owner then takes the chance to sacrifice profits in exchange to boost the reputation: giving them preferential treatment of reimbursing them for the travel expenses according to the tickets.
　Though an electronic product like CD is bound to has problems such as pirating, none of them minds: Anyway the songs are sung particularly for getting into others' ears, isn't it just fine with the goal achieved?

last edited at Oct 25, 2013 2:29AM

Chapter Seven

　"Everlasting~ Everlasting~ It will flower~ and won't wither~" The driver in the front mumbles.
　Kamui happens to be at ease today. Hearing the driver having it sung rather well, he asks offhand. "What's that song?"
　"Ah, young master, it's the first song in a CD I just bought recently." The driver takes out a CD case. "This is it."
　Kamui takes it over and flips it to have a look. There are the usual song list, album name and singer name written on the CD cover, together with a website address. "The singer is... 'Magnet'?" Kamui reads in a clumsy pronunciation. "Never heard of it."
　"It's a newly founded girl duo, thus naturally unknown to you." The driver steps on the brake pedal since it's a red light ahead. "Young master, are you interested in listening to this?"
　"Yeah." Kamui returns the CD to the driver, who then takes the disc out and inserts it into the onboard audio player.
　It doesn't take long for the lyrics the driver was mumbling come out from the speakers. However Kamui frowns unexpectedly. "Hmm?"
　"You, you dislike it, young master?" The driver hurriedly reaches to press the stop button on noticing Kamui's face changing. Kamui stops him. "No. Just sounds familiar to me. - Plus, lend me this CD together with its case later."
　"As your wish..." The driver stealthily wipes his cold sweats, thinking. (My master, can't you just say it out straightforward already? It's bad for our hearts, you know...)

　Several minutes later, in the secret room of the real estate agency, Kamui is wearing a set of headphone and sitting before the computer. "Hmm~?" He turns and beckons. "Go and get my driver here."
　The middle-aged man from the last time hurries out on his words, and takes the driver back before long. "At your service, young master."
　Kamui ejects the disc and puts it back into the case. "Here you are. Where did you buy this disc?"
　"I bought it online via express delivery." The driver recalls. "If you want it, young master, I will go to buy new copies."
　And Kamui's meaning turns out to be another. "Where is the place of origin?"
　"Origin? ... I'm terribly sorry, but I don't remember it..." Driver feels a little afraid. "Maybe we can still do some queries on the express delivery company's website now?"
　Kamui gets clear from the computer, which the driver gets his hands on and does some typing for a while. Then he finally comes up with a result. "It's this small town in the south of Shyar."
　"... Very well. We are to go there and have a look tomorrow." Kamui stares at the "Origin" text field on the screen.

　Let's just hold on with things in Shyar, and pan our camera to Neusen.
　Since Meiko and Kaito haven't showed up for several days, the NMRC personnel all think that they are only away for some distant mission; They don't know about their death until the head commander of the Neusen Army himself comes some days later, calls up the remaining minor leaders for a meeting, and swears at all the people present with "Who the fuck give you permission of dispatching troops to Shyar and making troubles" while holding a photo of a Neusen soldier whose head gets blown into a mess.
　The commander leaves with a "you just wipe your own ass" later. After some discussion, the remaining minor leaders should even reach a rather masculine conclusion: "We are getting our revenges for our big sis on the traitors!"
　No wonder they think so, though: Anyway it's one of their comrades whose head gets blown up like a broken bottle, only a half of which remains, so how can they keep a clear conscience if they aren't getting some payback? After a heated discussion about the matter, they go as far as founding a "revenge committee", lead by a man and a woman, whose names are Kagamine Len and Kagamine Rin - exactly same as the two recon robots sent to tail Akita and Yowane back then. Nevertheless, this isn't a coincidence at all. The correct expression should be that the robots are named after them.
　Everything starts from their origins. Some ten years ago, Meiko, who had already been promoted to a small officer in a certain base, was leading a patrol outside along a road around the base, when she found two humanoid kids wandering about by the road. She picked them up as it was a heavily snowy day in December, in which the children were bound to freeze to death. It turned out that they were going to get transported to a civilian household, and to be adopted as their children (as we all know, humanoids can't give birth to their young). When the transport vehicle crashed due to the ice on the road, the only survivors are those two who was sitting in the rear cart at that time. But they had no idea of where to go, thus started wandering before they came across Meiko.
　Meiko is about to have the two children escorted back to the manufactory when she has second thoughts. Since she's been short of some delights around her, Meiko decides to make them accompany herself, and names them Kagamine Lin and Kagamine Rin. The two kids are the smart but naughty type: Even though they often give Meiko slight irritations now and then, for one time they even save Meiko and her team from an ambush by breaking out of the encirclement and calling for reinforcements, otherwise the life of Meiko would already be taken.
　Afterwards Meiko gradually makes her way up to the president of the NMRC, with which the two kids get positions as well. According to her own experiences, Meiko has the research center develop a new model of recon robot, which can either work automatically or remotely controlled, whose AI is programmed with the youngest, thus having most active minds, two of them. As a result, the new model is named after them, for which Yowane was saying "they are only normal Kagamine recon robots" back then.
　Meiko didn't tell Len and Rin on her departure, thinking that it would be easy with merely two traitors, while is never coming back now. After having their tears wiped, the two at once pull the committee of revenge together, which has been working non-stopping 24*7 under their leadership, trying hard to pick Akita and Yowane out from even underground.
　Even if the continent is large, two humanoids are not hard to find: Mando is ruled out in the first place because of the electromagnetic jamming, and they won't be stupid enough to head back to Neusen to turn themselves in, plus the neutral zone with Hagail activities has already been covered by the satellites - therefore the only possibility is Shyar. But since the arrest warrants are by no means getting posted publicly, nor could they send large numbers of men to search, the only choice is to collect intelligence via the informants secretly implanted there. There's only one limitation: the informants are only implanted in seldom core cities in the heart of Shyar, while the remote towns are still out of reach.
　While they are having a rather hard time on the never-advancing search progress, a human recklessly shows up and says that he's named "Kamui", has some hatred against the gang of Akita, and is willing to provide intelligence conditionally. Despite of the hostile atmosphere against humans in Neusen, Len and Rin manage to stand their ground and negotiate with the comer. The result turns out that Kamui provides them with intelligence about Akita and Yowane, with them responsible to do the actual capture. According to the other party, there are five comrades of the two traitors, which are to be handed over to Kamui separately.

　"Eh? Where are you going?" Luka is sitting in a sofa and watching the TV for morning news, when she notices Zatsune and others dressed up for going out.
　"To the cinema. You two coming together?" Yowane has some movie tickets in her left hand and a poster in her right hand. Miku approaches. "Name? Genre?"
　Yowane hands the poster over. As a result, Miku instantly hides herself behind Luka after a single glimpse. "YAAH! Ju, ju, just... give me a break, it's so scary!"
　"It's only the 'Resident Evil' series!" Luka makes fun of her. "Why are you getting scared with the fake things on a screen while being able to facing genuine dead people as if nothing happened?"
　"Dead people don't move, you know~" Miku answers with a crying face.
　Yowane bursts with laughter. "Fine then~ Sorry for frightening you~ So we are going now."
　The door clashes close. Luka turns around. "Hey, stop hiding. They are all away."
　"Is, is the poster still here? Don't let me see it..." Miku keeps covering her eyes, just as if "I can see nothing".
　Getting interested with her posture, Luka brings her hair to her front, which she has been growing for the recent few months, and starts to cosplay Sadako. "Yeah. Yowane has it with her."
　"Really...?" Miku moves her hand away.
　The next she sees is a ghostly woman in long face-covering hair reaching out towards herself with both arms. Miku gives out a scream and faints down to the floor at once. Luka is caught by surprise instead. "Miku?!... Shit, I've gone too far."

　"He~re you are." Luka puts Miku onto their bed. "Unexpectedly heavy, aren't you." She's even saying the dialog like a women's public enemy.
　Seeing that Miku is only scared, Luka thinks that nothing is serious, and gets a random novel from a shelf aside.
　Upon reaching the most interesting part, someone suddenly rings the doorbell. Luka hurriedly puts the opened book upside-down on the desk, and rushes downstairs.
　However she doesn't see even a shadow out there through the peephole. Surprised Luka opens the door to have a clearer look, but gets smashed on the back of her head once she peeks out. Luka immediately loses her consciousness.

　"So it's them who killed Meiko sis at that time?" Len watches his troops carrying fainted Miku and Luka, while unbelievingly mumbles. "Especially the green one. I'm never associating her with killing."
　Rin takes out a stack of photos taken stealthily by Kamui to compare with. "Well... But the photo is saying so."
　"Fine then. Anyway let's take them back now." Len swings his hands. "No need to go for the rest five though. We are luring them in with these two."
　"No wonder why you have left a message for them." Rin claps her hands as well.

　Zatsune is storming her way back home in the front. "WHAT THE HELL!? Where's the promised 'Resident Evil'?!"
　The five of them were excited on their way to the cinema, while got dejected instantly by a big cross on the "Showing Today" board at the entrance. Akita went to the ticket office to ask, while got no answer from the old lady in side, who knew nothing at all but evading Akita's question with "the boss told me so". On seeing that, they had no choice but return their tickets.
　Gumi turned to go shopping with Lily, saying that it would be a little early to go back home. The left three of Akita, Yowane and Zatsune had no particular ideas, and decided to head back gloomily. "Well, even if we do have wasted some time, the money comes back at least." Yowane pacifies the mumbling Akita beside her.
　"Actually you don't need to reluctantly find an excuse to say so..." Akita answers with a long face.
　While talking, they have already arrived at the house entrance. Zatsune is about to take her keys out when she notices that the door is closed but unlocked, then she just pushes it open. "We're home~"
　No answer comes back from the quiet room. "Eh? No one's in?" Akita is surprised. "Or are they back to the bed?"
　Yowane counts with her fingers. "They turned their light off as early as six o'clock last afternoon, you know. It's been already over twelve hours and they fall asleep again? Never am I imagining that for them."
　"Well it doesn't like Luka to left the door unlocked, either." Zatsune swings her unused keys and calls out again in a louder voice. "Miku~ Luka~ Where are you~??"
　"..." Still no respondence.
　Zatsune feels even more strange. "Why, where are those two now?" She climbs up the staircase and pushes the door of their bedroom open on her words.
　It's as neat and clean as always in the room. Two sets of headphones are placed aligned on the desk, with a novel Miku bought to read a few days earlier placed opened upside-down - Wait, upside-down?
　"Isn't Miku always using bookmarks?" Zatsune subconsciously walks up and picks the book up. She randomly flips some pages over before seeing some lines of numbers written in the blank space of the front flyleaf. "Huh? Just whose deed is this. Miku is getting mad at it for sure." Zatsune can't recognize whose handwriting it is.
　"Let me have a look." Akita reaches for the book.
　Then her face suddenly changes after a few glimpses. "Th, that's!"
　"What happened?" Realizing it's getting messy, Yowane approaches them as well. "... The secret code used exclusively inside NMRC? Zatsune, pen and paper." She makes a writing gesture.
　Zatsune runs and brings some back. Yowane decrypts the code little by little. "Two... over... after... ok." Yowane then shows the paper to the others.
　It's written with the text of "We have the two with us back. Hand the traitors over if you want them alive. Two o'clock afternoon tomorrow at somewhere somewhere. Don't you ever think to play tricks. - Len & Rin". Zatsune gets enraged in no time after reading it. "Fuck you! How dare you play this while we are away! Just you wait for me to kill you!"
　She squares up on her words. Akita at once pulls her to a stop. "Aren't you giving your criticism to the names?"
　"Do I have that time now? So who are they?" Zatsune gets lured in as expected.
　"Just how cooperative are you..." Yowane bursts in laughter. "The first day you met us, the two robots beheaded by you. Are you remembering them?"
　Zatsune pats on her forehead. "Ah, yeah. It's those robots' deed again this time?"
　"Can't you quit thinking like spinal reflexes!" Akita nearly falls onto the bed aside. "Aren't you making your guess like that Neusen sent their men here again?"
　Zatsune curls her lips. "So they still dare to make trouble after we've kicked the shit outta them?"
　"Rather likely." Yowane circles the two names on the paper. "It'll be possible for THOSE two to do this."
　Zatsune is about to ask "why" as she notices Yowane's hidden meaning, at which time Gumi enters downstairs. "Hey, why don't you guys even close the door?"
　"That aside, just come up here first." Yowane peeks her upper body out.

　"... And it's just like that. We only heard those when Meiko was drinking too much before." Akita concludes the stories of Len and Rin.
　Zatsune gives a loud realizing "ooh~". "So that's it. They really have some reason to have Meiko's revenge."
　"But why could they follow us here after we moved?" Gumi frowns. "Are there any of their informants around here?"
　Yowane shakes her head. "Unlikely. As it has always been with Neusen intelligence department, such a small, remote and unimportant town like this are never noticed."
　"Well~ well, it's of no use discussing about that for now." Zatsune flattens her hands. "Won't it be faster if we just kill our way in?"
　"True that. Anyway it's definitely becoming more troublesome over time, so let's get Miku and Luka outta there first." Lily turns her head to look at the previous paper. "What does the meeting place look like?"
　Akita takes it over, and draws a diagram on the paper. "It's the end of a road, pointing directly to the entrance of an empty warehouse. There are one line of small multi-story buildings along each side of the road." She then draws a double-lined arrow into the rectangle representing the empty warehouse. "And the warehouse is nothing but the entrance of the NMRC."
　"HUH??" Gumi's mouth rounds up. "Isn't it too reckless? Aren't they afraid of us giving the secrets away?"
　"That, is, to, say, that they have been planning to get us all from the very beginning. As the saying goes, dead people don't talk." Akita makes a pistol gesture.
　Yowane picks the topic up. "But the most dangerous place is the most safe place as well. Even if hiding in a warehouse, the entrance is extraordinarily big in sizes. You can even taxi a V22 in horizontally like a car. I bet they'll be have an ambush down there."
　"That's even better." Lily smiles instead. "Drive the van there, and treat them with a feast of .50."
　Zatsune sticks her thumb up. "That's the way it's done. And I remember you brought an M32 when you moved here?"
　"Hia~ hia hia hia hia hia hia~" They give quite some evil smiles.

　Halfway during their discussion does Yowane leave with an expression of suddenly recalling something, saying "Ah, I still have some things to deal with. Better get started". Although others don't get it, they just decide to ignore her as long as Akita is present.
　But even if they are talking about the operational plan, it turns out to be a straightforward run-and-gun strategy, thus the discussion is over shortly after familiarizing themselves with the environment.
　Since the meeting time is determined by the other party to be two o'clock tomorrow afternoon, there's no need to haste for them, and they all head to watch what Yowane's been doing. Seeing that she is crouching on the floor in the bedroom of Akita and herself, facing away from the door, and is busy with something in her hands, Gumi mumbles. "What on earth is she doing?"
　"This, I think? Maybe she's making a pair of those for you two since we've all got ours." Zatsune puts hers onto her head.
　Yowane turns her head back on their words. "Just get in to watch if you want. You guys finished with operational plans?"
　Gumi enters as what she says. "Yeah. These are?"
　"Yours and Lily's headphones. Same as ours." Yowane directly sits onto the floor since her legs have already gone numb after all the crouching. "This white one is yours. Lily's is this black one."
　The two take them over and wears them. "Well, isn't it matching my clothes." Lily feels good. Noticing there's a large pier-glass mirror in a corner, she approaches it and turns herself to and fro.
　"I'd have forgotten if you didn't bring it up: Since we are to have a firefight tomorrow, you'd better not be wearing such a seducing outfit." Gumi reminds herself.
　As the saying goes, "there's always short of one clothing in woman's wardrobe", they have each set their eyes on, and bought a suit during their shopping just now: Gumi's consists of an orange dress and a pair of orange and white boots, while Lily's consists of a yellow and black vest up on the top, a pair of thigh-high boots down on the bottom, and a yellow and white short skirt in the middle. Everything is fine except for the vest, whose style let even Gumi feels somewhat unbearable after seeing it: It's even hardly to be a vest to begin with, and just like a cope with an extra-large round collar (which is hanged upon a shoulder on one side and slings down onto the deltoid muscle on the other side), and two holes opened for the arms. The golden edge runs from the middle of her breast directly to the sides of her waist in a large tilted angle, revealing the southern hemispheres and the entire belly. To make things worse, anyone who is wearing this must don't wear any underwear on the upper body... "It's not that I'm oversensitive or what, but aren't this completely seducing?" Gumi draws a face tissue from a box on the desk, rolls it into a column and inserts it into her nose - She's even having a nosebleed for real.
　"Eew~ Gumi you pervert~" Lily pretends to get ashamed, and runs out with her face covered. Gumi bursts with laughter. "What's the meaning of it, to get ashamed after all this. Just haven't you been wearing those all the way home."
　"Let's see who's speaking about others with her extra-short vest and skirt connected with translucent tulle." Zatsune pokes at Gumi's waist, who gets tickled at once and starts laughing loudly.
　Akita raises her head. "Say, if Luka and Miku know that we are even talking about clothes such leisurely like this, what will they say?"
　"Maybe Luka will criticize? Not sure about that." Zatsune scratches her head, then makes an admiring look. "But my sister will surely come up with a 'Wow, where did you guys buy those? I want to by another' or such." Her looks seem much alike her sister.

　"Uuh..." Luka gets awakened by a freezing spur.
　Not only is she feeling continuous prickling in the back of her head, but also is she dripping wet all over her body. Having her eyes reluctantly lifted, Luka sees a pair of man and woman in the Neusen Army's uniform standing in front of her. "Ah, so you are awake at last." There are several water buckets on the ground beside the woman. "This is the fourth bucket. You'd better pay for the water bill later." Seems that Luka was being poured at just now.
　"No valuable things except for my very life with me now..." Luka retorts in an unclear voice, and then turns her head to look around.
　It seems that she is in a small empty room, which has completely nothing in it, even for the most usual things like desks or benches. Miku is sitting aside on the floor, with her hands tied behind her and a strip of tape pasted over her mouth; Luka herself gets her wrists and ankles tied respectively to the ceiling and the floor with chains, which makes clashing sounds with her movements.
　Luka turns back. "What are your..."
　"You still don't know after seeing this uniform?" The woman makes a disdain look. "NMRC, I'm Rin and he's Len."
　"I'm not asking that." Luka retorts. "I'm asking what your favorite way of dying are."
　Instead of getting angry, Rin laughs. "Ah-hah. You are asking that even in such a situation? Maybe you'll be dead in any second, you know. Ah, words are that you sing well. If your song can please me, perhaps I~'ll be releasing you."
　Luka glimpses her. "Not happening. Seems like that you are thinking too highly of yourself. Even though you are basically nothing but a waste to the air if alive, a waste to the land if buried, and a waste to the fuel if burned."
　"You just prefer the hard way, don't you!" Rin raises hand to give Luka two loud slaps in her face. Then Len stops her. "Cut it out. Two women are really equal to one thousand ducks."
　"You are seven hundred and fifty!" Rin glares at Len.
　Luka takes the chance and spits her mouthful of mixture, which consists of blood, saliva, and two broken teeth, onto Rin's face. "Fool. That should be YOUR value, not HIS."
　And she happens to make her spit right into Rin's eyes. The bitch immediately runs out to wash her face, shrieking.
　Len doesn't say a thing, but comes up and throws a punch directly into Luka's stomach, however the latter just bites her lips to hold her voice back. Miku is turning her head rapidly from side to side, which means "Don't hit her!"
　"BE quiet!" Len throws another punch before turning back to step out from the room and close the door. "Be on your guard." Sounds like he's giving orders to a guard outside by the door.
　Luka still gets the mood to tell jokes. "Hey~ I'm not pregnant, so you aren't getting anything aborted with hitting me in my stomach~" She then turns to Miku. "I'm fine. Well, sorry for getting you involved, after all."
　Miku lowers her eyes and mumbles, after which Luka realizes what her means. "Ah. Retract your lips while stick your tongue out. You'll have it done with the glue wet."
　"... Phew." Doing as what Luka says, Miku manages to flip the tape up from below. "Why are you talking like Zatsune sis even in such hard situation."
　"That's because we are partners." Luka wants to flatten her hands, but gets prevented since her hands are tied to the ceiling, and then has to change to shrugging.
　Miku mumbles. "Then we are sisters, too. - Say, are they coming to rescue us?"
　"Certainly~ Well actually you should have asked about the time they will take, and the way they are showing up." Luka suddenly puts on a poker-face.
　Miku gets surprised. "Way of showing up?"
　Luka gives a hint towards the door with her eyes. "Whether they are breaching in via the door, or -" She then looks upwards. "Or jumping down after making a hole in the ceiling."
　"Have you been watching too many where-made movies or playing too many where-made video games?" Miku can't help but criticizes. "That's just too inadvisable. We'll likely get smashed into papers before they even jump."
　"Well, as for Zatsune I don't think that she can come up with such tricky ideas. But since Gumi and Lily is so smart, maybe they will do so for real." Luka raises her lips and grins. "Anyway they have the native Akita and Yowane with them."

　"Damn it!" Rin is wiping her dripping wet face. "That Luka bitch, how dare she backtalk me with herself tied up!"
　"That's why I've been saying that two women are equal to one thousand ducks." Len grabs the telephone before Rin could retort. "Kamui? It's me, Len. We've got two... Ah? The remaining ones? Don't worry. The remaining ones are coming for sure. Just you wait for good news."
　The other party hangs up, while Len doesn't put the receiver back, but pushes the receiver rest down with his hand instead, then dials another number after a while. "... Get some men guarding the structure entrance. - What do you mean by 'how many'. Just have it decided on your own."

　Lily changes into a rather conservative shirt on her upper body, and is selecting her equipment in the basement together with everyone else. "Akita, Yowane, what are you used to?"
　"I'm ok with almost anything." Akita is about to get a Mk48 when she realizes the distance of engagement not to be very far, and picks up the Mk46 Zatsune used during the emergency last time. "But Yowane has only used pistols, you know."
　Yowane curls her lips. "Don't look down upon me." Then she looks around. "Um~ I'm taking this one with me."
　It turns out that Yowane has picked up an M32. "Despite letting others not look down upon you, isn't grenade launchers much easier to use than pistols?" Akita removes the bipod, and mounts a normal vertical foregrip and an M145 MGO.
　Yowane retorts. "Grenades need to be aimed, too!"
　"Yeah yeah yeah~" Akita plays dumb. Upon the thought of needing a weapon for emergency self-defenses when she is changing the ammo belt, Akita puts an extra M93R with targeting laser into her pocket.
　And thus Yowane gets her fun. "Speaking of me, aren't you using pistols as well?"
　Akita immediately puts the machine pistol into Yowane's hands instead. "Then you use this. I'm bringing a shotgun." She turns around to take an M1014.
　"..." Yowane gets speechless. The other three just keep making fun at them.
　"I'm not using this if you are bringing a standalone grenade launcher." Zatsune replaces the M203A2 from below the M4A1's handguard with an angled foregrip. "With the sight... Red-dot sight plus a 3x magnifier should do."
　Lily searches for a while before finding an M82 with a length of only one meter and a bit over. "Ah, why is this so short?"
　It's worth mentioning that normal M82/M107 is about a meter and half in length; Compared with that, the one in Lily's hand seems just like a child. "So you don't know it, do you?" Zatsune gets proud. "The super-rare CQ model. I had a rather hard time to get this."
　"That being said, this can't be used in close quarter battles, can it?" Lily smiles wryly while finding an ACOG sight with a micro RMR red-dot sight sitting atop to mount onto the sniper rifle. Gumi then hands an XM8 compact (which happens to be the one they were using back then) with ISM she's been holding to Lily. "You take this as well. Just in case."
　Lily takes it over. "Then what are you using?"
　Gumi has a SCAR-L in her left hand and a SCAR-H in her right hand. "These two. What should I use do you guys think?"
　"I'd recommend the light version, if you ask me. Anyway you'll have ten more rounds." Zatsune turns the switch of the Aimpoint Comp M4. Seeing that the red dot doesn't light up, she turns around to get some AA batteries.
　"Sounds reasonable." Gumi modifies her SCAR-L with a STD barrel, and adds an EOTech holographic sight and an angled foregrip similar to Zatsune's.
　After assembling and adjusting their weapons, they bring as much ammo as possible, and take some boxes of grenade rounds and .50 ammo belts to the garage, where the boxes get hidden separately into the van and under the back seats of the SUV, respectively. "Well, everything's ready for the fight~" Zatsune pretends to wipe her sweat.
　Akita bursts with laughter. "You should have said 'action' instead of 'fight', in the sake of rhyme."

　Having a guess about there being some kind of ambushes in the small buildings near the meeting place, they set out early the next morning with all their equipment (they even bring suppressors in addition) to do some preparation.
　Arriving at the outskirts of the underground shelter, Zatsune finds the spare communication cables used by the NMRC according to Yowane's directions at first, and slashes them into halves with one swing of her sickle. Then she sticks a remotely detonated bomb onto the main circuit box. The two cars pull into an opening behind a distant building. With Akita's machine gun guarding the vehicles, the others split up and sneak up to the small buildings alongside the road.
　Lily slips upstairs with her suppressed XM8 compact, and sees a soldier mounting an M107A1 on a windowsill as expected. She then hides herself for the time being and lightly knocks twice on the shell of her headphone with her fingertips.
　Akita peeks out from the corner of the building. "Copy that. Zatsune, your turn."
　After a long silence comes two similar knocks through the headphone. Akita counts with her fingers. "Another one. Yowane."
　This time there are three knocks. "Huh? No one?" Akita looks at the small building which Yowane is in now. "... There shouldn't be valuable commanding elevations on that side. You can just go to the other side and try your luck there. What about Gumi?"
　Gumi knocks twice. At that time Yowane has gone arrived at the opposite side going a long way around, but she still gives three knocks to indicate no ambushes. Akita performs the countdown. "Ready, five, four, three, two, one, go."
　"Piu, piu! Tatata!" Come some suppressed gunshots. "Kill! All done! Clear!" The three of them reports.
　"Nice!" Akita takes a deep breath, and takes her cellphone out. "Now it's... Half past twelve, so we still have ninety minutes? Then come back for now. Oh yeah, do grab some supplies if you can."
　It doesn't take much time for all the four to return. Lily is holding some big magazines of .50 caliber. "See what I got?"
　Gumi peeks into the opening. "Green tips and white circles... Don't tell me it's Mk211."
　"They are bringing out such goodies? Seems that they betting rather much on this." Akita unties the Mk46 and puts it down before seating herself into the driver seat. "Zatsune, I'll be driving later, so you take this for me."
　Zatsune takes it over. Yowane opens a box of grenades and starts loading her M32. "Though it's the same for us. After all we've brought every grenade with us."
　"Say, you aren't worried about throwing up even if I'll be driving later?" Akita decides to have some fun at the now relaxed Yowane.
　She doesn't even raise her head. "Is the fighting more important or the carsickness more important?"
　Seeing Yowane being uncooperative, Akita flattens her lips and becomes silent. Gumi and Lily reluctantly hold their laughter back.
　Having noticed there still to be much time left, Zatsune suddenly comes up with an idea. "Hey, turn on the radio on your car. I'm gonna play a song here."
　"What song?" Lily reaches for the buttons.
　"The scheduled title track of the two's next album." Zatsune extracts a disc from the disc slots on the visor, and inserts it into the onboard audio player.

　　　かわいたこころでかけぬける
　　Running up with a dry heart
　　　ごめんねなにもできなくて
　　But I'm sorry for unable to do anything
　　　いたみをわかちあうことさえ
　　Even sharing this pain
　　　あなたはゆるしてくれない
　　Is not permitted by you

　　　むくにいきるためふりむかず
　　Leading onto a flawless life and never looking back
　　　せなかむけて さってしまう
　　Leaving only a disappearing figure
　　　On the lonely rail
　　On the lonely rail

　　　わたしついていくよ
　　Come along with me
　　　どんなつらいせかいのやみのなかでさえ
　　No matter how hard or dark the world is
　　　きっとあなたはかがやいて
　　You are bound to shine
　　　こえるみらいのはて
　　Going over the end of the future
　　　よわさゆえにたましいこわされぬように
　　Preventing the weakness from damaging the soul
　　　My way かさなるよ いま ふたりに God bless...
　　Follow my way, now, may the god bless us...

　　　とどけてあつくなるおもいは
　　The hot emotions is about to reach you
　　　げんじつとかしてさまよう
　　When it melts away in the reality
　　　あいたいきもちにりゆうはない
　　There's no reason needed to want to meet you
　　　あなたへあふれだす Lovin' you
　　Since the emotion of loving you have already overflowed my heart

　　　せめてうつくしいゆめだけを
　　At least, we should have the beautiful dream
　　　えがきながら おいかけよう
　　Drawn and chased at the same time
　　　For your lonely heart
　　For your lonely heart

　　　やめてうそはあなたらしくないよ
　　Stop. Telling lies doesn't seem like you
　　　めをみてこれからのことをはなそう
　　Look into my eyes and have a talk about the future with me
　　　わたしかくごしてる
　　I have already made up my mind
　　　くらいみらいだって
　　Even if the future is dark
　　　つよくなってうんめいかえられるかもね
　　We still may change the fate if we become strong
　　　My wish かなえたいのに
　　Even if I want to fulfill my wish
　　　すべては God knows...
　　Everything is known and determined by the god...

　　　あなたがいて わたしがいて
　　I'm here, you're here
　　　ほかのひとはきえてしまった
　　But everyone other than us has disappeared
　　　あわいゆめのうつくしさをえがきながら
　　Drawing the beautiful and light-colored dream
　　　きずあとなぞる
　　While counting the scars

　　　だから わたし ついていくよ
　　So, come with me
　　　どんなつらいせかいのやみのなかでさえ
　　No matter how hard or dark the world is
　　　きっとあなたはかがやいて
　　You are bound to shine
　　　こえるみらいのはて
　　Going over the end of the future
　　　よわさゆえにたましいこわされぬように
　　Preventing the weakness from damaging the soul
　　　My way かさなるよ いま ふたりに God bless...
　　Follow my way, now, may the god bless us...

last edited at Oct 25, 2013 2:30AM

Chapter Eight

　"Ah, it's time." Akita is playing with her cellphone when she notices it to be ten to two already, thus reaches out to turn the ignition key.
　The two cars each pulls to a stop horizontally before the warehouse. Akita peeks out from the window. "Ah-hah. Isn't it one of the little attendants picked up by Meiko? How are you doing now, Len?" Akita smiles brightly.
　"Get out before you say that." Len gives a cold humph. "Showing completely sincerity, are you coming for your comrades or not?"
　"Sigh. What am I going to comment on you." Akita pretends to get disappointed. "At least show us their safety first of all. Isn't it obvious that you aren't giving them back?"
　Yowane picks in on the other side. "Thought that the original is somewhat cleverer. And they turn out to be idiots as well."
　"Ho~? Then aren't you bigger idiots turning yourselves in while knowing we are never giving them back?" Len slightly raises his hand. Some ten fully equipped soldiers storm out from the entrance behind him at once, each holding an M240.
　"As expected." Akita draws herself back into the car, pretending to get off, while sharply turns the steering wheel and stomps heavily upon the throttle pedal in a sudden; Yowane raises her M32 and fires two grenades continuously without even aiming; Zatsune in turn presses the button of a remote controller in her pocket, followed by a distant boom.
　Gumi distances her vehicle with a sharp turn as well. Lily pushes the lid open, mounts the HMG and aims her line of fire at the leading Len. "Take this!"
　Even if Len is able to react in time to dodge Lily's aim, he is by no means evading the grenades: Aside from getting blown down to the ground by the explosion, his even has his face implanted with two frags. Acknowledging the disadvantage in firepower, Len struggles up and runs back in an attempt to close the entrance gate while covering his face, but how is Lily letting him go? Another long burst directly tears his entire lower body off this time.
　"Nice!" Zatsune flattens a few remaining enemies. Akita turns the vehicle around on confirmation of no survivors. "Hold on! Gumi, let's go!!"
　"Copy!" Gumi steers around as well. The two cars storm into the underground shelter through the entrance one after the other.

　"Wh... What's with that firepower... And even Len is!" Rin is staring at the screen wall in the monitoring room. "Quickly, get everyone ready, and have the invaders killed at all costs!" She orders her henchmen. "And you, go to request backup from the headquarters!"

　The leading SUV almost takes a rocket hit upon the very instant they enter. Yowane hurriedly fires her grenade launcher back.
　Seeing those happening, Gumi and Akita realize that they would be live targets once they stop, and have no other choices but snaking continuously. Grenades have blast radiuses and therefore can put up with that, but the machine guns are no longer able to aim. "Gumi, take it easy~" Lily screams. "I'm gonna throw up~"
　"We are already having this one throwing up~" Zatsune simply ceases fire to hold onto the handle above the window, while with her other hand grabbing Yowane, who has been peeking out to puke violently, to prevent her from being thrown out. "Akita, find a cover quickly!"
　"On my best!" On noticing a maintenance passage with brick walls in her front, Akita restores the steering wheel and steps the throttle pedal all the way down to its bottom. "Maintenance passage ahead, get in there! Zatsune use the grenade launcher to blow the road block up! Gumi follow my lead!"
　Zatsune releases Yowane since the car has stopped making random turns, grabs the M32 from her hand and peeks out to deliver a grenade to clear the path. Simple blockades the enemies set up in a hurry instantly get blown into pieces.
　"Watch out!" The same time storming into the passage entrance, Akita sharply turns the steering wheel and pulls the hand brake handle up with each of her hands, stopping the car in a counterclockwise drift to give the way out; Gumi goes through and brakes to a stop in a short distance. "Nice positioning!" Lily's HMG starts spitting flames again.
　Zatsune returns the Mk46 to Akita, Gumi grabs her SCAR-L as well, and they jump out to suppress the chasing enemies at the entrance and exit, leaving Yowane on her own to continue puking in a corner of the drain aside. "Eew~" The poor guy is surely suffering a lot. "Lily, Zatsune, why don't, eew, don't you get carsick..."
　"Well, no matter how, it's a little too over-expressing like you..." Lily smiles bitterly. "Remember to eat some more for breakfast next time. You'll feel better with your stomach full."
　"Isn't there more to throw up with a full stomach?" Zatsune flips the 3x magnifier down, takes her aim at a revealed knee through it and pulls the trigger.
　The trigger is pulled indeed, but she doesn't feel the recoil on her shoulder at all. Zatsune thinks that her magazine has already run empty in the first place, and presses the magazine release button offhand to reload; However upon a glimpse of some remaining rounds in the falling magazine, she immediately realizes that something has gone wrong, and then takes cover instantly. "Whoa! Shit, Akita, hold them off for me!"
　Akita sweats. "Hurry! I'm not having many rounds with me - and speaking of the ammo!?" On noticing the line of fire becoming bright red, Akita hurriedly takes a fresh ammo box out with her left hand. "Gumi! Requesting covering fire!" And she tosses a hand grenade out with her right hand.
　"Rightaway!" Gumi turns around on her words and flattens an enemy who is trying to throw the grenade back in the first place. "What's up with you, failing synchronously?"
　"It's her to blame." Akita finishes the current ammo belt, lifts the receiver lid open, and starts replacing the empty ammo box.
　Zatsune pulls the cocking handle at first, but gets no empty shell ejected, together with an abnormal feeling on her hand - as light as nothing; She then flips the M4A1 over and presses the forward assist button, after which comes the normal sound of the bolt counter-recoiling. "Sigh. Better do some oiling later." Zatsune picks the half-empty magazine up and mounts it again, and pulls the cocking handle again to chamber a round.
　At the same time Akita finishes reloading her Mk46, then peeks out to start firing again. Gumi takes a breath and turns around on confirming their problems solved, only to find an enemy soldier showing up carrying an AT4!
　To make things worse, Lily's M2A1 is having its barrel cooling down, and the M82A1 CQ in her hand is aiming at other targets, thus unable to provide covering firepower. Gumi raises her SCAR-L in a hurry, roughly overlays the aiming reticle in the holographic sight onto the enemy soldier's figure, and fires without precise aiming.
　Then a grenade unexpectedly flies by her and impacts the wall behind that bazookaman, blowing him away instantly. "Who is this?" Surprised Gumi turns around to have a look.
　It turns out to be Yowane holding her M32. "I'm back~" And she's on her high horse.
　Gumi can't help but laughs. "Well, that's some good spirit, except for something remaining around your mouth."
　"Gueh!?" Yowane's white face immediately turns red.

　In the beginning they are suppressed in the depth of the passage, but as the firefight goes on, they have all approached each of the exits without noticing, with the spent shells line up on the ground all the way from their cars. "So this is it?" Zatsune flattens the last enemy in her sight with a headshot.
　"Seems clear for now." Gumi doesn't see anyone moving, either.
　Having a glimpse on car-washing tools aside, Yowane goes to open up the tap to wash her face, and pulls the hose out to flush on the vehicle doors and tires. Akita disassembles her Mk46's barrel, and approaches to get it cooled with the water stream.
　Lily turns back and picks two empty magazines from the floor. "Well, since we have already been consuming such much for now, are we going to have enough ammo for the upcoming firefights? Seems to me that we need some supplies."
　"True that. The ammo cache is on the bottom floor, you know." Yowane turns the tap off, then opens the M32's wheel to reload it.
　They all start collecting about while on guard of dying enemies. "If we continue pushing slowly as this, will they be desperately doing anything to Miku and Luka?" Zatsune has some worries.
　Akita picks up a drum-fed AA-12, unmounts the drum and extracts the shells out to put into her pocket. "Unlikely. Luka herself is involved in killing Meiko, thus they ought to be wanting her dead; But Miku is nothing more than a hostage used to threaten us for them, therefore killing her brings no good at all other than wasting ammo. Plus, if anything happens to them, we are by no means letting go of this peacefully, which shouldn't be unclear to our enemies." Akita analyzes. "So I wouldn't be touching them if it were me."
　Gumi is inserting some collected rounds into a magazine as well. "Then aren't Neusen reinforcements coming?"
　Seeing that the grenades they brought here are nearly depeleted, Yowane decides to take the remaining ones all along with her. "Not gonna happen. Except for the personnel here and some high-level officials, there is no one who knows here at all. Even if others are willing to come, they don't know the way either. And hasn't Zatsune cut the comm earlier."
　"But it's always better to have this done sooner." Akita suddenly starts to complain. "Say, why are these guys all equipped with weighty general-propose machine guns? Aren't they getting tired?"
　It turns out that their opponents' equipment consists of mainly G36K/AG36, MP9, AA-12, et cetera. Lily's XM8 has a G36-style magazine socket, thus she can just have a magazine inserted directly after picking it up; Although M4A1 and SCAR-L only accept 4179 STANAG magazines, the bullets are the same, so there's no big problem; M81A1 CQ can be chambered with rounds extracted from the M2A1 ammo belt - even if normal MG rounds and specialized sniper rounds are completely two different things, the precision losses might as well get ignored at such short distances, not to mention the several magazines of Mk211 rounds looted earlier; 40mm low-velocity grenades, 12-gauge shotgun shells and 9mm pistol bullets are common, too; While disposable weapons like hand grenades and rocket launchers are free from the problem of commonality to begin with; Therefore the only problem is with Mk46: It's draining the rounds more rapidly than any other weapon, and to make things worse, the enemies are using 7.62mm GPMGs like HK21E and M240, which means Akita can't get any supply at all. "Wouldn't have changed my weapon if I knew this." She mumbles while staring at a Mk48 in front of her.
　Luckily Lily is sharp-eyed. "Ah, I have an MG4 here."
　"Lily I believe in you~" Akita quickly runs up. Upon comparison of the two guns placed together in parallel, the 5.56mm disintegrating ammo belt looks exactly the same. "Ammo get~" Akita extracts the MG4's ammo belt out an puts it into the Mk46's empty ammo box, grinning broadly on her face.
　"Well I suppose that you'd better take that with you." Zatsune points to the Mk48 just now. "We can leave the Mk46 for Luka. After all nobody knows what will happen at that time." She pauses for a moment before adding. "I know it's a bit cruel for her, but you can't be too cautious, you know."
　Finding her reasonable, Akita heads back to get the new machine gun. There happens to be an M240 mounted with an M145 MGO aside, the latter of which gets removed onto Akita's new Mk48. She also gets an assault foregrip from an HK416.
　Zatsune helps in placing the Mk46 back into the van together with the ammo boxes. "In one word, we'll be doing the cleaning each of the floors one after another?" She brings the topic back.
　"Fine with me. Anyway I've already gotten fed up with this fucking place. I'm flipping it bottom-up this time." Akita adjusts the foregrip into her preferred position.
　"Huh?" Gumi gets surprised. "So you've been thinking about it in the very beginning?"
　Akita corrects her. "Not until killing the Meiko scumbag."

　After resupplying, the five of them storms on to the living / office area on the next floor on foot: One is that Yowane doesn't want to get throwing up again; Another is that Akita says that there are all small rooms on this floor, even if the road is wide enough to drive the cars along, there'll still be some trouble left behind - Miku and Luka need protection after being rescued, which means that there won't be much room for them to maneuver freely; And the cars would in turn be redundancies if they push their way down with CQBs.
　The layout here looks like two braces glued together, with the connections extended: Two main hallways are set in parallel on both the left and the right sides, and they turn in right angles at the ends to meet up at the inter-floor ramps; Rooms with various sizes are attached on each hallway, summing up in four lines. "A hallway on each side... So are we splitting up?" Zatsune looks at the map pasted onto the wall.
　"Five people into two groups?" Gumi counts with her fingers. "Machine gunner, grenadier, sniper, two riflemen, how is the firepower separated? One on each side for me and Zatsune?"
　"Nah." Akita makes gestures. "You go left with Zatsune, adding Yowane as well. Lily and I go right."
　Zatsune takes her sickle out. "In that way? Fine. You two be careful."
　"Basically there are all solid brick walls here. Needless to worry about penetration." Yowane pats on the wall beside her. "But some neighboring rooms are connected, so watch out."
　"Don't worry. I'm making sure that they are knocked out." Lily switches to her XM8. Gumi laughs. "Or you could say die out instead."
　Lily plays dumb. "Never mind about such details." She then walks to the right. Akita follows up, and the other turns as well.
　Arriving at the turning, Lily has just peeked out when gunshots come instantly - And it's even the unique buzz of M134. Lily immediately retracts herself, screaming "EEK". "Phew, phew, nearly get shot to honeycombs." She wipes cold sweat off her forehead. "Are you dying if you quit doing heart-unfriendly things!?"
　"Despite that they are dying no matter what." Akita leans against the wall beside her. "What now? Asking Yowane to come here and to blow it up with grenades?"
　"No. I happened to pick this up." Lily takes a smoke grenade out from her pocket, pulls the ring off and tosses it across the turning backhand. "Pop! Psst~" The smoke immediately starts to spread.
　Noticing the opponents popping smoke, M134 hurriedly fires several bursts randomly; But Lily is taking cover behind the corner without even revealing a single hair. The machine gunner realizes it's hopeless to hit the enemies, and ceases fire to conserve his ammo.
　Lily peeks out from the corner on estimation of the smokescreen to have gotten thick enough, and aims her M82A1 CQ roughly according to the inaccurate angle based on her memories, then fires a round with a loud bang. The machine gunner at once presses the fire button to deliver suppressing firepower since the enemies should fire back, but Lily's this somewhat missed shot have in turn taken its hit on the M134's barrels.
　For the sake of increasing the rate of fire and reducing the weight, multi-barrel machine guns like M134 all have their barrels made very light; To make things worse, Lily is using a large-caliber sniper / anti-material rifle - upon the violent impact of the big .50 bullet, two of the barrels immediately get bent, resulting in the bullets stuck midway in them. Before the gunner could even realize it, the six barrels have spun for another circle and it's the two's turn to fire again. Now it would be strange for not exploding. A thick smoke instantly goes up with a cracking sound.
　Luckily the gunner is a little far from the explosion, and thus doesn't get hurt. But his machine gun is surely out of order now. "Shit! Lucky of you!" He spits and hurriedly reaches for a spare M240 aside.
　Just the moment he gets his hand on it when a round thing flies near - a hand grenade. The machine gunner is only about to shout a single word of "hand" before his throat get slashed open by the frag. The last thing he sees is Akita and Lily storming out from the vanishing smoke with a Mk48 and an XM8.
　"That was some aiming just now, wasn't it?" Akita flattens a few exposed enemies. "No way am I having that confidence." She just takes it as Lily's hit.
　Lily kicks into a room aside. "It's just a fluke shot, you know~"
　It's not upon arrival at the minigun do the two make out what the truth is: Two of the M134's barrels exploded, and the dead man lying aside isn't in the limbed appearance what a man should be like after taking a hit by a .50 bullet as well, with his neck only implanted with two fragments. "What... is this? Don't tell me that shot hit the barrels?" Lily takes a closer look at a still smoking broken barrel, and notices there being an obvious dent in its front end, which seems like having been hammered.
　"Can you be luckier!" Akita gets speechless. "The barrels' side area isn't even as large as a human, and you had such a sheer fluke shot..."
　As with Zatsune and her team, they get suppressed behind the corner by an M134 as well. But Yowane doesn't bring her M32 for nothing: She just takes a chance and delivers a grenade, which successfully disables the machine gun once and for all (together with its blown away gunner). Zatsune keeps sighing about that being a waste of things, when Gumi gives her a glimpse. "You are just too greedy. A heavy thing like that, which weighs some thirty kilograms counting in both the gun and the ammo, is unlikely being lifted even with us three together. Are you leaving it for the enemies instead of blowing it up?"
　"I'm just kidding..." Zatsune pouts while busy with the sickle in her hands, slashing diagonally an idiot, who rushes up in an attempt for a melee fight, into halves. Sprayed all over herself with blood, Zatsune just doesn't even raise her hand to wipe, only licking the blood around her mouth off, while grinning hideously.
　"You... fine. Better get prepared for having Miku scared to death later on." Yowane frowns.
　Gumi shakes her head as well. "Um, even among the instructors in our training camp back then, there had been no one as violent as you..."
　"My little sister can't be that timid." Zatsune gets proud. "Even if I'm losing a part on my body, she will only start bandaging me without getting frightened at all, and lecture me like 'Why are you so reckless'. You guys believe it?"
　"No, we, don't." The two instantly answers.
　Zatsune almost trips over a dead body on the ground. "No... Ok then, let's make a bet on this: When we meeting up with Miku later, if she gets scared by my appearance, I lose, otherwise you lose."
　"What are we winning?" Gumi sees some enemies sitting scared shitless on the ground, knowing only pulling the triggers with all their remaining strength without even thinking of changing the magazines; She then gives one neat round to each of them.
　Zatsune sticks her left index finger up. "During the month after we go back home, winners get their housework done by the losers. How about that?"
　"Hey, in that way~ you will be doing two extra shares of housework if we win, you know?" Yowane points first to Gumi and then herself, meaning "that would be a little unfair for you".
　"Doesn't matter. Anyway I'm not doing both in one day." Zatsune flattens her hands. "So, are you in for this?"
　Yowane and Gumi exchange a look. "Ok then, we are in." Gumi makes an ok gesture. "Don't you try to go back on your words."
　"I'm~ not~ trying~" Zatsune gets in high spirits and elongates her voice. "Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, there're only fools and idiots ahead." She even starts winging her sickle to her words.
　"The one who first discovers that would be crying if he heard you." Yowane sighs.

　The M134s have given them a little excitement, while it's only trouble that's remaining for them: In every room there are three enemies or two, hiding under the desks or behind the flower pots and trying to ambush them. Akita's M1014 even gets stuck once due to a dumb shell, forcing her to draw her knife out and get things done with melee fights. Lily mumbles while standing halfway across the door. "Only cowards here. Where did the brave fighters earlier go?"
　Akita pulls the bolt. "Maybe they are thinking that there's nothing to take as cover in the opening hallways. - Shit, dumb shell." She kicks the dead cartridge away flying.
　Having pushed their way onto the opposite turning, Akita doesn't dare to let her guard down, and aims her Mk48 at the other side first. On seeing a figure with a sickle in its hand, and hearing Zatsune's comm of "We are at the corner now", Akita then takes a deep breath. "Hey, they have finished, too."
　And Akita immediately gives a scream upon Zatsune's approach together with others. "EEK!?"
　"Pfft, seems that we are winning the bet~" Gumi walks up, comforts the as well scared Lily, and winks to the cause, Zatsune.
　"Why is there only heart-unfriendly things happening today..." Lily gets a little calm. "What bet?"
　Yowane tells them. Akita curls her lips. "You guys are re~ally carefree."
　"It's called the spirit of entertainment." Zatsune makes a face, when Gumi instantly stops her. "Stop it. Hold it. Cut it. You look extremely scary when making faces with yourself covered with all that blood."
　"..." The next thing Zatsune does is crouching in a corner and circling her finger tip on the floor. Yowane can't help but laughs and walks up to drag her up. "Enough with that. Hurry and find some ammo, we'll be fighting again later."
　Even though the summed amount of the enemies on this floor is no less than the last floor, the ammo consumption still gets a large-scale decrement because there's no need to deliver suppressing firepower for breach-and-clears. "The next floor is the factory so watch out: Firstly don't get electric shocked, secondly keep your distance from containers and pipelines as far as possible, since they might be containing dangerous chemical materials, which makes certain trouble once leaking out." Yowane has been searching for only 9mm pistol ammo rather than grenades for a while.
　"Well, I know it sounds like trying to pick up a fight." Zatsune suddenly comes up with a sentence. "But why am I feeling you've been working undercover, since you are talking about such details~"
　"Don~'t you say random things." Akita pokes at her forehead. "We wouldn't be working this hard if we were doing that, would we?"
　Zatsune grins. Knowing that she's only joking, the others pay no attention, either.

　Minutes later.
　"Just, just how am I getting this done!" Gumi is unable to hold herself back from shouting loudly. "Aren't there pipelines everywhere!"
　Akita sweats. "Um... Actually here's been rebuilt, and the majority of the pipelines are running overhead now, therefore basically these are all abandoned... So there's nothing to worry at all..."
　Gumi gets surprised. "Huh? Why didn't you say it earlier?"
　"I was about to say it when Zatsune interrupted, and then I forgot..." Akita looks away taking advantage of suppressing enemies in another position.
　"Why it's me to blame?" Zatsune mumbles; On a glimpse of a flash of light on a far catwalk, she hurriedly raises her aiming reticle and performs a 3-round burst. An MSG90 falls on the gunshots.
　Then Akita and Zatsune starts quarreling like "It's been you to blame to begin with. Why'd you say that outta nothing?" "I was joking!" "Don't joke about that!" when Yowane determinedly picks in. "Why didn't I know?"
　"One day I went down to the warehouse to get some things. I saw a ladder truck stopped and set up aside when I was walking, and some workers were busy making holes and grooves in the ceiling." Akita changes an ammo box. "I asked what that was, and they said that the pipelines on the ground were too troublesome since people kept tripping over them, so they were rerouting them up overhead."
　"Is that so?" Yowane draws her M32 out backhand. "Ve~ry good. Then there's no need to worry. Let's do it!" A grenade flies out on her words and then blows two enemies hiding behind some machines away.
　Lily switches to her M82A1 CQ. "You were such careful seconds earlier and are such careless now?"
　"Isn't it good to do it in careless way?" Zatsune in turn seems enjoying it. "Now that's what I mean by fighting. It was just too petty."
　Akita pins a bazookaman down. "I'm finding it out. Zatsune you are just the restless type who prefers getting to fight every day."
　"You found me out~?" Zatsune spits her tongue.
　Gumi happens to see the bazookaman being suppressed by Akita, and immediately delivers two bullets; Akita in turn mows several runners down, shouting "nice".

　It's a rather large workshop here, with no good covers other than machines and devices; What's worse, the enemies are unexpectedly many, and seem to sum up to the amount of the entire last floor. "Say, who still remembers how many she has killed so far?" Zatsune tosses a hand grenade.
　"At least sixty or seventy!" Yowane opens the M32's wheel and touches her pocket before getting anxious. "Shit, out of grenades!"
　Zatsune's hand grenade happens to blow a grenadier away just now. Seeing that, Yowane takes her M93R out. "Cover me, I'm getting some!"
　Akita turns her machine gun's muzzle to prepare covering fire, and Gumi switches her targets as well. Then Zatsune puts her M4A1 down and draws her sickle unexpectedly. "No! I'll go instead!" She takes a chance of a gap in the crossfire and rushes up to the dead grenadier. Ignoring the messy blood, she quickly carries the body on her back and runs backwards.
　Three enemies or four peeks out to siege her on the scene, who get killed one after another by Lily. Zatsune makes it to the cover, and pushes the corpse towards Yowane really hard. "Safe!"
　"Thanks~" Yowane disarms the grenadier of his tactical vest. Lily presses the magazine latch to let the empty magazine fall naturally. "Or rather, a home run. Come to think of it, how were my shots counted in that way?"
　"That's base on balls for you." Gumi picks in. "Why are we talking about softballs during a firefight?"
　Akita doesn't rest assured until now. "Shouldn't it be baseball since we are shooting stone-hard bullets?"
　"So you were saying us to be carefree now?" Zatsune takes the chance to have her revenge.
　Akita gets irritated. "Damn you Zatsune! Quit criticizing me!"

　They almost all run out of ammo when they have the workshop cleared up at last.
　"Phew, finally I can catch my breath now." Lily has already spent all her normal rounds, and is forced to make use of Mk211. "Honestly, having started rushing at us right the moment we got down here, couldn't you people let us get ready first?"
　"Isn't it about hitting your enemies before they are ready." Holding the M1014 in her hands, Akita has several empty ammo boxes scattered beside her left foot and a small black-yellow-red colored hill beside her right foot: Black ammo links, yellow rifle bullet shells, and red shotgun shells. The machine gun is randomly thrown onto the floor aside with its barrel red-hot.
　Gumi's SCAR-L has only half a magazine left frighteningly, and Zatsune has already been holding the sickle in her hand, preparing to grab some ammo for her empty M4A1. As for Yowane, even if Zatsune managed to get some grenades for her, it still didn't make much of a differences, and she's holding the grenadier's G36K with AG36 for the moment. "This time it's, really dangerous~" Zatsune raises her hand to wipe off her sweat. "In various aspects."
　Lily does a brief count on her remaining ammo: some twenty Mk211 rounds, and a magazine and a half for her XM8. "I'll be watching the entrance, and you can go find some supplies." Lily switches her XM8's selector, which was previously turned to its semiautomatic position in order to conserve ammo, back to full-auto. "I should be the one with most ammo left."
　"Ok. Be careful as well." Yowane combines two G36 magazines together in parallel, and tosses them to her.
　With Lily guarding the entrance, the other four starts looting about. "Should it be such troublesome for merely this workshop, what are we gonna do with two similarly sized remaining..." Seeing the machine gun's barrel like that, Akita estimates it to be unable to last for long, so she unmounts another from an enemy's Mk48 as a spare.
　"Just do it mindlessly~" Gumi picks two hand grenades up.
　Even if they are completely exhausted after fighting all their way down here, they can only have a little rest during the looting progress, taking the safety of Miku and Luka into account.
　Akita replaces Lily of her duty, who in turn comes to the rest three to get her share of ammo.

　Although unable to hear what's happening outside, Luka still feels a shaking of the ceiling coming via the chains on her wrists. "Huh? Earthquake?" She lowers her head to have a look beside her feet.
　"I don't think so?" Miku frowns. "I'm not feeling anything even though I've been sitting, you know."
　"Then what was that shake..." Luka rolls her eyes. "Are Zatsune and the others coming to save us? So quickly?"
　Miku is about to get excited on her words when she gives a thought to their present situation, and decides to lower her voice. "Yeah. That'll be good."

　"Send everyone in the warehouse to support the factory!" Rin is circling back and forth like a cat on hot bricks. "We are never letting them get the two!"
　Having waited for the reinforcements in vain, Rin grabs the telephone in an attempt to urge the never-coming reinforcements, only to get a complete silence in the receiver, even without a dial tone. "Shit! Breaking down at a time like this!" Rin smacks the receiver back.
　"As long as they are coming for the two's rescue, just killing them -" One of her men is mumbling when Rin slaps him in the face. "Idiot! Don't you know that they'd be getting their revenge if we killed the two!? Fuck off already!!"

　"Whoa!! Are they all coming!?" Akita's machine gun is laying suppressive fire at the entrance.
　Having their rest, they notice someone come rushing in. Quick-handed Zatsune only takes him as impatient to die, and flattens him with a 3-round burst. But after him come in queues of enemies. Akita hurriedly mounts her Mk48 to suppress on seeing that.
　Unexpectedly an entire ammo belt runs out while the enemies' number is still increasing, not until which do the girls realize that their opponents are doing something big. "What, is, this? An, all-out, attack?" Lily says her words one after another, and fires her bullets one after another.
　"Seems that they are getting nervous seeing we have made it so near the place where Miku and Luka is!" Yowane delivers a grenade, which bumps into a direct hit on a poor bastard.
　Though Akita gets somewhat optimistic. "You mean it'll be easier after we kill these? Let's do this then!"
　"In one word!" Gumi gets excited as well. "Bring~ it~ on~!" She's even giving out some coloratura.
　Compared with Gumi's excitement, Zatsune goes further as to start singing.

　　(Uninstall...)
　　(Uninstall...)

　　It came from somewhere beyond the farthest reaches of the world that we know, like a creature of shadow
　　It came to mock us, for we are so naive that we can't comprehend it,
　　And truly, we are fragile and small
　　I cannot hold onto the truth
　　As it slips right through my fingers like a picture that is made of smoke
　　I don't know how I will last, because my body is so weak that I may crumble away

　　Uninstall, uninstall
　　I was told that I am just a single speck of dust
　　And cannot be more
　　But I do not understand or grasp the true meaning
　　Uninstall, uninstall
　　I no longer have a choice but to pretend
　　I am brave
　　For a soldier has to be brave
　　Uninstall

　　Our unseen thoughts have been growing ever sharper, unbeknownst to us, deep within the subconscious
　　But an incline of what has been occurring is revealed to me as
　　I hear the restless monsters when I sleep
　　Now my heart is empty and numb
　　Say for an unrelenting impulse to destroy all things that I can see
　　It is born from all of the pain, for I have lost the will to choose the day I'll crumble away

　　Uninstall, uninstall
　　If there's no one who can take this burden in my place
　　Then there's no choice
　　But to take my simple life and
　　Uninstall, uninstall
　　And it makes me want to end it all with my own hands
　　Is it wrong?
　　Surely it's alright to want to uninstall

　　Uninstall, uninstall
　　I was told that I am just a single speck of dust
　　And cannot be more
　　But I do not understand or grasp the true meaning
　　Uninstall, uninstall
　　I no longer have a choice but to pretend
　　I am brave
　　For a soldier has to be brave
　　Uninstall

　Excitement aside, they are having a rather hard time with the fight. But after all it's better to have a goal in their minds: a relatively peaceful mind leads to an increase in the accuracy of their weapons, due to less shaky hands.
　When everything settles down again, there's a hill of spent shells twice as large as the previous one by Akita's feet, with the broken original barrel sticking on it like a flag pole. "Mm~~~ finally done." Akita puts her Mk48 down and gives herself a stretch on confirming of no alive enemies.
　The machine which Yowane has been using as cover has holes all over it. "Wow, so many holes, only next to Akita's. Didn't know that you are so popular with them?" Gumi moves her look between Akita's cover and Yowane's alternatively.
　"That kind of popularity... I'd prefer I'm not popular at all~" Yowane gets speechless.
　Zatsune inserts a full magazine. "Well then, we are gonna save the two now. Yowane, Akita, what's the big deal on next floor?"
　"Watch your fire. It's full of dangerous chemical containers down there." Akita shakes her hands. "It hasn't been rebuilt in the warehouse, and the containers are all on the ground. Having made it all the way down here, getting caught with that is just somewhat unacceptable."
　"Watch our fire?" Lily is surprised. "Are there any enemies down there?"
　Akita makes gestures. "You see, weren't there two names, Len and Rin, left back then? You've killed Len in the beginning, while I still haven't seen the other Rin up until now. I guess she's guarding Miku and Luka by herself at this time."

　Akita's guess turns out to be a bulls-eye somehow - Luka is talking with Miku in the small room when a loud bang comes from the door, when she sees enraged Rin kicking in with a Mk23 pistol in her hand. "You god-damned mother-fucking assholes! Kamui too! His one word of capturing you alive gets Len and so many men died!!"
　"That's because you shouldn't have given thoughts about it to begin with." Luka disdains. But how can the rampaging Rin hear her? "I'm gonna kill you!!" She randomly swings her pistol overhead, during which she subconsciously applies strength on her finger, resulting in a pull on the trigger - Luckily there's no ricochet, but the sound gets herself scared shitless.
　Luka can't help but bursts into laughter. Rin gets even angrier due to the shame. "Don't you laugh!! I'm killing you NOW!!" She takes her aim at Luka's head.
　Of course Miku gets frightened. She's about to shout "no", when some really loud gunshots come together with some death screams. Then a cylinder is tossed into the room when Rin gets distracted.
　"Fla -" The flashbang explodes just before Luka is able to react.
　After regaining her sight, the very first thing Luka sees is Zatsune attempting to cut the chains tying her with the sickle. "Hey wait, Zatsune, isn't a small portion of it gonna get left behind?" Gumi finds a set of keys after searching Rin's body, who has three pistol shots in her belly, and is of course dying since she doesn't seem to breathe at all.
　Yowane pretends to blow on the M93R's muzzle. "Revenge!"
　"What are you blowing with no smoke there?" Lily is holding an M82A1 CQ in her arms. The loud gunshots just now should be coming from this large-caliber sniper rifle.
　"And no one is even asking about 'are you ok'~?" Akita does some massive criticism.
　Zatsune gets irritated. "I'm just about to ask!"
　"Then why don't you just ask?" Akita gives her a glimpse.
　"What am I saying with your having said it just now!" Zatsune retorts. "- Are you ok?"
　Akita nearly trips over. "Aren't you saying it after all."
　Zatsune just ignores her and unties Miku to help her up. Gumi unlocks the chains as well, and Luka is exercising her hurting wrists and ankles. "Not some big deal, only a few punches, and some physical pain."
　"She even had two of her teeth beaten broken and is now pretending as if nothing happened." Miku complains. Nonetheless she immediately gives a scream when she sees Zatsune's face, which she didn't see earlier because of the flashbang. "EEEEK!!?"
　"AH-HAH! Scared, scared~" Akita and others in turn starts laughing. Gumi gets on her high horse. "Zatsune? Aren't you gonna have some homework to do from now on?"
　Zatsune sighs. "My sister, you are so uncooperative..."
　"Huh?" Miku gets confused. Yowane tells the two what happened. "Zatsune sis and Luka are surely partners. You even have the mood to make jokes under such situations." Miku pouts.
　"Well, that aside, let's get outta here first." Luka feels having had enough of the exercises, thus sets her steps out to the door. Akita hurriedly runs out to secure the path in advance: Even if they have been killing everybody they meet all the way down here, there still might be some secret places for the enemies to hide.
　All the seven walk out in a row. After leaving the small room however, a small click unexpectedly comes from behind; Covering the rear, Zatsune turns her head around, only to see a hand grenade slowly rolls out with its pin pulled!
　It turns out to be Rin, who wants to bring someone with her before she dies, and pulls a grenade off her belt to toss it out with all the strength left in her. To make things worse, there happens to be a dangerous chemical container painted with a skullhead icon. In afraid of causing some toxic substances to leak, Zatsune rushes up, shouting "watch out", and kicks the grenade back into the room.
　But a grenade's fuse only burns about five seconds or so. Three seconds passed while it rolls out from the door, and another passed during Zatsune's run back. As a natural result, the grenade detonates before it could fly for two meters after Zatsune's kick.
　The six in the front don't even have time to react before hearing the explosion from behind. Turning back to see that Zatsune is blown up flying, then bumps into the wall and falls face-down onto the floor, they almost gets scared out of their senses. "Zatsune!!" All of them hurries back.
　Having approached her, Luka picks Zatsune up with her full strength: There is a deep cut in her neck made by a fragment, where dark red fluids are gushing out. "It's -!!" Yowane at once pulls her bow off to start bandaging, when Zatsune laboriously shakes her hands. "Don't... need it..."
　"Just stop talking!" Unable to take her hands being dirty into consideration, Akita tries pinching the wound to stop bleeding, while almost in vain. Zatsune grins. "Sorry... about... the house...work - PFFT!" A mouthful of blood spurts. Gumi gets anxious. "Don't bring that up for now!"
　"Luka..." Zatsune raises her eyes to look for her partner in her vision.
　Luka hurriedly puts her ear near. "I'm here!"
　"My... sis... please......" Zatsune's voice gradually faded.
　Luka subconsciously raises her head to ask "what did you say", only to find her partner's eyes closed. "... Zatsune?" Luka can't help but says.
　Miku doesn't come back to herself until this moment. Seeing her sister lying in Luka's embrace, motionless as having fallen asleep, Miku quietly asks. "... Sis?"
　"..."
　Lily turns around. Suddenly continuous gunshots come from inside the room. She quickly turns her head, and sees that Akita has entered the room for some time, points her Mk48 to the now thoroughly dead Rin's head, then pulls the trigger without releasing.

　"In the end, we don't even know who is providing them with intelligence." Gumi is carrying Zatsune's body on her back.
　They are by no means able to leave the fallen partner as she is. After some discussion, they decided to bury her onto the mining hill. The body is carried by Gumi, who is having the lightest weight at present, while Luka takes the M4A1 and the sickle with her. Akita and Yowane head to the main control room to initiate the self-destruct sequence, setting enough delay for them to retreat, and then comes back to join the main team.
　"Rin was mentioning Kamui when you came." Luka concentrates on walking, her head lowered. Miku is sobbing and sniffing with a pair of red eyes while walking next to her.
　The rest four exchange a look. "The remaining ammo... should be enough. Is anyone not coming?" Lily browses through everyone's equipment.
　As they are talking, they have arrived in the maintenance passage where the vehicles are parked. Gumi slides the van's side door open to put the body inside. "Where's the exact location?"
　"Should still be his purple house." Yowane sits into the copilot seat. "That should be the best foothold if they are to have some business with here. Even if you have visited there before, I guess he will bet on that we won't give thoughts about him daring to return there, since the four of you have already been there once."
　The SUV sets off in the first place, after which Gumi turns the ignition key as well. At the same time they drive out of the abandoned warehouse on the ground, a smothered boom comes from behind.

　They head for the mining hill first - with no Neusen reinforcements coming at all during the entire drive. "Zatsune, just wait for a little longer. We'll be bringing Kamui's head back." Luka bows twice before the new grave and stands up.
　Miku is holding the two weapons aside in Luka's place. Luka walks up. "Miku, you stay here and wait for us."
　Saying that, Luka reaches for the arms. But Miku refuses unexpectedly. "... I'm going, too. Sis saved me twice, so I won't keep a clear conscience if I don't get her revenge."
　"... Fine then." Gumi sighs. "Be careful. If anything happens to you, we won't be able to face Zatsune at all."

　Arriving at the gate of Kamui's house, there are really some activity in the yard as expected. "KAMUI!! JUST YOU WAIT!! I'M COMING FOR YOU!!" Luka shouts loudly while holding the Mk46. "OTHERS GET LOST RIGHT NOW!!"
　On seeing the previous troublemakers coming again, the maids have already been screaming and bringing ladders to escape over the walls - Since the gate is blocked tight by the six. Kamui gets scared as well, and hurriedly orders his new henchmen to go confront the enemies, while himself cuts his hair randomly with a pair of scissors, puts on a maid outfit, and wraps a headscarf around his head in order to slip away together with the maids.
　Getting fired back at by some daredevils, the girls have already been delivering some serious firepower with a random shower of various calibers of bullets, grenades and shotgun slugs, leveling the poor idiots in no time. By the way, although this is the first firefight for Miku, she shoots the M4A1 quite well, and is flattening five enemies or six with every 30-round magazine on average.
　Lily is racking up her body count with her sniper rifle when she notices a tall "maid", who wears a headscarf and doesn't look like one in every aspect, is climbing on a ladder. Feeling suspicious, she takes her aim and breaks the ladder in halves with a single shot, giving that "maid" a hard bottom-down landing. "Machine gun, cover me!" Lily puts the M82A1 CQ onto her back.
　"Huh?" Gumi is holding the M2A1. Noticing that Lily switches to her XM8 and is going to push up, she hurriedly asks. "What are you doing?"
　"Got a suspicious person up there. I'm gonna have a look." On confirming the enemies being all pinned down, Lily rushes to the broken ladder. "Freeze! Hands on your head!" She orders.
　Unknowing the reason, Maids have no other choices than to do as told, but the suspicious one suddenly takes an SG552 out! Lily quickly raises her weapon, and puts two rounds into her opponent's arm.
　The person drops the weapon due to the pain. Lily kicks the gun away, and kicks the other party face-down with a sweep of her leg. She then tears the headscarf off: Purple hair. Who could this be other than Kamui? So that's what an easy win is. "Hey~! Come here! Kamui is here!" Lily calls while taking the XM8's aim closely.
　At that moment the firefight at the yard entrance has already ended. The others hurriedly runs up on Lily's words. "Yo, it's him." Akita has a quick look.
　Gumi drives the still crouching and shaking maids away, saying "Get up. Get up. Get up. Go away farther and never come back". Luka steps on the blood holes in Kamui's arm. "Remember who I am?"
　"Ah!! Yes, yes..." Kamui's voice changes due to both pain and fear. "You are Megurine, Lu, Luka..."
　"BULLSHIT! REMEMBER, I'M DEATH!" Luka raises the Mk46 to pull the trigger, when Miku stops her. "LUKA! Wait."
　Luka turns her head. "Huh?"
　"Let me do this." Miku is holding the sickle in her hand. Luka nods and steps back after giving a thought to it. Yowane approaches and gives some instructions with "here, and like this".
　Miku puts the sickle's edge, which is giving dark red lights, onto Kamui's neck, then pulls it with her full strength.

last edited at Oct 25, 2013 2:30AM

Chapter Nine

　"Luka." Miku suddenly starts speaking in the copilot seat.
　Luka's busy driving, so she just puts her ear near. "What is it?"
　"Let's start singing again." Miku takes a CD out from a slot on the visor, and puts it onto her right index finger to play with. "And have the duo's name changed, together with the moods. How about~ 'Vocaloid'?"
　"What's that, vocalist humanoid?" Luka steers the car to give way to a bus behind. "Hmm~ sounds good to me."
　One year ago, Miku beheaded Kamui with her own hands, and brought it to Zatsune's grave; Akita found a wooden plank in the abandoned village, and carves text of "Our friend, Zatsune Miku, R.I.P." into it roughly with her knife to stick it before the mound as a gravestone; All of them had a cry once again.
　Nobody could get in the mood of working back at home. Akita and Yowane was asking for a long leave, but the shop owner just wouldn't give the permission, on which the two got irritated and resigned from their job later; The remaining four were all freelancers who could just determine whether to do their work or not at will, which meant no big deal at all; There was only one problem - the website. The text of "we are stopping musical activities due to personal reasons" instantly brought a heated discussion up once written in the home page: some got astonished "it's not true", some sighed "it's so pitiful", some disdained "it's a hype", some pretended "I know the truth". One day Akita went out to buy some food, and passed by the shop she just resigned from. She immediately bursted with a wild laughter when she noticed the shop owner's extremely depressed appearance due to losing a major source of income, which was in turn caused by the two's quitting.
　But after all the life had to be led on, not because there was not enough balance in the bank account, but due to their restless characters. In the first place the snack stall was opened up again, then Akita and Yowane found jobs in an electric appliance repair shop: Yowane was the technician, and Akita stood behind the reception desk since she was good-looking. Even if Miku thought about starting singing again, she had neither inspiration nor the mood when she sat by the desk to write lyrics, and was so anxious as to biting her fingers. "Well, Miku, don't be too harsh with yourself." Luka comforted her. "Anyway we haven't said a word about when we are going back, so just have some rest."
　"But~ except from this, I can't do anything, you know?" Miku desperately tossed her notebook away. "Ain't I becoming a freeloader if things keep go on like this."
　"What's with that outsider-like attitude as long as we are a family." Gumi came up and flicked upon Miku's forehead with her middle finger. "Say, what about you coming with us to help with our snack stall?"
　Luka curled her lips. "You are just short of hands, aren't you."
　"That's not it~" Gumi retorted. "Help us think of new kinds of snacks. Regular customers are getting bored with the old patterns."
　"Aren't regular customers coming particularly for the old patterns to begin with?" Luka sweated. To her surprise, Miku had started to giving it thorough consideration. Luka was about to criticize "And you're actually taking her seriously?" when she held herself back after a second thought.

　In the end Miku and Luka had no other options than to do some housework at home: Washing the clothes, cooking the meals, sweeping the floors, watering the flowers, et cetera. With a high level of craftsgirlship trained back in Neusen, Yowane quickly made her way up to the chief technician, together with an ever-increasing amount of salary, which had been getting "Miss Reception" Akita more and more envious. Gumi and Lily replaced their small cart with a much bigger one for the snack stall, while the increase of the capacity still couldn't meet up with the sales. As with Neusen, there came seldom news - after their sabotage, their technical advantage against Mando had already become nothing, and they had been busy dealing with their opponent with whatever they got, thus how on earth were they having such free time to settle with the girls?
　A year passed like that. Miku actively suggested of visiting Zatsune's grave yesterday, so Gumi went out and found a shop to make a literal gravestone to replace the wood plank, which should have been worn out for long due to the year's wind and rainfall.
　After the breakfast, the six of them brings everything along and heads to the mining hill to have the completely worn out wood plank excavated and replaced with the new gravestone. They are all thinking that Miku would cry again on the scene, who turns out to be only getting nasal with her voice, and a pair of red eyes. In her turn, Luka reaches out and pats on the stone. "Miku is doing well now, so just have some rest, Zatsune. I'll be taking care of her together with your share."
　Then the first thing Miku does upon arriving home is picking the notebook up to start writing lyrics on it. Lily gets surprised. "Whoa. Miku, you revived?"
　"Revived." Miku makes her first smile after such long time. "Luka~ Help me with the melody~" She turns her head to call.
　"So fast with that? A song for a new album?" Luka walks up.
　Miku gets proud. "It's the title track!"
　Luka takes the lyrics with her and is turning around to step out when Miku stops her. "Ah, and."
　"And?" Luka turns around to ask.
　Miku lowers her head ashamedly. "After this album comes out, let's... uh, um, ge, get, get married...ok...?"
　"..." Luka blushes, and flees into the studio quickly with the others getting fired up, saying "marry her".

　　　Is this love?
　　Is this love?
　　　Give it time,「サヨナラ」
　　Give it time, "farewell"

　　　だいじょうぶ！ きみがさいごにのこしたことばは すぐにわすれるよ
　　Doesn't matter! The words you left at last gets soon forgotten
　　　かざりたてたセリフだけじゃあ もうやっていけないの
　　It's becoming unable to handle with just actors' lines
　　　ありがとう！なにもしらないわたしにいろいろ おしえてくれたね
　　Thanks a lot! For everything you have taught the knowing-nothing me of
　　　こんなことかぞくにさえ まだいったことないけど
　　But that's something can't be said even before families
　　　Time out! こわれるくらいないて
　　Time out! Crying like about to crash
　　　Turn around とりもどしてふときづく
　　Turn around and happen to retrieve the consciousness

　　　ながしたなみだのぶんだけ つよくなれるよ
　　Only by going so far as to crying is one getting stronger
　　　なかされてきたきみには いわれたくない
　　I don't want to hear it from you, who is already crying moved
　　　こころのトビラをあけて みてなんてよくいう
　　Often do I hear about opening the heart up
　　　めのまえをふさいでたのは きみだろう
　　But it's likely only you in my vision

　　　「ごめんね…」 いつもこっちから
　　"Sorry..." is only said from me
　　　あやまるとでもおもってるの？ バカにしてる
　　Want to apologize? I'll take you as idiot then

　　　だいじょうぶ！ きみがさいごにおくったメールは
　　Doesn't matter! Your last mails are
　　　きてすぐけしたよ！
　　Deleted right upon reception!
　　　じぶんをまもる、カタヨリばかりで…
　　I've fed up with...
　　　もううんざりだよ！
　　The bias of mere self-defense!
　　　ありがとう！ いつかすべてムカシバナシになる
　　Thanks a lot! Without knowing, they have all become stories
　　　ワライバナシになる
　　They have all become jokes
　　　ヒトのかるさと よくぼうのうずをおしえてくれた
　　Been taught of the frivolity of human being and the vortex of desires
　　　Time lock... そこにたどりつくまで
　　Time lock... until arriving there
　　　Time lag あともうすこしまって…
　　Time lag and wait a little longer...

　　　ほんとうはよわいこころを ヒトにみせまいと
　　The weak mind shouldn't be revealed to others to begin with
　　　ほえたりまくしたてたりして いるんだね
　　Continuously shouting, crying, gesticulating
　　　じぶんにはないみりょくに のまれないように
　　Not to get drowned in the charm I don't have
　　　できるだけおおきく みせているんだね
　　I can only make you look carefully

　　　「ごめんね…」 それにきづかなくて
　　"Forgive me..." I didn't notice it
　　　きづいていれば ほっといてあげられたのに
　　I could have you relaxed if I did

　　　だいじょうぶ！ きみがわたしにおくったメールは のこらずけしたよ
　　Doesn't matter! Your mails all got deleted, without exception
　　　あんしんしなよ あとからどうのなんて いわないから
　　Rest assured, and don't say things like "what to do later" any more
　　　ありがとう！ なにもしらないわたしをここまで そだててくれたね
　　Thanks a lot! For having brought knowing-nothing me up as such
　　　こんなことかぞくにさえまだ いったことないけど
　　But that's something can't be said even before families

　　　Time out! えがおでじゃあねいうよ！
　　Time out! Don't say it with a smile!
　　　Turn around あともうすこしまって…
　　Turn around and wait a little longer...
　　　Hurry up! ほらちゃんとてをふるよ
　　Hurry up! See, I'm properly waving my hands
　　　Timeless わかれつげてふときづく
　　Timeless saying goodbye to the consciousness

　New album comes out under the name of "Vocaloid". Even if it doesn't sell well in the beginning, orders come flying in like snowflakes after noticing the small text "originally Magnet" - of course on the website. Miku has been worrying about getting forgot by the public at first, then gets her mind at rest with the large amount of sales as before.
　The wedding ceremony is also held in their own house. That being said, it's rather like a formal proposal, thus the only witnesses are the other two couples. Akita is in a pair of decorative round glasses with strengthless lens. "Ahem~ So, to simplify, let's get started."
　Even though she does have had countless times of rehearsal, Luka still gets stiff and red on this real scene. Her arms and legs also move in stiff ways like an oilless robot, with the only exception of creaking sound effects.
　And Miku's situation is by no means better than her: Her eyes rolled up, her body leaning back. She would have fallen over if Gumi didn't swiftly come up and support her from behind. "Sigh. What's with these two." Lily mumbles. "Even after having slept in the same bed."
　"You think everyone is so opening up like you two?" Yowane gives her a glimpse.
　Actually what Luka needs to do are simply kneeling down with one leg, then taking the wedding ring out to put it onto Miku's hand. But so anxious as her, she even forgets to put strength into her front leg to buffer the impact, and consequently hits the ground really hard with her hind knee. "IT HURTS!!" Luka screams while rolling to and fro on the floor with her hands covering her knee.
　"Luka!" Miku finally reacts and runs up. The rest four cover their face synchronously with a "sigh...".
　However the impact turns out to be getting Luka to make up her mind. "Mi, Miku, um, ma, ma, marry...me... please?" Luka stammers while lying on the ground.
　That catches Miku off guard, who gets speechless and can only violently nod her head like "... O, ok!".
　"WOW-!" The others start cheering with colorful stripes and paper pieces flying about. Only Akita has a weird expression on her face. "We~ll... What is this? A lucky hit?"

last edited at Oct 25, 2013 2:31AM

Afterwords

　I'm candy7604820.
　How about of the practice of implicitly developing yuri stories of the three couples consisting of Miku & Luka, Akita & Yowane, and Gumi & Lily, while using Zatsune as the main thread? Isn't it clumsy? Hmph~ (What are you proud of.)
　... Absolutely I'm not taking Zatsune sis as expendable? Absolutely I'm not taking Zatsune sis as expendable! It's so important that I'm repeating it again!! (Well it's ending IS a little hasty, though.)
　About the general settings of the world, maybe you can smell some flaver of Mobile Suit Gundam Seed; While the childhood stories of Gumi and Lily smell alike Mii-kun & Maa-chan. But please don't mind about such details. By the way, as with the names of the major powers, they are all some kind of transliterations actually. Maybe you can make your guess about what they are originally.
　Starting from late in June, this long fanwork has cost me about forty days, and is three times as long as my last work, but only has twice the contents - Seems that I'm unable to handle such long texts after all.
　The names of the songs are listed below. If you haven't heard any of them, especially the last one, I strongly recommend you to find and hear it.
　　1. The Starry Sky Watched with You (Kimi to Mita Hoshizora) - Megurine Luka (Betti P, sm15427158)
　　2.1. Secret Base~Everything You Gave Me (Secret Base~Kimi ga Kureta Mono) - Zone
　　2.2. Dango Dango Dango - Chyata (Clannad)
　　3. Small Palms (Chiisana Tenohira) - Riya (Clannad)
　　4.1 Bird's Poem (Tori no Uta) - Lia (AIR)
　　4.2 Wheels of the Dawn (Asatsuki no Kuruma) - FictionJunction ft. YUUKA (Kajiura Yuki & Nanri Yuuka, Mobile Suit Gundam Seed (Kidou Senshi Gundam Seed))
　　5. Magnet - Hatsune Miku, Megurine Luka (Minato (Ryusei P), sm6909505)
　　6. Eternal Flower (Towa no Hana) - Yoko Ishida (Ai Yori Aoshi)
　　7. God Knows... - Suzumiya Haruhi (Hirano Aya, The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi)
　　8. Uninstall - geekyfandub (sm13513455 English fandub version, originally by Ishikawa Chiaki, Ours (Bokurano))
　　9. Farewellove (Sayonalove) - Shibasaki Kou (Circle Cycle & Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan (Usotsuki Mii-kun to Kowareta Maa-chan) (The Movie))
　Then, let's end it here.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 candy76041820
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 2012-08-03 10:45:57
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Translation Completed: 2013-09-27 12:24:55

last edited at Sep 29, 2013 1:21AM

Translational Afterwords

　This is my first try of translating my fanwork into another language, or English, to be specific.
　Although I myself wrote some verbal jokes in my original Chinese version, it's sometimes a bit hard to express the same things in English, even they could be easily said in Japanese! It's due to the similarity between East Asian languages, I suppose.
　As a result, I have to go as far as completely rewriting whole verbal jokes, in order to gain a similar effect in English instead of putting the original texts into another language one word after another.
　And the embedded lyrics are the main reason why I'm not posting this to Fanfiction, since it's not my own after all. (Though the translations are mine.) Hope them won't cause trouble for me XD.
　It took me about forty days to write this, but took only eight to translate this. Maybe I'll think about translating another work of mine into English as well if this is getting some positive comments.
　If the Vocaloids' images in your minds got spoiled (especially Meiko, Rin and Gakupo), I'm terribly sorry about it.
　See you next time.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 candy76041820
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 Translation Completed: 12:24:55 Sep. 27, 2013-09-27

last edited at Oct 26, 2013 8:29AM

I'm planning on reading it... Not enough time though... And I want to read it in one go...
And you keep posting so I thought it wasn't complete... You know... Or are you just bumping it because it gets flooded?

I'm planning on reading it... Not enough time though... And I want to read it in one go...
And you keep posting so I thought it wasn't complete... You know... Or are you just bumping it because it gets flooded?

Each post appears to be of a new chapter, however he has posted the afterword already so I assume it's finished now so you can read it in one sitting now.

Each post appears to be of a new chapter, however he has posted the afterword already so I assume it's finished now so you can read it in one sitting now.

Thanks for informing... Might do that tomorrow...