"Minna~! Taidama~!" Kayama stood in the lobby of the Teigeki, in his arms a bag full of meat buns. He looked around at the disconcerned faces and smiled. "What's going on??"
"OI!!" Yoneda grabbed him over by the collar, "I thought I told you to look for Sakura! Where the heck is sheeeeeeee??!"
"Maa maa maa! It can't be helped if she can't be found. Sakura-kun will come when Sakura-kun is ready, ne~?"
The girls watched on as Yoneda and Kayama duked it out in the cafeteria, while they took over the bag meat buns. "If Sakura-han isn't found soon," Kohran noted, "Her relatives are going to go berserk on us."
"Sou yo," Maria replied, "And the play is coming up soon. We haven't practiced at all today... Maa, how many times do you suppose we've said this...?" A very long paused followed.
"At any rate, I wonder what'll we do about Kasumi-san-tachi." Sumire sighed, "It's not helping if we don't have an audience."
"Sou sou!" Kanna said in between munches, "We better go start something up...!" Just then they felt a rush of wind pass by them. "Heh? What was that??"
"Aa!" Kohran gasped, "One of my ticket-selling-tolit-cleaning robots!!"
The girls watched on as the robot ran right into the arguing men and blew up. They then turned all attention to the nervous-looking inventor. Thankfully they saw the ones responsible hiding around the corner.
"That'll shut them up! Eheheheheh!!!" chuckled a very sinister Tsubomi as she and her minions (Yuri and Tsubaki) made an escape.
"Sou desu wa..." Sumire uttered, as the sweatbeading girls gazed on at the daze duo covered with black soot, "We better do something fast..."
Meanwhile, Kohran was in tears, holding onto some smoking debris. "My poor baby!!!"
* * * * * * * * * * *
Sakura leaned her forehead against the wall, her eyes clenched closed and tears running down. 'Poor Kiku-san... if only I could've done something...'
"DAME DESU!!!!" cried out Kikunojou.
Sakura spun around, finally ready to try anything to save her fellow female, but stopped to see something else. Kiku and Kazu were sitting together, having tea. Apparently Kazu had whispered something embarrassing to the lass and she just broke out in giggles. "Hah...?" Sakura uttered, "............"
"Say 'Ah'!" Kazu said giving Kiku a spoonful of cake. Kiku happily munched away as Kazu noted, "What a kawaii girl!"
"A-Ano!" Sakura stammered, while her stomach started growling. "I-I haven't had anything to eat since..."
"URESEH!!" Kazu snapped slamming his foot on her head. "YOU SHUT UP AND STAY OVER THERE!!"
"Oh my..." Kiku started to say. They then stopped and saw the door being kicked down. It landed on the floor with a big thud, and Kiku finally saw who it was. "Aa! Oogami-san!"
Oogami stood there, angrily checking out the scene. "TEME!!!" he exclaimed, grabbing Kazu by the collar, "How dare you kidnap the woman I love!"
"O... Oogami-san!" Sakura gasped, her face all red with the big footprint on the top of her head, "Sonna...!" She then watched him grab Kikunojou and leap out of the window. Sakura dropped her face back on the floor. "Sonna..."
Meanwhile on the stairs, Dandy and company stood in shock. They had been over-passed by the speeding Oogami. "Mou," Jiru uttered, "We're too late."
"Yeah," Kurisu replied, "It seems we got beaten to the rescue..."
"Damn that Oogami!!" Dandy sighed, waving his fists in the air.
"Let's go get something to eat." Nishimura and Takeda led the way down the stairs.
Back in the room, Sakura looked up and saw the sinister look on her captor's face. 'HELP! SOMEBODY!!'
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Tsubomi stopped the girls from entering the business office, holding out a katana. "Are you friend or foe?"
"What the heck is this about?" Kanna snapped, "Let us in! We want to talk to your leader!"
"Aa! Negotiations! All right, you may pass!"
"Mou... I never thought that the Tegeki Musume would turn so militant," Kohran sighed, "Well, they are a faction of the military..."
"Honto desu no?" Sumire gasped, "I thought they were just there to do secretarial work and gossip..." The others gave her a dirty look. "NAN DESU KA?!"
"Anyways..." Maria steered their attention back over to their mission. "We have to ask you what your demands are so that you could stop striking and go back to work."
The girls all then turned to Kasumi, who looked a bit disheveled through today's events. "Jitsu wa..." She paused to rub her eyes. Everyone gathered around, looking very concerned. "I don't think it matters anymore..."
"Kasumi-san..."
"Mou... I don't care what happens to me anymore... Everything is over..."
"Do you mind..." Maria said, moving closer, "If you could tell us just what caused all of this..."
Kasumi sadly nodded and went into narration of her story:
"It was a couple years ago, before Oogami-san even came to the Kagekidan. I was working hard at another office somewhere when I met an inspiring man. His name was Kotone.
(Kotone, dressed in a plain suit, with his hair tied back, handed the blushing Kasumi a bouquet: "A-Ano...?")
Everyday, he would come and bring me roses. Red roses. He told me I was the most special person he had ever met. We spent lots of time together, talking about our likes and dislikes - our future plans. We even said 'I love you.'
(Scenes of K&K walking through a park, holding hands, looking into each other's eyes - dokidoki assortment)
Then one day, I found out that he was just trying to get noticed in the military - by being around me, the leader of the Kazegumi, he was recognized and was given a chance to replace the old leader of the elite team, Baragumi. So after he got what he wanted, he started to act differently - or as he said,
("This is 'the real Kotone'... Gomen, Kasumi-chan..."
"Doushite?! Didn't you say you...!"
"Gomen..." )
There was a long general pause. All of the women in the room looked full of sympathy. "Kasumi-san..."
"EVIL!!!" Tsubomi blurted out, "KILL KILL KILL!!!" Tsubaki and Yuri tackled her down and made her quiet.
Maria bowed her head. "Kasumi-san, we understand your feelings... demo..."
But the others cut her off, yelling, "ALL MEN SHALL SUFFER!!!!!" Now Kanna, Kohran, and Sumire had joined the strike. Maria covered her face, finally giving up.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Back at the kidnapper's house, Sakura snapped out of her scared state and decided to save herself. Just before Kazu could get to her, she managed to dodge him, breaking out the window and falling from the 2nd floor. "KYAAAAAAAAA!!" Luckily, she landed on something soft.
"ITEEEE!" cried Dandy and his gang.
"Are? Is it spring already?" Jiru asked, "Sakura is falling in the sky." She and Kurisu looked up to see the angry Kazu yelling from the window. "HALLO~!"
"He sure looks enraged." Kurisu noted as he helped Sakura up, "Let's get out of here quickly before he comes after us."
"D-Dandy-san!" Sakura gasped, "S-Sumimasen!"
"Iie... doitashimashite!" Dandy said, leaping up on his feet and bashfully bowing his head, "Anything for you, Sakura-san!"
"BOSS!! GET OFF US!" Takeda and Nishimura were being crushing under his feet.
After the group ran down a couple of blocks and were sure it was safe, they stopped for a breather. "I'll go call the police and have that guy turned in," Kurisu said, taking out the kinematron. He and Jiru then stopped. "Masaka..."
"We had this with us the whole time...?" They then both sighed and dropped their head.
"Tonikaku," Dandy said, happily holding Sakura's hand, "Let's take Sakura-san back to the Teigeki~!"
"Iie."
Everyone stopped and stared at Sakura, and the cold look in her face. "HAH?"
"I don't want to go back there... ever again."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Special alert -> Notre Dame adventure part deux
"CHURCH IS SO CREEPY!!" Iris continued to say as she, Jeanpaul, Reni, and Erica climbed up the stairs to the bell tower of Notre Dame.
"Actually, I've always thought church to be a soothing place," Erica replied, "Especially when I came here to pray... I felt at ease." A little pause. "However, I suppose there are reasons why this area is closed off, because I can't stop shaking!"
"Don't worry about it," Reni said over her shoulder as she led the way up, "If there is trouble, I'll protect you all."
"Still!! Iris is scared!!"
"God give me courage!"
Reni sighed and stopped to check on them. The two girls were hanging onto each other, shaking and frozen - unable to go up anymore. "Don't you want to see what's this about? Look, if it is a ghost, they can't hurt you..."
"STILL! Jeanpaul is also scared! And what if it's a person who's up there??? Iris doesn't want to be assaulted by some monster who lives in a bell tower!"
"Oh..." Reni's face lit up for a second, "I read this book about exactly that. It was by Victor Hugo... something about a Hunchback."
"A what?? MOU, Reni! Stop saying scary things!!!"
'A Hunchback...' Erica thought as they continued on their way, 'I remember I read that book a long time ago too... It was such a sad story... That poor Hunchback... Just because he was different, people mistreated him... I know what it is like to be different...'
When they got to the top, they stopped to see some simple living quarters. "So someone is staying up here!" Reni noted.
"I see..." Erica uttered, as she wandered to the other side of the space, "But it must get loud from time to time..."
"I-If this is someone's living place... Then Iris-tachi shouldn't intrude! Iris is getting out of here RIGHT NOW!"
"IRIS! WAIT!" Reni tried to stop her, but Iris and Jeanpaul teleported away. Reni then looked around and saw that she was alone. "Eh? Where did Erica go?!?"
