Back at the Teigeki, the girls were trying to restrain Kasumi who had turned violent. "KOTONE-SAN!!!"
"Dame yo!!" Maria exclaimed. Even with her and Kanna holding on, the woman was strong enough to drag them all into the lobby. The other girls followed, cheering Kasumi on. "Hey! You're not helping!!"
"But he deserves it!" Tsubomi cried, "That cruel man! How dare he take advantage of Kasumi-san and her feelings! We cannot let him get away with it!"
"That's kind of true..." Kanna uttered. Maria shot her a deadly look. "Oi! I'm just saying!"
"What's important is keeping the harmony in the teigeki. We can't have any unnecessary bloodshed!"
"Yeah, but there's no need for heartbreaks either! I cannot seem to forgive that SOB either. I mean, if he even such a thing to me, Maria, would you just stand by and do nothing!"
Maria fell silent. She knew if she said something it wouldn't help the situation. Sighing, she was ready to let Kasumi go and kill as she wished, but then stopped to see two people in the lobby. "Eh?? Aren't you...??"
"We've lost patience." uttered Shinguji Wakana, "All of you are now under our control until our precious Sakura is returned to us!"
The next moment, all of the girls felt weak and pushed to the floor. "What's happening??!" Sumire cried, "Get me off this dirty rug!!"
Kohran squinted towards the glowing little woman wearing a demon mask. "It's the old lady! She's doing this!"
"Damn old hag!! Knock it off!!!" Kanna managed to say before she passed out.
When all the girls had lost their strength, Wakana called Gontaro over. "Bring them to the stage where everyone else is. We shall decide what to do with them later."
"Yes, ojousama." Gonjii said, chuckling to himself, 'At this rate, we are never going to back to Sendai... Mwhahahaah!!'
* * * * * * * * * * *
The girls woke up moments later, this time they were tied up and lying on the stage. "What in the world happened to us...?" Tsubaki stammered, as she looked around, "Aa! Kaede-san! Shihainin!"
"The Baragumi are here too!" Yuri gasped, "Looks like we've all been taken hostage... Wow! We're going to make the news!"
"You kidding?? This is so embarrassing!!" Yoneda exclaimed, "For such a high rank officer to be kidnapped by this country bumpkins - wah, I better just resign!"
"Sou desu wa! There goes my starlight career!" Sumire sighed, her hair in ruins, "I can't believe this! It is all Sakura-san's fault!"
Yokohiko was in tears. "I'm scared! What are they going to do to us! Please protect me, Taichou!"
"Hush now, Yoko-chan! We must stay strong! No matter what they do to us, we mustn't give in to them!" He then felt a sharp pain on his head and fell over. "ITEH YO!"
Behind him, Kasumi had managed to kick him with the heel of her shoe. "I HATE YOU! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"
"Minna!" Maria cried, "There's no use in blaming others. The only thing we can do is to figure out how to get out of this. Right, Kaede-san??"
Kaede just gazed off into space. "Oogami-kun will come rescue us..." Everyone, despite being tied up, face-faulted into the floor.
But low and behold, Oogami entered the theater, whistling. "Are? What's going on, Minna?? Why are all of you tied up??"
"Hey you!!" Yoneda exclaimed, "Where have you been! Can't you see that the Teigeki has been under attack!"
"Gomen na! I had to rescue my love from the clutches of danger!" he said cheerfully.
"Masaka..." Kohran uttered, "Did you go bring Sakura-han back??"
"Eh? Sakura-kun... Iya, it's not her... It was..." Oogami went out to go get Kikunojou and showed everyone. "I saved Kiku-chan from a rather nasty villain!" Everyone groaned. "What? Isn't anyone going to comment on my bravery??"
"It would have been better if you left that twit and found Sakura-san!" Sumire sighed, "She's the reason we're all tied up like this!"
"Well, we did see her..." Kikunojou replied, "But Oogami-san left her behind with that villain."
"WHAT?!" everyone exclaimed.
Even the captors, who had been listening the whole time, were astonished. "How dare you!!" Wakana cried, "How dare you leave my daughter with a villain... Uh, who is this villain??"
"I don't know." Oogami said with a shrug, "It was just some guy and I'm sure he's doing terrible things to Sakura-kun as we speak."
"And you don't care??" Tsubomi asked.
Oogami hugged the blushing Kiku. "Why should I? I have my number one girl right here!"
"BAKA!" Kaede exclaimed, "You two timer! Why did I believe in you, Oogami-kun! Why?! Why!?"
"Now now, Kaede-san... You have Kayama, so you mustn't get all worked up like this. Besides, isn't it better this way? Shouldn't I not be in love with any of the girls of the Teigeki."
"Yes, but... that is not even a girl you're in love with!"
"So? The world is more liberated than you think. Who knows, someday Kiku-chan and I will get married and start a family. You should do the same, minna!"
"Baka Yarou! You're talking crazy!!" Yoneda exclaimed, "There's no time to settle down - we're going to be fighting forever!!"
While this arguing back and forth went on, the Sendai-gumi was about to leave, when Kurisu and Jiru arrived. "Have you seen my daughter?!" Wakana asked.
"Hai~!" Jiru chimed.
Grandma grabbed her over, "WHERE IS SHE?!?!"
"Well... actually, Sakura-san has turned to a life of crime." Jiru tried to explain. "Let's see... choreographed dancing and everything!" But this only confused everyone else. "Kurisu-chan, will you please explain it?"
"Oh, well..." he stammered, "She's run off with a gang and she said she's never coming back here."
"Come again?! Did you say a gang?!" Yoneda exclaimed.
Wakana sighed and covered her face. "I knew it was wrong to leave her in the city. Such evil influences all around!"
"Heh!" Kanna nudged Sumire with her foot. "Including this one! I'm sure this demon-woman corrupted your innocent cherry blossom just by breathing the same air."
"NAN DESUTTE, KANNA-SAN!?!" Sumire snapped, going to strangle her with her legs, "I hope you know, that if it wasn't for me Sakura-san would be a lost soul in the city! That girl doesn't know a street sign from a stalker!"
"You two please..." Maria sighed, getting a rather large headache. "Look, if you want Sakura back, why don't you untie us and we shall all go look for her."
"No!" Grandma exclaimed, "You all did not take care of my precious granddaughter, therefore all of you should just stay here and be punished!"
"Nan ya?!" Kohran grumbled, "Since when are we supposed to baby-sit Sakura-han?? That's Oogami-han's job!"
"Is not!" Oogami exclaimed, tightening his hold on Kikunojou, "For now on, my duties only include looking after Kiku-chan!"
"BAKA!" Kaede exclaimed, "You're supposed to be the Taichou of the Hanagumi, not that cross-dresser's male escort! As your superior, I command you to untie me, Oogami-kun!"
Oogami paused to let that final line settle in his head. "Sou, sou... That kind of statement would have been music to my ears if I were not smitten with Kiku-chan here. See, Kaede-san, I CAN commit!"
"You idiot! Are you hearing yourself?!"
Another paused ensued. The Sendai trio were not going to release them, Oogami was not going to help them, and that Kikunojou was beaming with gooey eyes at his beloved, repeating over and over, "so happy..."
All of a sudden, Sumire broke out laughing madly. "OHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!"
"W-What's happened to Sumire-san?!" Tsubomi cried, trying to back away from the woman, "Has she gone crazy?!"
"I-Iie!" Sumire said in between her Hohos, "I just realized something!! If Sakura-san doesn't come back, then what will become of us?!"
"Aa! Sumire-sama has a point!" Kurisu exclaimed, "What about Sakura Taisen 5?!"
"SONNA!!" Jiru exclaimed, "Don't tell me! We're all going to be out of a job?! But I've got to pay for rent!"
"You're right..." Maria sighed, "Without Sakura, how can we have 'Sakura Taisen'??"
"Actually..." Sumire said, sitting up (for she had finished laughing), "This is how I see it! Without Sakura-san, there's an opening for the main girl! Surely they will pick me! After all, I'm Teito's TOP STAR!"
With that she managed to release her kinematron from kimono (don't ask how or where it was taken out) and hit the speed dial for a certain creator.
"Yes, yes... so you did hear? That twit isn't coming back so... nani? Nani?? NANIIII!?!?!?"
"What is it??" Yuri asked, trying to scoot closer, "Sumire-san!! Don't hide the juicy news from me! Tell me what it is!!!"
"They said... if Sakura-san doesn't come back, they'll give the position to Erica-san!"
"EH!?!?!!?!" everyone exclaimed, thinking to the nun apprentice in Paris who made her debut in ST3. "ERICA WARS?!"
"I know!! Isn't it absurd?! I've been in the business longer than that flake! I'm going to talk to her right now!!!" Sumire then did another speed dial, this time long distance, "May I have a word with you, Erica-san!!"
"Yes, yes, what would you like to talk about, Sumire-san??" Erica said cheerfully, "I'm so happy you called~! May the Lord bless this kinematron call!"
"Hai, hai... getting to the point..."
While Sumire duked it out with the oblivious nun-in-training, the others pondered what to do. "Someone has to bring Sakura back," Yoneda sighed, "And I can't rely on that guy Kayama."
"Why not?!" Kaede exclaimed, "Yuichi is very reliable!"
"That guy has disappeared and hasn't come back yet," Yoneda replied, "Besides, he's the one who let her out in the first place! Mark my words, Kaede-kun, if you ever have kids with this guy, he's going to be a terrible father!!"
"How dare you, Shihainin!!!" Kaede snapped, her face all red, "Don't you dare talk about such a personal subject! We should be talking about how to get out of this mess!"
Kotone raised his foot in the air. "I have a suggestion! It's up to Kiku-chan. You must talk your lover, Oogami-taichou, into helping us, or else there is no way!"
"L-Lover???” Kikunojou stammered, his face bright red as he looked towards Oogami, “Oh my!”
”Please!!” Yokohiko cried, “You’re our only hope, Kiku-chan!”
”I'll try," he replied, "But all Oogami-san wants to do is gaze into each other's eyes lovingly."
"Try harder!” Yoneda yelled, “That's an order, dammit!"
"Hai, hai!" Kikunojou sweetly turned towards Oogami. "A-ano... won't you be a good boy and help everyone out? Ne?" he said, putting a shy hand to Oogami's cheek. The two of them blushed.
"Oh, I think I'm going to be sick," Kasumi said, putting her face down onto the rug.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Special Alert -> “Notre Dame Adventure” part trois
Reni was stuck with a decision. Should she go after Iris or go looking for Erica, who had magically disappeared in this creepy tower of Notre Dame cathedral. It didn’t take long for her to come to a conclusion.
“Since this place is creepy and I don’t know this Erica person very well, I’m going after Iris,” Reni noted, “But I’ll be back to look for her later.”
So she left. But where was Erica???
Erica slowly woke up. She hadn’t an idea what happened to her, or where she was. Just then she saw pigeon fly up to her and land on her head. “Eh?” She then saw that she was high up in the air, far from the ground.
“KYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
She quickly grabbed onto something, anything. To her surprise, it was a frightening gargoyle. “Oh Lord help me!!” she cried, backing away from the beast and waving her crucifix at it. She then realized that it was only a statue. “OH!”
Calming down, she smiled at the statue and looked around. It so happened she was on the roof of the cathedral. Sitting on the ledge, she turned to one of the Saints for advice.
”So, how did I end up here? Last thing I remembered was walking together with Reni and Iris-chan. I don’t remember what happened next.”
”I picked you.” said a voice.
“Eh!?” Erica turned and saw someone hiding behind another statue. “Um… could you kindly tell me what you meant by that??”
”I picked you,” said the person again, “To be my bride…”
”EH?!?!”
”Yes, you…”
”W-W-W-Wait a minute!!” Erica cried, waving her hands, “I’m an apprentice to be a nun! I’m supposed to be the bride of Christ! I can’t possibly become the bride of anyone else!”
Just then the person stepped out. “Really? Is that so??”
“KYA!!!” Erica cried, hanging onto the statue in her shock. The person looked exactly like, just like…!
”What? Why are you staring at me like that?” he asked. He paused, and then lowered his head. “Oh, I know… it’s because of my shameful appearance. My hideousness has caused me to become confined in the tower to be the lowly bell-ringing boy. No person alive can look into my countenance without throwing up. Please… look no longer. I hate cleaning up the mess…”
“No! That’s not it!” Erica exclaimed, “You don’t look that bad… In fact, you’re identical to my friend who is back in Tokyo!”
”Eh?? Tokyo??”
Erica slowly got up and tried to walk towards him. “Um, yes… You look exactly like Brother Oogami-san. In fact, you have his black spikes and face, everything. Goodness, I would have never known if you were standing next to each other. This is so strange! How can there be such a copy!?”
”What? I’m not ugly??”
”Of course not!” Erica replied, stopping in front of him, “In fact, with a face like that, girls will be chasing you everywhere you go! Or that is what I gather from my past experience from knowing Oogami-san.”
”Really? You think so? Oh! I’m so happy about this! Now that I know you don’t think I’m ugly, you can surely be my bride!”
“Um, Monsieur, you’re missing the point…” Just then, her kinematron started ringing. “Pardon me,” Erica said, taking it out. “Bonjour! Aa, Sumire-sama!”
The guy stood there watching as Erica talked with this haughty woman, who was yelling about who deserved to be the ‘main girl’ of some series.
“Why, I totally agree! The one should be you! I’ll pray really hard for it!”
”Don’t just do that! Tell Ooji about the star being me!!”
Before Erica could say anymore, the guy grabbed her kinematron and threw it over the ledge. They watched as it crashed into the street, cars swerving to not hit it. Erica, still a bit shocked, slowly turned to the angry Oogami-look-alike.
“Um…”
”YOU WILL BE MY BRIDE!!!”
to be continued…
