Creative Works

[WavemasterRyx]

well, i can honestly say i haven't heard a d*mn thing about voice actor scandals in Japan, but it's quite interesting that such a thing would lead to things being changed to my original recommendation, quite interesting

upwards of 10,000 kills in a year... sounds about like my Modern Warfare 2 record
though that does put a small crimp in my theory, unless Kataoka is just being a keep-to-himself-jerk*ss
so my theory was hinged on just one very little thing the Shirotero - Toshio had called them by that name and just said it was something he'd made up (if i recall correctly), but Kataoka calls them that too --- which leads to my theory that Shiho/Toshio actually worked for Ryudis at some point and had defected or something
but it's a silly theory, and probably just entirely coincidence

the fight was actually a little disappointing from the three pilot's perspective - i mean simply that, for trying to focus on taking out Shiho, and for supposedly being a team, their teamwork svcks... but i suppose they'll have plenty of time to learn, since this is only episode 8 out of however many

huzzah for cube shaped debris!

[Poke_Nirvash]

I don't know exactly when the scandal involving Aya started, but it really took off once Lantis fired her for having sex with her band (minus the bassist).

First of all, Shiho gave them the name Shirotero, but that was because she had no idea what they were called. Second of all, I won't say anything about whether or not your theory is the truth or not; you'll just have to wait until later on to find out!

I wasn't really trying to go for the teamwork perspective, but yeah, it does kinda s*ck. Part of it is because while they're a great group of characters, they don't really get along with one another that well (Daisuke and Kichi get along great, but neither really click with Iva). Another part of it is their roles. Daisuke wanted to save his involvment for when it came time to kill Shiho, which is one reason Iva fought alone. The other was because Kichi needed time to get enough cigarette smoke to surround his cockpit in the event that he came into the fight so he could use the Smokebomb. Even so, they did try to take out Shiho better than before, though. Shiho just ended up being a little tougher of an opponent than they first expected. And you have to admit, the fights in general WERE awesome.

This story is 24 chapters. That means it's around 1/3 of the way done. And since I'll have trouble getting chapter 9 started (due to school and unsurities of how to go about organizing it), expect an omake or two like the comparison between the Durarara!! cast and the Kiguma cast.

I'm a huge sakugafag, and I've seen several AMVs featuring the talents and work of various animators, so it was expected that KIGUMA would have some in it. Yutaka Nakamura is big on having the ground (or in Sword of the Stranger's case, snow) turn into a somewhat cubic shape when hit.

Well, that review was shorter than I originally expected. Now to wait for Kohikki's review on chapter 7 (and 8, if he noticed the update). If I was the person I was several years ago, I'd ask him about it, but the last time I did something of the sort, Boxers told me to stop it, and it instantly turned into him/her telling me why I s*ck and me trying to justify those reasons, which only led to him/her coming up with more reasons why I s*ck. Hikki broke up the fight, though. So now, Boxers and I are on average terms.

[WavemasterRyx]

ah it was Shiho who said it? well i had a 1 in 2 chance

sorry the review was short, but i really just didn't have much to say; as i told DeaconPhenix "i'm really bad at this reviewing thing"

[Poke_Nirvash]

Well, hopefully with time, you'll get better at it!

Also, I might take a little while for me to start writing chapter 9. I still don't know how I want to organize everything yet...

[DangerHikky]

Hi Poke just posting here to say that I am going to read those chapters and sorry I didn't get to it sooner because I've been BEYOND BUSY lately.

u_u

[Poke_Nirvash]

I had a feeling you were. Anyways, thanks for letting me know!

[Poke_Nirvash]

Just here to let people know that I'm still working on the chapter. It may take a while to complete, so expect at least a month-long wait, and in the meantime, I'll post another omake or two here like the Kiguma/Durarara!! cast comparison.

[Poke_Nirvash]

I know I've been procrastinating a lot with the writing of chapter 9, but not anymore. My goal is to get it out by the end of this month. The fact that I reread the first eight chapters here in this thread (to be honest, it is kind of awkward reading them once you've got a majority of the plot figured out) helped get me into the swing of things. So sit tight, because chapter 9 will be coming out REAL soon, and I await your reactions.

[Poke_Nirvash]

Chapter 9 of KIGUMA has just been completed. Expect it later tonight at around 8 or so.

[Poke_Nirvash]

New OP. New ED. Same series.

(MUSIC: “victory through insanity” by Takkyu Ishino)

OPENING NARRATION (IVA)

IT ALL BEGAN WITH THE SIMPLE ORDER TO LOCATE A HACKER AND KILL HIM. THAT'S THE FIRST TIME SHE SHOWED UP. NEXT CAME THE ORDER TO KILL ANOTHER TARGET, THIS ONE EXPERIENCED ENOUGH TO ENGAGE IN COMBAT WITH ME. SHE WAS THERE TOO. I DIDN'T THINK MUCH OF IT, BUT DAISUKE'S REACTION SEEMED ODD TO ME. IT'S LIKE SHE WAS WORTH SPAZZING OUT OVER. BUT THE LAST TIME WE SAW HER... EVEN WITH PREPARATION, AND PUTTING OUR ALL INTO IT, SHE STILL MANAGED TO BEAT US. NOW THAT WE KNOW HER STRENGTH AND HOW FAR SHE'LL GO TO TAKE US DOWN, THE CONTEXT OF THE MISSION KATAOKA GAVE US, FROM THIS POINT ON, CAN ONLY BE SUMMED UP IN FOUR WORDS: SHIHO KATSURADA MUST DIE.

(MUSIC END)

企画: 南雅彦

       竹田青滋

       勝股英夫

       峰岸卓生

原作: bones x 濠沢彼太

キャラクターデザイン原作: kohikki

キャラクターデザイン/総作画監督: 菊池聡延 (nomad)

美術監督: 永井一男

色彩設計: 水田信子

メカニカルデザイン: 河森正治

3DCGIプロデューサー: 神林憲和 (オクティグラフィカ)

撮影監督: 木村俊也 (T2 studio)

編集: 野尻由紀子

音響監督: 若林和弘

音響効果: 倉橋静男

音楽: 石野卓球

音楽制作: アニプレックス

オープニングテーマ: 『the truth』1

                  歌: UVERworld

                作詞: TAKUYA∞

                作曲: TAKUYA∞ 彰

                編曲: UVERworld 平出悟

                       (gr8!records)

プロデューサー: 米内則智

                  松家雄一郎

                  丸山博雄

                  大山良

                  細川修

アニメーション制作: bones

                      KINEMA CITRUS

脚本/監督: 濠沢彼太

製作: 毎日放送

        きぐま求職者連合

        bones

The episode begins with an establishing shot of Tokyo at night. The sky is a dark blue color, almost that of indigo, with a few stars scattered about the sky. Once again, the most prominent building in the shot of Tokyo's skyline is the Ryudis Governmental Building. A couple of lights are on, scattered throughout the building, but the majority of them are shut off.

The scene then cuts to inside the building, namely a hallway. The hallway is dark, making the walls, floor, and ceiling seem darker than usual, colored a dark bluish color by the darkness. The central setting is that of a door situated in the hallway, against one of the walls. To the right of the door is a small sign. At the top of the sign, right on the border in white text, it reads “詰め所” or “Office”. Below, on a white card, "高橋大輔" or “Daisuke Takahashi” is printed in black. After a few seconds, a hand comes in from off-screen and grabs the doorknob, turning it.

The room on the other side of the door is pretty big, approximately the size of a standard apartment living space. From the POV of the doorway, to the right is a desk with a slanted surface to the far left, as if it's a place for drawing things. To the right of it are numerous pencils, pens, graphing utilities, and measuring tools. To the left is another desk, this one going the entire length and having nothing on it except for a computer, an ideal place for a pull-out tray that could hold a keyboard pushed into the underside of the desk. There are several cabinets above this desk. The back of the room has nothing much, save for a window that shows a gives a good look out at the rest of Tokyo. As the setting is established in a single shot, the door creaks open.

Sitting at the desk to the right in a black cushioned rolling chair with five wheels and two armrests is Daisuke. He's dressed in a blue blazer over a white T-shirt, as well as some pants. He also has some eyeglasses on. He sits in front of the slanted surface of the desk, holding onto a piece of paper rested on their as he draws on it. A desk lamp situated on an elevated part of the desk shines down on the surface. A digital clock to the right of the desk lamp (from Daisuke's POV) reads 4:51 in red text. At the desk, Daisuke is shown to be drawing what looks like blueprints for a Shirotero. The layout is like that of a standard Shirotero: round white head, a regularly shaped body with a small spherical area in the middle where the main core is located, and arms and legs suited for a giant robot in terms of mechanical design, but are at a small size proportional to that of the life-sized Shirotero. Daisuke works on outlining the right corner of the head with a pencil, drawing over the same area twice. He continues to concentrate on his drawing for a few more seconds. He then places is pencil in the clutter of items scattered amongst the vicinity of his working space and grabs a magnet from that same clutter, placing it at the top of the blueprint, allowing it to stick to the slanted surface. Daisuke then backs up a little and sighs out of slight exhaustion, his glasses moving down his face a bit.

“Hey, Daisuke!” a cheerful voice says from behind Daisuke.

“Huh?” Daisuke's attention is caught, his eyes opening. He then turns around in his chair to see who's standing there:

(MUSIC: “drum tick” by Takkyu Ishino)

Iva. She's over near the other side of the room, sitting on the desk against that side with her hands gripping onto its edge. She's wearing her red hoodie, unzipped with the hood down, a grey tanktop underneath, and some black pants. After sitting there for a second or two, she tilts her head and closes her eyes, smiling at Daisuke.

Daisuke looks at her, unsurprised by her appearance. “What is it now, Iva?” He turns his chair so he's facing Iva.

Iva giggles. “Oh, nothing.” She moves her head forward, trying to look behind Daisuke. “So, whatcha workin' on?”

Daisuke looks back at his desk, and the blueprint on it. “Not much, just a modified blueprint for the basic Shirotero design we have right now. I'm redesigning it so the chance of it getting destroyed in combat is reduced by 75%.”

“That way, the next time we go into battle, we won't get our asses kicked as hard.”

Daisuke looks back at Iva. “Precisely.”

Iva continues to sit on the desk, swinging her legs up and down, one at a time. “So, how long until we go and fight this Shiho chick again?” As she does the kicking, Daisuke backs up so he doesn't get hit.

“It depends on how long it takes for my Shirotero to get repaired.”

Iva stops her kicking. “No way, that thing's getting repaired? (I thought it was destroyed back in Kaiya!”)

(Cut to a flashback to the previous episode: first Shiho shooting at Daisuke's Shirotero's chest, then the metal covering the chest breaking open to reveal the broken core, and Shiho riding the falling shell of Daisuke's Shirotero down to the ground, causing wreckage to the street below.)

“Despite its core getting destroyed and the body taking on heavy damage, the team behind the Shiroteros' reconstruction says that it can be rebuilt, but it'll take a while.”

Iva resumes her kicking, only it's lighter. “Aww, that s*cks.” She lowers her head. “I really wanted to go out and try to kill her again,” she says sadly.

“You're really that obsessed with killing her, aren't you?”

Iva shoots Daisuke a dirty look. “Not as much as you.”

Daisuke spins around in his chair half-way, facing his desk again. “I'm not even gonna respond to that.” He puts his hand on one corner of the blueprint, taking off the magnet and lightly tossing it back in the pile of clutter. “So is that why you're here so early? If you wanna go out and kill her, try and convince Kataoka to let you do it.” Daisuke picks up his pencil and continues his work on drawing the Shirotero design.

“I am gonna do that, but only if you accept my offer.”

Daisuke stops drawing and looks back at Iva. “What offer?” Just then, Iva holds out a folded-up piece of paper. Daisuke looks down at it, puzzled. “Hm?”

Iva stands behind Daisuke, her head turned to the side as she continues to hold out the paper at Daisuke. “Here it is.” Daisuke takes the paper from her. “I've only got some of the details down, but you'll hear everything once I present it to Kataoka.” Daisuke opens the paper and looks at it as Iva is half-way through her sentence.

Daisuke lowers his head. “True, it is confusing. But I'll see what I can do with it.”

Iva nods. “Okay.” Daisuke sets the paper off to the side as he places his pencil to the paper and starts to sketch. “You know, Daisuke, it's weird.”

Suddenly, Daisuke's pencil lead snaps, irritating Daisuke. He jerks the seat of his chair as he faces Iva, looking pissed off. “WHAT!?”

Iva moves backwards towards the door, here eyes closed and her hands behind her back. “You've been calling them Shiroteros a lot lately, and you only first heard the name a few days ago. What's up with that?” Iva grabs onto the doorknob as she reaches the door.

Daisuke looks down, a vein bulging from the side of his head. “Again, no answer.”

“Alright.” Iva opens the door and steps out, straightening her posture as she raises her hand a little, bidding farewell to Daisuke. “Bye.” She closes the door.

Daisuke raises his head up a little, looking back down at the paper Iva gave him as he sets his pencil to the side. “Well, this'll be a challenge.” Daisuke smirks a bit as he reaches over towards the clutter on his desk, grabbing a single sheet of drawing paper from a stack under part of the clutter. “Good thing I like challenges.” Daisuke takes the sheet of paper and slams it onto the slanted surface of his desk, placing it in the position a portrait-format paper would go, in contrast to the landscape-format paper with the design on it right below; the new sheet of paper covering the design for the Shirotero below with the middle portion.

第9話

頭旅

Episode 9

Brain Trip

(MUSIC END)

The setting switches to somewhere else, sometime in the early afternoon. In the middle of the blue sky, with very little clouds, is the sun, shining bright. The buzzing of cicadas can be heard in the background. At the center of the location is a road, presumably another highway. To the left and the right are numerous green fields fit for farming, a small area of houses on the left side of the road a little ways down. A couple of cars drive by on opposite sides of the road. Walking along the right side of the road is the Kikyuuren. Toshio, as always, is in the front. Behind him are Ai, Isamu, and Yuri. Behind them are Johnny and Hekireki. All the way in the back are Cujo and Aki.

Instead of sporting his standard emotions when walking, Cujo looks a bit tired. He's walking a little slower than usual (but not much to signify any change in his walking speed), and he's sweating a bit more. He moves his arm up to his brow and uses it to wipe some of the sweat off of his forehead. He then lets out an exasperated mix between a groan and a sigh. “D*mn... It's so f*ckin' hot out here...” He puts his arm back down by his side. “I don't think I can go on like this...”

“Then maybe you should stop wearing those long-sleeved shirts.” Aki says, looking down at Cujo's black long-sleeved shirt, bearing the logo for KISS. Unlike Cujo, Aki isn't as exhausted or sweaty as him.

Cujo turns his head away from Aki, scoffing as he looks out at the road. “No thanks, ya goddamn hypocrite.”

Aki turns his head away a bit while continuing to look at Cujo. “You lazy b*stard.”

Cujo turns back at Aki. “I'm not lazy!” he yells. “Shirts like these are the only ones I brought with me!” Cujo looks forward, calling out for Toshio. “Hey kid! How long've we been walkin' now!?”

At the front Toshio, who like Aki is not really exhausted, glances back at Cujo. “You're seriously asking that again?” he thinks to himself, looking down at his black and red wristwatch right after. “If you take out the small break we took a while back, we've been walking for about six hours.”

Near the back of the group, Hekireki and Johnny start to look about as exhausted as Cujo. While Hekireki only shows slight tiredness, with tired eyes and a partially slouching back, Johnny is just holding up his arm to prevent the sun from getting in his eyes.

“In that case, can we take another break?” Hekireki asks.

Johnny looks over at Toshio. “She's right. It's starting to get real hot back here...”

Toshio lowers his hand and glances back at the rest of the group. “Well, I can't do anything about that; I can't control the weather. If you really want, we can make a small stop here near Ogawago2 before we reach Iwaki City,” Toshio stops and looks up at the sky, the sun continuing to shine. “But I don't think that's gonna make the sun let up anytime soon.”

Toshio continues to look up, squinting his eyes so the sun doesn't blind him. Suddenly, a small thud is heard behind him. “Eh?” Toshio, his attention caught, moves his head back and turns around to see Yuri lying down on the ground, face first, against the side of the road. Toshio gasps slightly as he sees this.

“Yuri!” Isamu proclaims as he notices what happened. Ai gasps and backs up slightly in reaction too, as do Johnny and Hekireki. Cujo and Aki just move closer, wondering what's going on. Isamu grabs Yuri by the side of her arm and sits her up, allowing her to lean on his arm. “Yuri, what's wrong? Are you alright?”

Yuri, looks over at Isamu, looking a lot more tired than the others. “Yeah, kinda...”

Johnny looks a little closer. “My, she doesn't look too well.”

“Maybe it's exhaustion,” Aki adds in.

Ai gasps, holding her hands up to her chest. “What if it's heatstroke?”

Isamu looks up at the group, distressed. “It doesn't matter! All that matters now is that we get some help, quick!”

Cut to an establishing shot of the skyline of a small town, close to where the Kikyuuren was earlier.

“Hm? You're looking for the nearest hospital?”

This question is asked by a man in his late 20s, with mildly messy brown hair and some work clothes. He's standing on a sidewalk, right next to a bench facing a street in that town. On the other side of the bench is the Kikyuuren. Isamu, carrying Yuri in his arms, is in the front, with Toshio beside him. Behind them, the rest of the group is loitering around, either just standing with their arms crossed (Aki) or their hands in their pockets (Cujo), or leaning against something like a tree (Ai) or another person (Johnny, leaning against an annoyed-looking Cujo), or just sitting on the bench backed up against the first bench (Hekireki).

Isamu looks up at the man. “Yeah. Do you know where it is?”

The man puts his hand to his chin, in thought. “Well, there are plenty of hospitals around here,” He looks up at them. “But if you want to know exactly what's wrong with her, I'd suggest going to Matsumura General in Iwaki City. There's this famous doctor who works there by the name of Nana Koizumi. She'll know what's up with your little sister.” As he says this, he looks at Yuri, still unconscious in Isamu's arms.

“How're we gonna get there in time? It'll take us several hours by foot!” Isamu looks at Toshio, a bit unsure. “Right?”

Toshio nods.

“Ogawago Station is just a bit South of here. Board the next train, and it should take you to Iwaki City within an hour3.”

“Alright.” Isamu nods, and then bows. “Thanks for the help.”

(MUSIC: “Typeset Interface” by Takkyu Ishino)

The setting switches to a city area; more accurately, Iwaki City. The main focus of the setting is a building, standing 8 stories tall. Two reddish-brown ribbed concrete awnings of sorts surround the building: one above the second story of windows, and the other above the seventh story, right near the roof of the building. One side of the building, presumably the front, is pretty long, but the thinner lengths of the different building portions on either the left or the right from the second story up make it seem thinner from one angle. From that same angle, the other side looks as long as the first, only not as lengthy. The latter side houses seven long windows on each story, each window separated into six sections by white interior panes; each long window is separated from one another by thin white sections of the building, going from top to bottom. On the very top of the building is a blue sign, stood up vertically atop the eighth story only covering a partial section of the roof, that says 松村総合病院 or “Matsumura General Hospital” on it in white text4.

The scene cuts to just outside the first-floor entrance to the hospital. Toshio stands right by the door inside, holding onto the handle as if he's about to go in. Johnny and Aki are sitting on a bench right outside the entrance, with Cujo in-between them. Aki has some distance between him and Cujo, but Johnny, inhaling and exhaling the air, leans against Cujo's arm, resting his head on his shoulder, much to Cujo's perceived annoyance. Hekireki leans against the wall of the hospital, near the side of the bench Johnny is sitting on. Ai sits on the same bench as the first three other members of the Kikyuuren, her back to Aki's side. Isamu and Yuri are not amongst them at the moment. Toshio faces all that are there as he speaks.

“I don't think it'd be safe for all of us to be together in a location as big as this one. You five'll have to stay out here, so we don't draw too much attention as a group. You fine with that?”

“Sure,” Aki responds.

“That's fine,” Ai adds in.

“I guess,” Hekireki says, shrugging her shoulders.

“At least I'm outta that f*ckin' sun...” Cujo comments, sighing afterwards. Johnny doesn't respond verbally, but nods his head a little.

“Good. See you in a while!” Toshio waves to the rest of the Kikyuuren before heading into the hospital and closing the door behind him.

Meanwhile, inside the hospital, Isamu, continuing to carry Yuri in his arms, stands in front of an information desk. The desk has a silvery-grey marble countertop atop a beige-colored base. Behind the desk is a large glass window. Above the window, hanging on the wall, is an analog clock reading 2:15. Facing the desk, past Isamu, are seven grey waiting chairs; four to the left, three to the right. Sitting behind the desk are two women, both of them wearing unbuttoned black cardigans with white shirts underneath. One, with short straight black hair with a mole under the corner of her left eye, sits at a spot on the desk in front of Isamu, while another, with brown hair tied into a bun, sits to the first one's right, typing on a computer.

The clerk in front of Isamu looks up at him. “Hello, how may I help you?”

“Uh, yes, this girl here, she just passed out on the street just a while ago, and I don't know what caused it. I was hoping that Doctor Nana Koizumi would know what's up. Is there any chance I could see her?”

The clerk holds up her hand as she grabs the phone next to her. “Hold on, I'll check to see if she's available.” After typing in a series of numbers into the phone in quick succession, the clerk holds the phone up to her ear, listening to the phone on the other line ring. After one long ring, the sound of the phone on the other side being picked up is heard.

“Hello?”

“Yes, Doctor Koizumi. There's a man down here on the first floor with a prospective patient with an unknown origin for her unconsciousness. Is there time in your schedule for you to see her?”

“Yeah, right when I'm finished up with this one patient. I'll send someone to take them up then, okay?”

The clerk nods. “Okay. Bye.” The clerk hangs up the phone and looks at Isamu. “She'll meet with you in a matter of minutes.” She takes a clipboard out from behind the desk and hands it, as well as a black ballpoint pen, to Isamu. “Go ahead and sign your name and the patient's, and feel free to sit down while you're waiting.”

Isamu takes the clipboard and ballpoint pen. “Of course, thanks.” Isamu bows his head down to the clerk.

Cut to a couple of minutes later, as shown by the clock on the wall now reading 2:34. Sitting in two of the grey waiting chairs facing the desk are Isamu and Toshio, the still-sleeping Yuri resting on Isamu's lap.

As he sits, Isamu looks over to his right at Toshio. “You mind telling me why you're in here again?”

“Hm?” Toshio glances over at Isamu. “What do you mean, exactly?”

Isamu looks up a bit. “You know, why aren't you outside with the others, making sure they don't leave?”

Toshio closes his eyes and smiles a bit at Isamu. “Oh, come on, they've trusted me long enough not to just run away!” Toshio looks down, his expression a little more serious and heartfelt. “But honestly, Shiho's not the only one who cares about the safety of everyone in the Kikyuuren.” Toshio looks over at Yuri, still sleeping in Isamu's arms. “Caring about someone's physical condition is just as important as ensuring their survival on the road. Don't you agree?”

Isamu looks off to the side, unsure about how to answer Toshio in all honesty. “I guess.”

Just then, the sound of a sliding door is heard, followed by footsteps, and the sound of the door closing behind them.

“Excuse me, is one of you Yuri Yamada?”

“Hm?” Isamu and Toshio look off to their left to see someone standing at an angle facing them: a doctor, somewhere in his mid-forties, with a full head of brown hair that's greying, slight wrinkles around his cheeks and forehead, and rectangular eyeglasses, wearing a white doctor's coat over a grey suit and tie.

Isamu stands up, continuing to hold onto Yuri. “Yes, this girl right here is Yuri.” Toshio stands up as well.

“Excellent. Doctor Koizumi will see you now.”

Cut to an establishing shot of the outside of an office. Beside the brown door, backed up against the tan wall, is a sign reading “703” at the top, and below it reads “小泉奈菜博士” or “Nana Koizumi, M.D.”. The inside of the office has off-white walls and a tan floor. To the left is a large bookshelf with numerous texts. To the right is a long grey seat used for lying patients down, right next to some machinery. Backed up against the wall is a desk, a computer to the left while numerous amounts of paperwork are stacked up to the right. Facing the empty middle of the desk is a black rolling chair with five wheels. The person sitting in the chair has their elbow resting on the desk, fiddling around with a pen in their right hand. After a second of this, the door opens behind her.

“Doctor Koizumi, they're here.”

The person, Nana Koizumi, looks back. “I see.”

Nana turns her chair around to face the door, where Toshio, Isamu, still carrying Yuri, and the doctor from earlier are standing. Nana, standing around six feet tall, has blond hair, long and wavy, going down to the middle of her back. Her eyes, however, are a grey color, hidden behind eyeglasses resting part-way down her nose. Under her long white doctor's robe is a red blouse and grey suitpants, the latter adorned with white stripes. She also has red lipstick on. As she sits, one hand holds onto the edge of the chair's armrest while the other, still holding her pen, rests in her lap, the elbow that was on the table before resting on the opposite armrest.

“So, tell me: which one of these three is the patient?”

The doctor points to Yuri. “She's the one in this man's arms. Right?” The doctor looks at Isamu.

Isamu nods. “Right.”

Nana walks up to them. “And what's her condition?”

“I have no clue.” Isamu looks down at Yuri. “The only ideas we have are either exhaustion or heatstroke.” He hands Yuri over to Nana. “We'd be happy if you could just tell us which one it was.”

Nana takes Yuri from Isamu, holding her in her arms. “I'd be glad to. You two don't mind waiting outside, do you?”

(Toshio: “Not at all.”)

(Isamu: (looks off to the side) “I guess.”)

“Perfect. I'll be done with her before you know it.”

Cut to the door to her office closing. Toshio and Isamu stand against the wall opposite her office, the doctor that was with them facing them and bowing in apology. “I'm sorry. Doctor Koizumi prefers to work with her patients in privacy. I hope this doesn't affect you too much.”

“It doesn't, really,” Toshio says.

“I'm fine just as long as Yuri's fine.”

“Good. Best luck to her, and you two as well.” The doctor walks off, raising his hand as he departs.

“Right,” Toshio and Isamu say in unison, raising their hands. They then go back to stand and look at the door, waiting.

********

[Poke_Nirvash]

The setting switches to that of the Ryudis Governmental Building in Tokyo. The sun from the sky shines down upon all the windows, giving off a sort of glare.

(MUSIC END)

Cut to inside the building, the main setting being that of an exercise area. Backed up against the wall are numerous bikes and treadmills, a large windowed area looking down onto the interior courtyard of the building on the opposite side. In one of the room's corners is a red punching bag, being punched by someone specific who's in the room: Iva. All she's wearing are her grey tanktop, black pants, and sandals. She punches the bag multiple times, hitting both the left and right side, much like a boxer. After several seconds of hits, Iva, sweating a bit while heavily breathing through her clenched teeth, throws one last punch at the bag. After doing so, she backs up, panting.

Standing behind her, leaning against a metal bar, is Kichirou, wearing a blue T-shirt and blue jeans. Iva's red hoodie is slung over the bar. As Iva turns around, Kichirou points at Iva, forms his hands into fists close together before undoing them as he separates them from one another, and then puts his index finger to his temple.

“If you're that curious about it... It's because of this mission we have. BSA?” Iva turns to the left, punching the air like a boxer. “I have to be really prepared for the next time we go out. And I mean really prepared.”

As Kichirou watches Iva shadowbox some more, he shrugs, his palms facing upward. Just then, the sound of a door opening is heard. Kichirou then points to the left.

“Hm?” Iva turns around, facing the direction in which Kichirou is pointing.

Walking towards them, away from the door into the exercise room, is Daisuke, dressed in the same clothes he was the previous night, only this time, no eyeglasses. He holds a manila folder in his right hand, holding it up as he advances closer. “Yo, Iva! I've finished those designs you told me to work on!”

Iva gasps in joy. “You did!?” She runs over to Daisuke, with Kichirou following behind her, walking at a normal pace.

Iva runs up to Daisuke, stopping just a few feet before reaching him. “I spent several hours working on them.” He hands the folder to Iva, and she takes it, opening it and looking at it. “It ate up both my breakfast and my lunch breaks. So don't get pissy at me if they're not what you wanted.”

After looking over the contents inside the folder, Iva smiles, closing it a second after. “They're perfect, Daisuke.” She holds up the folder, turning around just as Kichirou finally stops behind her. “On that note, how 'bout we show them to Kataoka?”

Daisuke follows Iva, letting out a small groan of frustration. “Right now?” Kichirou follows Daisuke.

“Sure, why not? He needs to see (this) and hear my plan before the designs come to life.” (Iva taps the folder with the back of her hand,) picking up her hoodie and slinging it over her shoulder. “Speaking of which, how long'll it take for it to be made?”

“Considering the complexity levels of the design, it should take about 12 hours to produce.”

“Perfect!” Iva sticks the folder under her arm, opening the door leading out of the room. She walks out.

Daisuke follows her, sighing. “Let's just hope things go over well.” He walks out.

Kichirou gives Daisuke a thumbs up, walking out the door, and closing it behind them.

The scene then switches back to inside Matsumura General Hospital. The door to Nana's office opens. Toshio and Isamu, still leaning against the wall opposite the door, look up at the door. Nana stands at the door, her right hand resting on the shoulder of a conscious, smiling Yuri.

“Welp, my job's done. She's all yours.”

“Isamu!” Yuri cheerfully runs over to Isamu, hugging him.

Isamu looks down at Yuri, smiling as he pats her on the head and chuckles a bit under his breath. “Yuri.”

“So, what was wrong with her?” Toshio asks.

Nana crosses her arms. “Nothing much, just exhaustion from the combination of heat exposure and excessive walking.” Toshio slowly moves his head back a bit, nervously faking a smile. “Other than that, she's perfectly healthy. No abnormalities, no strange signs, no nothing.” Nana looks off to the side, rubbing the back of her head. “In all fairness, she's definitely one of my better patients.” She puts her hands on her hips, still looking to the side. “Over half the people who come in to see me are nutjobs who think they got a terminal disease from prolonged exposure to the rain5.”

“That must be a real stressor.”

“It's more of an annoyance than anything else. That aside, seeing how she's okay, there's no reason for you to stay here, right?”

Isamu looks up in confusion, as does Yuri. Toshio responds with slight understanding. “I guess. It was nice seeing you.”

Nana lightly grunts. “Sure.”

The scene cuts to outside of the entrance to the hospital. The other five members of the Kikyuuren continue to wait outside. The only real difference is that Johnny quit panting for air, and Cujo is visibly more annoyed at the former resting his head against his shoulder. The sliding door opens, attracting the attention of everyone but Cujo. Isamu and Yuri walk out, holding hands as they come in sight of everyone in the group.

Aki looks over at them. “Hn. So you're back.”

Yuri nods cheerfully. “Yep!”

Hekireki looks over as well. “So, what was her deal back there?”

Isamu turns to Hekireki. “Not much, just exhaustion.”

Hekireki gasps, a little annoyed in tone, as she puts her hand to her head. “Of course!”

“After all, it's expected from walking all the time,” Ai says.

Johnny looks up. “Not to mention all this heat...”

“Say, where'd that kid run off ta?” Cujo asks.

(“He said he had to go to the restroom for a minute,” Isamu replies. “He said he'll be out soon.”

“Let's hope he ain't bullsh*ttin' around in there.” Cujo comments.)

(The scene cuts to inside one of the men's bathrooms at Matsumura General. The ceiling is grey, but the walls are made of a yellowish-brown brick, and the floors are a dull brown hue as well. However, the sinks are all lined up in one row, against a black marble shelf with a soap dispenser to the left of each sink, and a paper towel dispenser at either end. The sinks back up to a mirror. Toshio is at one of the sinks, washing his hands. After rinsing them off, he turns off the faucet.) He goes to the paper towel dispenser and pulls off a towel, drying his hands with it before tossing it into a black trashcan right by the sinks.

The next shot is of Toshio walking down one of the hallways inside the building. Just as he's about to turn the corner, he hears a familiar voice.

“Is that what you want? An explanation of all things?”

Toshio looks up, a surprised look appearing on his face a second later. He moves back so he's behind the corner he just turned.

(MUSIC: “fear with some dance to it” by Takkyu Ishino)

Leaning against the wall, Toshio moves his head to the left towards the end of the hallway, right before the turn, so he can hear. Standing out in the hallway is Nana, a black cell phone held to her ear as her left hand is on her hip.

“Seriously, it's surprising that you'd call while I was doing my job.” A small lull occurs. “So what if I'm working at a sh*tty general hospital outside of Tokyo?” Nana responds angrily into the phone. “I'm still a doctor, and I'm doing a good job! Pfeh. Even though most of my patients piss me off.” Another pause. Nana sighs, unimpressed. “Great, now you're trying to apologize to me for all the sh*t you did when I when I was young? Well too bad!” Pause. “Sure, Mom tried to keep it a secret and ignore it, but the fact that you did those things started it all!” Her voice only grows angrier. Pause. “I don't care! It's thanks to you that I have to live with this f*cking facade!” One last pause. “Yeah, f*ck you too. See ya later, Dad.” Nana says the last word sarcastically. She moves the phone away from her ear and hangs up, walking off as she stores it in her coat.

Toshio continues to look from behind the corner, moving out from it a bit as Nana walks away. “Geez, what a rant... I don't know, I guess... I could help her out with that problem of hers.”

END OF ACT I

(MUSIC END)

Cut to later in the day, inside Kataoka's office inside the Ryudis Governmental Building. Kataoka sits at his desk, tapping his right index and middle fingers on the table as he presses his left hand under his chin, looking at the three standing on the other side of his desk: Daisuke, Kichirou, and Iva. Iva is in the front, holding the manila folder whilst smiling sort-of excitedly, while Daisuke and Kichirou stand behind them. Natsuko is also there, standing beside Kataoka's desk, looking at the three Shirotero pilots.

“So, Miss Izumi,” Kataoka says, tapping his desk with his fingers. “It's a little interesting, deciding to meet with me this early in the day.” Kataoka glances up at her lowering his left arm and ceasing the tapping of his desk. “So, what is it that you want?”

Iva nods, smiling. “I'm so glad you asked that, sir!” She raises the manila folder up, about to slap it onto Kataoka's desk, but stops short of hitting it, letting it drop onto the desk. “This is what I'm here for.”

Iva opens up the manila folder. (MUSIC: “in the clouded pass” by Takkyu Ishino) Inside of the folder is a blueprint for a Shirotero, the differences shown in the three views: front, side, and back. The front view displays the Shirotero, as normal, but with round-ended tubular structures measuring about ten feet long coming from the head and arms; to be more specific, five from the head, and three from each arm. The side view shows a bulge on its back, but the back view shows what it is: a compartment with rounded ends on the top and bottom.

Kataoka looks at it, a bit puzzled at the designs. “What exactly is this? A Shirotero?”

Iva nods, her hands on her hips and her eyes closed in confidence. “Correct! It's a special Shirotero with custom designs of my own creation.”

“I see...” Kataoka looks at it, still puzzled with a hint of disappointment. “And how does it work?”

“I'll have Daisuke explain all the technical stuff. Daisuke?” Iva steps aside.

Daisuke nods. “Right.” Daisuke steps up to where Iva was once standing. “You see, sir, the mechanics for this design are surprisingly benificial to the completion of Operation BSA.” Daisuke points at the round-ended compartment on the Shirotero's back in the third image. “This compartment here on the back is ideal for preserving the corpse of the deceased, as to prevent rotting and decomposition right after the time of passing. Once we kill Shiho, we can store her corpse in this very compartment, and when we bring it back here, it will serve as undeniable proof that our mission was successful.”

“But what's all of this for?” Natsuko asks, pointing at the tubular structures coming from the Shirotero's head and arms on the first image.

Kichirou looks at the picture. He points at it with both of his index fingers, and then presses both fingers against his forehead, and then makes a fist with his right hand, the left side facing towards him while the right faces Natsuko, and places the back of his left hand against the right side of his fist, opening and closing it.

Natsuko lowers her head, unpleased with Kichirou's explanation. “You're such a perv, Mutey.”

Kichirou makes an X with both of his index fingers.

Daisuke looks over at Natsuko, while still speaking to Kataoka. “If you must know, the purpose of these tubular protrusions is to preserve corpses, much like the compartment on the back. The only difference is that they're detachable from the Shirotero, tying in to its intended use of preserving the bodies of civilians who might die during the capture and elimination of Shiho.”

Natsuko looks at Daisuke, unpleased for different reasons. “Sounds more like a walking morgue than a combat mech.”

“Even with these new additions, this Shirotero still has the machineguns and missile launchers that are standard for all Shiroteros.”

Kataoka looks at it, a little more interested. “Hm... While the design looks a bit odd, the removal of any chance of lying to me about success makes this design quite useful.”

“Excellent!” Iva claps her hands together as she reappears right in front of Kataoka's desk, causing Daisuke to back off to the side a bit. “So you'll send me out tomorrow in it to resume the mission!”

“Hold on!”

“Hm?” Iva looks at Kataoka, looking a little serious from Iva's statement.

“We can't just have you going on this mission this early! Do you know how much time it'll take to construct this?”

“Not long,” Daisuke replies.

“Eh?” Kataoka looks up at him.

“All the production team needs to do is add on the back compartment, as well as the eleven protrustions illustrated alongside it. Add their construction, and the procural of preservatives for the corpses, and it should be ready for launch by tomorrow morning.”

“I see.” Kataoka looks right at Iva. “Seeing how Shuuta and Lieutenant Takahashi's Shiroteros are out of commission, it looks like you'll be doing it alone, Miss Izumi.” He lowers his head. “Can you handle that?”

Iva puts her feet together and salutes Kataoka. “Sir, yes sir!”

Kataoka smiles. “Excellent.” He puts his elbows up on his desk, intertwining his hands together. He glances up at the pilots. “And so begins phase two of Operation BSA.”

(MUSIC END)

The scene cuts back to the front of Matsumura General Hospital. Everyone is still in the same position they were before, save for Isamu leaning against the pillar facing the bench everyone else is sitting on (sans Hekireki), and Yuri standing beside Isamu. The sliding doors into the hospital open, catching everyone's attention. Walking out is Toshio, his hands in his pockets as his glasses obscure his eyes, as shown by his lowered head.

“Ah, there you are, Toshio,” Isamu says.

“So, are we gonna go or what?” Cujo asks. “We're dyin' here!”

“Yeah, about that...” Toshio looks up to face the rest of the Kikyuuren. “There's something I have to tell all of you, and chances are most of you won't like it. Especially you, Cujo.”

As Toshio says this, the group doesn't show much reaction: Isamu and Yuri seem a little confused, Hekireki just looks over at Toshio without any change in her calm state, and Aki starts to show a bit of understanding as to what Toshio is getting at, in contrast to Ai just listening.

Cujo, however, leans back, his arms crossed and a look sourer than the one he wears normally showing up on his face. “Ah f*ck, don't tell us you're thinking of adding another person to the group. Are ya?”

“Much to your dismay, that is correct.”

Cujo puts his hands on the bench as he looks up, sighing. “F*ck, I knew it.”

Aki looks over at Toshio. “So, who's the lucky person this time?”

Hekireki closes her eyes as she tightens up her crossed arms. “Let's just hope it isn't some nutjob (that'll drive us all crazy before we even leave here.”)

(Toshio smiles a little, shaking his head. “No, it's not that at all.) In fact, I already met her before I came to my decision.” Toshio directs his attention at Isamu. “And I believe Isamu met her as well. Isn't that right?”

Isamu gasps a little. “Wait, do you mean...?”

Toshio nods. “Yep. The exact same.”

“Ah...” Isamu turns his head and puts his hand to his head. Yuri looks up at him in concern.

Ai looks over at Toshio. “If we're recruiting some other person, then why didn't you talk with her right then?”

Toshio tilts his head downwards a little. “I didn't want to impose on her in the moment, that's all.”

Just then, the sliding door opens behind Toshio, and a doctor in white-colored scrubs, young-looking with short dark brown hair, carrying a clipboard walks out. He looks up from his clipboard, to notice everyone hanging around. “Excuse me, do you all mind clearing the area? It's around closing time.”

Toshio then turns around facing the doctor. “Hey, sir!”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Do you know where Doctor Nana Koizumi might be?”

The doctor scratches the back of his head. “Well, her shift just ended at 4:30.” He looks down at his watch. “She should be leaving right about now.” He looks up, and after a one-second lull... “And there she goes.”

“Huh?” Toshio looks out toward the road. A white Toyota Corolla rolls out of the parking lot and turns onto the street the entrance is off of, heading out. Toshio continues to look out, a little surprised by this new development. “Well, d*mn.”

“Don't worry,” the doctor says, putting up his hand in the stop position. “If you really can't wait to see Doctor Koizumi tomorrow morning, I can tell you where she lives so you can go and visit.”

Toshio looks over at the doctor again, his curiosity piqued. “You can do that?” Isamu leans in slightly, also a little interested.

“Oh yeah. Stay right here, I'll go get the stuff.” The doctor turns around to go back inside.

Toshio turns around completely and nods at him as he heads off. Over at the bench, Cujo raises his arms to stretch, nearly causing Johnny to fall over to the side from the lack of something to lean against. He manages to regain his composure before falling down on Cujo, straightening his sitting posture.

********

[Poke_Nirvash]

(MUSIC: “ORENJI SUNSET” by Takkyu Ishino)

The setting switches to much later in the day. The sunset illuminates the setting – a suburban road with houses along the left side and a beach on the right side, with an orange-red shade. Walking down the road, past the grey-roofed houses, are the Kikyuuren members. Toshio is in the front, with Isamu, Yuri, and Ai in the front. Johnny and Hekireki are in the middle, while Aki and Cujo are all the way in the back. All of them have their bags on them.

Aki walks with a tired look on his face, looking up at the sky with closed eyes, while Cujo looks down, a bit annoyed but his expression showing more of a calm feeling.

“D*mn...” Aki opens his eyes. “Who knew this woman lived so far away?” He closes his eyes again. “And so distant from the city, too...”

Cujo looks over at Aki. “Hey, at least the walk here wasn't as sh*tty as the one before we boarded that train.” He turns his head back. “Besides, it's not like her place's outside the city. It's just on the edge.”

Aki moves his head down. “Gah! I don't care if that's where she lives! People just can't live this far away!”

“D*mn, Aki, haven't you ever heard of suburbs?”

“Well, at least this explains why she drives to work instead of walking,” Hekireki comments.

Cujo stretches his arms out a bit before putting them behind his head. “Yep. Sure beats the f*ck outta walking to your job, I say.”

Aki crosses his arms. “Ha! Please, if she didn't want us to suffer getting to her place that badly, then she shouldn't have gotten so d*mn rich.”

Right then, Hekireki and Cujo stop walking and turn to Aki. Hekireki is angered, his left hand forming a fist. Cujo just looks at Aki nastily.

“Is that why you think she lives out here? Not because she wants somewhere quiet to live!?”

Cujo turns his head. “And like I said, the walk here wasn't as bad as the one before.”

Hekireki crosses her arms (as Aki curiously undoes his), nodding her head. “For once, I agree.”

Aki points at himself. “Wait a sec, so I'm the bad guy here?”

(“Heh. You and me both,” Cujo adds.)

(Hekireki leans in a bit, raising her voice and tone. “Obviously! We wouldn't be standing) around if you weren't acting so goddamn rude!”

“You know I can't help it!” Aki yells back at Hekireki, leaning in to face her. “Why else do you think I'm going on this trip with the rest of you!?”

The rest of the group in front of the three in the back have also stopped. Johnny turns around, lowering his head and sighing. “You know, sometimes the bickering between those two gets tiresome after a while, especially on a long trek like this one.” Johnny looks up, a bit worried about two of the three behind him.

Isamu looks back at Johnny. “You said it.”

Ai faces Toshio, who has turned around to face her in return. “So, how far until we reach this doctor's house?”

Toshio shakes his head. “Not long.” Toshio resumes walking. Ai, Isamu, Yuri, and Johnny follow behind him. In the back, Hekireki and Aki silently argue for a few more seconds before the former turns around, walking forward while the latter does the same. Cujo walks ahead of them a few seconds before they walk either way. “We'll be there in a few more minutes.”

The POV switches to a focus traveling alongside the houses along the left side of the road; each one of them are either made of stucco or wood, the sunset giving the actual color of the exterior a reddish-orange shade.

“What's her place look like again?” Isamu asks.

“The doctor said it was the biggest house on this street; two stories, huge courtyard, even a driveway to put her car.”

“What car was it again?” Ai asks.

“A white Toyota Corolla.”

“Could that be it over there?” Yuri asks.

Toshio stops in the middle of the road, looking over at where Yuri's pointing: Nana's house. The house is two stories tall, with three windows on both the first and second floor of the facade facing the street. A fourth window, wider than the first three, to the left of the first two is on the second floor, and the story under that instead has a porch area leading to a double door that serves as an entrance to the house. To the left of the actual house is a huge courtyard with some lawn chairs and three tables, three chairs at each with each one covered by a huge umbrella. The courtyard is separated from the side of the house by a small garden bed with a couple of blue and purple flowers lined up against the outside wall. To the left of the courtyard is a driveway covered by a carport, housing the white Toyota Corolla that Nana was driving before. Beyond the driveway and car is a shed with two doors leading inside. The front of the house is blocked by a black metal fence with two gates in front of the driveway, as well as a thinner gate leading into the courtyard.

Toshio looks at it before taking out his laptop and opening it. “Yep, definitely looks like the place.” Toshio starts typing onto his laptop.

Isamu gulps a little bit. “He never said anything about that huge fence.”

“Let alone those gates,” Ai adds.

Toshio stops typing and closes his laptop, putting it under his arm. “Sure, but that won't stop us from getting there.” Toshio approaches the fence and puts his hands on the top, climbing up onto it so he can go over.

Hekireki looks at Toshio, stunned at his actions. “Wait, you're just gonna hop her fence and ring her doorbell, just like that?”

Toshio looks back as he gets his first leg over. “Yeah, so?”

“So nothing! If she's rich like that jerk back there says –”

“Hey!” Aki says, offended.

“–then she must have security software surrounding this place! There's no doubt she'll see us trespassing! Face it, kid, we're screwed if we go over there like you did!”

As Hekireki speaks, Toshio loses his balance as he goes over, falling on his back as he makes his way over, complete with a small scream as he starts falling. His laptop makes it out fine, and after he lands, he dusts it off and sets it on the ground, pushing up his glasses.

“There's no need to worry.” Toshio picks up his laptop. “I disabled the security, so you should have no trouble getting in.” He goes over to the gate and unlocks it, pushing it open for everyone else. “Come on.” Toshio holds out his hand and moves his fingers inward, directing everyone to come in.

As he turns around and walks toward the entrance, everyone follows him in. As she walks with everyone else, Hekireki facepalms, sighing. “I swear, there's nothing that kid can't hack into.”

Cut to the front doors of Nana's residence. Toshio's hand reaches out and presses the doorbell, (MUSIC END) emitting a buzzing noise. Toshio, his laptop put away, moves his hand back and stands there. The rest of the Kikyuuren stands behind him, a couple more feet away from the door than Toshio.

After a pause lasting a few seconds, the left of the two doors opens. “Yeah, who is it?” Standing there at the now-open door is Nana, wearing the red blouse she wore earlier, only without the lab coat. She's also now wearing a white skirt with black slanted stripes. She looks out to see the Kikyuuren standing there, but her focus lies with Toshio. Her eyes widen a bit as she emits a light gasp from under her breath. “You're that boy who I saw earlier today, aren't you?”

Toshio nods. “Yes, I am. Say, you wouldn't mind if we all came in for a bit, would you?”

Nana stands there for a few seconds, expression unchanging, before finally letting out a loud sigh.

Cut to the inside of Nana's house: to be more specific, her living room. The room itself is large, yellow-tinted in the ceiling, walls, and carpeted floor from the light hanging from the middle of the room. Two lamps, with modern-looking shades and blue, vase-shaped bases, on two nightstands around the room add to the yellow tint. The two nightstands are on either side of a large three-seater couch facing the fireplace, which has a mantle hanging over it and what appears to be a family picture hanging above it. The mantle has two vases, white in color, with the same blue and purple flowers from outside inside of them. Between the three-seater and the fireplace are two two-seater couches, both of them facing each other while sitting perpendicular to the three-seater. Standing between the three-seater and the fireplace, past the edges of the two-seaters, is a sole brown chair with an ornamentally-designed red cushion built into the place where someone leans back, and another one built into the seat. One far side of the room has three of the windows facing out towards the beach across from the street, all three covered up by red drapes reaching the floor. On the opposite side is a small doorway leading into the kitchen area.

Sitting in the living area are the Kikyuuren members, their bags and stuff piled up behind the three-seater. Hekireki sits in the middle of the three-seater, leaning back as she sighs in relief. Aki sits to her right, arms crossed with a pissed-off look on his face, and Ai sits to her left, leaning against the armrest. Sitting on the two-seater to the left of those sitting on the three-seater are Cujo and Johnny; Johnny is leaning against Cujo's shoulder, smiling with his eyes closed, while Cujo looks down, ready to punch something but holding back his punches. On the other two-seater are Isamu, Yuri, and Toshio; Isamu leans against the armrest, Yuri just sits, lightly kicking her legs up and down, and Toshio sits with his elbow resting on the other armrest, his hand to his chin as he looks over at the empty chair, closest to him. Suddenly the sound of footsteps are heard and Toshio looks up. Nana comes into the room from the kitchen area, in her hand a handled7 thermos filled with coffee.

“I normally don't get guests all that often.” Nana sits down in the empty chair, crossing her legs. “But this is quite the surprise.” She sips from her thermos. “Having so many people here this late.”

Aki scoffs. “Feh! It's not like we wanted to come here or anyth-” His sentence is interrupted by a rather hard backhand to the gut by Hekireki, causing him a bit of pain.

Hekireki moves her hand back and looks over at Nana, closing her eyes as she forms a smile that's kind of deceitful. “Don't get him wrong, we're happy to be here!”

Cujo lowers his head a bit more than it already is. “Please, you're just as half-hearted to be here as he is, Thundert*ts.”

Johnny looks over at Nana. “By the way, Miss Koizumi, this is a really nice flat8 you've got here.” Johnny looks around the room, admiring it as shown in his expression.

Nana holds her thermos up to her lips, but doesn't drink. Her expression remains stoic, and she lets out a soft grunt. “Please, you're just saying that.” She then drinks from the thermos.

“No, I'm serious! This place is actually quite lovely!”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

Johnny slams his palms against his lap, looking over at Nana with annoyance in his eyes, grabbing everyone's attention. “Listen, lady, can't you tell I'm being honest here!?”

After a second-long pause, Nana sets her thermos down on the floor beside her chair. “I know. My apologies.” She bows a little.

Johnny backs up, scooting closer to Cujo. “Jeez, what's your deal, anyways?” Cujo looks down at Johnny, still a bit surprised from Johnny's earlier outburst.

“Hm, well... Listen, why are all of you in my house, anyways?”

Johnny clears his throat. “Ahem. You see-”

“Let me handle this, Johnny,” Toshio replies, having held his hand up to stop Johnny from saying any more.

Johnny nods in understanding. “Of course.”

“Thank you.” Toshio lowers his hand, lookng back at Nana. “You see, Doctor Koizumi, we're all part of a group travelling to Tokyo. I'll explain why later, but one of our stops was the hospital where you work, and when I was leaving...” Toshio lowers his head, a bit ashamed of what he's gonna say next. “I overheard you talking to your dad on the phone.”

Nana's eyes widen, her irises and pupils dilating. She turns to Toshio, looking at him fiercely. “You spied on me!?”

“Not exactly,” Toshio replies, mostly unfazed by Nana's response. “I just overheard you speaking, and your conversation piqued my interest.”

Nana looks at Toshio for another second, still untrustworthy of him, but crosses her arms and looks down. “Fair enough. How long did you listen?”

“Not long, just the last minute or so.”

“How much do you know?”

“Enough to have an excuse to come and see you.”

“Be more specific.”

Toshio looks back to his front, looking down at his fingers as he starts to count items off on them. “Let's see, there's the fact that you hate your dad, that you're wearing a facade, that your patients piss you off...”

Isamu reacts to that with shock. “Wait, you can't mean us too, right?” He asks, pointing to himself. Yuri stops kicking her legs and looks on with a bit of concern.

Nana smirks. “Not exactly. Sure, my patients piss me off, but only to certain degrees. The time it took to find out her problem...” Nana points to Yuri. “...was the only thing wrong with her.” She lowers her finger. “Everyone else was just too whiny and annoying for me to handle.” Nana picks up her thermos again. “But being the good doctor I am, I kept my mouth shut.” She drinks from it again.

“Excuse me, Miss Koizumi, was it?”

“Hm?” Nana stops sipping and looks over at Ai, who asked the question.

“Do you mind elaborating on this 'facade' of yours?”

Nana sets her thermos down. “I normally don't tell anybody about the reasons behind it, but this time, I don't see the harm in telling. Of course, I have to recount some family history before I do.”

(MUSIC: “brain trip” by Takkyu Ishino)

The POV switches so it is now zooming in on the picture above the mantle in Nana's living room. The picture is more clearly recognizable as a family portrait consisting of three people. In the back are two people. The one on the left has black hair, neatly cut, and is wearing glasses and a white doctor's coat. The look on his face is rather serious. The one on the right is a little younger, and has a more cheerful expression on her face, while still being serious enough for the picture. She has strawberry blonde hair, and is wearing a lavender-colored blouse with a skirt. These two are Nana's parents. The mother has her left hand resting on the shoulder of the young, tweenaged girl in the middle, with blonde hair going down to the middle of her back, and is wearing a red T-shirt with white sleeves, and a skirt. She also has a serious look on her face, much like the father's. This girl is Nana.

“You see, I come from a family of doctors. My father's a famous doctor from Tokyo. The same applied to his father, and his father's father, and so on. He had no other children to pass his expertise down onto, so naturally, I was next in line to take up the family profession.” Nana looks down slightly, keeping her attention on the Kikyuuren as her arms are crossed. “Of course, I learned all I needed to become a doctor from various notes my father took when he was learning at the time. I never saw him much, since he was always going on business trips to various cities around the world. Those trips made me realize that he was very important outside of Japan. At least, that's what I was led to believe. One day, I found out the horrible truth.”

“Lemme guess,” Aki says, leaning back, crossing his arms after having recovered from the punch Hekireki gave him. “He wasn't really a doctor.”

“Nope, he was the real deal, all right.”

“Then those trips he took were all a bunch of bullsh*t!” Cujo suggests.

“Close,” Nana replies, looking at Cujo, then back to the Kikyuuren as a whole. “The trips he took were real, but...” He looks down, a sour look forming on her face. “He used them as an excuse to cheat on my mother.”

Nearly everyone gasps in surprise, backing up as they continue to listen with concern.

Johnny: “No way!”

Ai: “That's horrible!”

Hekireki: “What'd your mom hafta say about it?”

The only ones who don't gasp are Cujo, Aki, and Toshio, the latter continuing to listen with heavy intrigue.

“My mom was a kind-hearted person, so when she found out about what he was doing, she tried to cover up and ignore his vices, and retain the quaint family life I lived before.”

“That's a sh*tty way to deal with it,” Aki says.

“I know, right!?” Nana says this, a bit more powerfully this time, uncrossing her arms to emphasize her feelings. “The fact that she didn't just dump his sorry ass just pissed me off to no end! The b*tch should've just stuck up for herself like I would've!”

The Kikyuuren continue to listen, their positions not having changed, save for Isamu covering Yuri's ears, moving his hands away immediately.

“So I take it your dream as a doctor was over after that,” Toshio says.

“No, not at all. I still did my family proud my going to medical college and getting my doctorate. But it was there that everything just became clear to me. Most of the men I met reminded me of my father, and every wrongdoing I witnessed was being covered up by someone too nice to accept it like my mother.” Nana opens her eyes, her pupils alternating between shrinking and growing, the irises still retaining their constant size. “Just like that, I started to, and still, believe that kindness was nothing more than a tool to hide the faults in this world.”

“Which is why you were being a b*tch to Limey-Lover here,” Cujo says, slapping Johnny on the back.

“Being a b*tch to everyone in general, but yes.”

“Interesting...”

(MUSIC END)

Soon, everyone's attention is moved over to Toshio, now sitting and facing the right way on the two-seater, his hand still on his chin.

“Now that all that stuff is out of the way,” Toshio says, removing his hand from his chin. “Doctor Koizumi, have you ever heard of something called the KIGUMA?”

“KIGUMA?” Nana asks, a bit startled by Toshio's sudden questioning. “Yeah, I have but only a few times on the news. Why do you ask? Does it have something to do with my past?”

“Kind of.” Toshio stands up. “You see, the KIGUMA code that surfaced a year ago was recently said to have the power to grant wishes and fix problems. Everyone here in this little group, (known as the Kikyuuren, have problems and desires that would never come true in reality,) let alone be solved in a simple way.”

(Cujo puts his hands behind his head. “Yeah, right. Little.”

Hekireki looks over at Toshio, a bit annoyed at the use of the group's moniker. “Is he still using that name?”)

Toshio continues to talk, putting his hand to his chest. “I'm also included with everyone else in that party.” He turns to Nana. “I'm leading everyone else to Tokyo to fix our problems and reach our desires with the KIGUMA. I was hoping that you'd come along with us too, Doctor Koizumi.”

Nana looks at Toshio for a few seconds before lowering her head, scowling. “That's absurd. You realize I have a job here in Iwaki, right? I can't go somewhere far without putting my job at risk.”

Everyone else except for Toshio, Cujo, and Yuri raise their hands and speak in unison. “You and us both.”

Toshio clears his throat. “Ahem. As you can see, job status is a common obstacle for a trip such as this. I suggest calling your workplace and letting them know of your absence before going.”

Nana looks down, her hand on her chin. “Well, I would call them tonight, but my usual day off for the week is tomorrow.” She puts her hand down. “I'll call them then.”

Toshio crosses his arms and nods. “That's good, but you'll have to do it early in the morning, before we head out again.”

“No way!”

“Hm?” Toshio turns to Hekireki, her arms crossed. “Why not?”

Hekireki points toward the windows. “You do realize what's across the street, right?”

“Hn?” Toshio looks over at the windows. He goes up to them and opens the curtains for one, showing the beach across the street; the water from the ocean moving back and forth onto the beach, and a large ledge of forestation on top of a rock poking out from the side. The sky is signifying the change from sunset to night. “Yeah, it's a beach. So?”

“So, I think we should go over there tomorrow!” Toshio looks back at Hekireki, continuing to listen to what she has to say. “The weather report on the train said it's gonna be nice out tomorrow – not a cloud in the sky! It's best if we take that chance while it still stands!” She looks down, blushing. “I don't wanna have brought my swimsuit all for nothing.”

Ai looks over at Toshio. “You know, Hekireki's right. It would be nice to have some fun in the sun tomorrow.”

Aki smirks. “I'm up for it.”

Yuri looks down, a bit disappointed. “But I don't have a swimsuit...”

Isamu pats Yuri on the back. “Don't worry, Yuri. I'm sure Doctor Koizumi has one around here somewhere.”

Cujo smiles. “Finally, a chance to get a tan.”

“Wait a second!” Johnny suddenly says, holding up his hand.

“Enh?” Cujo looks at Johnny, a bit confused. The rest of the room goes silent.

Johnny closes his eyes and points up with his finger. “If we're gonna do something fun like that, we should run it by Mister Toshio first. He's our leader, remember?” Johnny holds out his hand, directing it towards Toshio.

Everyone turns to Toshio, waiting for his word. Toshio stands there, a bit nervous, but then lowers his head, grumbling a bit. “Alright, you win.” He looks up, a bit annoyed. “But this will be the only time we spend more than two nights in the same place for the rest of the trip. Got that?”

Everyone, Nana excluded but still smiling, look over at Toshio and give him a thumbs up. “Got it!”

Toshio sighs, facepalming.

[Poke_Nirvash]

(MUSIC: “the queen breathes jazz” by Takkyu Ishino)

The scene cuts to night. It's much darker outside than it was before, the sky having taken on a dark blue color, a couple of stars scattered about. The only lights on down on the surface are those of Nana's house, right by the porch, giving off a shine that lights up the courtyard adjacent to it, but only barely so. Also on is a light up on the top floor, from one of the four windows facing out toward the beach. The faint light can be seen from the window through partially closed curtains.

Cut to inside, where the curtains are closed by a set of hands, blocking out the night view. The bedroom is rather average-sized, having a guest-sized bed with white sheets adorned with a red design on the edge in the middle, facing out so the door is to the person's left. A desk with a chair is to the left of the bed, and a nightstand with a lamp, the only current source of light in the room, on it to the right. On the other side of the room are a couch, a table with some magazines on it, and a wardrobe with a dresser and a mirror, but all of those are blocked out by the lack of light on that side of the room. Hanging on the wall above the bed is a picture of a nature scene, particularly that of someone's view of a blue, clouded sky from within a dense forest with many bare trees.

The person who closed the curtains, Toshio, then collapses on the bed. Or rather, he falls onto his knees just before reaching the bed, and then rests his upper body on the bed. He heavily sighs as his arms rest on the bed alongside his head.

“Tired, Toshio?” Shiho asks, from inside Toshio's head.

“Yeah, you could say that.” Toshio stands up the best he can, getting onto the bed and turning around, sitting on the edge.

“Let me guess... You're still a bit exhausted from everything that went on today. Is that right?”

“Yeah, you're spot on there.” Toshio lies down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. “Although to be fair, most of the exhaustion came from earlier at the store.”

“True, walking a couple miles to a store to buy swimsuits for everyone can do that.”

“Not everyone,” Toshio replies, closing his eyes and then opening them again. “Hekireki brought her own swimsuit, Doctor Koizumi has her own too, and she even offered to let Yuri borrow the one she used when she was younger. So all in all, it was just five swimsuits.” He closes his eyes again. “Still didn't make it any less tiring.”

“Well, we got a new Kikyuuren member out of it, right?”

Toshio smirks. “Can't really say that we do, but sure, I guess.”

“Good! So, um, Toshio, is there any chance I can-”

Toshio's smirk disappears, and a stern frown replaces it. “No.” He turns on his side.

“Oh, come on! Tomorrow'll be the only chance I get to see Mistress in a swimsuit! I can't do that unless you get scared at least once!”

“Too bad. Tomorrow's the only chance I have to finalize the last stops before we reach Tokyo, and I need all my concentration for it.”

“But what if Ryudis attacks again? I'll have to come out to kick their ass, and after I save Mistress, she might be generous enough to let me have a peek at it!”

“Judging from yesterday, she still wouldn't appreciate it. (Besides, I doubt Ryudis will even attack us tomorrow.”)

(The setting switches over to Tokyo, with an exterior of the Ryudis Governmental Building. Unlike most of the other times, where the shot was from a close-up of Tokyo's skyline, this time the shot is from closer to the ground, panning down from the actual building to a large wing off of it, without any windows and looking like a larger version of an airport hangar from the outside.)

Cut to inside the wing off of the building. Lined up against the interior wall are numerous Shiroteros, all of them looking the exact same, just like Iva's last three Shiroteros. In the middle of the white-walled hangar, the lights emphasizing the difference between the bright walls and the dull grey ceiling and floor, is one of those same Shiroteros, keeping its balance not through attachment to the wall, but through scaffolding surrounding it from head to toe. Near the back of the Shirotero, some mechanics for the Shiroteros – all wearing blue jumpsuits with black workboots, and grey welding masks – are sitting or kneeling on some of the wooden levels of the scaffolding, using welding tools to connect the white cylindrical compartment with round ends – the one seen in the earlier blueprints – to the back of it.

“Hey, guys! How're things coming along?”

One of the mechanics stops welding and looks back at the second-story balcony overlooking the hangar. Standing up near the balcony is Daisuke, his right forearm resting on the railing as he looks down at the happenings down in the hangar.

The mechanic lifts up his welding mask. “They're coming along just fine, Lieutenant Takahashi. We've just finished adding the back compartment, and the constructive team is just finishing up the last of the protrusions. Their addition, on top of the preservative that will be put inside them, will take the rest of the night to accomplish.”

Daisuke smirks. “Good. On that note, I'll see you all tomorrow.” Daisuke lifts up his hand a little and lightly waves at the mechanics crew.

“Good night, Lieutenant.” The mechanic puts his welding mask back on, and turns around, resuming his work.

The scene switches to outside of the main entrance to the Ryudis Governmental Building. Kichirou leans up against one column supporting the rest of the building above the area leading to the entrance. He's eating kaki-pi from a red-colored bag, munching away on it. Standing across from him, leaning against the other pillar, is Iva, looking up at the ceiling with her arms crossed. The doors leading into the building slide open, and Daisuke walks out.

Both Kichirou and Iva turn to Daisuke, with Iva responding first. “So, how'd things go?”

Daisuke smirks, continuing to walk past them. “They went well.” Iva and Kichirou then follow Daisuke. “The construction's going along according to plan, and considering their progress, the deadline should be met just as I expected.”

“Perfect!” Iva says loudly and enthusiastically as she balls her hands into fists, thrusting her elbows down partially so they hit the air.

The three walk down the long, wide walkway leading to the building leading onto the sidewalk alongside the street the building is off of. The buildings around it are lit up, including the Governmental Building itself, its property separated from the street by a thick, two-story tall concrete wall surrounding the city block it inhabits. Numerous cars drive by on the road, slowly as they're packed in with one another.

“That means all that's left is for me to get in there, find that b*tch, and kill her! I'm gonna get it this time, I can just feel it!” The three stop as they get out onto the sidewalk beside the street.

“Wait a sec.” Daisuke turns to Iva. “Who said that this phase'll be successful?”

Kichirou looks over at Daisuke, giving him a thumbs-up.

“Weren't you listening? I did,” Iva says, turning to Daisuke and backing up with a jump, starting to shadowbox with some of her pent-up energy. “I might've not been as prepared as you two at the start of Operation BSA, but now that I really know what I'm up against...” Iva stops and evilly smirks. “I'm more than ready to cause her real pain.”

Daisuke turns his head. “Please. You don't even know half of who you're up against.”

Kichirou nods.

Iva lowers her fists, an unimpressed look on her face. “Sure, so says the guy who came this close to beating her.” Iva takes her right hand and holds her index finger and thumb together so they're nearly touching each other. Then in a flash, she smiles and turns around, holding her hand up to the two. “Welp, I gotta bounce. See you guys tomorrow!”

Daisuke and Kichirou look at Iva as she walks off. “Geez, she's really enthusiastic, isn't she?”

Kichirou puts his index finger to his temple and moves the tip in a circle around it.

Daisuke smirks. “You got that right. Let's go, Kichi.” Daisuke turns around, as does Kichirou. Daisuke then puts his left arm around Kichirou as the both of them walk off.

The scene cuts to a shot of the top floor of the Ryudis Governmental Building. All of the lights are switched off, but one window is left open: the large window looking in at Kataoka's office. Standing at the edge of the window, looking down at the street from above, is Kataoka, his hands behind his back. The room itself is dark, whatever light being shone into the room from the outside giving a light blue glow.

“Look at those three. I did good choosing them for Operation BSA, didn't I?” He straightens himself up a bit, showing a more stern demeanor. “Sure, I can't really trust Miss Izumi on a solo mission against a target such as Shiho, but if that Shirotero can make sure she's dead on arrival, the best thing to do is watch it play out.”

“Um, sir?”

Kataoka looks back behind him to see Natsuko standing there, rubbing her right arm a bit as she looks down at the ground. “What is it, Natsuko?”

“Don't you think it was kind of, I dunno, wrong lying to them like that?”

Kataoka turns his head back, lowered with as serious a look as ever. “It isn't lying if you withhold some of the information.” He raises his head up straight, looking out the window. “It's too late to do it now. It's best to wait until Phase 3 to tell them every last detail. Or should I say...” His eyes narrow. “...to tell one all that we know.”

つづく

TO BE CONTINUED

(MUSIC END)

声の出演

桂田寿夫: 豊永利行

桂田志保: 清水愛

エンゼル霹靂: 折笠富美子

石村『ジョニー』淳一: 小野大輔

中田『クジョー』久条: 小西克幸

宮崎亜紀: 杉田智和

山田百合: 豊崎愛生

渡辺勇: 浪川大輔

高橋愛: 水樹奈々

片岡鉄平: 若本規夫

山本奈津子: 釘宮理恵

高橋大輔: 諏訪部順一

泉アイバ: 小清水亜美

小泉奈菜: 朴璐美

医員: 伊丸岡篤

受付係: 松本梨香

脚本: 濠沢彼太

原画: 寺門大介  芳賀亮  菅原東  中村恭子  橋本かおり  山本雅章  沼田広  南部允宏

        小原和大  板井寛樹  夕澄慶英  高橋優也

        スタジオワンパック

          岩本貴玲  松浦大樹  星野玲香  本多みゆき

        スタジオバンビーノ

          扇多恵子  諸正麻美

        BTO

第二原画: 斉藤温子  孫猛  城紀史  普津澤時ェ門

             BTO

動画検査: 阿部かおり

動画: 斉藤温子  松本俊平  石井かおり  大脇奈歩  橋本かおり  阿部かおり

        Triple A  BTO

色指定/仕上検査: 最相茂

仕上げ: 青山遥  星香鈍  最相茂

          Triple A  BTO

特殊効果: 星美弥子

背景: 草薙 (KUSANAGI)

         川本亜夕  井上京  田中貞彦  緒続学  伊藤弘  若松栄司  西俊樹  日下部夏月

         内田勉  根本邦明

3DCGI: オクティグラフィカ

            神林憲和  齋藤勝彦  林太郎

撮影: T2 Studio

         木村俊也  加藤千恵  加藤絵梨  田沢二郎  別府光太郎  金珍熙  刀根有史

編集スタジオ: ウインズ

HD編集: キューテック

             深沢美津奈  藤田哲郎  入山真二

HD編集助手: 新井淳一

HD編集制作担当: 田畑孝之

録音調整: 野口あきら

録音助手: 松下春香

録音スタジオ: サウンドチームドンファン

音響効果助手: 西佐知子 (サウンドボックス)

音響制作担当: 好永伸恵

音響制作: フォニシア

エンディングテーマ:『24時』9

                  歌: ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION

         作詞/作曲: 後藤正文

               編曲: ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION

                      (ki/oon records)

オープニングアニメーション

  絵コンテ/演出: タムラコータロー

  作画監督: 中田栄治

  原画: たないあやこ  光田史亮  吉田健一  大梶博之  沈宏  安留雅弥  宗崎暢芳

         森聡  金子秀一  三輪和宏

  背景: 木原裕爾  永井一男

  撮影: T2 Studio

エンディングアニメーション

  絵コンテ/演出: 鈴木典光

  原画: 鈴木典光  新井浩一  石野聡

  背景: 宮越歩 (チームティルドーン)

  撮影: ちゃっぴー

キャラクタークリエイティブチーム: 濠沢彼太  kohikki  千頭悪戸  ボクサ  mg天使  cid猫

                                     波様RX  場藤一  月女神

設定交渉: 小倉信也

モニタデザイン: 海老川兼武

アシスタントプロデューサー: 松本美穂

宣伝プロデューサー: 瓜生恭子

宣伝: 安藤ひと美  柴田亜矢  小森健一

プロモーション協力: 博報堂DYメディアパートナーズ

セールスプロモーション: 小野木航

編成: 関谷祐輔  田村健彦

協力: 亀田製菓株式会社  FRANCK MULLER JAPAN  松村総合病院  TOYOTA

制作デスク: 天野直樹

設定制作: 和田純一

制作事務: 中村真樹子

制作進行: 山田良輔

制作協力: C2C

作画監督: 高橋優也

絵コンテ/演出: 夕澄慶英

アニメーション制作: bones  KINEMA CITRUS

製作: bones  毎日放送

       きぐま求職者連合

         キネマシトラス  博報堂DYメディアパートナーズ  アニプレックス

PREVIEW

(MUSIC: “Typeset Interface – Second Coming” by Takkyu Ishino)

Shiho: “Enthusiasm can double as a personal poison. No matter how much something excites you, fate will make your target come crashing down if it gets to be too much. Even worse, it can benefit another. Next time on KIGUMA, episode 10: Victory Through Insanity.”

(MUSIC END)

NOTES

TOTAL TIME: 24:29

JAPANESE VOICE CAST

Toshio Katsurada – Toshiyuki Toyonaga

Shiho Katsurada – Ai Shimizu

Hekireki Enzeru – Fumiko Orikasa

Junichi “Johnny” Ishimura – Daisuke Ono

Kujo “Cujo” Nakata – Katsuyuki Konishi

Aki Miyazaki – Tomokazu Sugita

Yuri Yamada – Aki Toyosaki

Isamu Watanabe – Daisuke Namikawa

Ai Takahashi – Nana Mizuki

Teppei Kataoka – Norio Wakamoto

Natsuko Yamamoto – Rie Kugimiya

Daisuke Takahashi – Junichi Suwabe

Iva Izumi – Ami Koshimizu

Nana Koizumi – Romi Park

Doctor – Atsushi Imaruoka

Clerk – Rica Matsumoto

ENGLISH VOICE CAST

Toshio Katsurada – Johnny Yong Bosch

Shiho Katsurada – Philece Sampler

Hekireki Enzeru – Michelle Ruff

Junichi “Johnny” Ishimura – Ethan Murray

Kujo “Cujo” Nakata – Steve Blum

Aki Miyazaki – Crispin Freeman

Yuri Yamada – Stephanie Sheh

Isamu Watanabe – Dave Wittenberg

Ai Takahashi – Bridget Hoffman

Teppei Kataoka – Michael McConnohie

Natsuko Yamamoto – Cristina Valenzuela

Daisuke Takahashi – Crispin Freeman

Iva Izumi – Lauren Landa

Nana Koizumi – Mary Elizabeth McGlynn

Doctor – Dave Mallow

Clerk – Xanthe Huynh

Other Voices – Joe J. Thomas

                    Grant George

BOARD MEMBER COMPARISON (in order of appearance)

Iva Izumi – SenseAcct

Daisuke Takahashi – Kohikki

Kujo “Cujo” Nakata – _Boxers_

Aki Miyazaki – SenseAcct

Toshio Katsurada – PokeNirvash

Hekireki Enzeru – mgangel1124

Junichi “Johnny” Ishimura – Kohikki

Yuri Yamada – WavemasterRyx

Isamu Watanabe – cidthekittyisfun

Ai Takahashi – BadWitch

Nana Koizumi – MoonGoddess17

Kichirou Shuuta – _Boxers_

Teppei Kataoka – PokeNirvash

Natsuko Yamamoto – cidthekittyisfun

Shiho Katsurada – PokeNirvash

()() - Two things are going on/being said at the same time.

Rated TV-14L for suggestive dialogue and profanity

FOOTNOTES

1: The total time for the opening theme is 4:11, but the TV SIZE version covers only 0:00-0:10 (with the vocals from 0:10-0:12 being played over the instrumental from the first couple seconds of the next interval), 0:15-0:20, 0:24-1:16, 3:30-3:59 and 4:04-4:09, the total time being 1:41.

2: Ogawago is a train station in northern Iwaki, a city on the easternmost edge of Fukushima Prefecture.

3: Iwaki Station is very close to Matsumura General. That's partly why I chose the latter as the hospital Nana works at.

4: Here is the homepage for Matsumura General Hospital's website: http://www.matsumura-ghp.or.jp/. Also located on the site, on other pages, are pictures of the building which I used as a basis for its description.

5: Take that, harem comedy anime writers!

6: Nana's house is located around real-life Tairanumanouchi Suwabara in East Iwaki. If you go on Google Maps and focus on an area called Hamakai, the empty space amongst the large group of houses is where Nana's house would be.

7: Handled means that it has a handle.

8: You all know this, but flat is the British term for a house.

9: The total time for the ending theme is 3:32, but the TV SIZE version covers only 0:00-1:11 and 3:02-3:30, the total time being 1:39.

[Poke_Nirvash]

Just dropping in to say a few things.

First of all, chapter 10 is not done yet. It's mostly due to a combination of procrastination, business with other things, and the fact that Boxers hasn't gotten back to me yet on what s/he wants Cujo's tattoos (and pendant) to look like. But I'm working on it, and hoping for its release sometime around February or March.

Secondly, I've noticed the sufficient lack of discussion in here. Not a bad thing, or something I'd freak out about - but believe me, I would've had that reaction if I did this while still a newbie, which I kinda did with NIBAI MUGENDAI - but something I've noticed quite a bit, particularly since the readers have all but disappeared for the moment. Kohikki's busy with stuff, but he promised me he'd get back to it and read it when work isn't plaguing him. Wavemasterryx, the only other reader at the time, disappeared off the face of the Internet (and possibly the planet) three months ago, so there's no chance he's still around. Sense stopped after my little freakout after chapter 3's release (see posts 50-51, around that range). Angel only read the first chapter (I personally believe that Shiho scared her off of commenting on chapter 2), but she's willing to let Boxers know of my small request.

I'm not mad or depressed that anyone hasn't replied recently, but it is noticable, especially with all the frequent updates in the other threads pushing this one closer and closer to the bottom of page 1. I'd like to introduce this fic, as somewhat crazy as it is, to other people who would certainly appreciate the maturing of my writing skills ever since the disaster that was La Revolution chapter 20, but ever since my constant advertising in the past (that no one holds me accountable for anymore since I was pretty newbish back then - thanks, Hikki) killed anyone's interest in reading my works, I guess Kiguma, despite having involvement from people here on the boards in the way of creating characters for me to use, is going to go unread, or at least uncommented. A real shame, since comments give me a chance to clear up any misconceptions and discuss the reasoning behind some of my choices that wouldn't fit in the footnotes, not to mention that I enjoy hearing people's feedback on my things, positive or negative.

[DeaconPhenix]

I think there's two things to discuss in regards to your post, Poke. First, the folder itself has gotten a lot less traffic over the past six to nine months, so it isn't just your story. When we used to put up character submission threads, we'd get 15-20 responses within the first day and now we're lucky if we see that after a week. So, it is really isn't something against anyone in particular.

Another thing to take into account is the looooooooong breaks in-between chapters that you have in KIGUMA and NM. It's really difficult to keep people interested in a story when they can only look forward to a chapter once every three months. I know you put a ton of effort and detail into all of your chapters, so there would be no way you could post chapters on a weekly basis or anything like that, but you even admitted yourself that you've been procrastinating a bit.

Anyway, none of that was meant to bash you or anything like that. I think it all might just be something to consider with the recent nature of the Creative Works folder.

[Poke_Nirvash]

I understand both, especially the part concerning the long breaks. Much like you did with some of your Bleach fanfics, my rewrite of NM has taken on the method where I write it out and refrain from posting them (partly because of a lack of a good website to post it on without a character limit) before moving onto the next chapter. I write one chapter, finish it, and then move on to the next.

And true, it is hard to hold interest with the disparity in release dates, but I'm really working on it. Hopefully, once some certain things are confirmed, I can move forward with KIGUMA without any distractions. Hell, I've already practically planned out the entire course the series is going to run, not to mention how it's going to end (I won't say anything, because spoiler reasons).

Finally, I know that was never meant to bash me, but it is true, seeing how Creative Works isn't the same as it used to be since it's days as Fan Fiction. The most I can get out to people about it are the link in my sig and the occasional post mentoning updates, omakes, and things I just needed to get off my chest.

Thanks for letting me now about all that, Deacon.

[DangerHikky]

Chapter 7 comments

I dig the intro on chapter 7 with the switches back and forth to the tv. Creates a good atmosphere, I think.

Her and her brother seem to have a nice relationship.

Shiho there's such a thing as coming on too strong and that showing up naked all the time would pretty much be the definition of it. Tone it down, girl. lmfao Johnny, you're dumb but I still like you. Hahaha, is Isamu trying to shield Yuri's eyes from Shiho's indecency?? Shiho. no. stop. bad. down. I'm really surprised Hekireki hasn't just taken off like "whoa, screw these psychos" yet.

lmfao Johnny you're like 7 years old or something.

Hrrmmm, did I miss why Ai apparently can't dance anymore? Injury? Ahhh so it was an accident.

;0 So Shiho can actually cook, eh??  Shiho you are kind of sexually harassing the poor girl you don't really have any position to be getting offended tbh.

Ahhh looks like Ai's caught Shiho's attention. Looks like she'll be the new party member sooner than I figured. Boy this group is gettin big. Aw, I think it's sweet that Ai teaches ballet to kids since she can't dance like she used to. Shiho are you trying to compete with Toshio for recruiting people now?

Hrmmm maybe Aki and Shiho can be a couple then. They seem to get along pretty well...

Psssssssh poor Ai, this strange blue haired chick kickin it in her house wearin a dog collar and all jeez.

Awww, Ai's so polite and cute, UuU I love her. Jesus you are WAY too nice, girl. "Oh no, it's cool that you were stalking me all day I'm glad it's just out of curiousity would you like more tea? ^_^" That's how you get murdered! >:0

Ahhhhhhh so that's the accident. Poor girl.

Ai no. Poor baby.

ok I ship them. S.S.AkixShiho you're cleared for depature, happy sailing.

Ahh Toshio's back now huh? So I guess Ai's gonna have to get the explanation about Shiho and all that stuff now.

Pfffff I agree, Cujo.

Oh Iva, you sassy bitch. <3 Action chapter next???? :0

Whoooo good chapter, I like the new character a lot, she's a sweetie.

Chapter 8 Comments

Shiho's killed 10k people? Shiho what are you doing why are you doing that STOP.

Weh, I don't want the pilots to get hurt they're so cute. Look at them bicker. They're precious babies.

Toshio needs rehab for his kaki-pi addiction or somethin, dang man how many bags of that stuff do you even HAVE.

Also RUDE, Aki. Leave Ai alone she's adorable. Cujo let's get married ok, you're kinda great.

klfhsdklfhjsdaf precious pilot babies i love them so much. Government officials who bicker and use gestures to communicate sdjhaskf cuties.

PSSSh Cujo sassing off to a giant robot GOSH. Daisuke maybe you shouldn't attack civilians unprovoked huh??

I REALLY JUST WANT EVERYONE TO GET ALONG????????? BECAUSE I DON'T WANT THE ADORABLE PILOTS TO DIE BUT IF SHIHO DIES THEN THE STORY PRETTY MUCH ENDS BECAUSE SHE'S ALSO TOSHIO AND THEN THEY HAVE NO CLUE WHERE THEY'RE GOING????????? DANG. DARN.

This is the Shiho that Aki is in love with. ;0 His real Shiho. *SHIPS*

DAISUKE ISN'T THE POINT OF THE MISSION TO KILL HER YOU'RE TERRIBLE AT FOLLOWING ORDERS.

HOW ARE YOU GUYS GETTING YOUR ASSES HANDED TO YOU BY ONE GIRL. HOW.

Hehehe the smoke bomb in action is pretty badass actually. ;0

WOW AKI I MIGHT SHIP YOU WITH SHIHO AND THINK THAT'S CUTE BUT STOP BEING RUDE TO CUJO OK HE'S THE BEST.

Shiho if you kill Kichi I will hate you forever ok. you need to stop. Everyone needs to just be friends right now.

SHIHO, FUCK OFF. Oh good my pilot babies are ok. It was a little unclear there what happened with the escape pod.

The Shiho v. Daisuke battle is pretty sweet, it's nice to see her on the ropes a little. SQUARES EVERYWHERE.

Wow Daisuke what happened to not killing her??? Did you remember your orders???  Dang Shiho are you gonna be ok... I think everyone needs a time out. Take five, guys.

Daisuke are you getting off on this.... are you....

Ok yeah, You're totally getting off on this.

SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

INNNNNNNNNNNNUUUUUUUUYAAAAAASSSHHHHHAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

OK good game guys see you next week. Daisuke had her on the ropes for a bit but AH WELL it is not in the cards for villains to win. u_u

WELL SHE KILLED 10K PEOPLE FOR NO REASON SO YA MIGHT HAVE SOMETHIN THERE, YURI.

Shiho there's this book called "He's just not that into you" You should maybe get it and apply it to your relationship with Hekireki MMMMAYYBE.

Wait why though. Heki you're... actually kind of justified to not like her????????????? ACTUALLY???

???????????????????????????????????what

Guys, guys no... guys just... just be friends with the kikyuruuwnaen whatever people I don't want you guys to get killed Shiho has protagonist armour YOU'RE GOING TO DIE AND I LOVE YOU. STOP.

Really good chapter. Some of the action was a little unclear at times but I figured it out.

Chapter 9 Comments

Oh cooool we get to see Daisuke working on blueprints for the Shiroteros??? Neato!!!

Precious pilot babies I love you forever you guys are adorable what if I just OT3 ship all of them together I DO. TOO LATE. Daisuke do you have super secrets you're keeping from everyone what's goin on man, what's the dealio what up. If it ends up you betray Kichi and Iva because of your super secrets I might have to cry let's not have that happen ok. He's so into his work it's cute. UuU

Heeeeeeyyyy it's Kinukuman! Poor hot sweaty Cujo. Heat sucks, especially when you're walking crazy distances.

Aww Yuri. Isamu and Yuri are cute babies too.

Ahahaha come on, Isamu, I trust them to not run away, I mean they haven't yet, right???

And then everyone took off.

HMMMMMMMMMM NANA KOIZUMI. SMELLS LIKE NEW ADDITION TO KIKAIDER

Iva I enjoy you a lot. I didn't at first but you've endeared yourself to me. AKJSDLHSKJHJKFH THESE THREEE ARE SO CUTE IT HURTS ME THEY'RE BADGUYS BUT THEY'RE JUST. SO. PRECIOUS. DKSJHFKJSHJKGHG I just want them all to be happy and together in the end that is-- all that I want.

Yay Yuri's better! Hahaha I like Nana she tells it like it is.

Heh they didn't all leave. Well, that's good then.

Toshio you stalker. What's up, Nana??? :0

Iva's really cute being so excited about her special shirotero designs. Pssssdffhfhhh <3 Kichi.

NO IVA YOU REALLY CAN'T JESUS NOT EVEN THE THREE OF YOU COULD DO IT, IVA YOU WILL BE WALKING INTO YOUR DEATH.

Toshio is an expert stalker. Totally callllled it Nana's gonna join Kigurumi!

Aki and Cujo I think need to just beat the crap out of each other and settle their differences.

Dang biggest house on the street??? She loaded or what?

Boy it sure is convenient to have a child hacker to disable security systems. Gotta wonder why the kid didn't just turn to  life of crime.

The description of Johnny leaning on Cujo made me laugh. Johnny's completely peaceful, Cujo wants to KILL EVERYTHING.

Dang everyone is so polite always when unexpected guests show up.

DANG Johnny finally snapped huh? ;0

Good. Nana that is a NORMAL reaction to some kid spying on you and following you home.

Oh... Nana... Poor girl, her poor mother too.

ISAMU'S PROTECTIVENESS OVER YURI IS REALLY DAMN ADORABLE.

Beach trip!!!!!!!!!!! ;0

Oh good, I can't even imagine the sexual harassment Heki would suffer if Shiho got to see her in a swimsuit.

Oh snap, Kichi's contracted Toshio's Kaki-pi addiction. Is this show sponsored by Kaki-pi??

dfkajdlkfhlkahsfjhjkhasjdg they're so cute help.

Booo corrupt govt. officials. ;(

So basically just Daisuke knows everything or???? what???? huh???? Or he's going to only know in the next phase?? hrm

I don't like you Kataoka. You're manipulating my pilot babies. u_u

I liked this one a lot. So next chapter'll be the beach episode huh?

Re: Cujo's pendant's and tattoo: Just use Murdoch of Gorillaz  as a reference. So for one tattoo and the pendant, an upside down cross. If you need another tattoo,a club on the left wrist. If you need MORE tattoos, an X on the back of his neck. I think those are all of the ones Boxers would suggest....

[Poke_Nirvash]

---

DangerHikky wrote:

Chapter 7 comments

I'm really surprised Hekireki hasn't just taken off like "whoa, screw these psychos" yet. Well, she doesn't want to leave Johnny and Cujo behind if she just decided to up and leave, now wouls she? And of course she still has her KIGUMA motivations.

Shiho are you trying to compete with Toshio for recruiting people now? Something like that.

Hrmmm maybe Aki and Shiho can be a couple then. They seem to get along pretty well...

ok I ship them. S.S.AkixShiho you're cleared for depature, happy sailing.

In a world without homosexuality, true, I'd probably make them the main couple. Also, if this were an actual anime, I'm sure there'd be at least one continuity-breaking doujin focusing on the two.

**noel** you are WAY too nice, girl. "Oh no, it's cool that you were stalking me all day I'm glad it's just out of curiousity would you like more tea? ^_^" That's how you get murdered! >:0 Of course, that's how one thinks in a world where the government is convincing you that the world (or at least the country they live in) is free of any kind of problem. Which of course is untrue, given how many people want to use the KIGUMA.

Ahhhhhhh so that's the accident. Poor girl. A bit of a note on Ai's accident: originally, I thought BadWitch had come up with the idea for Ai's past by herself, but after seeing the dub trailer for Rideback one day, I realized she got a little outside help. That's alright, as long as it isn't a blatant ripoff (like Ai piloting a robot on wheels like the chick in Rideback), I'm cool with a bit of plagiarism.

Pfffff I agree, Cujo. I might've said thise before, but Cujo is one of the characters with the best dialogue.

Action chapter next???? :0 Of course, I planned on chapter 8 being the first out of a number of episodes where action outweighed character interaction (not that you can't have enough complaining from Cujo or blatant sexual harrassment between the two main girls).

Whoooo good chapter, I like the new character a lot, she's a sweetie. Glad you liked it! I'm sorta glad myself in that this episode didn't turn out as ecchi as I expected it to be, with the naked apron scene and all that.

Chapter 8 Comments

Shiho's killed 10k people? Shiho what are you doing why are you doing that STOP. Never said she was doing it now, but yes, the number of kills on that list is not some freakish typo. Natsuko's surprisingly careful with data input.

Toshio needs rehab for his kaki-pi addiction or somethin, dang man how many bags of that stuff do you even HAVE. He buys in bulk. >_>

I REALLY JUST WANT EVERYONE TO GET ALONG????????? BECAUSE I DON'T WANT THE ADORABLE PILOTS TO DIE BUT IF SHIHO DIES THEN THE STORY PRETTY MUCH ENDS BECAUSE SHE'S ALSO TOSHIO AND THEN THEY HAVE NO CLUE WHERE THEY'RE GOING????????? Dat's a lotta question marks.

This is the Shiho that Aki is in love with. ;0 His real Shiho. *SHIPS* Something tell's me you'd spend your money on the first ShihoxAki doujin you see, even if it's untranslated and sold only at an anime convention in Tokyo.

DAISUKE ISN'T THE POINT OF THE MISSION TO KILL HER YOU'RE TERRIBLE AT FOLLOWING ORDERS. It's best to give the others a shot at the mission before doing it yourself if all else fails.

HOW ARE YOU GUYS GETTING YOUR **noel** HANDED TO YOU BY ONE GIRL. HOW. Sniper skills.

Hehehe the smoke bomb in action is pretty badass actually. ;0 Bones is great at animating smoke and explosion clouds. No mistake that it's badass.

WOW AKI I MIGHT SHIP YOU WITH SHIHO AND THINK THAT'S CUTE BUT STOP BEING RUDE TO CUJO OK HE'S THE BEST. Once the KIGUMA fixes his lack of empathy issues, that'll no longer be a problem.

SHIHO, fuuuuuudge OFF. Oh good my pilot babies are ok. It was a little unclear there what happened with the escape pod. Always trust in escape pods: They can save your life!

The Shiho v. Daisuke battle is pretty sweet, it's nice to see her on the ropes a little. SQUARES EVERYWHERE. That's Yutaka Nakamura for ya. This whole fight sequence was clearly my favorite scene to picture while writing. The animation quality for it is pretty much the high-level BONES animation you see in stuff like FMA Brotherhood and Eureka seveN.

Daisuke are you getting off on this.... are you....

Ok yeah, You're totally getting off on this. It was never the intention, but yes, he probably and most likely totally is, and the voice acting isn't helping.

SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

INNNNNNNNNNNNUUUUUUUUYAAAAAASSSHHHHHAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

KAGOMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WELL SHE KILLED 10K PEOPLE FOR NO REASON SO YA MIGHT HAVE SOMETHIN THERE, YURI. No reason as of yet.

Shiho there's this book called "He's just not that into you" You should maybe get it and apply it to your relationship with Hekireki MMMMAYYBE. If it was made after the moment that defined KIGUMA as an alternate universe (read: the moment RYUDIS came into being), then I doubt it'll be much help. If it was before, not even it would falter Shiho's persistence.

Wait why though. Heki you're... actually kind of justified to not like her????????????? ACTUALLY???

???????????????????????????????????what Anime logic man, how does it work?

Guys, guys no... guys just... just be friends with the kikyuruuwnaen whatever people I don't want you guys to get killed Shiho has protagonist armour YOU'RE GOING TO DIE AND I LOVE YOU. STOP. Villainous motivations man, how do they work?

Really good chapter. Some of the action was a little unclear at times but I figured it out. Nice to see that even with the spaz reactions over how all these nice if somewhat definitely crazy people fighting each other, you thought it was really good. True, the action would be unclear to those unused to my writing style, mixing script-style scene setting formats to make it seem more anime-ish and regular quotations like in a book. Still, fun chapter to write, even funner chapter to picture while writing.

Chapter 9 Comments

Oh cooool we get to see Daisuke working on blueprints for the Shiroteros??? Neato!!! I was saving the one scene where Daisuke did his blueprint work as articulated in the chapter for this episode. It's something I like to call planning ahead. And boy have I planned ahead a lot.

Precious pilot babies I love you forever you guys are adorable what if I just OT3 ship all of them together I DO. TOO LATE. Daisuke do you have super secrets you're keeping from everyone what's goin on man, what's the dealio what up. If it ends up you betray Kichi and Iva because of your super secrets I might have to cry let's not have that happen ok. He's so into his work it's cute. UuU I'm not really the kind of guy who does corruption and betrayal, but more because it's hard to do than that it's overdone already. So no need to worry, Daisuke won't betray the others.

Heeeeeeyyyy it's Kinukuman! Kikyuuren. Poor hot sweaty Cujo. Heat **noel**, especially when you're walking crazy distances. The partial cloudiness of the day before was peaceful in comparison.

And then everyone took off. And not a single f*ck was given that day. That wasn't Toshio's. >_>

HMMMMMMMMMM NANA KOIZUMI. SMELLS LIKE NEW ADDITION TO KIKAIDER Kikyuuren. It actually took me a while to get that you were purposefully mispelling it.

Iva I enjoy you a lot. I didn't at first but you've endeared yourself to me. AKJSDLHSKJHJKFH THESE THREEE ARE SO CUTE IT HURTS ME THEY'RE BADGUYS BUT THEY'RE JUST. SO. PRECIOUS. DKSJHFKJSHJKGHG Badguys have endearing qualities that make them likable to various portions of the audience. Good character interaction is one of them. I just want them all to be happy and together in the end that is-- all that I want. 

Yay Yuri's better! Hahaha I like Nana she tells it like it is. And despite her insistencies, anime characters will treat those with colds like they're on their deathbed.

Toshio you stalker. What's up, Nana??? :0 Out of context situations: the number one reason anime stalkers exist.

Iva's really cute being so excited about her special shirotero designs. Pssssdffhfhhh <3 Kichi. He's clearly signing that her Shirotero is some kind of tentacle monster.

NO IVA YOU REALLY CAN'T **noel** NOT EVEN THE THREE OF YOU COULD DO IT, IVA YOU WILL BE WALKING INTO YOUR DEATH. Sure, it's one of her dumbest decisions, but hey. There's 15 chapters left after this one, and it can't all be spent on Hekireki slowly pushing aside her justifications for not liking Shiho while the Kikyuuren head for the KIGUMA. Not to mention more action sequences. *sunglasses smiley*

Toshio is an expert stalker. Totally callllled it Nana's gonna join Kigurumi! Kikyuuren. Although I have to admit, I chuckled at your alternate name choice.

Aki and Cujo I think need to just beat the crap out of each other and settle their differences. I'd pay to see that.

Dang biggest house on the street??? She loaded or what? Doctors make a lotta dough. It can't all just be left in the bank.

Boy it sure is convenient to have a child hacker to disable security systems. Gotta wonder why the kid didn't just turn to life of crime. If Shiho was sharing bodies with him back when she racked up those 10k kills, it maybe might've influenced Toshio, but Toshio didn't want to get himself involved?

The description of Johnny leaning on Cujo made me laugh. Johnny's completely peaceful, Cujo wants to KILL EVERYTHING. You said to make Cujo a little more angrily concerned about Johnny invading his personal space.

DANG Johnny finally snapped huh? ;0 Sure, you could say that.

Good. Nana that is a NORMAL reaction to some kid spying on you and following you home. Normal in that she reacted like someone would IRL, or normal in that she reacted normally? ... They're basically the same thing, right?

ISAMU'S PROTECTIVENESS OVER YURI IS REALLY **noel** ADORABLE. You can't blame him, she's the closest thing to a guardian she has now.

Oh good, I can't even imagine the sexual harassment Heki would suffer if Shiho got to see her in a swimsuit. Probably the standard anime skinship grope, but whatever it is, it was enough for Toshio to say no to her offer before she could even finish stating it.

Oh snap, Kichi's contracted Toshio's Kaki-pi addiction. Is this show sponsored by Kaki-pi?? In the (Japanese-language) credits, under Cooperation/Special Thanks (協力) for each episode it lists Kameda Seika Inc., a snack foods corporation headquartered in Niigata (one of their warehouses was used in episode 1 as the meeting place between the original Kikyuuren members and Toshio). They make a lot of kaki-pi, but also make brown rice crackers and other treats too. So yes, the show is (more or less) sponsored by Kaki-pi. And for this episode, Toyota.

So basically just Daisuke knows everything or???? what???? huh???? Or he's going to only know in the next phase?? hrm It's not really Daisuke that knows everything, but Kataoka (and Natsuko maybe) that know everything. But Daisuke will know everything soon enough.

I don't like you Kataoka. You're manipulating my pilot babies. u_u What else to expect from the head of the government?

I liked this one a lot. So next chapter'll be the beach episode huh? Yep. Don't expect too much anime cliches, and be prepared for anything, be it plot development or character freakouts. Also, episodes without Shiho appearing (at least visually) are kinda strange for me, but they're also some of the best to write, somehow.

Re: Cujo's pendant's and tattoo: Just use Murdoch of Gorillaz  as a reference. So for one tattoo and the pendant, an upside down cross. If you need another tattoo,a club on the left wrist. If you need MORE tattoos, an X on the back of his neck. I think those are all of the ones Boxers would suggest.... Ah, so my top question has finally been answered. Thanks for that, Hikki.

---

Glad to see that you're enjoying the chapters as much as usual. And reading these just gave me a couple more ideas to include in future chapters. The biggest challenge, however, is to see how I can dumb down Shiho's attraction to Hekireki's status as a sexual harrassment case if the future relations between the two as implied in episode 8 take off any. I also find it kind of nice that you enjoy all the characters (except Natsuko, Kataoka, and Shiho whenever she's THIS close to nearly killing one of the Shirotero pilots) and that you ship ShihoxAki.

But what was the most surprising to me is that you didn't comment on Daisuke walking off with Kichi at the end of episode 9. Kind of expected you would, but whatevs.

Still, it's always a joy to read your reviews, Hikki. Congrats on catching up! *throws confetti*

[DangerHikky]

---

Poke_Nirvash wrote:

But what was the most surprising to me is that you didn't comment on Daisuke walking off with Kichi at the end of episode 9. Kind of expected you would, but whatevs.

---

I NOTICED IT BUT I DIDN'T THINK MUCH OF IT OTHER THAN MAYBE THEY LIVED IN THE SAME DIRECTION AND THEY WERE JUST BEING BRO-Y?????? SHOULD I BEGIN  ARRANGING PORT CLEARANCE FOR A CERTAIN VESSEL?????

TOO LATE.

I'M GONNA HAVE A GODDAMN ARMADA BY THE END OF THIS THING.

(my ships are ShihoxAki, CujoxJohnny, IsamuxYuri, IvaxDaisukexKichi, DaisukexKichi at the moment)

[Poke_Nirvash]

It may have taken me longer than I wanted it to take, but I'm finally half-way finished with chapter 10. What have I learned from this experience? That I really need to make the pacing less slow, so I can fit in everything necessary for the 24:29 time limit I want (OP and ED included).

[Poke_Nirvash]

It took me long enough, but after four months of writer's block, tattoo angst, and long periods of time where a 2 didn't come up on my lucky black die, I have finally completed KIGUMA chapter 10. It will be posted momentarily, most definitely this week.

[Poke_Nirvash]

In this episode, Iva does three stupid things, and Shiho does something smart. Can you guess them all by the end?

(MUSIC: “brain trip” by Takkyu Ishino)

OPENING NARRATION (NANA)

KINDNESS IS NOTHING MORE THAN A TOOL PEOPLE USE TO DISPEL THE TRUTH THEY DON'T WANT TO ACCEPT, WHETHER IT BE A WHITE LIE OR SOMETHING MUCH MORE SERIOUS. AT LEAST, THAT'S WHAT I BELIEVED EVER SINCE MY DAYS IN COLLEGE. I NEVER POURED MY TRUST INTO ANYONE, FOR I SAW ALL OF THEM AS THE SAME PEOPLE MY PARENTS ENDED UP BEING. I TRIED TO BE NICE TO OTHERS, BUT IN MY HEART, I JUST WISHED THAT EVERYONE COULD SUFFER FOR THE FALSE ACTIONS THEY CONVEYED THROUGH THEIR “KINDNESS”. BUT NOW, I'VE MET PEOPLE WHO CAN HELP ME ACHIEVE MY DESIRE TO CHANGE THE PAST SO I WOULDN'T HAVE TO PUT UP WITH EVERYTHING ANYMORE. I GUESS... I'M STARTING TO VIEW THIS “KINDNESS” AS SOMETHING MORE THAN THE TOOL I BELIEVED IT TO BE.

(MUSIC END)

企画: 南雅彦

       竹田青滋

       勝股英夫

       峰岸卓生

原作: bones x 濠沢彼太

キャラクターデザイン原作: kohikki

キャラクターデザイン/総作画監督: 菊池聡延 (nomad)

美術監督: 永井一男

色彩設計: 水田信子

メカニカルデザイン: 河森正治

3DCGIプロデューサー: 神林憲和 (オクティグラフィカ)

撮影監督: 木村俊也 (T2 studio)

編集: 野尻由紀子

音響監督: 若林和弘

音響効果: 倉橋静男

音楽: 石野卓球

音楽制作: アニプレックス

オープニングテーマ: 『the truth』

                   歌: UVERworld

                作詞: TAKUYA∞

                作曲: TAKUYA∞  彰

                編曲: UVERworld  平出悟

                       (gr8!records)

プロデューサー: 米内則智

                   松家雄一郎

                   丸山博雄

                   大山良

                   細川修

アニメーション制作: bones

                      KINEMA CITRUS

脚本/監督: 濠沢彼太

製作: 毎日放送

        きぐま求職者連合

        bones

The episode begins with an establishing shot of the lower portion of the Ryudis Governmental Building: the part that's closest to the ground. To be specific, the establishing shot is that of the hangar-like wing of the building dedicated to the construction of Shiroteros. It's very early in the morning, so the silvery-white exterior of the hangar is seen, given a shine from the sunrise.

Cut to the inside of the Shirotero construction hangar. A cylinder on the back of a Shirotero, about four feet wide and twelve feet tall, is being filled to the brim with a yellow-orange colored liquid. Once the cylinder is shy of being filled to the top, the pouring stops, and the rounded top of the cylinder is automatically lowered so it's closed.

Standing on the scaffolding around the Shirotero are two members of Ryudis's staff, both wearing blue jumpsuits. One is in his early 40s with messy hair and peach fuzz, while the other is younger with no facial hair and a clean-looking haircut. The older staff member presses a button on a remote, causing a pipe positioned above the cylinder to move up offscreen. “There. Now everything's ready for today's mission.”

“I'll go find the lieutenant and let him know.” The younger staff member turns around on the scaffolding and jumps off onto the floor.

The older staff member looks down at him, smirking. “Heh. Yeah, if you can find him.”

The scene cuts to another part of the Ryudis Governmental Building. The room is darkened, save for a single ceiling light. A vending machine rests against the back wall of the room. Standing in front of the vending machine is Daisuke, wearing his blue blazer as usual. He presses a button on the vending machine, emitting a buzzing noise. Immediately after, something falls from the machine to the slot.

What landed in the slot is a can of coffee labeled “SUNTREE BASS”, the image of a mustachioed man with a cigar in his mouth in a circle separating the two words1. Below that it reads “SMOOTH BLEND” across the lower middle part. Daisuke holds the can and opens it, putting it to his lips right after and drinks from it. As he drinks, the sound of someone running and panting is heard. Just as Daisuke removes the can from his lips and breathes a sigh of refreshment, the younger staff member appears from an adjacent hallway, stopping in his tracks and putting his hands on his knees, gasping for breath.

“Huh?” Daisuke looks at the staff member.

After another two seconds, the staff member looks up at Daisuke. “Good morning, Lieutenant Takahashi.”

Daisuke turns his body to face the staff member. “Morning. What's up?”

The staff member breathes twice more before replying. “We just finished modifying that Shirotero like you told us yesterday, sir. Would you like to come down and take a look before we launch it?”

Daisuke looks at the staff member with a blank look on his face, but after he finishes speaking, he smirks. “Certainly.”

(MUSIC: “high time for the warrior” by Takkyu Ishino)

The setting switches back to the Shirotero construction wing of the Ryudis Governmental Building. The main focus of the scene is the Shirotero that was detailed in the blueprints from the previous episode. Only this time, the vision has now become reality. The Shirotero, like any other Shirotero, stands around 3 stories tall. Like the standard Shirotero, it has a round, white head, mechanical limbs, and a small white sphere in the middle of its torso, housing a red light in the center, dimmed at the moment. But unlike the standard Shirotero, it has eleven tentacle-esque protrusions coming from its body; five come from the back of its head with one in the center and four circling around it, and six connected to the backs of its arms, three protrusions for each arm. It stands there, the protrusions drooping down due to its current immobility. The drooped protrusions from the head gives it the slight appearance of having dreadlocks2.

The two staff that were working on it are standing in front of it. Daisuke looks at it from the second-story balcony overlooking the hangar, his mouth partially agape in reaction to the apparent success.

“So, what do ya think, Lieutenant? Beautiful, huh?”

Daisuke smiles. “Yeah, you could say that.” Daisuke looks down at the two staff, the younger one standing there with his arms crossed and the older one scratching the side of his head as if he has an itch. “You guys really outdid yourselves.”

The younger member rubs the back of his head, sheepishly smiling. “Yeah, even though it was a group effort. But the two of us did a lot of the work ourselves!”

The older member sighs. “Right. A lot.”

“But we need to see what Miss Izumi thinks of it once she arrives. You know where she is?”

Daisuke replies to the younger member, his arms crossed. “She's normally here around this time, plus she's ecstatic about the mission, (so she should be here shortly.”)

(Just then, the sliding door leading into the balcony part of the hangar opens. Iva is standing there, wearing her white (with emerald green trim) pilot suit. Kichirou stands right behind her, wearing his grey hoodie, the hood put down, and smoking a cigarette.) She starts looking around frantically, an energetic gleam in her eye.

“Ha! So? Where is it?”

“Eh?” Daisuke turns to see Iva standing there. (“Morning, Iva. Didn't think you'd get here this fast. And you even have your pilot suit on already.”)

(“Daisuke!” Iva runs up to Daisuke, putting her fists in front of her in excitement. “Daisuke, do you know where the Shirotero for today's mission is?”)

“Hm? The Shirotero. It's right over there.” Daisuke points to his right.

“Ah!” Iva turns, her hands gripping onto the balcony. She looks at the Shirotero standing in the middle. She lets out a loud gasp as she sees it. “IT'S PERFECT!”

Daisuke flinches backwards slightly, taken aback by Iva's sudden raise in volume. Kichirou comes in and looks at the Shirotero as Iva continues to fangirl, giving a thumbs up to the crew that's down there already.

“Oh wow, it looks just the way I wanted it to be! Can I please it out now, guys?”

The older staff member looks up at Iva, rubbing the back of his head. “I can't really say that we can.”

The younger staff member gives a thumbs up to Kichirou in return, but then looks at Iva, showing his more serious side. “Normally, we don't let the pilots use them until they're in battle. With some exceptions.” He looks up at Kichirou.

Kichirou blushes and backs up slightly, blushing as he puts his hand on his neck in embarrassment. The smile that goes along with it causes his cig to point upward.

“Come on, guys,” Daisuke says. “It's Iva's first solo mission.” He walks up to her and puts his hand on her head. “The least you could do is let her get in it before the takeoff.”

The older staff lowers his head, grumbling as the younger staff looks at him in slight concern. “Alright, fine! Once we move it to the launch hangar, we'll let 'er walk it up to the transport copter, but nothing beyond that!” The older staff walks off, as does the younger staff, the latter, nervously chuckling.

As they walk off, Daisuke looks at Iva, taking his hand off of her head. “Does that sound fine with you, Iva? It doesn't seem like much...”

“Believe me, Daisuke,” Iva says, crossing her arms. “Something as small as that's enough of a warm-up for me.”

Daisuke looks off to the side, a bit disturbed by her enthusiasm. Kichirou takes his cigarette out of his mouth and blows out the smoke.

The scene cuts to a shot of the head of the new Shirotero, the light in its eye dim. After a second or two of stillness in a partially darkened setting, most likely by its own shadow, the red eye lights up.

The Shirotero, now in piloting mode, is now in a part of the Ryudis Governmental Building that looks a lot more like an aircraft hangar. Across the wall to one side of the Shirotero are other standard model Shiroteros, and to the right are a series of grappling crafts: white flying devices suited for seating one person (the pilot), posessing helicopter blades, and a four-fingered clamp acting as the bottom, stretched out so the craft is on level ground. Surrounding the area between the bottom of the cockpit and the focus of the clamp is a cylinder that looks like it houses mechanical apparatuses. The ceiling of the hangar opens up to reveal the sky, a bright blue with nary a cloud in the sky.

The Shirotero starts walking from where it was standing before, approaching a transport copter situated in the middle of the hangar. It's smaller than the standard transport copter, with only half the length of a small airplane and about a half of the width. The three-story tall helicopter-reminiscent device has the side door of its storage area open. The Shirotero walks onto the transport copter's storage area, turning around so it's back is just a foot or two away from the wall opposite the side door. A screw-like apparatus emerges from the wall and inserts itself into the back of the Shirotero, at the point between its neck and the top of the cylinder on its back.

After screwing itself in, the Shirotero looks up and forwards.

The sound of an announcement is heard over a loudspeaker inside the transport copter. “The Shirotero has been situated and secured. Preparing for takeoff.” As the announcement goes on, the door to the storage part of the transport copter starts to lower itself from the top down so it closes up.

The blades at the top of the transport copter start to rotate, and it begins to rise up, approaching the open roof of the hangar. Soon after, the transport copter makes its way out of the hangar roof, shown to branch off at around the twentieth story of the Ryudis Governmental Building. It changes direction and flies off, moving away from the building as it goes past it, heading towards the north.

Back inside her Shirotero, Iva sits in the green-tinted cockpit, lightly gripping onto the handlebars as she closes her eyes, slowly breathing as if in meditation.

“Hey, Iva, you doin' alright in there?”

“Hm?” Iva snaps out of her meditation at the sound of Daisuke's voice. “Of course. Can't you tell?” She replies with an angry yet kind of cute expression as conveyed through her slanted-downwards eyebrows. She looks at the window out of her Shirotero, showing a clear view of the transport copter's insides. Overlapping the visual is a window reading the following:

MESSAGE FROM TAKAHASHI

SOUND ONLY

“Not really, but I just wanted to be clear with you on that.”

Iva sighs, annoyed. “Fine. Where are you, anyways?”

“Oh, Kichi and I're hanging out in the main database.”

Cut to inside of the main database room, blue-tinted like it usually is. Natsuko sits at the computer area, in the clothes she usually wears, looking at numerous visuals of what appear to be beach views from a camera. Kataoka, in his standard dress, stands behind her to her right, observing her as she works on the computer. Daisuke and Kichirou stand off to her left, all the way behind her at the level of the room's floor where the exit is, higher than the small dip down where Natsuko and Kataoka are. Kichirou is smoking another cigarette, while Daisuke just stands there, speaking into a microphone attached to a headset placed above his right ear.

“The Prime Minister thought it'd be best if we observed the mission from here with him and Natsuko. That way, we can see if you learned anything from us when you kill Shiho.”

“Huh!? You telling me he thinks I can't kill her without relying on your impossible strategies!?”

“Not necessarily.”

Iva scoffs over the microphone. “Whatever. Wish me luck!”

“Sure.”

“Wait, whaddaya mean 'Sur-'”

Daisuke flips a switch on his headset before looking back up at the screens. Kichirou, standing next to Daisuke, removes his cigarette from his mouth and blows out the smoke.

“Excellent,” says Kataoka. “Everything's now in place, from the antecedent to the modus operandi. And factoring in the usage of a Shirotero that will increase Operation BSA's success rate, I feel that Miss Izumi will do a fine job.” He lowers his head, scowling. “That is, if the powers that be favor my desire for her victory.”

Natsuko stops typing and looks up at Kataoka. “Huh!? But I thought you said she was gonna fail this mission!”

“My desires and predictions are separate from one another, Natsuko. Sure, I'm expecting that Phase 2 will fail, but I hope that it will be successful. And if my expectations start to take the form of my hopes...” Kataoka looks up and smirks, looking up at the screens. “It'll certainly be quite the sight to see.”

第10話

狂気は勝利につながる

Episode 10

Victory Through Insanity

(MUSIC END)

The scene switches over to Nana's neighborhood over in Tairanumanouchi Suwabara. The POV pans over the numerous houses making up Hamakai, the portion of the small area in East Iwaki where Nana lives, Nana's larger-than-the-others house included in the group of houses. In contrast to Nana's red-roofed, yellowish-tan colored, two-story residence, the other houses have grey roofs with the occasional second red mixed in, exterior colors ranging from brown to grey to white, and are only one story in height. A couple of power lines travel over and across the row of houses, one of which is even tied to a small extrusion poking out of the roof of Nana's house. The sound of birds squawking in the distance as they fly by offscreen can be heard.

Just then, the ocean tide rushes up onto the shore of the beach and retreats back, leaving behind some of the water it took with it as it came forward. The beach across from the street Nana's house is situated on bears realistically colored sand, and to the left of the spot with the back-and-forth oceantide is a large rock formation with a decent amount of forestation on top of it, reaching a half the height of forestation one would find in a nature park. Past that are numerous rows of rocks lined up in rows, for the most part hidden from sight by the forestation rock.

Cut to a shot of someone running across the sand of the beach. The POV only focuses on the bottom portion of their body, so only their knees, shins, and feet can be seen. After a few seconds, that person jumps up, disappearing out of sight.

The tide encroaches forward onto the sandy beach once more, recoiling back as the shot pans up to show only the water and the cloudless blue sky acting as a backdrop for the ocean. After another few seconds, the person who was running before jumps down on screen, landing in the water up to the midpoint of their shins, causing just enough of a water splash to be noticable; the water splashes upwards in the form of streaks and small orbs, splashing back down into the water as it causes a series of backjets3 from each drop impact. The person then turns around to face the POV.

(MUSIC: “scratchy reverb” by Takkyu Ishino)

The shot pans up quickly to show that the person that turned around is Hekireki, smiling as she turns to face the beach before her. She's wearing a white two-piece bikini with red straps and a red border around the white parts of the top piece and the bottom piece. Her breasts, covered by her bikini top and sized so it's the most realistic and comfortable definition of well-endowed, are shown off perfectly by her swimsuit.

After turning around, she raises her arm and waves to someone in the distance. “Hey, what're you standing around for? Hurry up and join me!”

Over in the distance, running towards the water to join Hekireki, is Ai. Wearing a red bikini, she runs a little slower than one normally would, looking at Hekireki as she replies. “You know, I'd really love to hurry, but I can't run as fast as I used to!” She looks down lightly reaching toward her shin with her right arm. “The same can be said for jumping like you did.”

“Yeah, but still, you have to feel the water! It feels great!”

“Okay!”

About a few seconds later (having passed by in just a change of POV from at Hekireki to her lower legs in the water), Ai arrives at the edge of the ocean alongside Hekireki, going in just a couple feet down from her. Instead of jumping in, her feet just slide right into the water, going half-way up her shins like Hekireki's did.

Ai turns to Hekireki, smiling in excitement. “You're right! It does feel great!”

Hekireki turns to Ai and closes her eyes, her hands on her hips. “Good!” Hekireki bends down towards the water, dipping her hands in it, and then swerves them up and to the right, splashing Ai with the water brought up by her movements.

Ai yelps and puts up her arms to protect herself from the splashing water, with no avail as it manages to splash all over her front anyways. She puts her arms down and faces Hekireki, a bit of an angry look about her. “Hey, what was that for?”

Hekireki continues to smile. “Lighten up, Ai! Messing around like this is fun!”

“Well, if you put it that way...” Ai smirks a bit and dips her hands in the water, causing Hekireki to look down curiously, and swerves them up and to the left, splashing Hekireki with the water brought up. It takes Hekireki completely by surprise, causing her to close her eyes as the water proceeds to lightly drench her. She holds up her arms too late as well. Ai faces Hekireki, her hands on her hips with a slight laugh in her voice. “I guess it is pretty fun!”

Hekireki, bending over just a little from the water, smirks and stands up a little straighter, looking at Ai. “Oh, you're in for it now!” Excitedly, Hekireki puts her hands in the water and brings up another artificial wave of it to splash Ai with.

Ai gets splashed with the water, giggling a little bit as it hits her this time, showing her growing enjoyment of it. She returns the splash given to her by giving one to Hekireki, splashing her, only this time, Hekireki puts up her arms to unsuccessfully protect herself from it. Not that it doesn't ruin the fun she's having any as she returns another splash to Ai.

As the POV settles itself right at the edge of the beach facing the street as it focuses on Hekireki and Ai's water fight, two pairs of legs walk up to that edge and stop: one of them belonging to Isamu, and the other to Yuri.

“You know what, Isamu,” Yuri says shyly. “I'm kind of having second thoughts.”

“Come on, Yuri, it's not that bad.” Isamu's wearing just sandals and a light brown-colored bathing suit, the legs of the suit going down to just a little above his knees, showing that there's plenty of room in there. His physique isn't exactly muscular, nor is it exactly anorexic; just fitting enough for someone of a lanky build. “Me, you, and everyone else in the Kikyuuren are the only ones here. So why're you so nervous, then?” he asks, looking down at Yuri.

Yuri looks down at the ground, rubbing the upper part of her left arm with her right hand and blushing out of nervousness. Her swimsuit – or to be more accurate, the swimsuit Nana lent her – is a one-piece, light blue in color with a small ribbon going around the lower waist, acting as the top of a faux skirt. Her hair is done up in pigtails, as usual. “Well... it's just that it's my first time going somewhere nice as this, so there's that... and also, there's this swimsuit...”

“Hm?” Isamu looks down at Yuri. “What about it?”

“It just seems a bit too childish for someone like me to wear,” Yuri says in her slightly nervous tone, looking down in mild embarrassment. “Even if it is from Miss Koizumi.”

“Really? I think it looks kinda cute on you.” Isamu smiles as he says this.

Yuri looks up at Isamu, smiling a bit as her blushing becomes less of nervousness and more of mild flattery. “You think so?”

Isamu squats down slightly and puts his hands on Yuri's shoulders, nodding once in assurance. “I know so. Now go on out there and play with Hekireki and Ai.” Isamu reaches behind him and holds up a beach ball, colored in the pattern white-red-white-blue-white-yellow all around with white circles on the top and bottom. Yuri looks up at it with slight amazement. “If the three of you get tired splashing water at each other, you can toss this around instead. Sound good?”

Yuri looks at Isamu, reassured, and nods. “Right!” She takes the beachball from Isamu with both hands. “Thanks a bunch, Isamu!” Yuri turns around, holding the beach ball above her head as she runs toward the ocean to meet up with Hekireki and Ai, continuing their water fight.

Isamu stands up and waves at Yuri. “Have fun!” He stands there and watches Yuri run off to play with the other two girls there.

Meanwhile, a bit farther away from where Isamu is, Aki walks onto the edge of the beach from the road, with Johnny following suit. Aki wears a black long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up, as well as a brown bathing suit and sandals. Johnny, on the other hand, is shirtless with a blue bathing suit and sandals, carrying with him a cooler that appears to be a little too heavy for him to carry, even with two hands.

Aki looks up at the sky, the side of his right hand pressed against his forehead so the sun doesn't blind him. He scoffs a little. “D*mn, it's so hot.”

Johnny stops a foot or two behind Aki, setting down the cooler. “Obviously. But even so, it feels real nice out here!” Johnny raises his arms and intertwines his hands together, stretching.

Aki lowers his head, and his arm along with it. “That's the thing. If it was gonna be this hot, I wouldnt've agreed to this!” Aki sighs in frustration. “What's it gonna take to cool a guy down around here?”

“For starters, you could take off that d*mn shirt.”

Aki glares at Cujo, sitting in one of those long reclining beach chairs over to Aki's right. Like Johnny, Cujo is shirtless, although his chest has more hair than Johnny's, which has none. Cujo is also wearing a black bathing suit with dark blue stripes running across it diagonally. On his right shoulder is a tattoo of an upside-down cross4, the same shape the silver-colored pendant around his neck takes on. In his right hand he has a black and red pair of binoculars, small enough to fit in someone's pants pocket. His left hand is behind his head. His bangs cover his eyes not so they're invisible, but so they prevent the sun from blinding him, since he's staring up at the sky.

“What makes you say that?”

Cujo glances over at Aki. “Don'tcha f*ckin' remember? You said yourself that I should take off my goddamn shirt if it's hot like this! Tch!” He turns his head back. “F*ck, even Limey-Lover's doing it, so why not you?”

Aki looks back at Johnny. The latter has his hands on his hips and nods in a false sense of bravado. Aki just simply looks back at Cujo. “You know what? I'll keep it on.”

“Fine, suit yourself.” Cujo holds up his binoculars and looks through them, pointed right at the area where Hekireki and Ai are splashing each other with water. The two splash it at each other for a few more seconds before Yuri runs up to them. The two stop at her arrival, and look down at Yuri as she talks to them, the beach ball held out in front of her. Their dialogue can't be heard, due to them being so far away. “Who needs to complain 'bout sh*t like that when we can just relax for a change?”

“And have some fun too.”

“Eh?” Cujo lowers his binoculars and looks over to the left.

Isamu walks up to join the three, his one hand on his hip as he looks back out at the ocean. “You know, even though most of us have known each other for only a few days, we've really gotten closer to one another after joining the Kikyuuren.”

Cujo groans and looks over at Isamu. “Can you stop calling it that? That name's f*ckin' stupid!”

Isamu looks over at Cujo. “Sure, I thought that too, but it's really starting to mean something now.”

Aki looks out at the ocean, crossing his arms. “You have to admit, Toshio did a good job picking it out.”

Johnny starts looking around. “Speaking of which, where is Mr. Toshio?”

Cujo holds his binoculars up to his eyes, looking out at the ocean again. “Wherever he is, he's really missin' out.”

Cujo continues to look over in the area where Hekireki, Yuri, and Ai are. All three are in different parts of the water, forming a sort of triangle as they toss around the beach ball. Ai serves it like one would a volleyball and Hekireki hits it in a set using her fingers and not just the tips. However, as she does so, she accidentally falls down into the water, surprising Ai and Yuri and causing the beach ball to land in the water.

Cujo smirks. “Heh. Scratch that. If anything, Sniper B*tch is the one missin' out. (And not on the fun and relaxation.” Cujo snickers a bit.)

(Through the binoculars, Hekireki gets up from her landing in the water, with Ai holding onto her back in support. Some of the ocean water is dripping off of her hair and face onto her body, the most noticable location of the water (from Cujo's POV) being the amount splattered on Hekireki's breasts, some of it having collected between her cleavage5.)

As Aki glances at Cujo with slight disgust, Isamu responds to Johnny's question. “Last time I saw him, he was still over in Doctor Koizumi's house. If anything, he's probably making sure she's coming along with us.”

As Isamu says that last sentence, the scene cuts to the exterior of Nana's house. Nothing much has changed from before, although Toshio and Nana are both leaning against the fence surrounding her house; Toshio on the side the road is on, Nana on the side the house is on, next to each other.

(MUSIC END)

The gate leading into Nana's property is open. Toshio, wearing his grey T-shirt with the white and red ribbon, looks down, his arms crossed and his head lowered. Nana, wearing a grey bikini with a red spiral pattern, is looking up as she's speaking into her cell phone.

“Yeah.” A pause. “That's right, two weeks.” Another pause. Suddenly, she looks down, appearing to be a bit frustrated with the person on the other line. “So what if I'm skipping out on my job? Doctors need vacations too, you know!” Cut to Toshio, continuing to look down. “If you need someone to cover me, make it the guy who's taking my place today!” Another pause. “I don't know, just find another guy to cover his week job!” Toshio sighs quietly as Nana says that. Cut back to Nana, looking up again, the sun reflecting off of her glasses as she grits her teeth. After a second, she ungrits her teeth and sighs. “Okay then, so it's settled. Two weeks off for me.” She lowers her head as she continues. “Just don't be surprised if I come back into work earlier than expected.” One last pause. “Alright then. Goodbye.” Nana takes her phone away from her ear and presses a button, hanging up before putting the phone in her cleavage.

As Nana does all this, she walks over to the open gate and walks out. Toshio turns to her, uncrossing his arms. “Is everything settled?”

Nana stops and looks at Toshio, smiling a little with her hand on her hip. “Yep. I'm all ready to go with you guys now.”

Toshio nods. “Good.” He then looks out across the street at the beachside. “Of course, seeing the circumstances, we won't be going until tomorrow.” He turns back to Nana. “You don't have any problem with that, do you?”

Nana puts her hands behind her head. “A little. I mean, you guys are really determined to get there and fix your problems as soon as you can.” She tilts her head and looks out at the beach, stretching her arms above her head as she does so. “But, the majority of you wanted to stay an extra day to relax, and you're fine with it, so it isn't really a problem, then.” As she speaks, Toshio looks at her, indifferent. Nana stops stretching and looks back at Toshio. “That is, if you aren't the one with problems.”

“I assure you, I'm not. I might've been against it initially, but it's fine now. Besides, I have something I can do while the rest of you go have some fun.”

Nana nods at Toshio. “That's good.” She steps out into the street. “Well, I'm off. See you in a bit!” Nana turns around and walks toward the beach as she waves behind her at Toshio.

Toshio stands on the other side, waving back at Nana. “See ya.” He lowers his hand.

(MUSIC: “pushing buttons to keep up the good mood” by Takkyu Ishino)

After a two-second lull, Shiho speaks up inside Toshio's head. “She sure seems excited. You think she trusts us any now?”

“I doubt it,” Toshio responds, leaning forward and picking up a black duffel bag off of the ground as he starts walking down the street. (“Sure, she may appear excited, and probably is, but it doesn't mean it'll last. She said herself that she's not fond of people, and that includes us; all of us. She may trust us a little more the longer this trip goes on, but it won't be complete trust until we get to the KIGUMA.”

“That is, if it's her trust issues that need fixing.”

“It's more like kindness and parental issues, but yes, that too.”)

(As Toshio speaks, the scene cuts to Nana walking on the beach surface, heading over towards the water. After a second or two of walking, the beach ball that the three girls were playing with earlier pops out from the right side of the screen and lands near Nana's feet. Nana stops and looks down at it before looking back up at the ocean. Once she does, she notices the other three girls standing in the water, facing her. Yuri stands to the left, waving at Nana as she smiles with her mouth wide open. Ai is standing to the right, her hands behind her back, smiling in a more controlled manner. Hekireki stands in the middle, holding out her hand and moving her fingers forward, in a “bring it on” pose. Nana smiles a bit after seeing them, picks up the beach ball, and throws it up in the air. As it comes down, she hits it hard with her right fist, sending it over to the group of three. Yuri and Ai trace the ball with their eyes as it heads over to Hekireki. She backs up a bit and holds out her arms, pressing her hands together as she spikes the ball into the air. After doing so, Yuri and Ai look back at it, their mouths open with slight amazement as it heads back to Nana. Nana runs up from her previous spot on the beach, getting closer to the water, raising both her hands and returning the ball by pushing it back with her palms. Ai and Yuri look at the ball as it once again heads towards Hekireki, who stretches her arms out, bends them in a little, and uses her palms to push the ball back to Nana. Nana spikes it into the air with her right hand, smiling as she finishes her shot.)

Cut to approximately a few minutes later, somewhere completely different: the inside of a dark green tent alongside the back edge of the beach. It's set up around a reclining beach chair not unlike the one Cujo was lying in, backed up to the left with some room to the right and some room in front. The flaps in the front open and Toshio walks in. He turns around, closing the flaps a little so there's just enough room for light from the outside to get in.

“So, Toshio, what exactly is this “something” you're doing today? Does it have anything to do with this tent?”

“Weren't you listening last night?” Toshio responds as he goes over to the beach chair, tossing his duffel bag onto the sandy floor beside it sitting upright in it as he takes out his laptop. “Seeing how this is our last two-night stay in one place during the trip, I thought I might take the time to finalize the rest of our stops on the way to Tokyo.” Toshio opens his laptop.

“So why the tent?”

Toshio glances to the side. “Because Miss Enzeru might come into my view if this thing wasn't here.” He closes his eyes. “You probably know what that means by now.”

“Aw, come on, Toshio! Why won't you support my love for Mistress?”

“Isn't it obvious why?” Toshio looks down and starts typing.

“Well then, you'll be sorry if she ends up in danger and I'm not around to save her!”

Toshio sighs. “I already told you, I don't think Ryudis has a chance of showing up today.” He stops typing and looks off to the side, speaking a little quieter. “Geez, the nerve of some people.”

“I heard that!”

“Alright, sorry.” Toshio resumes typing.

The scene cuts to a main shot of the beach, the POV looking up from the south as it looks down on the beach. Not much activity goes on near the tent Toshio is in, or in that case, around it. Johnny, Aki, and Isamu all stand around, and Cujo still lies back in the beach chair, looking over at the four girls through his binoculars. Speaking of which, over near the rock formation with the forestation on it, Hekireki, Yuri, Ai, and Nana continue to toss the beach ball around to each other, by way of either a volleyball-inspired spike, or a volleyball-inspired set. Everything appears to be peaceful now. However, quite a ways in the distance, a transport copter can be seen landing on ground...

(MUSIC END)

[Poke_Nirvash]

Several hundred feet away from the beach the Kikyuuren is on, out near a more open, more deserted area, the transport copter from Ryudis lands. The side door opens, revealing Iva's custom Shirotero inside. The screw-shaped apparatuses detach from its back, and the Shirotero then steps out.

The pilot of the transport copter gives an offscreen report to Ryudis's HQ. “The landing at the target location Nomanouchi 362 has been successful. The Shirotero and its pilot are making their way toward the presumed location of the target right now.” As he says this, the Shirotero moves forward, headed for the beach south of it.

“Good,” Kataoka replies over the communications link to the transport copter pilot.

Cut to a minute or so later. The Shirotero stops just as it reaches the north end of the forestated rock formation beside the beach the Kikyuuren were at.

“Iva, have you spotted her yet?” Daisuke asks Iva over their communcation link.

“Hold on,” Iva replies back. “I can barely see anything from this position.” The Shirotero puts its hand up on the floor of the rock, its head tilting upward as its red “eye” dilates. From the POV of inside the cockpit, the eye looking out zooms forward, past some dense layers of trees, eventually reaching the end and looking straight out at the beach on the other side. “That's better.”

(The view from inside Iva's Shirotero initially focuses on the edge of the beach near the street, where the guys are hanging out. Isamu is looking over in the direction of the four girls; Johnny's leaning against the back of Cujo's chair, his arms resting on the top; Cujo's continuing to look through his binoculars, a little disturbed by Johnny's closeness to his chair; and Aki is just standing. It then pans down to the girls. Hekireki serves the beach ball to Nana, who nearly hits it back with her palm, but misses and falls in the water. Ai and Hekireki laugh a little at what just happened, and Yuri just stands there, looking around a bit, but Nana immediately stands up, grabs the beach ball behind her, and throws it at Hekireki, hitting her in the face, and causing her to fall onto her ass in the water. Nana stands up, puts her hand on her hip, and smiles a little at Hekireki, while Ai continues to laugh, and Yuri starts giggling a bit as well.)

(“Hm... Looks like nearly everyone we saw back in Kaiya's here, and there appears to be a newcomer amongst them. No sign of that boy, though.”)

Inside the cockpit, Iva looks at the screen, as if she's observing everything as much as possible.

“I didn't ask about them,” Daisuke complains. “I asked, where is Shiho?”

Iva shrugs. “No clue. It's just like last time; can't see her.”

“Well, where do you think she is, then?”

“Hm... She could be hiding out in that tent over there.” Iva points at her screen.

“Nah, that'd be too easy.”

Cut back to the main database room inside the Ryudis Governmental Building. Daisuke continues to look at the screens across the holographic display, now showing clear shots of the beaches at Hamakai. The leftmost visual of the three on the first row shows north end of the forestated rock formation, with Iva's Shirotero standing behind it. The rightmost visual of the three on the second row shows a shot of the beach past the south end of the rock formation, the closest thing to the camera being the tent.

“She seemed pretty adamant about fighting us last time, so I don't think she'd be hiding in some tent like a coward.” To Daisuke's right, Kichirou lights up a new cigarette, smoking it as he puts away his lighter.

“But if that's the case, what should I do now?”

“Just wait; wait until she shows herself, and then kill her. It can't be that hard, right?”

Iva groans in a sort of sigh over the communication link. “Right.”

Daisuke smirks. “I thought so.”

Kichirou removes the cigarette from his mouth and blows out the smoke.

The scene cuts back to inside Iva's Shirotero, approximately a few minutes after her talk with Daisuke. She sits in the cockpit, her arms crossed and her lips pursed in annoyance from waiting so long. After a few seconds, she lets out a bored sigh.

“You know what? Screw it.” Iva then grips the handlebars inside of the cockpit. The Shirotero starts moving, making its way around the right side (from her POV) of the rock formation.

Back in the main database, the screen displaying the shot of the north side of the rock formation shows the same image.

Natsuko smirks as she sees this, glancing back at Daisuke. “Looks like waiting's not that easy for the poor girl, huh, Daisuke?”

Daisuke looks up at the screen, clearly disgruntled as he groans. “Iva, what the hell are you doing?” he says quietly as he facepalms.

In the background, Kichirou takes his cigarette out of his mouth with one hand, and raises his other arm, thrusting it down and stopping so it's pointed at an angle upwards, his palm laid flat vertically.

Cut back to the beach at Hamakai, starting out in at the beach-ocean border with the four girls. Hekireki, having fallen into the water ass-first, is being helped up by Ai, using one hand to hold onto Hekireki's arm and the other against her back as the former stands up. Yuri smiles as she looks at the two of them, her hands behind her back. Nana looks at them too. But just then, a large shadow accompanied by the sound of something mechanical overcomes the scene. Ai and Hekireki look up, and Yuri and Nana look around, the latter of the second pair's expression being less of sudden attention, and more of provoked surprise, gasping under her breath.

Over with the guys, they continue to stand in the same positions in which they were earlier. The same mechanical sounds are heard, grabbing the attention of Isamu, Aki, and Johnny, who look over to their left. Cujo, however, just sits there, still looking through is binoculars. It's just that he's now a little puzzled.

“Hm? The f*ck is this?” Through his binoculars, he sees the four girls standing there silently, just as they were a few seconds earlier. “Why're they all standin' still?”

“Take a look for yourself!” Johnny, looking a little scared out of his mind, puts his palm on top of Cujo's head and turns it so he's facing the same direction as the rest of them. A second after, he moves his head up to shake Johnny's hand off – Johnny removes his hand immediately and brings it back to himself – and lowers his binoculars, looking at the sight with bother.

“Well, sh*t.”

(MUSIC: “NO EGO” by Takkyu Ishino)

Standing at the closer-to-land edge of the beach, looking right down at the group of girls, is Iva's Shirotero. It stands tall, its arms by its side and the protrusions starting to float up behind it, glowing green around the rings. Its eye also grows green, looking as intimidating as possible.

“Why hello there. Judging from past experience, you all must be part of the group that's hiding Shiho Katsurada.” Inside her cockpit, Iva leans her head back and looks over to the right. “Of course, if that's the case...” She brings her head back forward and lowers it down in determination, evilly grinning, as she grips onto the handlebars inside the cockpit. “...then you wouldn't mind telling me where she is!”

Iva moves the handlebars back, and then pushes them to either side. Outside, her Shirotero's green eye instantly becomes red, and the green rings around the protruions start glowing red as well. Her arms become outstretched in front, revealing machineguns within the palms.

END OF ACT I

(MUSIC END)

(MUSIC: “victory through insanity” by Takkyu Ishino)

The second part starts where the first left off: Iva's Shirotero standing before the girls from the Kikyuuren, pointing the machineguns within its palms at them as its “eye” and the rings around the protrusions from its back glow red.

“What's that? No answer?” Iva mockingly asks from inside her cockpit. “I'll ask you again, slowly this time. Where are you keeping Shiho Katsurada!?”

The four Kikyuuren girls look up at the Shirotero. Nana is still angry with surprise, and Hekireki is starting to look the same as well. Ai and Yuri still look on with slight confusion. After Iva finishes asking her question, Nana turns around to face the rest. “Hey, who's Shiho?”

Ai moves forward a bit, a bit nervous. “T-To be honest, we have no idea where she is.”

“Yeah!” Hekireki adds in, clearly even more pissed off at Iva's attitude. She emphasizes this by balling her hands into fists and stepping forward, looking even closer at the Shirotero than Ai is. “Besides, what's it to you where Freak Girl is, or why she's even so important to you government guys!?”

Inside her cockpit, Iva frowns. “No answer, huh?” She then smirks. “Well then... I guess I'll hafta use a little extra force to squeeze it outta you!” Iva grips onto the handlebars inside her cockpit tighter, and then removes her hand from the right one, raising it up above her before bringing it back down and pressing a button in the center of the dashboard in front of her.

Outside, on Iva's Shirotero, the rounded white end of the protrusion in the middle of the back of the Shirotero's head – the part above the glowing red ring – lifts itself up and splits itself in half, either half lowering falling back 90° into the side of the protrusion's top, until they are out of sight. But just then, a large metal wire with a clamp attached at the end shoots out from inside of the protrusion and goes forward, extending out towards the four girls. Out of all of them, the extendable clamp goes after Hekireki first, the clamp grabbing her by the waist. Hekireki looks down at the clamp as she's grabbed, scared, and screams as it pulls her back.

(“Heki!6” Ai yells out as she sees Hekireki get taken.)

(Yuri backs up in fear, holding her hands up to her face. Nana also backs up, but this time with caution and preparation to rush at it. “Tch!”)

The metal clamp pulls back into the protrusion, taking a struggling Hekireki in along with it. After she disappears into the protrusion, the top closes back up. The Shirotero looks down at the three remaining girls, standing there with the same expressions they were wearing before, although Ai starts to show a bit of anger in her as she starts balling her fists as well. Iva, her mouth closed this time, smirks from inside her cockpit. Her Shirotero then takes two steps forward, moves its left arm back and then holds it out in front, its forearm facing the three. The protrusions extruding from that specific forearm have their tops move back and open up the protrusion in the same way the one in the back of the head did. After they open up, a metal clamp comes out from each protrusion, each one headed for one girl. Yuri's immediately grabbed and pulled in, screaming and strugging just like Hekireki. Nana tries to run from it, but is pulled in after going only three steps in the opposite direction. She seems to be more annoyed by being taken than anything else. As for Ai, she runs faster from it than Nana, and almost escapes it as she goes offscreen... only to be caught and pulled back onscreen, showing her pushing down on the clamp in a futile attempt to escape, making struggling sounds to go along with it. The three are pulled into the protrusions the clamps that grabbed them came out of, and after being pulled all the way in, the tops close.

The scene cuts to the where the guys of the Kikyuuren are, and their reactions to what just happened. Johnny watches in moderate fear while Cujo just looks over at it in slight awe. Aki's backed up a little, some surprise in his face, and Isamu looks the most concerned and fearful out of them all.

Aki gulps. “What the hell's going on?”

“Yuri!” Isamu yells in panic.

Cujo stands up. “Welp, looks like we're f*cked.”

Johnny turns around to Cujo, stressed out by the whole thing. “You sure about that, Cujo?”

“Only if what I have in mind works for sh*t.”

“Well, what're you thinking of, then!?”

“Whaddaya f*ckin' think!?” Cujo tells Johnny. “We should go get Sniper B*tch, bring her out here, and have her kick that b*stard's ass!” Cujo points over at the Shirotero.

Aki turns to Cujo, nodding. “It sounds simple enough.”

“Yeah, if we can convince Mister Toshio to let her come out.” Johnny starts looking around. “Speaking of which, where is he?”

Isamu turns to face Johnny. “Last I checked, he was over in that tent down there.” Isamu points at the dark green tent to their right, farther down the beach.

“Well, what the f*ck're we waitin' for!? Let's go!” Cujo brings up his left arm and moves it over in a motion directing the others to follow him. He then runs off toward the tent.

“Right!” Johnny nods and follows Cujo. Aki and Isamu do the same.

After the four start running off toward the tent, Iva's Shirotero turns to look at them. “Hm... So she's in there...” Iva smirks. “Hn. I guess I was right all along.”

“IVA, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?” Daisuke yells over the communication link.

Iva flinches a bit as Daisuke suddenly yells at her, looking around. “Geez, Daisuke, could you not yell so loud? What do you think I'm doing, anyways?”

“You're screwing up your own plan, that's what!” Cut back to the main database room. Daisuke's hands are balled into fists as he speaks to Iva through his headset, angry with rage. Kichirou just looks at him, smoking. “You just had to go off and find Shiho yourself instead of just waiting for her like I told you! Besides, what the hell was with you grabbing those girls like that!? You know you can't do that7!”

“So what!? They weren't cooperating when I asked them where Shiho was. What else could I have done?”

“You could've left them alone!”

“Why? And just let them off with Shiho's location all to themselves?”

Daisuke lowers his head. “You dumbass...”

“Eh?”

Daisuke looks up, the anger in his eyes greater than before. “The embalming fluid inside the back compartment and protrusions is meant for corpses only. If any living human being started breathing that sh*t, they'd be dead within hours!”

“Why didn't you tell me that before?”

“IT WAS IN YOUR F*CKING NOTES!” Daisuke's sudden rage causes Kichirou, startled to back up, his cigarette falling out of his mouth and onto the floor.

“So? I just said the bodies had to be preserved, I didn't specify with what!”

“Oh goddammit, you are hopeless!” Daisuke takes off his headset and throws it to the ground.

Back in her Shirotero's cockpit, Iva sits there, treated to a second or two of silence. She then looks forward, unenthusiastic. “Whatever. I might as well just wait.” Iva grabs the handlebars and waits, a sour look on her face.

Back in the main database, Daisuke looks down at the ground in anger as Kichirou looks at him in concern. “Rrr... I've had it!” Daisuke turns toward the door out of the room and storms out.

However, Kataoka takes notice and turns to Daisuke just before he can open the door out. “Wait, Lieutenant Takahashi! Where the hell are you going!?”

Daisuke turns to Kataoka, still angry as he opens the door. “Where do you think!? I'm gonna get Iva outta there!” Daisuke storms out of the door, closing it behind him.

Kataoka backs up slightly for a second in reaction to Daisuke's leave, but afterwards, he storms toward the door after Daisuke, looking pretty p*ssed himself. “Takahashi, get back here!” Kataoka opens the door and closes it behind him, leaving Kichirou and Natsuko to stare at the door dumbfoundedly.

(MUSIC END)

********

The scene switches back to the beach at Hamakai; to be specific, the tent Toshio is in. He is still sitting in the beach chair, typing on his laptop. As he does this, Cujo opens up the flaps leading into the tent and steps inside, stopping as he faces Toshio. “Hey, kid!” Toshio doesn't respond, and continues typing. This makes Cujo p*ssed, making him clench his fists and yell at Toshio to get his attention. “Are you deaf or some sh*t!? I'm f*ckin' talkin' to you here!”

Toshio just looks up from his laptop and stops typing. He closes it up. “Yeah, I can hear you,” he responds with slight annoyance. “So, what's going on?”

“What's going on!?” At this time, Johnny, Aki, and Isamu arrive at the tent, getting inside and standing beside Cujo, who's a little angrier now. “You're telling me that you don't have any f*cking idea what's going on out there!?” Cujo points through the tent.

“You could hear the noises, couldn't you?” Aki asks.

“I heard some stuff. I didn't want it to distract from my work on our route, so I didn't really focus on it. What was it, anyways?”

“Get up offa your ass, go outside and look!” Cujo yells as he raises his hands in the air and then uses one of them to point at the tent flaps behind him.

“Fine, fine.” Toshio stands up. He goes to the flaps and sticks his head outside. He looks to his left and notices Iva's Shirotero standing still. “A Shirotero? Is Ryudis still coming after us?”

“It seems so,” Johnny says.

Toshio turns around and goes back further into the tent. “I don't get it. Why're they here and why's it just standing there?”

Cujo looks at Toshio, his hands on his hips. “Feh. If there's something you should be asking, it's why you aren't p*ssing your pants right now.”

Johnny smiles, trying to downplay Cujo's sass. “What he means is that we don't know.”

“Beats me, either,” Isamu says, “But that thing just showed up, and used those tentacle things on its arms and head to take a good number of us.” He looks down, worried. “They even took Yuri.”

Toshio stops and looks at the group, not scared but concerned. “Yuri's been taken by them?”

Aki nods. “Yeah. Doctor Koizumi and Ai too.”

“Oh! And Hekireki also!” Johnny points out.

“Yeah, ya can't forget about Thundert*ts.”

Toshio puts his hand to his chin and looks down. “I see...”

“WHAT WAS THAT!?”

Cut to a black screen and an eye suddenly opening in the darkness. Its iris is gold.

Then, all of a sudden, Toshio's eyes widen, his pupils and irises shrink, and he puts his hands on his head in pain. “Gah!” (MUSIC: “Aosokou” by Takkyu Ishino) He falls to his knees, and then to his arms, his elbows pressing against the sandy ground as he continues to hold onto his head in pain. The remaining Kikyuuren members look down at him, surprised by the sudden occurrence.

“Mister Toshio!” Johnny cries out in concern.

“Hey, are you alright?” Aki asks.

But Toshio just kneels there, continuing to hold his head. “W-What is this? Shiho... What are you d-doing? Why?”

“Didn't you hear what they said, Toshio? Mistress is in trouble! You have to let me go out there and save her!”

Toshio moves his arms in closer to one another as he tries to close his eyes, but to no avail as they twitch. “But why? Y-You're just going to save her for yourself and not for the rest... Aren't you?”

“What makes you think I'm like that!? Besides, if I stay inside of here any longer, she'll die, and it'll be your fault! So please! Let me take over for you!”

“Shiho... don't... please...”

The other guys just look down at Toshio. Isamu and Johnny are still concerned, but Cujo and Aki are confused. “Is he arguing with Sniper B*tch?”

Aki turns to Cujo. “That shouldn't be possible, should it?”

Toshio then lets out a loud scream, grabbing both Cujo and Aki's attention and surprise once again. Toshio is back on his knees, but his back is arched and his hands are still gripping his head. His eyes are now wide open, and his teeth are clenched, his mouth open to show it. The skin around his face shows signs of shock and muscle stress. Both his eyes and mouth twitch.

“If you aren't gonna cooperate with me and let me out, I'll just have to do it by force, now don't I?”

“Shiho... don't do it, please... It hurts, Shiho...” Toshio's shrunken brown-colored iris, twitching with the rest of his eye, is starting to have the gold color seep into it. “Why are you doing this to me? I thought... you said you would protect me...”

“Well, in order for me to save Mistress, I have to protect you first!”

“Shiho...”

“Enough, Toshio!”

“Please stop...”

“Here it goes-!”

Just then, the gold color that seeped into Toshio's iris takes over the entire brown color. His irises now gold and his eyes still wide and twitching, Toshio screams at the top of his lungs. A field of white electricity possessing a blue penumbra entwines his body, eventually creating a white flash of light that overtakes the entire screen.

(MUSIC END)

Cut to outside the tent, the POV focusing right on it. A flash of light comes out from the inside, going through the flaps, but only for an instant. Light also comes out from underneath the tent, but in the form of a bright white cloud that's flat and puffy at the ends, shooting out from the sides.

Inside the tent, the four guys of the Kikyuuren are standing there, looking at where Toshio was. Johnny's covering his eyes with his hands, Isamu and Aki look on in amazement, and Cujo just stands there like what just happened was nothing special. After a second, Johnny lowers his hands and looks along with the rest of them.

Sitting right before them, where Toshio used to be, is Shiho. Unlike Toshio, who left extremely frightened, she's calm. She's wearing the same clothes she normally wears, from the black tanktop/olive green cargo pants combo to the little black dog collar around her neck. Her sniper rifle is slung over her shoulder, and the handled container of ammo for her rifle is in her right hand. Her left hand is off to the side, behind her, and touching the ground. She opens her eyes and looks up at the four, smiling and holding up her hand in greeting. “Hi, everyone.”

Johnny puts his hand up in greeting too. “What ho8, Miss Shiho!”

Cujo glances at Johnny, a little uncomfortable.

“Did I see what I think I just saw?” Aki asks, still amazed by what he saw.

Shiho closes her eyes and puts down her ammo container, standing up with support from both hands. “There'll be time later to think about it.” She moves her head to the side as a way of getting her hair out of the way, and then stands before the group, holding onto the strap of her sniper rifle. “Right now, I have to save everyone else.”

Isamu breathes a sigh of relief. “Phew! That's good.”

Aki nods. “Agreed.”

“But, I don't want to get my clothes dirty.”

Isamu and Aki's relieved faces become that of disbelief, Isamu leaning his head back as Aki's own head slouches forward. Both of them sigh.

“Seriously?” Cujo says, leaning in.

Johnny doesn't do much, but he lowers his arm down.

Shiho puts up her hands in reassurance. “Don't worry about it! I have something on hand that'll be perfect for this environment.” She slings her sniper rifle off of her shoulder and puts it on the ground. “Now, everyone turn around.” Shiho puts her hands on the bottom of her shirt and takes it off.

Right then, Aki, Isamu, Cujo, and Johnny all turn around so they aren't looking at Shiho, who tosses her tanktop to the ground beside her, her body censored by Aki's head. In Johnny's case, it wasn't so much that he turned around than it is that Cujo turned him around forcefully.

Johnny looks over at Cujo, blushing in embarrassment. “Hey, why'd you turn me around? I wasn't going to have a dekko9 at her.”

Cujo moves his hand away from Johnny. “Face it, Limey-Lover. If she tells ya to turn 'round, ya turn 'round.”

“That's the truth,” Isamu adds.

Aki blushes. “You know, I wasn't going to either...”

Cujo lightly punches Aki in the arm. “Of course you were, Aki!” He looks at him, smirking. “Taking a peep at your unrequited love's body...”

“Shut up!” Aki moves a little away from Cujo.

********

The scene switches over to the Shirotero/grappling craft/transport copter storage hangar of the Ryudis Governmental Building. The sliding door into the place opens, and in walks Daisuke, angry and growling under his breath with his hands balled into fists by his sides. He walks over from one side of the hangar – the side with the standard issue Shiroteros, being looked over by numerous blue-suited mechanics – to the other – the side with the grappling crafts, with a couple mechanics looking them over as well.

Daisuke approaches one of the grappling crafts that has its cockpit up top opened, with a blue-suited mechanic sitting in the cockpit, checking the controls. “Hey you!”

“Eh?”

“What're you sitting there for? Get out so I can use that thing!” Daisuke yells, pointing at the grappling craft.

“Uhh... Sure thing.” The mechanic gets out of the cockpit of the grappling craft and goes up onto the one-sided catwalk against the wall above the grappling craft.

As he does that, Daisuke goes over to the ladder beside the grappling craft headed up to the catwalk, climbing up it towards the open cockpit. As he does so, Kataoka runs into the hangar, appearing down below and looking up at him.

“Lieutentant Takahashi, get your ass down from there this instant! If you're going to go out in one of our grappling crafts, at least wait until Iva's completed the mission!”

Daisuke gets into the cockpit and sits down, adjusting some of the controls before holding the main controls by the sides of the seat and looking down at Kataoka. “Why should I!? She's just gonna fail anyways! After all, that's what you predicted, right?”

Kataoka gasps. Just then, Daisuke moves a dial on the controls of the grappling craft, allowing the tall, clear dome covering the cockpit to lift up and lower on top of it. “Takahashi, get back here! Hey, Takahashi!”

But it's too late. The hangar ceiling is already open and the grappling craft starts floating up as the blades on top of the clear dome start to spin. The grappling craft eventually makes its way out of the hangar and then curves and makes a turn to the left, away from the Governmental Building.

Kataoka is left there, looking up at the open hangar ceiling, his mouth open in surprise. “That man's outta control.”

********

“So, what do you think?”

The scene cuts back to inside the tent Toshio set up. Johnny, Cujo, Aki, and Isamu are still standing inside it, looking at supposedly where Shiho is (which isn't seen).

Aki has his arms crossed, smiling as he blushes, a small trickle of blood coming from his nose. “I think it looks great on you.”

Isamu looks down at the ground, rubbing the back of his head. “I wouldn't say that. I'd go for 'honest'.”

Cujo looks in a bit of confusion. “Where'd you even find the time to get that, anyways?”

“Oh, I had Toshio sneak it out of the store we went to yesterday. He wasn't really proud about it.”

Cujo scoffs. “Figures.”

Johnny looks down and points down a little. “Don't you think those're gonna weigh you down, Miss Shiho?”

“You mean these?” Cut to a shot of Shiho's thighs. Wrapped around them are two leg straps that appear to hold bullets, one strap for each thigh, two circular rings of bullets for each strap, ten bullets for each individual ring; forty bullets total. Shiho slaps the strap on her right thigh. “I can't fight that thing without ammo.”

Johnny looks up, putting his finger to his chin. “Hmm... It does make sense.”

Shiho walks past them and approaches the opening of the tent, the POV focusing on everything from her knees down. “Welp, I'm off.” After opening the flaps, she looks back at them. “Stay inside until everything's done out there, alright?”

Aki looks down, disappointed. Cujo looks off to the side, pissed. Isamu nods. “Sure thing.”

Johnny nods as well, giving Shiho a thumbs up. “We'll stay in 'til that robot out there's taken down!”

Shiho looks back at them and smiles. “Good. Wish me luck!” Shiho turns around and heads out the flap of the tent, pushing it off to the side as she steps out into the open, the bright light of the sun shining around her body.

Meanwhile, Iva is still waiting inside of her Shirotero, continuing to grip the handlebars and give off the sour look she held last time. After a few seconds, she notices something onscreen, piquing her interest. “Hm?” After a second, she smirks, snickering under her breath. “Looks like the fun has finally started.”

[Poke_Nirvash]

The scene cuts back to Shiho, putting her foot on the sandy ground. (MUSIC: “The Guitarist” by Takkyu Ishino10) She stands before the Shirotero, slinging the sniper rifle off of her shoulder and holding it by the handle, her finger on the trigger as she points it down at the ground. She is wearing a black bikini, both the top and bottom a little skimpy but modest enough to cover up what counts (censorship-wise). Her hair, tied up in a ponytail as usual, blows behind her as she stands, staring down the Shirotero with a glare.

Inside of her Shirotero's cockpit, Iva smirks wider. “I guess that's it, then. Seeing how you're finally out in the open...” Iva grips one of her handlebars and moves it back. The Shirotero does the same with its right arm, opening up its palm to reveal a machinegun inside. She then moves its arm forward, pointing it at Shiho. “It's time for you to die!”

Shiho just lowers her head, grunting a little as she sees the machinegun. She reaches down towards the bullet strap on her left thigh and takes out two rounds, throwing them up in the air. She takes her sniper rifle and raises it up, forcing the bullets inside of the gun from the slot near the back of the rifle. After getting the second bullet in, she forces the gun down so it's pointed straight at the Shirotero, firing at its palm.

The bullet goes into the Shirotero's palm, preventing it from firing any. Iva backs up a little inside the cockpit, her teeth clenched in anger at Shiho's maneuver. At that point, Shiho starts running at the Shirotero, taking out another bullet and putting it inside the rifle slot regularly. The Shirotero looks off to the side at the start of Shiho's running, but then looks straight at her a second later. Iva growls from inside the cockpit. “Oh no you don't!”

The Shirotero starts running towards Shiho, about to crush/shoot with its machinegun palm. Shiho takes notice and moves to the right, causing the Shirotero to slam its palm against the sand. Shiho then jumps up on top of the Shirotero's arm and then jumps up again, high into the sky. The Shirotero then turns around, holding itself up against the ground with its other palm as it points the machinegun palm at Shiho, firing off numerous shots. Shiho, looking right at the shots fired, dodges all of them as they go up into the sky, either by moving out of the way or weaving her way through the field of bullets. She does this, even as the field of bullets goes from the left to the right. Eventually, Shiho points her sniper rifle at the Shirotero's palm and fires. The bullet goes straight in, causing a small orange and yellow explosion to come out of the palm.

Iva lets out a short growl as a result. “Sh*t!” She moves her right hand away from the handlebar and moves it over towards a button pad filled with numerous colored buttons. She presses one in the middle. As a result, the round-ended cylinder on the back of the Shirotero opens up, and an extendable clamp just like the ones inside the protrusions shoots out and goes right for Shiho. Shiho looks at the clamp and clenches her teeth slightly, slinging her gun over her shoulder just as she uses her hands to grab a hold of the clamp and keep it from opening up. She takes her left hand and moves it up onto the extendable wire part of the clamp, putting her right hand under it soon after, and pulls. The clamp breaks off from the base inside of the cylindrical container, causing the Shirotero, now standing straight up, to look at Shiho even more. As the broken end of the extendable clamp flies through the air, Shiho grabs it with her left hand, the clamp end in her right hand, and throws the middle part down. The wires cross one another and the hole formed wraps around the middle protrusion on the Shirotero's left arm. The clamp breaks the protrusion at the base.

Shiho lets go of the clamp, letting it fall to the ground below, and forces herself down towards the protrusion, grabbing it by the top (where the red ring is) and then moving herself backwards so she lands several feet away from where the Shirotero stands. She pulls the protrusion with her, moving it back behind her when she lands. She swings it around as she lands, and when it gets part-way behind her, a bunch of orange embalming fluid leaks out of the open end of the protrusion, another thing coming out as well: Nana. Covered partially in the orange fluid, she gasps for breath as she lies on the ground, her legs bent and her arms supporting her up as she starts to gasp for breath. Shiho looks back at Nana as she catches her breath, tossing the protrusion off to the side. Once Nana catches her breath, Shiho looks back, to see the Shirotero rushing right at her, about to punch her with its left arm. Nana looks at it with a bit of fear and confusion, but Shiho just looks at it and takes her gun off of her shoulder, pointing at it and shooting. Only the bullet goes right through the bases of the remaining two protrusions, disconnecting them from the Shirotero's arm. Shiho jumps up and grabs the protrusions from the top by her hands, using her leg to kick the Shirotero back behind her as she lands, the protrusions raised above her head. As she lands, she moves the protrusions away from her and then brings them back in towards her, letting the embalming fluid pour out onto the sand. Yuri and Ai come out of the protrusions as well, the former gasping for breath as she just lies down on the ground, and the latter, coughing up some of the fluid as she tries to support herself up.

Shiho tosses the protrusions off to the side, looking at Nana specifically as she reloads her gun. “You three, go over to the tent where it's safe.”

Nana stands up, with Ai's resting her arm on top of her shoulders, and Yuri in her right arm, still gasping for air unconsciously. “Alright, but tell me: who the hell are you?”

“There'll be time for that later!” Shiho turns around and runs back at the Shirotero, screaming at the top of her lungs as her rifle is once again slung over her shoulder. She jumps up, lands on its chest, and jumps up again. This time, she lands on its head, landing on the bases of the two protrusions closest to the front. She grabs the middle protrusion with both hands and pulls it forward, pressing her feet against the sides and moving up towards the top. She raises her fist, screaming a short yell of fury, and punches right through the top of the protrusion.

Cut to inside of the middle protrusion. It is completely orange on the inside. The top of the protrusion breaks, some of the metal used to make it floating into the fluid. Shiho moves her fist back and goes inside the protrusion, moving deep inside using her hands and feet to scale the interior. She looks around before spotting Hekireki, floating in the liquid with her eyes closed. Shiho's eyes widen a little and she moves in a little closer, some bubbles floating out of her mouth as it opens. “Hey! Mistress!”

Hekireki's eyes open as she hears Shiho, some bubbles coming from her mouth too. “Freak Girl?”

Shiho moves in closer, grabbing Hekireki with one arm, wrapping it around her back as she looks at her with concern. “Don't worry. I'm here for you.” Shiho then takes her sniper rifle and raises it up, slashing it down.

Cut to outside of the Shirotero. The middle protrusion, standing straight up amongst the other protrusions breaks open, the white shards of metal shooting outwards. Something jumps out of it a second later, landing right at the border between the beach and the ocean. The Shirotero turns its head to take a look.

Standing right at the edge of the water is Shiho, scowling at the Shirotero. Hekireki is in her left arm, a look of slight fear on her face as she's held against Shiho. Shiho takes her sniper rifle and raises it up above her head, pointing it down right at the Shirotero.

Iva scowls at Shiho in return from inside the Shirotero. “Grr... If that's how you wanna play, so be it!” Iva grabs her right handlebar and moves it back, clenching her teeth. As a result, the Shirotero raises up her right arm, scorched from the earlier explosion, and points it down at Shiho, the machinegun inside its palm mostly intact.

Hekireki's face grows in fear, her eyes widening and her teeth clenching as she notices the machinegun inside the Shirotero's palm. She then looks down, pressing her arms down against Shiho's arm in an attempt to get out, failing due to Shiho's grip around her. Angered by her failed attempt, she looks right at Shiho. “What the hell do you think you're doing, Freak Girl? Put me down now!”

“No.”

“What?” Hekireki responds, less out of anger and more out of confusion.

Shiho continues to stare down the Shirotero. “If I put you down now, that thing'll kill you once my back's turned.”

“Wha? You don't know what you're talking about!”

“I'm not gonna let you out of my sight for one second, Mistress.”

Hekireki looks at Shiho with a bit of angry concern, lightly gasping under her breath.

“So please...” Shiho tightens her grip around Hekireki's waist.

And then the Shirotero fires at them. Shiho jumps up, her sniper rifle raised above her head. Hekireki is still in her arms, looking down in fear.

“Please believe me when I say I know what I'm doing!” Shiho thrusts her sniper rifle down, pointing it at the Shirotero and firing. The shot hits the Shirotero right in the head, and despite causing only a dent, causes it to move back in shock, its arms lowered as a part of that effect.

Shiho then moves back and pushes herself forwards, landing on the head of the Shirotero. She quickly puts her sniper rifle in her left hand, holding it without loosening her grip around Hekireki, and quickly reloads. After doing so, she jumps up and forward off of the Shirotero, turning around to face it once she's off several meters away. She points her gun at it again and fires.

The Shirotero now just stands there, its fists clenched as its red eye gets even brighter. Inside the cockpit, Iva growls under her breath, gripping onto the handles controlling it as tightly as she can. “Not on your life!” The Shirotero raises its arm up and thrusts it down to its side, effectively blocking the bullet from Shiho's gun.

Off in the distance, Shiho looks up from her rifle, gasping at the Shirotero's maneuver. Hekireki still lies in her arm, looking down in a combination of fear and worry.

Iva starts screaming at the top of her lungs as her Shirotero runs forward a few steps and then jumps up into the air. Two holes on the back of her Shirotero, below the bottom of the cylindrical container on its back, open up to reveal to ports, fire shooting out of them to lift it up into the sky. Once above ground by about twenty or thirty feet, the Shirotero spreads its arms out. A number of missiles connected to holders keeping them in place eject from the sides of its arms, with three missiles equating the length of the arm, and two equating its thickness. All twelve missiles then change their position so they're pointed right at Shiho, and are then fired right at Shiho, white smoke trailing from each of them.

Shiho takes immediate notice, her right eye widening as she moves back, the missiles heading right toward her. She lands on the tip of the one the closest to her and jumps up into the sky, evading the explosion that results. The eleven remaining missiles, three visible at the moment, follow her up into the sky. Shiho moves to her left to try and evade them, but they follow her as well. She points her rifle at the missiles and fires once, blowing up the center missile and the two beside it in a cloud of orange and yellow. As she quickly reloads and the shell from her previous bullet falls out of sight, two more missiles come into the scene and head right toward her. After reloading, she steps on both of them, one foot on each missile, and jumps up, the two of them exploding just like the last four. Three more missiles come into view and shoot upwards at Shiho as she continues to go up in the air, but she points her gun down at them, shooting them. All three missiles explode in a growing cloud of yellow and orange, some red mixed in as the shells shoot out of the cloud. Another missile heads right for her, but Shiho pushes herself forward, using the rifle itself to cut the missile down. The missile explodes into another cloud of fire as she moves closer to the Shirotero, now floating higher up in the air. The two remaining missiles come towards Shiho, one from either direction, but she moves herself upwards, the two missiles ramming into each other and exploding11.

Throughout all of this, Hekireki still stays scared and worried, holding herself closer to Shiho than before. Shiho reloads her rifle and then points it down, only to gasp in confusion a second later. Just then, the Shirotero comes into sight right behind Shiho, its red eye glowing in anger. Shiho turns to see the Shirotero, which then moves around to kick Shiho back. Shiho moves herself so her right side is the one that's kicked instead of the left, for the sake of protecting Hekireki, and then lets out a small scream once she is kicked. She falls back near the forested rock resting alongside the edge of the beach, hitting the ground twice – once on the right side, once on the back, but before her left, as well as Hekireki, can hit the ground, Shiho stands herself up, skidding back with her sniper rifle slung over her shoulder and her right hand on the ground.

The Shirotero lands, looking right into the forestated rock, past all of the deciduous trees surrounding it. Iva roars from the inside of her cockpit. “Dammit!” She points her Shirotero's left arm into the forestation and shoots a missile out of it. The missile goes past the numerous trees of the forestation, headed right for Shiho and Hekireki. Shiho, having stopped skidding back on the rock but still in the position she was in before, just stares down the missile, her gold irises shining and the light from the missile reflected in her pupil.

A second later, an explosion erupts from the middile of the deforestation, shining brightly with yellow and orange coloring it. From inside her Shirotero's cockpit, Iva smirks with satisfaction. But one second later, that satisfaction turns to shock. “What the!?”

Deep in the middle of the deforestation, at a point where the trees are set ablaze and the rock, colored green from the moss and wildlife, has split up into blocks of rubble12, there is a brown-colored dust cloud clearing out of the way. Once that cloud clears, it shows Shiho crouching down on the ground. She's now holding onto Hekireki – apparently unconscious from all the sudden feelings – with both hands, the only part of her face showing is her eye, the iris and pupil both small but shining brightly with anger. She then jumps out of the forestated area, taking part of the dust cloud with her. The cloud departs as Shiho goes farther up into the air. Once she's high enough, Shiho outstretches one of her legs and forces herself down towards the Shirotero, screaming in fury. After a second, her foot lands right on the red eye of the Shirotero, cracking it. The POV pans around from the right side of the Shirotero to the center, stopping just as a small yellow and white explosion erupts from the head of the Shirotero.

Standing on top of the Shirotero's head, looking straight up at the sky, Shiho steps back, slide her gun off of her shoulder, and points it right at the red eye of the Shirotero. Hekireki still stays in her arms, her eyes barely open as she continues to hold onto Shiho just like Shiho's holding onto her.

Inside of the cockpit, Iva is nearly knocked out, leaning against the back of her cockpit seat with her eyes closed and her arms spread out.

“You still alive in there?”

“Eh?” Iva opens her eyes, looking out the screen in front of her Shirotero. The screen is focused directly on Shiho. “Yeah, of course. What of it?”

“Do you realize what you've done?”

“Yeah! I almost killed you, just as I came here for! What are you, blind!?”

Shiho's eyes narrow. “Not just that. You also tried to take my Mistress away from me.” Her eyes narrow more. “That's something I won't accept.”

Iva leans in, gripping onto the control handles as she looks at the screen, grinning madly. “Ha! Your Mistress!? If that's what I think it means, then you're dead wrong! That little b*tch couldn't possibly have control over someone like you!” Hekireki looks down at the Shirotero, still a bit scared, but more worried now. “If she's able to keep you at bay, then why didn't she defend herself when I took her? If she can't do that, then she isn't even fit to be your Mistress, now is she!?” She starts laughing evilly.

“Shut up.”

Hekireki gasps lightly as she looks at Shiho.

Iva stops laughing, looking at the screen as she blinks once in confusion. “Eh? What was that?”

“JUST SHUT UP!” Shiho scowls heavily as she presses her finger against the trigger of her rifle and fires at the Shirotero's red eye. The bullet hits, causing an explosion that detaches the head from the body. Just as the explosion hits, Shiho jumps up into the air and points her gun down at the Shirotero's main body and fires. The bullet hits the Shirotero right in the torso, breaking the white exterior to show its red core, cracked heavily. After a second-long lull showing the Shirotero lying there...

(MUSIC END)

...it blows up. It explodes into a moderately sized cloud of yellow and orange concealing the entire edge of the wrecked, forestation-covered rock.

The scene cuts to the main database room back at the Ryudis Governmental Building. The shot of the Shirotero's explosion, displayed on the main screen, is positioned at a different angle, from the right of the forestated rock, all the way near the residential areas. The smoke cloud from the explosion covers up any extra parts of the shot at ground level.

Natsuko and Kichirou both look at the screen in surprise. The latter's expression is more out of shock, his mouth open as his cigarette slowly falls out of his mouth onto the floor below. The former, on the other hand, blinks once before her surprised look changes to one that's more laidback and b*tchy as usual. She closes her eyes and leans back in her chair, shrugging as she holds her hands out to the side with the elbows pointed downwards and the palms facing upwards. “Well, what can ya do?”

Just then, the door leading into the room opens up, and Kataoka walks in, closing it behind him. He looks and sounds disgruntled, most likely from Daisuke's unexcused leave earlier. He groans. “I'm back. Was there anything I missed?”

Natsuko looks back at Kataoka to acknowledge his presence, and then turns back, closing her eyes as she puts her hands behind her head. “Not much. Iva just blew the whole mission big time. Serves her right for being so impulsive.”

Kataoka steps forward, making his way down into the lower elevation area of the room. “Is that so...”

Natsuko removes her hands from behind her head and faces Kataoka, clearly surprised and angered. “What was that!? (You aren't surprised that she failed you for the fourth time already, Kataoka!?”

Kataoka turns to face Natsuko putting his own fist up. “MY god, you don't listen to a single word I say, do you!?”

“So what if I don't!? I'm just here to hack into stuff!”

“But that's not your whole job, now is it!?”)

(Kichirou, having stood for several minutes, lets out a quiet sigh as he puts out his cigarette with his foot. He takes a bag of kaki-pi out of one of his hoodie's pockets and opens it. He pours some out onto his hand and pops them into his mouth, munching away as Natsuko and Kataoka continue to bicker behind him. Eventually, after swallowing the first hand-ful, he pours himself another and pops that into her mouth, continuing to snack on13.)

********

The scene then cuts back to the beach at Hamakai, the POV panning up from the forestated rock to the tent Toshio set up. The three other girls are standing there. Nana stands there, watching with her mouth partially agape and her arm held up in front of her face. Ai looks on in awe as well, with Yuri hugging onto her right arm with both hands, looking on as well; a little out of fear almost, as shown by her slightly teary eyes. The guys from the Kikyuuren are outside as well14; Aki is standing in the front, watching with a slight smirk on his face. Cujo stands next to him, a bit amused by it himself. Johnny stands behind Cujo, trying to peek over his shoulder. Isamu just stands in the back, in just as awe as everyone else who is.

Cujo lets out a whistle. “D*mn, that was a pretty sweetass fight she just put up.”

“You got that right,” Nana adds. She then lowers her arm, her eyes narrowing. “But still... Who the hell is that girl?”

“Hn. You don't know?” Aki says, walking up from behind Nana to beside her with his eyes closed and his hands on his hips.

Nana gasps and looks at Aki.

Aki looks up and out at the place of the fight that occurred before, just like Nana is. “That girl... Or should I say, Shiho.”

(MUSIC: “the queen breathes jazz” by Takkyu Ishino)

(“Anyways, she's the one thing that's keeping us from getting killed on this journey. (Some of us might not appreciate her efforts, but one thing's for sure: her actions deserve our thanks.”))

(The POV pans up, focusing in on a part of the beach close to the road beside it, between the tent and the wreckage site from earlier. In that space are Shiho and Hekireki; the former has her gun slung over her shoulder again and is now on one knee, helping set the latter back down onto the ground. (Shiho smiles down at Hekireki, who switches between looking up at Shiho and looking down at the ground. Either ways, she blushes out of embarrassment, even after being set down. Her arms by her sides, Hekireki moves her legs, crossed a little, slightly in nervousness.))

“Why?”

“Hm?” Shiho looks at Hekireki, blinking once. “What was that?”

Hekireki looks down, softly biting her bottom lip as she blushes harder in embarrassment. “Why'd you do it? Why'd you save me back there, Freak Girl?”

Shiho smiles at Hekireki. “Oh, Mistress, don't be silly!” She opens her eyes, getting on her knees and leaning in a little as she puts one hand on the ground. “You know the situation you were in. Another few minutes in that Shirotero's head, and you'dve gotten yourself killed just like that!” Cut to Hekireki, continuing to look down even as Shiho speaks to her. “Besides, I'd never leave anyone behind on this journey, especially if it was you.”

Hekireki lightly gasps and turns her head to face Shiho, blushing less than before, but just enough to show that she's still blushing nonetheless.

Shiho moves back and puts her hands on her lap, closing her eyes again as she continues to smile. “By the way, that swimsuit looks really nice on you, Mistress.”

As Shiho gives her comment, the scene cuts to a pan up Hekireki's body, once again showcasing her white two-piece, with red straps and a border around the parts that are white.

Hekireki blushes harder, moving back as she looks at Shiho in anger and crosses her arms over her chest. “I told you, I'm not–” But suddenly, Hekireki stops, going from angry to slightly bemused. “Wait.” She blinks. “Why aren't you...”

Shiho continues to look at Hekireki with the same warm smile she's been wearing for the past minute, and then stands up. “Oh, Mistress... What made you think that I'd act like that after what just happened?”

Hekireki gasps again, her eyes widening as she blushes a little more. Her expression now seems less out of confusion and more out of shock. Her crossed arms start to lower themselves.

Shiho looks down at Hekireki, raising her eyebrow in puzzlement. “Hm? Mistress?” Shiho leans over and down, reaching her hand out towards Hekireki in a friendly sort of manner. “Is something wrong–”

Just then, Hekireki slaps away Shiho's hand, causing Shiho to flinch a bit, clenching her teeth and closing one eye, startled. Hekireki quickly stands up and runs past Shiho, making a sharp right turn after running a few feet past. She starts running alongside the road, headed in the direction of Nana's house.

Shiho looks behind herself at Hekireki after she makes the turn, looking back in concern. “Hey, Mistress, where're you going!?” She starts running after her. “Come back!”

Hekireki continues to run, holding her right forearm against her eyes, repressing what appears to be tears forming at the corners of her eyes. After running for a few seconds, she throws down her arm, letting her tears show. They run off of her eyes and back behind her, bypassing the redness around them. She then turns again, running across the street and towards Nana's house. The gate into the property is still open. Nana runs past the gate, running up to the double doors leading into Nana's house.

Shiho eventually stops as she reaches the part of the street, looking across at Nana's house. The POV only shows her from the ankles down as she looks at Hekireki, calling to her as she opens one of the two doors, only to slam it behind her. “Mistress, wait! Come back here! Mistress!”

Over near the tent, with the rest of the Kikyuuren, Cujo and Johnny look over at the scene that went on. Johnny appears worried, and Cujo shows a little bit of it as well, despite showing it through narrowed eyes and a seemingly annoyed scowl. “Well f*ck, this doesn't look good.” He turns his head back to look at Johnny. “You think we should do something?”

Johnny closes his eyes and sighs, walking forward past Cujo. “I'll go talk to her.”

“Hn. Might as well.” Cujo follows Johnny.

Finally, the scene cuts back to in front of Nana's house. On the other side of the street, Shiho looks at it, her right hand held to her heart as she shows major concern in her eyes. The wind blows through her hair as she continues to look, muttering one last word.

(MUSIC END)

“Mistress...”

つづく

TO BE CONTINUED

声の出演

桂田寿夫: 豊永利行

桂田志保: 清水愛

エンゼル霹靂: 折笠富美子

石村『ジョニー』淳一: 小野大輔

中田『クジョー』久条: 小西克幸

宮崎亜紀: 杉田智和

山田百合: 豊崎愛生

渡辺勇: 浪川大輔

高橋愛: 水樹奈々

小泉奈菜: 朴璐美

片岡鉄平: 若本規夫

山本奈津子: 釘宮理恵

高橋大輔: 諏訪部順一

泉アイバ: 小清水亜美

白テロ作り部員A: 林和良

白テロ作り部員B: 金光宣明

格納庫部員: 土門仁

脚本: 濠沢彼太

原画: 大梶博之  浅井悠可  志賀道憲  安留雅弥  赤松タケシ  荒川めぐみ  甲斐泰之

       三輪和宏  村松尚雄  三室健太  矢口弘子  立石聖  吉沼裕美  長谷部敦志

       川元利浩  中村豊  村木靖  中田栄治  伊藤嘉之

第二原画: 野々下いおり  朴好英  中西加奈世

             遊歩堂

               東裕子  飯塚英里  松広友仁

             Wish  菁画舎

動画検査: 岩長幸一

動画: ボンズ

         高田小知代  増子裕美  亀山郁李  星公子  山本みどり  須永玲子  矢野美幸

       Wish

         西田政司  小野あゆ美  孫家隆  山本洋平  湯本真央  増田優紗  小橋幸亮

       ディオメディア  スタジオギムレット  FAIインターナショナル  太観アニメ

       トランスアーツ  C2C  CODE  XEBEC zwei  オープロダクション  菁画舎

       drop  Aniade

色指定: 井上昭子

仕上検査: 佐藤香穂莉

仕上げ: Wish

            入江千尋  大鰐奈保子  藤巻淳子  白戸勝彦  田尻佳奈子  砂原直子

特殊効果: 星美弥子

背景: GREEN

          平良亜以子  宮本わかな  藤ちひろ  氏家誠  篠原天元  横山千草  吉田綾美

        風動画文化発展有限公司

          ZHANG YUANZHEN  MA XIAOHONG  LIU JINGWEI  HUANG LIUHUA

          ZHAO XINGNING  QIU YIBO  QIU HONGHUANG  XIANG CHUNMEI

        北京金松林動画公司

3DCGI: 太田光希  安東容太  大山俊介

          オクティグラフィカ

            神林憲和  齋藤勝彦

撮影: T2 Studio

         木村俊也  加藤千恵  加藤絵梨  田沢二郎  別府光太郎  金珍熙  刀根有史

編集スタジオ: ウインズ

HD編集: キューテック

             深沢美津奈  藤田哲郎  入山真二

HD編集助手: 新井淳一

HD編集制作担当: 田畑孝之

録音調整: 野口あきら

録音助手: 松下春香

録音スタジオ: サウンドチームドンファン

音響効果助手: 西佐知子 (サウンドボックス)

音響制作担当: 好永伸恵

音響制作: フォニシア

エンディングテーマ:『24時』

                  歌: ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION

         作詞/作曲: 後藤正文

                編曲: ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION

                       (ki/oon records)

挿入歌:『The Guitarist』

     歌: 石野卓球 (ki/oon records)

オープニングアニメーション

  絵コンテ/演出: タムラコータロー

  作画監督: 中田栄治

  原画: たないあやこ  光田史亮  吉田健一  大梶博之  沈宏  安留雅弥  宗崎暢芳

         森聡  金子秀一  三輪和宏

  背景: 木原裕爾 永井一男

  撮影: T2 Studio

エンディングアニメーション

  絵コンテ/演出: 鈴木典光

  原画: 鈴木典光  新井浩一  石野聡

  背景: 宮越歩 (チームティルドーン)

  撮影: ちゃっぴー

キャラクタークリエイティブチーム: 濠沢彼太  kohikki  千頭悪戸  ボクサ  mg天使  cid猫

                                     波様RX  場藤一  月女神

設定交渉: 小倉信也

モニタデザイン: 海老川兼武

アシスタントプロデューサー: 松本美穂

宣伝プロデューサー: 瓜生恭子

宣伝: 安藤ひと美  柴田亜矢  小森健一

プロモーション協力: 博報堂DYメディアパートナーズ

セールスプロモーション: 小野木航

編成: 関谷祐輔  田村健彦

協力: 亀田製菓株式会社

制作デスク: 天野直樹

設定制作: 和田純一

制作事務: 中村真樹子

制作進行: 荒川直哉

作画監督: 中田栄治  伊藤嘉之

絵コンテ: 京田知己

演出: 村田和也

アニメーション制作: bones

                       KINEMA CITRUS

製作: bones  毎日放送

        きぐま求職者連合

          キネマシトラス  博報堂DYメディアパートナーズ  アニプレックス

PREVIEW

(MUSIC: “Typeset Interface – Second Coming” by Takkyu Ishino)

Hekireki: “Appreciation for someone makes you afraid of what might affect it if and when you say it aloud. But beyond the suffering encountered, though, there is one little thing that makes the effort all worthwhile. Next time on KIGUMA, episode 11: Unwilling Mistress.”

(MUSIC END)

[Poke_Nirvash]

NOTES

TOTAL TIME: 24:29

JAPANESE VOICE CAST

Toshio Katsurada – Toshiyuki Toyonaga

Shiho Katsurada – Ai Shimizu

Hekireki Enzeru – Fumiko Orikasa

Junichi “Johnny” Ishimura – Daisuke Ono

Kujo “Cujo” Nakata – Katsuyuki Konishi

Aki Miyazaki – Tomokazu Sugita

Yuri Yamada – Aki Toyosaki

Isamu Watanabe – Daisuke Namikawa

Ai Takahashi – Nana Mizuki

Nana Koizumi – Romi Park

Teppei Kataoka – Norio Wakamoto

Natsuko Yamamoto – Rie Kugimiya

Daisuke Takahashi – Junichi Suwabe

Iva Izumi – Ami Koshimizu

Shirotero Construction Staff A – Kazuyoshi Hayashi

Shirotero Construction Staff B – Nobuaki Kanemitsu

Hangar Staff – Jin Domon

ENGLISH VOICE CAST

Toshio Katsurada – Johnny Yong Bosch

Shiho Katsurada – Philece Sampler

Hekireki Enzeru – Michelle Ruff

Junichi “Johnny” Ishimura – Ethan Murray

Kujo “Cujo” Nakata – Steve Blum

Aki Miyazaki – Crispin Freeman

Yuri Yamada – Stephanie Sheh

Isamu Watanabe – Dave Wittenberg

Ai Takahashi – Bridget Hoffman

Nana Koizumi – Mary Elizabeth McGlynn

Teppei Kataoka – Michael McConnohie

Natsuko Yamamoto – Cristina Valenzuela

Daisuke Takahashi – Crispin Freeman

Iva Izumi – Lauren Landa

Shirotero Construction Staff - Dan Woren

                                         Kirk Thornton

Hangar Staff – David Vincent

BOARD MEMBER COMPARISON (in order of appearance)

Nana Koizumi – MoonGoddess17

Daisuke Takahashi – Kohikki

Iva Izumi – SenseAcct

Kichirou Shuuta – _Boxers_

Teppei Kataoka – PokeNirvash

Natsuko Yamamoto – cidthekittyisfun

Hekireki Enzeru – mgangel1124

Ai Takahashi – BadWitch

Yuri Yamada – WavemasterRyx

Isamu Watanabe – cidthekittyisfun

Aki Miyazaki – SenseAcct

Junichi “Johnny” Ishimura – Kohikki

Kujo “Cujo” Nakata – _Boxers_

Toshio Katsurada – PokeNirvash

Shiho Katsurada – PokeNirvash

()() - Two things are going on/being said at the same time.

Rated TV-14LSV for suggestive dialogue, profanity, brief nudity, fanservice, and intense violence

FOOTNOTES

1: The coffee can is a play on the brand SUNTORY BOSS.

2: Or being the closest shout-out to Overman King Gainer this series is going to get. They're practically the same thing.

3: A backjet is that ring that appear whenever water droplets splash into a body of water, no matter how big or small.

4: The tattoos Cujo has are the same kinds of tattoos seen on Murdoch, a member of the British virtual band Gorillaz, and the initial visual inspiration for Cujo.

5: Boobie Buckets.

6: I thought I might as well use that shortened version of her name. Also, having Ai yell Hekireki's full first name would've been a little bit awkward to listen to. For me, at least.

7: I'll just leave that there.

8: “What ho!” is a British way of saying hello.

9: To “have a dekko” means to “have a look”, implying that Johnny wasn't going to ogle her like all the others expected.

10: The song is 6:45 in full, but the version in this episode only covers 0:02-0:15, 0:35-2:12, 4:00-4:54, 5:54-6:21, and 6:38-6:44, the total time for which equates to 3:20.

11: The missile dodging scene as seen here was animated by Yasushi Muraki, an animator famous for those kinds of scenes. You can see plenty of them in Eureka seveN.

12: Yutaka Nakamura sakuga makes a comeback.

13: The episode was running under so I needed some padding. Coincidentally, there wasn't any Kameda Seika product placement present anywhere in the story. Funny how that works out.

14: Cujo decided “F*ck it” and went out to watch the fight, and Aki followed suit. Naturally, the other two followed as well. Johnny wasn't proud of breaking his promise to Shiho, just so you know.

The answer to the question at the beginning: Iva A) doesn't use the protrusions on her custom Shirotero for their intended purpose; B) stands around waiting for Shiho to come out of the tent instead of just tearing it open, since she knew where she was at the time; and C) insults Hekireki, in front of Shiho of all people. Also, Shiho doesn't sexually harass Hekireki after saving her from Iva.