Full Power! Starlight Cheers! – Part 04

After about ten minutes down the main road from Roppongi toward Azabu, we arrived at our destination—a karaoke establishment.

“Hey, Sera. This is supposed to be a meeting… right?”

“Yes. Vampire Ninja meetings are basically held in places like this.”

Surprisingly casual. Well, I knew they were an easygoing group.

I got it now. Saras had brought that stage outfit because they were planning to sing.

At the reception, a large crowd dressed similarly to Sera had gathered. They wore outfits that wouldn’t suit anything less than a fancy hotel. I was dressed casually for the mixer afterward, but there was nothing I could do about it at this point.

There were about sixty people, more or less. They ranged from ones who looked like elementary school kids to elderly people resembling Santa Claus.

The only thing that seemed consistent was that no one was ugly. Every vampire had a beautiful face. Totally different from zombies, even though we were both undead.

We climbed the stairs and entered a room that looked like a party hall.

I’d only ever been to karaoke in groups of four, so I didn’t even know such a large party room existed.

Also, with this many people, could everyone even get a turn to sing? What was the karaoke place thinking making such a huge room?

“I have to go greet some people, so I’ll leave you here,” Sera said. “But beware: if you even try to sing, your grossness might get you shredded like cabbage, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Got it. I’ll stay quiet in the corner. Don’t wanna end up in a coleslaw.”

Everyone started chatting since they all seemed to know each other.

I was an outsider, and I wasn’t the kind to strike up conversation, so I quietly stayed in the corner. It was a good chance to socialize for sure. But there were only two middle-aged, office worker-looking types next to me.

“Chikuwabu and ganmo, huh?”^[1][2]
“They’re so good, right? And they’re not eggs.”

How was I supposed to get into a conversation about oden?^[3] Impossible. I was at that age where I believed eggs were the best. I could survive a meal on eggs and daikon alone.

“Yo, Aikawa! I’m glad you could make it.” Tomonori, dressed in a bright red dress, came over, waving energetically.

Thank goodness. I would’ve been dragged into a debate about oden.

Normally boyish, she looked like a cute girl now, wearing a strapless dress that plunged to her chest and a small flower in her hair.

“I guess clothes really do make the man, or woman,” I said.

“Clothes can make people now? Since when?!”

“That’s not what it means, Tomonori.”

“D-Don’t call me Tomonori. Here, it’s always Maelstrom, got it?”

“To me, no matter the time or place, you’re not the Vampire Ninja Maelstrom. You’re my friend Tomonori.”

“O-Okay.”

“Why are you blushing?”

Just as Tomonori suddenly turned meek, a man in a tuxedo and bow tie grabbed the microphone and spoke in a suave voice. “Greetings, everyone. Do you have your drinks ready?”

Ah, we were about to toast. Wait… this was supposed to be a meeting, right? Not a bōnenkai? I panicked for a moment, but it was definitely a year-end party.

I grabbed some oolong tea and stayed quiet beside Tomonori.

“All right, let’s have the chief give the toast!”

Amid loud applause, the Demon Baron took the microphone.

He was a man with messy hair and a scruffy beard, always looking relaxed. Normally he wore a lab coat, but today he wore a proper tuxedo.

His tired expression wasn’t about the toast. It was just his face. He still looked as sluggish as ever.

Apparently, the Queen of Villiers had cursed him to always be on the brink of death. Maybe he was actually always drained.

“Here we go.”

I didn’t know what for, but Tomonori was very excited.

The Demon Baron hadn’t prepared a toast. He said uh five times before finally speaking, “Uh, a cheering for a toast might get us toast, in other words, completely crushed, so let’s go with a victory shout instead. One, two… cheers!”

Wh-What the hell? That sounded like the exact same words some prime minister said years back.^[4] But then the crowd echoed the words, raising their glasses. Clinking sounds filled the room.

Tomonori turned to me, her dress flaring. “Let’s go, Aikawa. It’s time for the great toast battle!”

Before I could even ask what that meant, muscular men came from all directions, glasses in hand, shouting “Cheers!” as they charged.

I got overwhelmed and bolted. I ducked into a corner, bumping right into the Demon Baron himself.

“Ah, Ayumu Aikawa,” he said. “Perfect timing.”

“What are you doing in a corner?” I asked.

“I can’t join the toast. Doctor’s orders. Vampire Ninja toast is basically a war. I have to avoid it.”

No kidding. Those Vampire Ninjas clashed their glasses like fists. Their cheers sounded more like battle cries.

“Aikawa! Cheers!”

Tomonori, clearly having the time of her life, came toward me with a big smile, holding out a glass of soda. For once, her energy was alarming.

“So on that note, Ayumu Aikawa.”

“Hm?”

“Protect me.”

Yeah, if the chief suddenly collapsed spitting blood, everyone would panic.

Behind Tomonori, men as riled up as bulls charged forward, glasses in hand. Their target was—the Demon Baron’s glass!

Their eagerness to celebrate the return of the man with the most authority here, the chief they’d all been dying to meet, practically radiated from them.

“Here we gooo! Cheeeeers!”

I slammed my oolong tea glass against Tomonori’s soda.

Damn. What power!

I was knocked aside like a bowling pin. While I staggered, Tomonori thrust her glass toward the Demon Baron, whose face tightened.

Not happening. I stepped between them and intercepted Tomonori’s glass with mine.

Clink. Just enough force to rattle the soda inside without shattering the glass.

“What?! Y-You repelled my glass? My toast power level of 18,000? Nice going, Aikawa!”

What the hell is a toast power?

“Woooooh! Cheers!”

A beer mug came crashing in from behind Tomonori. I swung left and met it head-on.

“Ugh. Cheers!”

“Incredible! Well done!”

Clink. Clink. Clink.

Beer mugs came flying one after another. I was reaching my limit. One glass wasn’t enough to fend them all off.

I glanced at the Demon Baron. He was desperately chugging oolong tea. Right. If he finished it, there’d be no toast left to make.

“Hah… hah.”

Why the fuck would you drink hot oolong tea?! Are you stupid?!

He had a cat’s tongue, too. Shit. How long would it take him to drink that down?!

“Full power! Starlight Cheers!”

Clang! A nine-year-old pigtailed girl slammed her glass into mine, the shock throwing me against the wall.

More mugs stormed in right after. I was finished. I’d done all I could. The Demon Baron still had more than half his tea left. Checkmate.

Hit me anywhere, I don’t care anymore. Just get it over with.

And then, a black-haired beauty stepped in front of me.

“Saras.”

“My darling. You’ve done well protecting him. Now, I’ll take over. No one lays a hand on the chief.”

Of course. The chief must have told Saras about his health problem too.

“S-Sarasvati.”

The rowdy crowd froze before Saras’s overwhelming aura. One massive guy, built like some musclebound comedian, blocked her path, a giant beer mug in hand.

“So you’re the legendary Sarasvati, with a toast power level of 530 thousand. More than worthy of—gyah!”

The instant his mug touched hers, the Vampire Ninja went flying, sliding across the floor from end to end.

Clang!

“Aaaah!”

Clang!

“Gaaahhh!”

An iron wall. Every Vampire Ninja who clinked glasses with Saras went sliding away, as if the floor had turned into an ice rink.

“Waaah!” Even Tomonori, boasting a toast power level of eighteen thousand, was blown away with ease. Using her as bait, another Vampire Ninja slipped in from the side and thrust forward a glass of green tea.

Caught off guard, Saras clicked her tongue. But it was already too late. The glass was about to touch the Demon Baron’s.

“Secret Art: Swallow Reversal!”

Like a lily blooming, a white dress flashed. Sera, holding two cups of oolong tea, blocked the Vampire Ninja’s toast. The thwarted ninja flew into the air and slammed against the ceiling.

“Not bad.” Sara smirked.

“You too,” Sera answered with a faint smile.

Clink. Their cups met. The two pressed their glasses against each other like locked blades, while more Vampire Ninjas rushed at them.

“Seraphim.”

“I know!”

Sera in white, Saras in black. Together, they were Pretty Cure.^[5]

While everyone marveled at their ironclad defense, one girl raised her hand.

“This is kinda pissing me off.”

She looked about my age, a gyaru^[6] with brown, wavy hair. What kind of ninja was she supposed to be?

Looking closer, three grumpy girls with the same hairstyle and makeup huddled together. They were all Vampire Ninjas too, of course—pretty, flashy, and carbon copies of each other.

“Isn’t this, like, supposed to be a party to celebrate the chief’s return? Why aren’t we allowed to toast with him? This is, like, sooo annoying.”

“Preach it, sis. You’re just, like, a squad leader from the conservatives. You think you’re hot shit?”

“And isn’t that ponytail chick the one who ditched her mission? How could she even show her face here?”

The trio laughed mockingly.

Sera had been ostracized after defying that stupid order to kill Eu. But I thought she’d made up for it when she saved the Vampire Ninjas from those bombs. I guess it didn’t count unless she beat Chris?

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1. Chikuwabu is a wheat-based Japanese food item that is frequently eaten as an ingredient in oden. ↩

2. Ganmo (short for ganmodoki) is a fried tofu fritter made with vegetables, such as carrots, lotus roots and burdock. ↩

3. Oden is a type of Japanese one-pot dish consisting of several ingredients such as boiled eggs, daikon or konjac, and processed fish balls stewed in a light, soy-flavored dashi broth. ↩

4. This is a reference to a speech that former Prime Minister of Japan, Naoto Kan, made at a rally back in 2004. You can watch it here: watch?v=6-m7HD9LDeM. ↩

5. Pretty Cure (or PreCure) is a long-running Japanese magical girl anime and multimedia franchise created by Izumi Todo and produced by Toei Animation. ↩

6. A woman adhering to a fashion style usually characterized by dyed hair and gaudy clothing. It’s a whole subculture. ↩