Full Power! Starlight Cheers! – Part 05

“Hey, cut it out!” Tomonori intervened, looking between Saras and the three. “No fighting. It’s not the place and time.”

The trio sneered. Saras stood quietly, but her right hand was clenched tight. She was holding it in.

“I wanted this,” the Demon Baron cut in. “You all did nothing wrong.”

But the three didn’t stop.

“You’re just, like, a lil pretty. Don’t let it go to your he—”

Before she could finish her tirade, something inside Saras boiled over and burst.

“Silence, you trash. Your voice is grating to the ears.”

One of the wavy-haired girls puckered her lips, stepped forward with a glass of soda, and threw it straight into Saras’s face.

Her black dress fizzed and bubbled with soda. The three laughed even harder, delighted at the sight.

“You must have a death wish.” Saras’s voice rumbled up from deep inside her. She trembled with rage, fist shaking, and swung at that pretty but infuriating face.

I caught her hand.

“Darling.”

“Don’t. Was this why you wanted a meeting? You planned this, didn’t you? Wasn’t the point to bring everyone together?”

“But…”

“You’re way too quick to let emotions take over.”

The wavy-haired girl smacked me across the cheek.

“Stay out of this, outsider!”

I heard something snap inside Saras—the last thread of her patience.

“Enough, you fucking bitch! You think the reformists are so great?”

And that served as the signal. A brawl broke out.

“Calm down, Saras! I’m fine, it didn’t hurt.”

But the conservatives and reformists, gathered here to unify, started throwing punches instead.

“Stop! Stooop!” Tomonori shouted, but no one listened.

“Settle down! Why does it come to this?”

I pushed myself between them, shoving bodies apart. Saras glared in fury, while the wavy-haired girl sneered.

“Getting worked up because you can’t beat me in the online rankings? Pathetic,” Saras said.

Ah, so she was an internet idol too. I’d heard from Orito that Saras performed under the name Lovely Kirara, a sugary title that didn’t fit her sharp looks. She ranked near the top.

That hit the girl’s nerve dead-on. “You’re such a cocky little shit! Who do you think you are?”

“I never realized your mediocre singing, half-baked performance, and so-so looks all came from your rotten personality.” Now it was Saras’s turn to smirk.

This was unstoppable. Did Vampire Ninjas really fight over nonsense like this all the time?

Just then, the Demon Baron drained his hot oolong tea and took the mic.

“Enough. That’s an order.”

His voice cut like the word of God. Deep and sharp, it made even me freeze. The hall fell silent.

He was their chief, all right. With one word, he seized every gaze. The Demon Baron, usually scruffy, bearded, and half-asleep, now wore the face of a commanding leader.

“I’m sorry.”

His next words left everyone stunned. They’d expected anger. Instead, he disarmed them. Me too.

“I knew about the infighting. I know I left you to it. For that, I sincerely apologize. But there’s no reason for it anymore, is there?”

He’d faked his death and vanished, and because of that, the Vampire Ninjas split and turned on each other. He knew, yet couldn’t bring himself to appear.

He must have suffered in his own way. I could see it in his eyes.

He let out a sigh and scratched his stubble. The Demon Baron’s face slipped back into its usual weary look.

“I can’t stand watching you fight anymore. Let’s put the past behind us and go back to how it was. Take it easy, like before.”

Saras and the three girls glared at each other. Then, each of them walked off in a different direction.

Sheesh. They could’ve at least read the room and shaken hands.

---

The toast war that raged like a storm finally ended. I let out a sigh of relief and carefully looked around.

Tomonori was raiding the food with dressing in one hand. Sera was checking out new song releases alone. Saras headed toward a crowd of Vampire Ninjas, and while I hesitated on whether to follow, I missed my chance.

Wait, where was the Demon Baron? Since Saras and Tomonori were occupied, I went over to Sera.

“Oh, if it isn’t Ayumu. You’re as gross as ever,” Sera said, wearing a slightly lonely expression.

There were two office worker-looking guys nearby.

“There’s this amazing oden stand that opened recently near Tokyo Tower.”
“Ah, the one famous for that different broth.”
“The ganmodoki there is insane, man.”

Still going on about oden. No wonder Sera didn’t join in. But that worked out for me. Now I had someone to talk to. I sat beside her, leaning in a bit to check out the new songs with her.

“Ayumu.”

“What?”

“That’s sexual harassment.”

“How exacting?!”

Her ridiculous remark threw me off so badly my words got twisted.

“Could you move a little farther? You’re gross.”

Seriously? Just leaning closer counted as harassment? I did as she asked and moved away.

“Where did the chief go?” I asked.

“The chief? He went to the bathroom.”

“I see.”

I sat nearby, listening to songs by Vampire Ninjas I didn’t even know, waiting for the Demon Baron. But he didn’t show up.

Five minutes later. Ugh, this is unbearable. Sera ignored me completely, and the atmosphere was suffocating. Being the outsider sucked. If only Tomonori came over, she could’ve watered this desert of a heart… but no, she was way too far.

So that side was probably the conservatives, and this side was the reformists.

I mustered some courage and went toward Saras, where the most Vampire Ninjas gathered.

Since she’d been splashed with soda earlier, Saras had changed into the punk rock gear from her bag. Her shiny boots and hot pants gleamed, and her faintly curved chest was barely covered by a single scrap of cloth. She probably wasn’t even wearing a bra. With a waist that tight, she could rock the bare-midriff look.

There was a reason she was the famous internet idol, Lovely Kirara.

Just as I was about to call to her, an old man with a grand beard appeared.

“Oh, Saras. Any food yet?”

Saras let out a sigh. “Come on. You ate yesterday, didn’t you?”

Feed the poor guy three square meals a day! And why did it sound like she was gently scolding a senile old man?

“Oh, did I? Silly me, silly me.”

No, gramps, you’re getting tricked.

Despite his age, the old man had a bodybuilder’s physique, squeezed into a suit so tight the buttons looked ready to pop.

I’d heard he was Sera’s and Saras’s boss. Grand Elder or something.

Once again, I missed my timing. The mood made it impossible to butt in, so I moved on. Fine, I might as well hit the john.

The karaoke place was so big and uniform I almost got lost. When I finally entered the spotless, well-kept restroom, it had just one stall and a sink.

“Ugh, bathroom, bathroom.”

I sprinted. I was just a regular high school guy—except for being a zombie, of course.

The stall wasn’t in use, but I still gave the door a knock before opening it. Inside sat a scruffy-bearded man on the closed lid, burnt out pale like he’d just gone twelve rounds with José Mendoza.^[1]

So this was where he’d been hiding.

“Quite the waste of a good-looking guy,” I said.

“You saw the toast war, didn’t you? No way I can handle this. The rift between the Vampire Ninjas is deeper than I thought.”

Come on, don’t fold just from chugging hot oolong tea. Was he sick or something?

“Wanna tell them you’re not feeling well and head home?”

“Not an option. But… what should I do?”

“How about sticking close to Sera?”

I remembered she was alone. If the Demon Baron tagged along, she could talk with the Vampire Ninjas too.

“Sera?”

“I mean Seraphim. Conservative Vampire Ninja, living at my place right now.”

“Oh, right, yeah. The ponytail girl. She’s got a killer figure—ughk!”

The Demon Baron spun around and vomited a fountain of blood into the toilet.

“Damn, I forgot. The doctor told me not to think dirty thoughts.”

“How did you keep that under wraps this long?”

“So what about this Sera girl?”

“She’s like Saras, same type. But she’s nice and thoughtful.”

“I see. I’m gonna count on her, then.”

“You agreed fast.”

“That’s how much I trust you. Or rather, I’ve got no one else. I’d take all the fingers I can get.”

You mean hands. What a pain in the ass this guy was. And quit winking. It’s disturbing.

“About Sera. Can you do one thing for me?” I asked.

“Just one, okay?” he asked in that annoying voice of his.

I felt like yanking out his stubble with tweezers, but I pressed on.

“Give her a mission. Anything’s fine. Just something that lets her stay at my house.”

Her mission had been to get Eu to turn the Demon Baron into a zombie. But once he showed up, that ended. Which meant she had no reason to stick around anymore. And I didn’t… I didn’t want that.

“If that’s all, consider it done. I gotta say…”

“What’s with that look?”

“Oh, nothing. I just figured you and Eucliwood were already a thing. I get it, though. With that body of hers—blegh! Damn, thought of it again.”

“It’s not like that. It’s for Eu too. Besides, I leave everything at home to Sera now. If she doesn’t clean up, Haruna will trash the place. And I’m not washing Haruna’s and Eu’s underwear ever again.”

“All right, all right. Watching you get this desperate is hilarious. No wonder Ariel likes you.”

“Shut up.”

My face heated. He started laughing, so I turned my back on him. Damn, why did every one of them have this mocking laughter?

Oh, phone buzzing. A text? It was from Orito. Looks like the mixer was about to start.

“All right, I’ll leave Sera to you. I’ve got other business. Tell Saras I went to the restroom or something.”

“Got it. I’ll entrust everything to this Sera girl. But are you sure? You might’ve gotten info on Chris.”

“I might learn Chris’s weakness somewhere else. Besides, I can’t stand the air in this place.”

“You’re surprisingly delicate for a zombie.”

Say whatever you want.

I waved over my shoulder as I walked off.

Sorry, Saras. I guess I’ll let you down on this one.

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1. José Mendoza is a semi-recurring character in Ashita no Joe and the main antagonist of the second half of the series. ↩