20 Chapter Twenty: A Day To Remember (1/2)

The next day arrived, as the team finally wakes up. As the crew wakes up, they find that the Ueda sisters were already awake and making some food to eat for everybody. As if the smell of food alone gave everyone energy, everyone sat up to look at the Ueda sisters as they brought plates of food into the room where everyone slept.

”Breakfast is served” Mikoto says in a cheerful voice as she begins to hand over plates to Finn and Rose first.

Satomi, handing plates to Zia and Siran, says in a contradictory tone ”Well, it's actually afternoon, so it's too late for breakfast”.

Rubbing his eyes and then putting on sunglasses again, Siran says ”Thanks” to Satomi as she walks away to grab two more plates.

Already eating, Finn says after swallowing his first bite of food ”You two are the nicest people we've met!”

”That's sad” Mikoto says after coming back with two more plates as well. Mikoto then hands one plate to Holly as Satomi hands a plate to Alex. Then they both sit down with the rest of the group as they all eat.

After taking a few bites of food, Siran asks Satomi and Mikoto ”So what's the plan so far?”

Clearing her throat, Satomi says ”Well, first we've got to get a gig. Once we can have the stage, we can try to play some songs that will motivate the masses to take action. Any action should be fine, such as protests or whatever, as long as the people make it as hard as possible for The Ly'Lum to progress. The ideal stage, of course, would be as close to any Ly'Lum base or outpost as possible”.

Seeing a hole in the plan, Finn butts in saying ”What if we can't get you a stage?”

The Ueda sisters thought for a moment until Holly said ”Well, I have an idea. This city has a lot of volumetric displays all over the place. These volumetric displays have a server that they function off of, so if I can hack into that, then we could broadcast everywhere instead of just one place”.

Almost dropping her fork again, Mikoto says in an impressed tone ”that's actually a really good idea!”

”That way” Holly adds, ”we could stir up action over a wider range, and hopefully really scare the shit out of The Ly'Lum!”.

Suddenly, as if not as impressed as before, Mikoto says ”... She scares me a little”.

”Oh don't worry about Holly!” Rose says cheerfully, ”she's completely harmless, she won't bite-”.

Holly, without turning her head to look at Rose, puts a digital sound barrier around Rose's head. Rose kept talking, but no one could hear her. As everyone looked at Holly in silence, Holly replies to the glares with ”She'll stop talking eventually”.

”Riiiiiiiight” Satomi says, in an almost worried tone while slowly looking away from Rose and Holly. ”Anyways, if you can broadcast us across the entire city, or maybe even further than that, then we'll handle the music for you. If all goes according to plan, then during the time when the masses are occupying The Ly'Lum, we will all observe The Ly'Lum's reactions and plan the next steps after that”.

Finishing his food, Siran puts down his plate and fork and says ”Sounds good to me”.

”Just give me some time to find a way into the network that the volumetric displays are connected to” Holly says. ”There's probably a lot of networks to crack into, since there's so many different volumetric displays. I'd doubt they're all connected to the same source. Oh yeah, and almost forgot-”. Holly then removes the digital sound barrier spell that was around Rose's head. Rose was simply pouting to herself as she eventually came to the realization that no one could hear her the whole time.

”You've got to stop treating me like a child...” Rose says, still pouting.

”Anyways” Finn says as he changes the subject, ”so what are we goin' to be doin' while we wait for Holly to crack her way into those servers?”

”We're going to blend in and act normal” Satomi says.

Suddenly stiffening up, Rose interjects ”Wait a minute, what's the plan here?”.

Alex, just finishing his meal, says ”Holly's going to hack into the displays around the city to broadcast these two as they try to perform some music to stir up the people living here. While that happens, we're going to lay low and act normal”.

Seeming like she's barely keeping up with the plan, Rose then asks ”So basically some nerd stuff, then some fun stuff will happen?”

”In an oversimplified way, yes” Alex responds.

With her attitude lifting into a happier tone, Rose then asks ”Does this mean we can have more girls nights out!?”.

Letting out a sigh mixed with a small laugh, Mikoto says ”Yes, we can have another girls night out”. To which, Rose lets out a loud cheer like ”Woo!” while throwing her hands in the air for joy.

All of the girls, later that day, head out together with the exception of Holly. Not long after, the guys decided to go outside of the hotel they were in to pass the time. After a while of simply walking around on the streets, unsure what to do, they ran into the girls. Rose and Zia were still dressed in their Cheongsam dresses but Rose's long pink hair was now tied up in a bun, much like Satomi's hair. Surprised to see them here, Mikoto asks ”what are you guys doing out? Having a guys night out?”

Not showing any surprise, Alex says ”Something like that”.

”We're not even sure what to do here” Finn says, ”what do you guys do on a girls night out?”.

Zia shrugs and says ”Mostly just visit a bunch of stores and stuff”.

As if suddenly getting a good idea, Rose says ”We should see if there's any weapon shops around here! I want some more ninja gear, like throwing knives and stuff”.

Showing disappointment, Mikoto says ”There aren't any shops around here like that. You won't be able to buy weapons here, that's illegal. Also, can't you stop thinking about fighting for one day?”

”Better to be safe than sorry” Rose says, puffing up her cheeks as if she's beginning to pout.

Almost alarmed, Satomi asks ”Seriously? You don't even think of boys or dates or anything?”

”What's a date?” Rose asks, confused.

”Oh... my... god” Mikoto responds, very shocked yet impressed at the same time. ”A date is when you spend alone time with someone you like very much... you know, in a romantic sort of way?”