After a good mini-live show, a small party was going on at CiRCLE for the success. As the party went on, a new face arrived in the live house. One familiar to Shizuka.
'Wh-... Why is she here?!' she thought in shock, for the girl standing by the entrance was none other than the girl who got arrested the other day.
She wasn't the only one who recognized her, for a couple others among them also knew the girl, though gave different reactions.
"Ah! It's you, from yesterday!" Lisa gasped.
"Oh! Moca-chan and Lisa-san's savior~!" Moca sang.
Their respective bandmates turned to the pair in confusion.
"'Savior'?" Ran repeated in a questioned tone.
"You know her?" Yukina asked.
"Yukina, I told you last night. About the incident at work," Lisa told her.
"Same here. I told you girls about what happened at work yesterday," Moca said to her bandmates.
"Yesterday? ... Wait, do you mean...?" Himari trailed off.
"Hm? What's this about yesterday?" Hagumi asked, as the rest of the girls all turned their attention to the pair.
"Hmm hmm~ Listen and be amazed at the great tale of the convenience store savior~" Moca sang.
"Okay, I'm stopping you there," the suppose savior interrupted.
"Eh? But I haven't even started."
"And I rather you don't. As much as I appreciate you two sending your testimonies about what happened the other day, there's really no need to spread the incident around."
"Testimony'?" Sayo repeated.
"After she helped us with these creeps, the cops came to arrest them, and even arrested her!" Lisa informed, much to everyone's surprise.
"Huh?! How come?!" Rimi asked.
"By the time they arrived, our savior had a gun in her hand," Moca answered.
"Huh?! A gun?!" Arisa gasped out.
"Except it was not her's, but one of those creep's. She only took it out of his hand and pointed it at him," Lisa added. "Sure, from an outsider's point of view, it may look like she was the one robbing the place, but she actually saved us and stopped the real crooks! It was a good thing we went with the police to give our testimonies. You wouldn't believe the lies those creeps were telling to the police!"
Upon hearing all these things, Shizuka's view of this girl slowly changed, now that she understood the situation in full. 'What? So I only misunderstood the situation,' she thought in relief.
"Eh. I've heard worse," the girl shrugged off, baffling the others. Before anyone could say a word, she quickly said, "I rather not go into details. Don't bother asking."
"That makes us even more curious..." Misaki muttered.
Upon her words, the girl turned to her and only stared in silence.
"... W-What?" Misaki then asked.
"Ah! Is this your first time meeting Michelle?" Kokoro asked. "Michelle is Hello, Happy World's DJ and mascot member~! Ah! Now that I think about it, we should introduce ourselves! Hero-san, I am Tsurumaki Kokoro, HaroHapi's vocalist~ Nice to meet you~!"
"Eh? 'Hero-san'?" the girl repeated in a questioned tone.
"You saved Lisa and Moca from bad guys, right? Then you are a hero, aren't you? This is the first time I met a real hero~!"
"Now that you mentioned it, you're right!" Hagumi agreed. "My name is Kitazawa Hagumi! I play the bass! Nice to meet you, Hero-san!"
"For us to be in the presence of a true hero... How very fleeting. Dear protector of kittens, I be Seta Kaoru, HaroHapi's princely guitarist," Kaoru introduced.
The girl remained silent for a few more seconds, before turning to the rest of the girls and pointing at the four HaroHapi members.
"Yes. That is how they are," Kanon said, already knowing what the girl was going to ask. "Ah! I'm Matsubasa Kanon. HaroHapi's drummer."
Everyone else introduced themselves after them. Once it was Shizuka's turn to introduce herself...
"Oh! Before you ask, Shizuka-chan is mute, so that's why she needs her notepad," Aya explained.
"Ah. That's why she hasn't said anything," the girl simply said in understanding, as the mute staff handed her notepad to her. "'Suzuki Shizuka'. By the looks of it, I am going to assume you're a staff member. Is the manager in, by chance?"
As if on cue, Marina walked out of the office. "Sorry it took a while. Pizza will be here-" She stopped herself upon seeing a new face in the lobby. "Oh? Hello there. Are you a customer? Sorry, but-"
"I'm not," the girl said. "I'm Sakura Guren. You may have heard from the owner about a new hire a few days back."
This news caught Shizuka and the bands by surprise. She's CiRCLE's new staff member?
"Oh yes! The owner did say that," Marina said in realization. "Nice to meet you. I'm Tsukushima Marina. I'm the manager here at CiRCLE. I see you've been introduced to Shizuka and the bands."
"Yes, that's right. And by the looks of it..." Guren turned to the bands. "I've heard from the owner about there being an event coming up. Was that today?"
"Oh, no. We had a mini-live today. As an advertisement for the event," Tsugumi corrected.
"I see... in any case, I apologize for not coming earlier. I was planning to come by yesterday after meeting with the owner, but things suddenly came up after I met her."
"Now that you mentioned it, she did call last night as I was closing up the shop and asked about you," Marina recalled. "What happened?"
"Marina-san! You need to listen to this!" Kasumi exclaimed. "Guren-san actually saved Lisa-san and Moca last night!"
"Huh? Sorry, can you go back a bit?"
"I'll explain..." Guren sighed.
"Hm? Is it just me or did you sound annoyed just now?" Ako asked.
"Because those two are only over exaggerating about what happened."
"No, we didn't. You really saved us the other day from those creeps," Lisa said. "Yesterday..."
******
*FLASHBACK*
Lisa and Moca were at their part-time job at the convenience store. Originally, the bassist of Roselia wasn't supposed to work, but the person who was to work with Moca for the day called in sick, so the manager had asked her to cover the shift. Thankfully, it was not a problem for Roselia, especially as they were training PoPiPa again today, rather than get some practice in themselves.
"Thank you and have a good day," Lisa said to a leaving customer.
"Thanks~" Moca followed.
As soon as the customer was out of sight, Lisa took her phone out to see if there's any new messages from Roselia.
"Hmm... Looks like practice is going well for them so far," she muttered.
Moca overheard this and asked, "Is Roselia practicing today?"
"You can say that. It's actually a joint practice session with Poppin'Party, though. Well, to be exact, it was more of a boot camp for them. But they are quite dedicated to practice. Yesterday, they even asked us to help them perfect the song they're going to play for the mini-live. And every time Yukina pointed out a mistake in the song, they went back to the beginning to get it all right."
"Wow... That is a boot camp. Minato-senpai Boot Camp," Moca said.
"Ahahaha... Well, no new messages must mean that things are going well on their end."
Just then, the two heard the doors open, and Lisa put her phone away.
"Welcome," she greeted.
"Hello," Moca followed.
Walking in were a trio of guys. One look, and they already screamed 'thugs' to the girls.
One guy at the center who seemed to be the leader took notice of the girls and approached them. "Hey there. I was wondering if you can help me," he spoke.
Lisa and Moca held back the urge to gulp, as the former asked, "What can I help you with today?"
"I need some beer, cigarettes... let's see... Yeah... You two can do." The pair of part-timers tilted their heads in confusion at those words. "My boys and I have a party tonight. And we would love to bring some dates to it."
"I'm sorry, but we're underage, and we're working right now," Lisa said, having a horrible feeling and hoping the guy would stop right there.
"Come on, toots. Don't be like that. Didn't you ask to help me?" he asked.
"Yeah. Where's the service?" one of his guys asked.
"They say the customer's always right," the other guy stated.
"Isn't that only in restaurants?" Moca pointed out.
"Same difference. Your friend here offered help. You two are helping." As the leader said that, he grabbed Lisa by the wrist.
"Hey! Let go!" she exclaimed, struggling against him.
"Let go of Lisa-san!" Moca told him, only to be grabbed by his goons.
"Hey boss. There's only two girls, though. That's not enough," Goon 1 said.
"We'll find another on the way," their boss said.
"Excuse me." At the sound of an unfamiliar voice, the five turned and saw Guren standing by the doors. "You wouldn't happen to have any umbrellas here, would you? I lost mine and would love to prepare myself in case if it suddenly rains."
"Does this look like the time?!" Lisa asked her.
Guren ignored the girl and found some umbrellas hung against a wall by some shelves. "Ah. Never mind. Found it."
As she walked, Goon 2 rushed at her. "I call dibs!"
Before he can even touch a hair on her, the girl stretched her leg out and kicked him right in the face. The kick was so hard, she knocked him back.
"Oof... mah noze..." he groaned, holding his bleeding nose.
Guren simply looked back at the guy. "Ah, sorry. My leg has been acting up quite often recently. Nothing personal," she said nonchalantly, continuing on to the umbrellas.
The others knew she was lying, as Goon 1 rushed at her. "Why you bitch!"
Guren grabbed a short, green one and pressed the extension button, having the umbrella increased its length and almost hit Goon 1, had he not stopped in his tracks in time. The girl pushed the object to his chest, causing him to fall on his butt.
"Nice. It works," she spoke. "Good length, and I like the color. Hopefully, it's sturdy enough, though." As she pushed the umbrella back to its smaller size, the girl then turned to the coolers. "Ah. I am feeling kind of thirsty."
"Hey! Don't just ignore me!" Goon 1 exclaimed.
Guren looked over to the downed man with a blank expression. "... Why the hell are you on the floor? Are you asking to be stepped on? Wow... To think there really are those kind of guys out there. Now I've seen everything," she said, with some slight mockery in her tone, as she resumed walking to the coolers.
Goon 1 was pissed at the attitude and the claim. "What the hell do you mean... 'those kind of guys'?!" He shot back up and ran to Guren again, a fist pulled back.
"Look out!" Lisa cried out.
Guren simply undid the strap on the umbrella and pressed the button again. This time, as the umbrella extended out, it also unfolded itself, stopping Goon 1. The girl pushed the button again to have the canopy be folded back in and swung the umbrella right across his face, knocking him down.
"Oh, so sorry. I thought I saw a bug on your face," she lied.
"You bitch! You definitely did that on purpose!" the guy claimed.
"Of course I did. After all, it's a bug. Not much of a fan, but I don't squeal and cower in fear like most girls do." When she said that, Lisa felt a bit hurt, for she truly does not like bugs at all. "But, I truly am sorry. How about I get you some nice soda to make up for it?" As Guren said that, she opened one of the coolers and took out a soda can.
"You think a soda's gonna make up for-!" Goon 1 was interrupted as Guren opened the can, and the contents exploded out and struck him in the face. "GYAAAAAHHHHHH!!! My eyes! My eyes!!!"
"Whoa, that was unexpected. I thought it would be a pain for you to open this and did the work for you, but to think someone shook this up earlier and put it back in. How devious," she stated, pointing the can at the poor victim.
'No, no, no. It was brief, but you shook that can when you took it out,' Lisa thought, as the man continued crying over the burning sensation in his eyes.
"Hey!" the leader spoke, finally releasing his grip on Lisa. "I've stayed back for a couple minutes, and this is what happens? You're getting beaten by a girl!"
"If you call this getting beaten, your definition of a fight must be small," Guren stated. "In any case, I have places to be, so I'll be paying for the umbrella and drink." As she went to pay at the register, the leader stood in her way.
"You'll pay, alright. For what you did to my guys!" He threw his fist forward at Guren's face. Rather than making contact, though, the girl leaned to the side and flipped him over her shoulder.
"Were you really about to hit a girl? Wow... some 'man' you are," Guren lightly mocked.
Next she knew, Goon 2 got back up and grabbed her, holding her arms up to immobilize her.
"Ah! That's cowardly!" Moca exclaimed.
"Let her go!" Lisa shouted.
Guren, on the other hand, only sighed. "Seriously? Over a little flip out of self-defense? All right. If it makes him feel better, come on. You have this big chance to land a good one on me," she dared, much to the girls and guys' shock. "What? Don't tell me you're scared. What could I possibly do now that your friend has me bound? Or did that flip take whatever manliness you have out of you? You certainly know how to make good use of the phrase 'all bark and no bite'."
'Why are you egging him on?!' Lisa mentally questioned.
"You're asking for it now, girl!" the leader shouted, as he rushed with another fist pulled back.
Once he was close enough, rather than landing a punch on the girl, Guren had used her captor's leg as a foothold to push herself up and side kicked the guy right in the midsection, followed by another kick to the face. Using the momentum of the kicks, Guren also managed to flip herself behind Goon 2 and out of his hold, as well as kicked him into his boss.
"So... what was I asking for?" she questioned the boys, one of whom got knocked out by her kick.
Lisa and Moca were both baffled with what they were seeing. The girl before them was handling the guys like they were nothing, and barely broke a sweat, even knocked out the ringleader. It was then the older of the two part-timers noticed something from the corner of her eyes, one that made her panic.
"Get down!" Lisa shouted, tackling Moca down behind the counter.
"You damn bitch!" Goon 1 got back up, not quite recovered from the soda spray, and had a gun in hand. He pulled the trigger, but thanks to his blurred sight by the soda, he missed his intended target, who crouched down upon Lisa's warning.
"Idiot! Don't use your gun in here!" Goon 2 shouted.
At this time, the door to the office opened, and another worker poked her head out the door. "What's going on out here?!"
Upon hearing the voice, Goon 1 pointed his gun at the direction of the voice and pulled the trigger, but thankfully missed again, as the worker hid back inside the room.
"Call the police!" Guren shouted, bringing Goon 1's attention back to her position and shoot.
She glanced to the side and saw Goon 2 crawling to her. She gave him a quick ground kick, in which the guy caught, and she followed up with a spin kick to the head, knocking him into the shelf they were hiding behind and out.
With two of the three guys down, Guren looked around to see what she can use to distract Goon 1, who was still firing his gun. Her eyes laid on the now-empty can of soda on the floor and the umbrella, and she grabbed the can and tossed it to the other side of the store. Upon hearing the 'clang' sound, Goon 1 turned to where the can was and continued shooting.
Guren took advantage of his blinded distraction and snuck over to him. Once close enough, she struck him hard in the face with the umbrella's handle, knocking him back and ceasing his shooting. The girl then quickly took the gun out of his hand.
"Stay down," she warned, pointing the weapon at the down, but still conscious, man.
Sensing it safe now, Lisa and Moca slowly stood back up, and the worker exited out the room.
******
*PRESENT*
After Lisa and Moca told everyone of what happened yesterday, the lobby went silent.
"That's what happened yesterday?!" Tomoe gasped, breaking the silence, as she turned to Guren. "What the heck?! You're so cool!"
"Yeah! Super cool~!" Ako exclaimed.
"Super duper cool~! As expected of Hero-san~!" Kokoro stated.
"Yeah~!" Hagumi agreed.
"Half of that sounds made-up, though," Arisa stated.
"True, but Moca is not one to lie about these sort of things," Ran said.
"Neither is Imai-san," Sayo added. "Still... to think that happened yesterday."
"Putting yourself into such danger for justice... That's an admirable Bushido spirit you have!" Eve exclaimed.
"Yeah! You're bopping awesome~!" Hina said with her eyes sparkling.
Guren blushed lightly at the compliments and looked away. "Thanks... I guess," she said.
"Hm? But wait. What does that have to do with the testimonies you spoke of?" Yukina asked in realization.
"Now that she mentioned it, didn't you also say something about how she got arrested?" Saya asked.
"Yeah. Even now, Moca-chan is still upset with what the police did after," Moca said.
******
*FLASHBACK*
After handling the trio of thugs, Guren turned to Lisa and Moca. "Did you call the-?" Before she could finish her question, sirens were heard nearing the store. At the sound, Guren sighed and sarcastically said, "Great. They're here."
Though confused with the tone she used, next the workers knew, a couple of police barged into the store with guns in hand.
"Hands in the air!" one of them shouted, in which Guren lazily did. Upon getting a good look at the girl, the cop the said, "Sakura?!"
"Hello, Daisuke. Fancy meeting you here after a few days," she greeted, confusing Lisa and Moca, and the other worker.
"I should've known it was you!" Daisuke exclaimed, as he approached her with his gun pointing at her. "On your knees, now!"
Though the part-timers were baffled at the command, Guren did as told and went to her knees. Daisuke then knocked the gun out of her hands and handcuffed them behind her back.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" the worker questioned.
"Catching a criminal! That's what we were called for, wasn't it?!" Daisuke said, forcibly picking Guren up.
"Except she's not the criminal! That guy and his friends here are!" Lisa corrected.
"Yeah, that's right! Let go of our savior!" Moca demanded, though in her usual tone, it was hard to tell if she was truly serious.
Daisuke only sighed at their words. "Look, girls. Whatever this bitch here has on you, don't worry. We'll make sure she gets handled real soon," he said, obviously not believing a single word.
"Weren't you listening?! She's not a criminal!" Lisa said again.
"Don't bother," Guren told her. "All you'll be doing is waste your breath. This idiot here doesn't know left from right, and he most certainly would never believe in anything good or true about me, only in what is bad and false. And someone like him is a cop, you may ask? Ironic, isn't it? A law enforcer who is supposed to be protecting the innocent is arresting those helping the people while letting those disturbing them go. Oh, what the world has come to~"
In response to her mockery, Daisuke slammed her into the cooler door. "You want to say that again, punk?!"
"Hey, stop it!" Lisa shouted.
"Daisuke, you're going too far here!" the other police officer told him.
"Shut up! This bitch has it coming for a long while! How she keeps going on freely is an even bigger mystery compared to what the higher ups say!" Daisuke exclaimed.
"Even so, the girls here are witnesses, and they're saying these guys are the real criminals. What would the chief say if he sees you now?!"
"That's... not true, officer," came Goon 1's voice. "My friends and I were minding our own business when she suddenly attacked us. She even threatened those girls to lie about what really happened to save herself."
"That's not true at all!" Moca exclaimed.
"Officer, don't listen to him!" the third worker said. "That guy was shooting us with his gun! If it weren't for that girl, someone would've definitely died!"
"A gun? You mean the one that was in Sakura's hands? Ma'am, you don't need to lie about that," Daisuke said, completely unconvinced.
"We're telling the truth, though!" Lisa exclaimed. "Come on! Why don't you believe us?!"
"I believe you," came a new voice.
All heads turned to the door, and saw another officer standing there, this one quite older than the other two policemen. From how one of them flinched, he also seemed to be someone of higher standing.
"C-Chief?!" the unnamed officer gasped.
"Chief! Perfect timing. For once, we actually caught Sakura in a criminal act. Now we don't have to deal with her any longer!" Daisuke gleefully said, much to Lisa and Moca's disgust.
The chief sighed at the claim and turned to them. "Is what he said true?"
"Of course not! She saved us! She knocked out the real bad guys!" the older of the pair exclaimed.
"Though one of them is still conscious and lying about what really happened," the younger of the pair added.
"I also have a video from the security camera if it helps, officer," the other worker added.
"Show me the video. Yu, Daisuke, arrest the men, and don't do anything funny," the chief ordered.
"Yes sir!" Yu saluted.
"Lisa, Moca, when this is over, you two can leave for the day. And have some time off," the worker told the two.
"Okay, manager," Lisa nodded.
As the two walked into the room to look at the video the manager spoke of, Yu was arresting the unconscious men, but Daisuke didn't do anything to cuff Goon 1.
"Hey. Didn't the chief give you order?" Moca questioned.
"He did, but it'll be a hassle to let the guy go later," Daisuke said. "The real crook is this girl. Just admit it and make things easier for us already."
"We already told you, she's not the criminal!" Lisa exclaimed, getting quite annoyed with this police man. "Besides, your boss told you to do it! You should do it anyway if you don't want to get into trouble!"
"She has a point, Daisuke," Yu agreed.
"If you want to waste your time arresting innocents, then be my guest. I have my eyes on the real crook, and I refuse to let her get a-" He was interrupted by a harsh headbutt to the nose, forcing him to take a few steps back, before feeling a kick to his midsection, forcing him to fall back, and land on top of someone. As he recovered from the kick, he heard something sliding away, followed by a stomp and a scream, and turned to see Guren with her foot on Goon 1's hand, the guy in which he was on top of.
"You bitch!"
"Daisuke, don't get up!" Yu shouted.
His shout went unheard, as the guy tackled Guren down and pressed a knee against her neck. "How do you like it if you're the one getting hurt, huh?! Time for you to get what you really deserve!"
"Get off of her!" Moca shouted.
"Moca, don't!" Lisa cried out, holding her back.
"Daisuke, move it! Now!" Yu shouted.
"No way. This girl has been roaming on free for long en-" Daisuke was interrupted by a gunshot and a cry. He turned to the cry, and saw Goon 1 holding his bleeding hand. To the gunshot, he saw the chief there with his gun in hand.
"I gave you orders," he simply said. "Now get off Sakura. I will not ask twice."
Reluctantly, Daisuke did just that, much to Guren's relief, as she gasped for air. "Chief... With all due respect, why did you fire?" he questioned.
"Come inside, and then you'll know. Yu, arrest that man, and give his hand some treatment."
******
*PRESENT*
"Turns out, that guy was slowly making his way to his gun unnoticed. Had Guren-san not done what she did, he would've shot at someone," Moca further explained.
"True, soda is said to be painful to the eyes, but not to the point where someone would be blinded," Tsugumi stated.
"Still, I can't believe that cop went and did that!" Tomoe angrily exclaimed.
"Don't worry. It's not the first time I dealt with him," Guren said, calmly drinking some juice like she was drinking some tea.
"How are you so calm?!"
"She's right. Police or not, what that man did was unforgivable!" Chisato exclaimed.
"Yeah! He was even given direct orders to arrest the real criminals, and yet ignored it over you!" Maya said to Guren.
"Like I said, not the first time. And most certainly won't be the last," the girl said, taking another sip of her juice.
"You mean it's normal?" Tae asked.
"I'd rather not answer," Guren replied.
"That definitely means 'yes'," Arisa judged.
"That... must be hard for you," Rinko said.
"Thanks to the video from our security cameras, though, we proved Guren-san's innocence, and that officer got a massive scolding from the chief of police," Lisa added. "Though I admit, even I'm upset he wasn't fired on the spot, if this wasn't the first time this happened."
Shizuka realized one thing missing from the story. "But, why was Guren still forced in the car while handcuffed?" she wrote.
Guren was the first to read it. "Ah. I guess you were there yesterday. Unfortunately, none of the cops brought keys for the cuffs. Daisuke cause... Well, it's him. Yu brought the wrong keys. And the chief? He was on his way home when he got the call about the incident, and didn't have keys to the handcuffs at the time. So they had to bring me to the station to get them off. ... Amongst other things that I'd rather not say."
"That must feel uncomfortable..." Kasumi said.
"Not really. I'm pretty much used to it."
"Is getting handcuffed something you should be getting used to?" Misaki questioned.
"In any case, going by Lisa-chan and Moca-chan's story, you certainly are trustworthy enough to be hired. We could use a guard in case if we get any funny business at CiRCLE," Marina stated.
"Oh! That sounds like a good idea!" Himari agreed.
"I'm pretty sure I wasn't hired to be a security guard. In fact, does a live house need one?" Guren questioned.
"Then you'll be our staff with the guard as a side job," Marina stated. "We may not have opened for long, but you'll never know what can happen in a live house."
"You really want me to be a guard, don't you...? Well, I was hired by the owner anyway. If it's guard work you want me to do, I might as well."
"The way you say that sounds quite worrying on its own," Kanon said.
"But at the very least, CiRCLE has a new staff member!" Aya pointed out. "Things are already looking up here!"
The entrance door opened up again, and a guy holding boxes of pizza entered.
"Pizza delivery!" he called.
"Ah! That's me!" Marina spoke.
"I'll pay," Guren insisted as she got up. "It's the least I can do for showing up late."
"Huh? It's fine. You don't have to do that."
"No, but I want to. Besides, I may have just joined, but I want to do something for the upcoming event. This is a good start." Without another word, she went to pay for the pizzas.
"She really is a nice girl," Rimi said.
"And really cool!" Ako added.
Shizuka could only nod in agreement to their words, looking forward to working with the new hire.