Awkward Meeting (for Raiye-san)

Haruka glowered cutely at the chuckling Lute from behind her forgotten bowl of frozen peach cream. Then her face scrunched up when Lute brought up the caramel bar comparison. "Eh?" She blinked, just as confused as Zera. "Why a caramel bar?"


"A berserker," Masato replied weakly. "Lute-san is a berserker..." He closed his eyes. "Sindel-san, how powerful is Lute's berserk form?" He licked his suddenly dry lips. "How will Haruka fare if she has to fight such fury?"

Sindel would know, having fought Lute before already. Masato could only guess so far. What he guessed was frightening enough. He didn't quite feel ready for what he might hear...

" Well.. It depends on the bar off course.. It could be hard on the outside, strong bite but once bitten through the gentle, soft cream inside of it. I'm getting hungry just describing it! Hehe! "

Zera would smirk and shake her head slightly, twirling her spoon in the empty bowl just to entertain herself.

Sindel would frown at Masato and whispered out as soft as she could, painfull to say it herself.

" She.. Would kill her if nobody interferes.. But.. Seeing as she is now with her.. I doubt she would attack her even if she goes berserk.. That's how it happened against me and against Cerbera.. Asteria however barely made it and some other members were just as lucky.. I'm afraid Cerbera is going to exploit Lute if she stays there much longer. She knows how to. "

"Oh..." Haruka understood that much. She also felt hungry. Her spoon dipped into her ice cream and brought a small scoop to her mouth. She remained staring at Lute all this time, curious as to what new story she'd hear.


Masato just barely stopped himself from running over to Haruka, dragging her out of the store and running home. He was flat out terrified, but for Haruka's sake, not himself.

"So we have to stop the Era soon," he murmured. Already he was formulating a plan. "Sindel-san, do you think Lute can be persuaded to help us? To stand aside, at least?"

" Course chocolate is always yummy.. Except the pure one.. Those don't taste that good.. Last christmas we could get a box full of chocolate if we helped out at a chocolate store so me and Cerbera immidiaty accepted.. Little did we know we had to dress up as santa girls.. It was so funny watching Cerbera get mad at kids laughing at her. Course that doesn't beat that one time when she ran off scared frm achasing puppy! Hahaha! Oh I think I'm speakin gto much. "

Lute smiled at them both before she'd brought her hands down and gently tapped her fingers upon the sides of the bowl to make some soft sounds with her nails.

Sindel looked over at Masato an slowly shook her head, crossing her arms against her chest.

" She wouldn't abandon Cerbera for the world.. She doesn't want to betray her like we did. So the only thing that's left to do is fight Lute to beat Cerbera.. "

It didn't take long into Lute's new spiel to get Haruka chortling. "I wish I was there," she giggled, thinking of how... cute Cerbera would be when chased by a little yapping puppy. One of the reasons Haruka liked cats more was that cats didn't chase you - you chased them. Up a tree, usually.

She watched Lute's fingers drum across the table. "Do you play the piano, Lute-san?" she asked. "Or maybe an electric organ?" It seemed to her like Lute could play those instruments.


Masato had been hoping for the opposite of Sindel's answer. "I understand." He didn't like it, but he would take it into consideration. "The Era outnumbers us right now. We have Haruka, you, Zera-san and maybe Yatori-san and Momoko-san." Then he reconsidered. "No, Momoko-san is getting married soon. We can't bother her. So it's just us four for now.

"Who else do you think can help us?"

" Hmm? Nope! Why? "

Lute stopped tapping, watching Haruka contently, wondering what Haruka meant. She didn't find herself that much into instruments.

Sindel would smirk all of a sudden and shake her head.

" We're not outnumbered.. When I was in the hospital I met two people.. One would be an ex Era of Hell Member and another was some new girl.. She heard about the Era of Hell and is now making her own organization to stop the Era of Hell dead in their tracks.. I have joined that one and now looking for people willing to take up arms against Cerbera. "

"I was just wondering," Haruka answered. "You can drum up such a nice tune with your fingers and the table. So I thought you might have musical instrument training. I must have been mistaken.

"How about you, Zera-san?" she asked Cerbera's sister. She'd seen Zera looking... well, bored, she guessed. "Do you play any instruments?"


"That's good news," Masato agreed. They weren't alone in this fight, not anymore. "I'd like to contact these people as soon as possible. We should be able to work out a strategy against the Era. Which reminds me: Do you know anything about Cerbera's other sister? The girl who calls herself Ort?"

" Ah.. Well I used to play an electric guitar but those cost a fortune to keep maintenanced! "

Zera blinked and looked up, shaking her head quickly with a slight blush on her cheeks.

Sindel nodded at Masato, though her eyelids quickly lid up once she heard that Cerbera had another sister, which was quite interesting for her.

" Not at all.. Is she a friend or foe..? If she's a friend that i'd like to meet her. "

Haruka nodded at Zera. "I know how to play the piano a little," she told her and Lute, "But I'm really more of a singer and dancer. Actually, I hadn't been able to sing or dance much in AFW because- well, because I'm a wrestler now."


Masato grimaced. "I'm not quite sure if she's friendly." He blushed upon remembering how Ort had kissed Haruka on the lips. "I think she likes Haruka because she helped out against Cerbera in that knock out match. But she keeps on saying she loves Cerbera even though she attacked Cerbera. I haven't been able to learn anything about her because she doesn't have a manager or other contacts. I was hoping you know her-"

And then it hit him. "Of course!" He looked to where Zera was looking cutely confused. "Ah, Zera-san, can we talk to you for a moment?" Masato requested.

If Zera is Cerbera's sister, and if Ort is also Cerbera's sister, Zera would know Ort!

" Ah.. Well maybe we can make a band some time! "

Lute giggled at Haruka, tapping her spoon against the bowl before she placed it in the bowl so she didn't have to hold it, licking her lips for a moment.

Zera brought her hands up to gently moved the strands of hair back to their respect sides, she looked over at Masato when her name was called by Masato, getting up and taking slow steps over towards the duo, standing infront of them and tilted her head to the side.

" What's up? "