-Prologue- A pair of schoolgirls in beautifully simple black uniforms stood up against a plain curtain backdrop borrowed from one of the author's other fanfics. One of the girls was older with long, dark hair, and carried herself with dignity and grace. The younger girl was a brunette who wore her hair in ponytails and was a bit shy. The older student bowed to the audience. "Hello," she said pleasantly, "My name is Sachiko Ogasawara, and this is my petite soeur, Yumiko Fukuzawa. Say hello to everyone out there reading this Yumi." "Huh?" the bashful brunette asked nervously, "Oh, um... Hi," she said, blushing profusely as she bowed to the audience. Sachiko smiled at the girl in the ponytails, then turned back to address the people at home, "You're probably wondering why Yumi and myself are here introducing this story instead of starring in a Marimite fanfic of our own. Rest assured, I have no complaints about Strawberry Panic. It's a wonderful show that just happens to copy some of our scenes. Of course, they have the right to do that, and I have absolutely no problems with it whatsoever (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all). Even if they did take the greenhouse idea. And the piano, come to mention it. And the dance, the play, the..." "Sachiko-sama," Yumiko interrupted, "I... I think..." "(sigh) I know, I know; get on with it, right?" "I didn't mean... That is..." "It's alright," Sachiko said reassuringly, "Anyways, the two of us are here to present the life of Saint Miator, patron saint of leaf blowers. Yumi, go ahead." The timid brunette in the ponytails nodded as she pulled out a sheet of paper, "Hai. Saint Miator was born in the year of our Lord 1823 to pig farmers out in France. He joined the Franciscans at age eighteen, and was sent to missionary work in Japan." "I'm afraid he wasn't the brightest of friars," Sachiko explained as she took up the story, "Once when a starving man came up to him and explained he'd had no food for two days, Saint Miator told him not to worry, as it all still tasted the same. He died when his superiors told him to rake the autumn leaves, and in a mistaken attempt to save time he tried to cut out the middle man and rake the leaves before they hit the ground. The friars who observed him fall out of the large eighty-foot oak tree he was working in said that his last words were, ‘Oh Christ!' Saint Miator, Patron Saint of Leaf Blowers, Pray for us. Amen." The two girls bowed their heads and joined their hands in prayer for a second or two before looking back up at the audience. "And now," Sachiko announced, "We return you to your regularly-scheduled fanfic. Say goodbye Yumi." "Goodbye Yumi." -Chapter 4- -The Press Conference- The group of young women waited in the waiting room of the diocesan headquarters in Okinawa. As waves of both excitement and anxiety washed over the girls at having been able to make it this far, a group of newspaper and TV reporters came into the waiting room. As the girls watched, an Italian Jesuit came out and quickly showed them into a side room where the Bishop would be giving his press conference. As some of the reporters and their cameramen gave weird looks to the girls dressed up as a panda and as Jun the Swallow, Yaya frowned. "We would've been better off disguising ourselves as members of the press," she muttered. Meanwhile, in the St. Miator group, Nagisa looked troubled. "Nagisa-chan?" Tamao asked, "What's wrong?" "Well..." Nagisa said hesitantly, "Something's troubling me. I mean, we got here by a bus and then taxi, right?" Tamao nodded her head, "Yes, so?" "Well, Okinawa is a series of islands not connected to the mainland. We never took a boat or a plane, so how did we..." "What's going on?" Shizuma asked as she saw Tamao talking to the girl she was in love with. Tamao immediately noted the tone of jealousy in the Etoile's voice while Nagisa remained as blissfully ignorant as ever. "We have a big problem," Tamao answered, "Nagisa thinks she may have discovered a hole in the plot." Shizuma smiled, "Let me get this straight; we come from a Catholic girl's school in Japan which just happens to be filled with nothing but lesbians, and now Nagisa thinks there might be a hole in the plot?" "Okinawa is actually a prefecture made up of a series of islands," Nagisa said, "How did we get here without planes or boats?" "Huh?" Shizuma gasped as her eyes widened, "You... You're right," she admitted as the group from St. Lulim came over. Chikaru, having overheard most of the conversation, spoke up. "Hmmm... A good question. Maybe the members of the Secret Club can find out..." "Wait a second," Tamao interrupted, "With all due respect, the only case you and the Secret Club ever solved successfully was that case of the missing umbrella. Every other case you've ever been involved in has gone unsolved." "I hate to agree with her, but she's right on this one," Nagisa said, "I can still remember hearing later about your ‘case of the girl in the hallway'..." -Flashback- "Okay gang," Chikaru said, "Now that we've found the glove, that newspaper clipping, and the phosphorescent paint, I think we're ready to solve this mystery." "Jinkies Chikaru-sama," Hyuuga replied, "Then we'd better set up a trap to catch the ghost in the hallway whose always crying at night." "Right," Chikaru answered, "Now all we need is bait... Kagome?" Kagome shook her head as she held her bear up, "Ohshibaru says 'Rut-roh.'" "My glasses," Natsume said as she fumbled around nearby in the dark, "Somebody help me find my glasses." -End Flashback- "After all that, not only did you girls fail to solve the mystery, but it was Nagisa and I who discovered it was just a cat," Tamao finished. "Maybe, but..." "Sisters," the Italian Jesuit priest from earlier said as he came out of the conference room, Sisters, please; we're about to conduct a press conference. I'm going to have to ask all of you to keep your voices down, and..." "Father, please wait," Miyuki Rokujou answered, "I realize the Bishop is busy, but we must speak to him about a school closing. "The Bishop wants to close down our girl's school," Amane said, "He can't do that! We have to ask him to reconsider." "Please," Hikari begged, "We must speak with him, we..." As all the girls seemed to speak at once, the Italian Jesuit began to become confused. Japanese was not his first language, and he was having difficulty following what was being said. "Please, please," the Jesuit interrupted, "One at a time, I..." Nagisa worriedly watched the proceedings. She then saw cute little Kagome and her teddy bear Ohshibaru out of the corner of her eye. She ran over and grabbed the young girl by the wrist, and pulled her forward. "Father," the redhead said, "The Bishop, by closing our school down, will be casting this little girl out. As a Bishop, he should have more love for a child than that. He's her Bishop, that makes her his child and her Catholic education his responsibility. To love a child, the Bishop should... Father? Father, what's wrong?" The Italian wasn't quite sure if he'd heard the young nun right or not, but if he'd understood her Japanese properly this could cause a scandal that would rock the diocese of Okinawa down to its very foundations. "I... I see..." he stuttered out, "Wait here. Whatever you do, don't talk to any of the reporters until I return." As he ran out of the waiting room, the confused girls looked around at one another. "What just happened?" Kenjou asked. ------ The Italian priest went over and over again in his head the conversation in the waiting room. The nun had spoken fast and excitedly, which was making it difficult for him to be sure he heard her properly. If he had, however, the Bishop needed to know immediately. As he walked into the conference room, he saw that the press conference was already underway. "And those priests that have done wrong have already been removed," Bishop Takahashi declared as the news cameras focused on him, "And we... Father Guiseppe?" the Bishop asked as he noticed the Jesuit coming towards him, "Father, what's wrong?" "Your Eminence," the priest said, "This would perhaps be best said in the privacy of..." "Nonsense," Bishop Takahashi said as the television news cameras continued to roll, "This is a press conference about the scandals in the diocese. We must be totally open, and expose all before the light. We have nothing to hide." "Y... Your Eminence, are you sure?" "Of course," the Bishop answered with a smile, "Now what's so important?" "Well," the priest began, "There's a group of young nuns out in the waiting room with a little girl and a teddy bear. I'm not totally sure I understood what they were saying, but apparently the little girl is your love-child." "WHAT?" the bishop cried as flashbulbs suddenly started going off. ------ "It was whatever you said to him that made him wig out and run off," Momori said as she pointed an accusatory finger at Nagisa. "All I said was that as her Bishop, Kagome was his responsibility and that he should love the child enough to make sure she stayed in a Catholic school, I..." the redhead was cut off as the side door burst open and a horde of reporters and photographers swooped into the room. "There she is!" one of the reporters said as he rushed over to Kagome. He put his arm around the young girl and turned to look at his cameraman, "We on? Good. This field reporter Toshiro Mifune with a young girl who claims to be Bishop Takahashi's love child." "Huh?" Chikaru asked. "What?" Miyuki gasped. "What's your name young girl?" the reporter asked. "Kagome," the girl answered, "And this is my friend Ohshibaru..." "What in the hell just happened?" Toumori asked as the Jesuit and the Bishop ran into the waiting room. "That's her!" the Italian priest said as he pointed at Kagome, "That's the nun who said the girl was your love child!" "What?" the redhead asked as flashbulbs went off and microphones were pushed into her face, "No, that's not what I meant! She's a student in a private Catholic girl's school that the Bishop wants to close, and..." "Girl's school?" one of the reporters asked. "Of course!" a female reporter said excitedly, "In order to hide the existence of a love child, the Bishop had the girl sent off to a Catholic girl's school." "A cover-up!" another reporter shouted. "That's a lie!" Bishop Takahashi cried out, "I don't know any of these people, and..." "Hey kid," a reporter said as he pushed a microphone up to Chiyo, "You're one of the girl's friends, right?" he asked as his camera focused in on the girl in the panda suit, "Can you tell us anything about..." he was cut off as the girl took the mike away from him and stared into the camera. "Have you ever thought about your soul, can it be saved?" she shouted out at the audience watching at home, "Or perhaps you think that when you are dead you just stay in the grave!" "What th... You can't take over my newscast like that!" the reporter said angrily, "Just who do you think you are?" "Look into my eyes you'll see who I am," Chiyo said as she looked back at the reporter, "My name is Lucifer, please take my hand!" "A devil cult!" a nearby reporter cried out, "Right in the middle of a Catholic Girl's school!" As reporters and photographers now turned their focus to little Chiyo, Toumori turned and scowled angrily at Miyuki Rokujou. "This is all your fault!" the blonde snarled angrily as Kenjou and Momori came up to stand behind the St. Spica student council president. "What did you just say?" Miyuki asked, narrowing her eyes as Shizuma came up to listen behind her. "That's right," Kenjou said with a cruel smirk, "It was Nagisa's speech that started this mess, and it was the freak in the panda suit that has now escalated things to this level." "Both of whom are St. Miator students," Momori joined in, "Both of whom are under you and Etoile-sama. In the end, you're both responsible for this fiasco!" "This is a complete disaster," Toumori cried, "How could things possibly get any worse?" As if in answer, the front door of the diocesan headquarters burst open and the Head Sister of the Strawberry dorms burst in. "There you are!" she snarled angrily as she saw her students disguised in the nun habits and cosplay outfits, "I demand an explanation!" "What you get and what you see," Chiyo answered as reporters continued to swarm around her, "Things that don't come easily..." "Huh?" the Head Sister asked, "What's with her?" -To Be Continued- -Epilogue- "Hello, Chikaru here once again. The author wanted you all to know that this chapter is dedicated to Naolin for graciously giving of her time to beta read the Prologue, as well as suggesting the use of the Secret Club/Scooby Doo spoof in the story. He also wishes to give a big shout out to StarCross for pointing out that it's impossible to simply drive to Okinawa. Finally, the Sabbath songs Chiyo quoted from this time are After Forever, N.I.B., and Snowblind. "Next time: What will happen to Bishop Takahashi now that the press conference has turned into a disaster? With the arrival of the Head Sister, is there any way whatsoever our young heroines can possibly still manage to salvage the situation and save the school. And just how did everyone make it to the Okinawa Province anyways? Tune in next time; same Strawberry time, same Strawberry channel."
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