SAMURAI

"Well, don't go telling Kirby about this, but this whole competition is for him," he says. "See, he's been getting a little too big for his britches. And Bandana Dee's spending less time around the castle..."

For a moment, he sounds like a parent who's worried about their kid hanging out with the wrong crowd, then he puffs out his chest, putting on a show of bravado to make up for it.

"So, I've got a surefire way to take him down a peg!" he boasts. "He'll be expecting a cake, but... Heh heh heh! He's got no idea what's coming for him!"

Susie, of course, knows the end result of this match, but decides to go along with it anyway. "Oh, I'm sure he doesn't, Your Majesty. After all, when has Kirby ever beaten you in anything?"

All the time, which the king picks up on. He gives her another look. To him, she's just a newcomer to Popstar who needs to show him some respect.

"You know, you still got a lot to make up for after what happened to my castle!" he warns Susie. "Now, are you two ladies going to help me run my rocket battle, or what?"

"Asides from the normal mochi, there's Monaka which is a wafer shell should be eaten immediately, Taiyaki also comes in four different flavors that is sweet bean paste, custard cream, chocolate and cheese!" Wait, there's more! "Dorayaki too, like the Taiyaki, has different flavors such as whipped cream, custard cream and green tea flavored cream. Oh and Manju also comes with original and other shapes with sweet bean paste!" Continuation of her yap session. "I do hope they have Yokan, which is not a rice-related snack but made by jelly!"

Still Iroha had to admire the other girl's enthusiasm after revealing where she came from. Any more energy and she might've given Kaguya a good competition in the talkative department.

"There's a lot to do if you were just going to travel for a few weeks. Now living there is a different story, hell people kept calling me a superhuman because I managed to do everything on my own ten years ago. But still, I'd say it wasn't too bad."

"Travelling is good for an adventurous being's soul! I'd want to go more of Japan like visiting historical castles and know more about their history! Also literally, any hotspot and culture!" Beatrix would really want to talk more about Japan, regardless of realms others came.

Bakushin O notices the other swaying, and so she starts to sway with them, too. After all, it seems like the best way to enjoy the music!

Well, almost all of her kind has great caliber when it comes to singing hence she missed idol concerts at her world where it went going straight to hell. Yeah, she rarely encountered zombified idols in her world. Spirale is indeed the best place to live if one's world is a living graveyard. Beatrix would rather be living in Bakushin's world over hers.

Ah yes, introductions. Let it go.

"Hmm... I guess it can't hurt to see King Dedede. Come on, I'll lead the way!" she says. She flies the Warp Star up the mountain. It looks like they're preparing for a big event.

A portly penguin-duck-bird thing is bossing around a group of Waddle Dees, who are setting up banners and booths. When the king sees Susie drop in via Warp Star, his eyes light up and he waves her over.

"There you are!" he says. "It's about time you showed up! The big tournament's tomorrow, you know! You said you'd get here nice and sharp to help me calibrate my rockets!"

"... Huh?" Susie seems confused. "King Dedede, this already happened! You threw this Cake Royale tournament, and then..."

The stink eye Dedede is giving her makes her trail off.

That fellow? Of course, the penguin-being thingy with royalty.

"I-I'm Beatrix Amerhauser. I came from Germany, nice to meet you." A Japanese bow after her introduction but well, she had to know this 'Cake Royale Tournament' thing

As the drive continues, the scenery gradually changes from one planet to another. The city streets are replaced by dirt roads, and lush greenery grows in place of concrete.

Before they know it, the car has disappeared, and the seats have been replaced by a pair of Warp Stars. Susie blinks, looks around, then huffs, as she now realizes what's going on.

"Oh, great. Don't tell me..." she says, annoyed. "None of what's happening is real, is it? There's no way we could go from Earth to Popstar like this without passing through a dimensional portal!"

She was fully prepared to spend the next few weeks fighting for her life and fending off zombies! Susie cups her cheek and sighs.

"At least the view is nice today... sort of."

Instead of a trip to Osaka Castle, the mist seemed to be sending them to this time... A different world. World so different, it looked peaceful with fuzzy-looking structures and a mushroom... tree-thing? Luckily, the supplies bought were still there and carrying it on a bedsheet bag like a japanese bandit.

And there is a castle too, far away. It was like a fever dream for Beatrix.

"If these mists would send us different worlds, the next one may lead us back to Spirale." A very first time for Beatrix and of course... cute creatures as she only smiled back in return. She was awed of how cute they were.

She tried sushi? Not bad, Beatrix did too... in her world.

"Oh, You'd best try some ramen! There are different types to try and good for the soul!" Oh no, there's more... "Maybe some Gyudon which is meat and a sunny-side egg topped with rice, perhaps or some nice warm Omurice, if you're a fan of eggs and rice!"

Sakura Bakushin O stays put amongst the crowd around the Belles - a very kind bystander earlier had explained to her - as she's taken in by the songs. These were so different from the Christmas Carols she had heard back home! But some felt similar too.

Of course, she's enjoying it. Holidays are also a part of her favorites as someone with... yeah, horse ears.

"They do... always do. Brings a little nostalgia back home~" Yep, she's swaying herself slowly..

Susie doesn't seem bothered by Beatrix bashing in the cashier's brains. Again, it's either the two of them or the undead in this world, though part of her starts to wonder if there's any sort of cure...

"I'll have to watch that movie sometime. And ooh, lucky day!"

She happily accepts the ice cream, then takes whatever else she can carry with her floating hands and heads back to the car.

After a long drive and several hit-and-runs, they made it to Osaka. Well, there were only lesser zombies as most of them are garrisoned on buildings best to ignore than the main objective. Praying that one secret entrance leads to either Susie's world or Spirale.

"Hm, not really. It was merely a tourist spot but knowing in this situation, it could be a home for survivors unless overran." There is a gas station around the corner as Beatrix drove there, parked the car and used some spare change to refuel. Better refill right now than an empty tank.

Beatrix looked left and right if there are any random stragglers, knowing people would kill for fun and to survive, luckily again, none.

"Alright, now it's in full tank. Time to go." Three zombies were found inside the gas station's store, trying to get out as it was locked from the inside.

"Five hours?" That part stands out to her the most. "Hmm, I don't know... How good is the mileage on this thing? We still have to keep our fuel in mind along with our other supplies," she says.

After they park, Susie follows along with her laser gun in hand, just in case they run into more of the living dead at the convenience store.

"Well, what I want to eat is ice cream... though I'll admit that's something of a luxury. We should take as many nonperishables as we can until we can find our way back home."

"Putting an arm behind the register is a bad idea. Thank god i learned it from a movie." Yeah, it was no laughing matter to pick up strays behind unchecked. Looking around, Beatrix didn't take any chances to use the shopping basket and grabbed some stuff like canned goods, purified water and such. There was one working fridge though.

"Looks like you're in luck! There are two cups left!" Obviously, Beatrix takes the other and gives the strawberry one to Susie. Double checking, she took some canned beans, bag of chips and several cans of corned tuna, five bottles of purified water and some noodles too. Used the dead cashier's wallet and leaving all money behind the counter.

"Alright, that settles all. We can go now." Heading first, luckily, no horde as safe to get into the car while eating her chocolate ice cream.

"As long as we can survive for weeks, yes. Canned goods, a can opener, a stove and more stuff... Might as well grab anything useful too since my kitchen knife may be dull." As long as it wasn't ransacked, it's all fine. The drive continues.

"Well, um... I don't know how to say this, but I've never been to Japan," she admits. "But any place that has supplies and security sounds like a good stop to me!"

"Osaka Castle is located at Osaka, so yeah. It takes around more than five hours by car. It's a huge castle with many rooms as it was made by the late Hideyoshi Toyotomi!"

Looks like they found a nearby convenience store, Beatrix stop and parks it nearby the entrance.

"What do you want to eat? Seems this one isn't too much pillaged but it's still there!" Food, supplies and stuff, luckily the food isn't ransacked too much.

Susie might be familiar with the subject, though not familiar enough to know what she should actually be saying is "guten tag." She sounds confident, though!

Letting Beatrix's backstab go without comment — if it was either her or the zombie, she'd do the same thing in her shoes — Susie gives them a passing look before she follows her to the car.

"Ooh, looks good! I call shotgun!" She hops into the front passenger seat, buckles up to the best of her ability, then adjusts the mirror so she can see what's behind her.

"As long as we can survive for weeks, yes. Canned goods, a can opener, a stove and more stuff... Might as well grab anything useful too since my kitchen knife may be dull." As long as it wasn't ransacked, it's all fine. The drive continues.