Make Them Love Me Or They'll End The World-Chapter 148: The New-Comers

As the door swung open, the long creak crawled across the theatre like a spine-tingling violin note. The buzz of voices on the other side cut out mid-sentence, as if someone had yanked the plug on the whole room. Dust motes hung in the air, turning in the white cones of the overheads; the faint smell of paint, old velvet, and stage wood slid into Kentaro's nose as he took a single step in. Light splashed against his eyes, sharp, bright, and for a heartbeat, he squinted, vision whitening, mind blanking.

When his sight adjusted, his face twisted, part fear, part confusion.

Standing alone at centre stage, paper clutched in hand, was Yura, clearly mid-reading. Everyone else sat on the floor like a scattered audience, except Mr Tachibana, who'd claimed the only chair as if it might save him.

"What the hell is going on…" Kentaro muttered as he looked around.

"No idea…" Tenka replied, stepping in beside him, her shoulder brushing his. Her tone was calm, but he heard the thread of alarm beneath it.

Every head turned toward the doorway. Some faces lit with relief, some scrunched with confusion, and one, Mr Tachibana's, went chalk-white, terrified.

"YO! Ken, BRO!" Tengen scrambled to his feet, waving like they were at a baseball game.

"What the hell is this?" Kentaro asked as Tengen jogged up. Up close, Tengen's grin had the wobble of a guy who'd been improvising for too long.

"Hehe, honestly, long story," Tengen said, scratching his head. "When we left after you guys went, we were gonna submit Yura's form for her role, but then, as we got to the teacher's office, we found Kira, and she too wanted to play the same role, and things led to this." He made a helpless little circle in the air.

Kentaro's eyes slid past him and snapped toward the one person who really shouldn't be here. "Mr Tachibana's reasoning?"

"Oh, he came out at the wrong time, and both Kira and Yura wanted him lol," Tengen said with a crooked smile.

"Ummm. I think I should really head back. Class has already started?" Mr Tachibana half-rose, chair legs squeaking. Before he could escape, Kira stood, crisp posture, eyes cool.

"Sir, I think it's best you sit and watch till the end. You're already late." Her voice was soft; the weight behind it wasn't. It sounded like: you must.

Mr Tachibana gulped. "I… Guess so…" Everyone could see he wanted to evaporate.

Kentaro pressed his palms together, "Sorry, sir!" He softly muttered, then turned to the next problem in the room.

"Shaula. Why are you here?" His gaze narrowed.

On the far side, two Shaulas (headband and necklace) raised both hands at the same time and gave the same bright smile. Uncanny. Their synchronised wave made the hairs on Kentaro's arms prickle.

"OH, don't mind us, we were here practising before they walked in." They said together.

Kentaro tilted his head toward Tengen.

"Yeah, she's right, we did kind of barge in," Tengen admitted, rubbing his neck.

Tenka stepped past him, her boots whispering on the scuffed stage paint. She glanced at Aria and Serica near the front row, both folded small, hands on knees, eyes big. "What about you guys? Are you here to audition?" She asked softly.

The girls traded a look and shook their heads in perfect sideways unison.

"We're just here to watch…" Aria murmured, almost inaudible over the hum of the overhead lights.

"I see. Very well then," Tenka said, flicking a glance back to Kentaro. He read it: we can't stop this without making it worse. "I guess we have no choice but to watch."

At the centre, Yura lifted her chin, brows drawing into a slight scowl. The paper in her hand trembled, only a little. "How long will you humans keep me waiting?"

"Sorry. Please start again," Tenka replied, stepping back with a tiny bow.

"When did Kira decide she wanted the role?" Kentaro muttered, looking to the side where Kira sat on the floor with her paper raised like a shield. Surprisingly, she hadn't rushed him. Her attention was laser-locked on the page, as if reading it were a do-or-die mission.

"I shall walk before I…" She read the same line ten times, lips moving. And then the next line. Ten more times.

Kentaro couldn't help the small smile that tugged at his mouth. For all her iron, Kira's intensity could be… cute. He turned back as Yura began.

The stage swallowed Yura's footsteps; her presence filled the room. She bowed once, imperial, disdainful, and began to read, but she didn't just read. There was a curl to her lip, a cold gleam to the eyes that said antagonist. She stalked the length of the taped floor, trailing the paper low like a decree.

"I warned you, little dreamers," she intoned, voice like frost on velvet. "When love grows loud, so do curses. Sleep, and learn what it means to cross a sovereign."

She wasn't quoting anything word-for-word; it wasn't that kind of play. But the menace was real. Every line she spoke picked up the acoustics of the hall and threw them back with a hiss, as if the theatre itself approved of drama.

And yet, every few breaths, her gaze slid toward Kentaro.

At first, he thought she was just scanning the room, anchoring to friendly faces. Then he noticed the pink in her cheeks. It deepened each time her eyes brushed his. He felt it like heat on his skin.

"Is she blushing?" Tenka whispered, leaning in. Even she sounded a little surprised.

Kentaro nodded minutely, keeping his face forward so Yura wouldn't catch them whispering. "Yeah. Think she's getting embarrassed," he murmured.

Behind them, Tengen folded his arms and tilted his head, studying. "Yeah, before you guys came she was confident as ever, and now she's stuttering."

He wasn't wrong. Yura tripped over a word, once, twice. She tightened her grip on the paper and powered through, jaw set.

"I think it's Kentaro's fault," Tengen added, unable to hide his grin.

Kentaro glanced back, baffled. "How is it my fault?"

"It's because she likes you, duhh," he said, as he'd just explained gravity.

"Like me?" Kentaro echoed, eyebrows inching up. Tengen didn't know about the memory loss; to him, Yura was the same as always. For Kentaro and Tenka, this was a Yura whose memories were a puzzle, yet her heart hadn't forgotten its habits.

"It must be something like that," Tenka murmured. She leaned closer, voice a breath in his ear. "It's most likely a part of her memories that were not lost. Makes sense, considering their feelings toward you haven't fully been forgotten."

"Oh. Yeah… Makes sense. Should I just, what, turn around?" Kentaro whispered back, half-joking, half-serious.

"Nah. Don't. Let's see how she fares."

He sat still, hands clasped tight to keep from fidgeting. His gaze drifted, unwillingly, to the two Shaulas. They watched Yura with bright, pleased smiles, like patrons enjoying a favourite show. Not a single glance for him.

I wonder what they were practising… And how they're planning their cast, he thought. The air around them felt wrong, like a stage set that hid a trapdoor.

Yura reached her final beat. She drew herself tall, shadows pooling at her feet, and let the last line ring:

"Dreams are mine to break."

Silence pressed in, then the little audience clapped, some louder than others. The sound thudded in Kentaro's chest, a welcome normal noise. Yura bowed stiffly and strode over to them. At arm's length, she stopped, spinning her paper between pinched fingers like she wanted to shred it but couldn't justify the waste.

"This is your fault that I stumbled. Before you were here, human, I was fine," she said without quite meeting his eyes.

"What did I do?!" Kentaro protested, hands up.

Yura's face went the colour of a stolen sunset. She tried to glare; it melted into panic. Then, louder than necessary-"IT WAS BECAUSE OF YOU, DAMMIT! I DON'T KNOW WHY, EVER SINCE YOU WALKED IN, YOU MADE MY HEART FEEL WEIRD!"

Her voice cracked on "weird." It echoed off the curtains and came back twice as mortifying.

"Ah, young love," Mr Tachibana sighed, clasping his hands, already resigned to missing the entire period. He looked oddly proud, like a parent at a recital he hadn't signed up for.

"NGH!" Yura squeaked, almost buckling at the knees.

Laughter rippled, Tengen's bark, Serica's nervous giggle, even Aria's tiny sound behind her hands. Kentaro and Yura stood frozen, both flushed, like two deer in two headlights.

"AHEM!" Shaula (green headband) clapped briskly, slicing the moment in half. Her smile was sweet; her eyes were not. "Since we've completed Yura's performance, we can now move on to our next contestant, KIRA!"

*

After some talking, Aruther had finally walked away from the new transfers with a bubbly smile on his face. Milly could tell from a mile away that he was on cloud nine, but there wasn't any time to scold him; they were heading to the changing rooms to be formally introduced to the newcomers.

"See, Milly, I told you I would get along with them," Aruther muttered with a smug look.

"Shut it," Milly replied back, still finding the whole situation hard to believe.

Not long after, they entered the changing room, and Isak had already been waiting there for them.

The air hit different inside: sharp detergent, a faint bite of gun oil, and the steamy tang of hot showers lingering in the vents. Fluorescent lights hummed overhead. Metal benches clattered as operators shuffled into a ragged oval. Everyone gathered around, apart from the five girls, who waited just outside the circle until Isak flicked two fingers and gestured them in.

"Right," he said, voice clipped, posture carved from stone. "As most of you know by now, we have newcomers, so I'll introduce them."

He never did speeches for long. He didn't let the room breathe.

"Mei Lin.

Hua Li.

Xia Yu.

Lan Fen.

Jin Yue, the unit's captain."

Each name landed like a gavel. The five took half a step forward on their cue, boots in perfect sync, eyes steady. Close up, the details sharpened: Mei Lin's long pink hair in a strict tie but still somehow elegant; Hua Li's red ponytail swishing with a contained bounce; Xia Yu's blue braids framing lenses that flashed cool light; Lan Fen, small frame coiled tight, shoulders squared like a spring; Jin Yue, short blond hair and that thin cheek scar that said she'd earned the right to speak.

The girls all bowed slightly.

"There, here, thanks to the Beijing Cradle branch sending them out at the last minute," Isak continued, gaze sweeping the ring. "So make sure you take care of them and make sure to work well with them. We're in the process of getting a plan together to make sure that Oblivion is gone and not a problem again."

"YESSIR!" everyone shouted, the unison shout slapping off the tile. Even the vents seemed to pause.

With that, everyone was dismissed. Conversations burst back alive, boots squeaked, lockers banged, the metallic perfume of fresh gear mixed with the citrus sting of cleaner. A few of the Oshawa regulars filtered past the Beijing five with respectful nods and quick "welcome aboard"s. Aruther lingered just long enough to beam at Milly from across the room with the kind of grin that begged to be punched.

He pantomimed: See? Easy.

She rolled her eyes but caught herself smoothing her jacket anyway. Professional. If nothing else, Oshawa needed to look like they had their act together.

All the soldiers in the unit said their hellos and asked their questions, including Milly, who waited until the knot of bodies thinned. She preferred the last word… And the last impression. When the crowd faded to the usual locker-room rhythm, a vent's thrum, the clack of a rifle case, a cough from the showers, she stepped forward.

Up close, the five stood like a wall that could move. Not unfriendly. Just… Measured. Jin Yue's eyes tracked every approach without seeming to move. Mei Lin's smile was polite and precise. Xia Yu's gaze flickered across Milly's ID tag, pinned notes of rank and role in a heartbeat. Lan Fen looked like a fuse; Hua Li like the smile before a blade.

Milly set her feet, lifted her chin.

"Hey. It's nice to formally meet you all. My name is Milly-"

She didn't get to finish.

Jin Yue (short blonde hair) interrupted her with a question of her own, one Milly wasn't expecting at all. In fact, once she heard it, it caused her heart to race ever so slightly.

"Do you know who Kira Mizuno is?"