"Backstory, motivation, or exposition. Take your pick, Lina."

"Exposition would include the former two, motivation would include the first option, and backstory is the one with the least amount of value. If I were Madeleine, I'd pick the first one for shits and giggles, but I'm not her. I'll pick exposition."

"Bleh, you're no fun." Myka pokes her tongue out at Melina before letting out a malicious grin. "So backstory it is."

"I should've seen that coming."

"The reason I'm here in the Zombielands is tied to our four backstories. You, Mel, me, and Madeleine."

"What about Mimi and Merry?"

"No idea. You think I care about background characters?"

"Wow… how kind."

"Now shut the fuck up. I've got sob stories to narrate melodramatically. Are you ready?"

"I guess."
"Okay, here we go."

"Hurry up!"

"You're a loser who got reincarnated, Mel probably has an identity crisis, Madeleine was created a broken mess, and I have fifteen other siblings."

"..."

"..."

"Is that it?"

"Yeah."
"Let me dissect that for a moment. My part should be obvious, that's how most reincarnations work."

"Mm-hmm."

"That isn't Mel's backstory, that's just a guess at what's happening in her mind right now."

"Identity crisis, a classic."

"Madeleine's backstory answers no questions whatsoever, but also answers all of them."
"That's Madeleine for ya!"

"And I don't see how your siblings have anything to do with anything. Yes, it's part of your backstory. Still, compared to everything else, it seems incredibly unimportant."

"That's exactly why I said it."

"Oh…"

"Anyways, want to meet one of my sisters?"

"Oh, sure."

"Next chapter."

"Huh?"
"Now dance!" Suddenly, Melina starts dancing. She turns to glare at Myka, only to see the bunny girl maid is also dancing, alongside a zombie who is also breaking it down, as they say.

"What?"

"You won't get an explanation, but the audience will. Side Note, activate!" Using her reality warping abilities, Myka starts doing the worm while rolling her head on her arms, then throws her head directly at the dancing zombie, making the eyes make contact, creating a familiar blue screen.

"So, any final words, Lina?"

"You're going to kill me?!"

"What?! No!!! It's just the end for our part of the chapter."

"Oh… I don't have any final words."

"Cool."

"Wait… is that really all we're going to do?"

"Yeah. By the way…"

"What?"

"Reality is currently broken."

"Oh, okay. Wait… what?"

Meanwhile, in a royal carriage

"I must say, Merry Deimos, your companion's stories are fascinating."

"I didn't even know you could understand her."

"Nyaa~"

"Well, I couldn't, until that bird crashed into my head. I awoke from my short unconscious moment and found myself able to understand animals, including Mimi."

"Ah… that makes no sense."

"Hoho, and what about our current situation?"

"I'd rather not address the current state outside."

"Nyaa~"

"I very much agree with that! You should listen to your friend! She says denying reality is not healthy!"

"So you want me to accept whatever nonsense going on outside is the truth of our situation!"

"Why yes!"

"There is no way I can believe that cows are now capable of magic, the trees are capable of flight, and that your escorts have had their flesh replaced with sweet pastries. I am a summoner who colludes with demons daily, and even I find all this baffling and impossible. Those are also only surface-level things! The mana! I can tell it has been changed, but I cannot tell how!"

"Nyaa~"

"As Mimi says! Answers shall come with time."

"As if we have time! Mimi's cat features have been replaced with the features of a donkey, your dress is clearly made out of granite now, and I can tell my connection to Hell has somehow been changed to now be connected to the Divinerealm!"

Meanwhile, in a love hotel

"Seriously, Madeleine, get down from the roof."

"THE MONKEYS WILL NEVER TAKE OVER MY DOMAIN!!!"

"The monkeys are already dead. I have no idea how they got in here, but Shadow Clone #16 took care of them. Now get down from there. You need to see something."

"Is it a snail? A bag of milk? A perpetually falling piano?"

"No, but it's outside our door, and I'm sure you'll like it."

Madeleine contemplates for a bit before jumping down, aiming for Mel. The half-elf, a bit surprised at where the maid is going, stretches her arms out in an attempt to catch her. Mel manages to catch Madeleine but stumbles backwards, nearly falling onto the bed that neither guest of the love hotel had yet to lie in. "Outside, outside! Outside everybody! Outside!"

"Was that a… you don't know. How do you even keep making these references?"

"What references?"

"Never mind. Just hurry up and look outside."

"Aye aye, captain!" After giving a little salute, Madeleine runs over to the door, slamming it open with great vigour, only to fall and hang outside, holding onto the doorknob of the door she opened. Madeleine looks down to find that the love hotel room the maid and the ranger were sent to by their bunny girl companion had somehow ended up in the air, above a beach, disconnected from the rest of the love hotel, which was nowhere to see. "Damnit."

"You need help there, Madeleine?"

"Nope! I'm a-okay! Besides the fact we're at a beach."

"You don't like beaches?"
"I hate beaches with all my soul, for many reasons! A beach killed a pet rock I had! A beach was the final place Julie and I battled each other in a game of chess! Beaches have sand! I hate sand! It's rou-"

"Okay, stop there! Enough references from you! Also, who the hell is Julie?!"

"No one important." Madeleine looks away from Mel, trying her best to not make eye contact. Her eyes wander to the nearest thing of interest, which just so happens to be the giant seesaw. "Ooh! Can we go on that?!"

"Are you not going to question any of this, Madeleine?"

"Hmm… not really. Just seems like another day, you know?"

"I figured."

Character profile: Turm

Sacred power: Dance

Favourite song to dance to: D.A.N.C.E. by Justice

Description: A renowned dancer who ended up disgraced due to rumours about his infatuation with Dryads. Long story short, some disgusted people took matters into their own hands and exiled Turm. Eventually, they ended up in the Zombielands, where they unfortunately met their end. Geez… the Zombielands sure is a terrible place to end up, huh?

Chapter namesake: Wonderful Dead 003 by Masafumi Takada for Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls

pojlk

A world-threatening event is a special day in a normal world, but here in Mendass, a world-threatening event is just another Tuesday. Except for that time where the world-threatening event was that someone had somehow deleted Tuesdays.