COUP DE GRACE | FUKUSHIMA ZOMBIE vs HANNAH ROCKFORD

The best thing about the night to her is how everything becomes gray. This late at night people go inside to take in some color, but Fukushima Zombie is in her element. This was the only time when she can fully blend in. There is no problem in the graveyard, but it is still full of people. Her dark blue dress and gray hoodie is the camouflage. Fukushima Zombie finds her way into a secluded area of the large cemetery in the center of Tokyo. The private mausoleum provides perfect cover as she does her work. The cobwebs around the door show that she isn’t the only one in there. Fukushima sits on top of a grave marker in the mausoleum with the corpse makeup on her face giving her a particularly grim shade of happiness. Dust floats in the air as Fukushima greedily digs inside an urn with her fingers. She rummages around with gusto like she is looking for a prize in a cereal box.

“Did you know that most people in Japan are cremated? It is very smart. There is not enough land for all the bodies. So every body burns. During the ritual, the family members can pick out some bones from the ashes to keep for themselves before the urn is put into the grave. It makes perfect sense that sometimes they will miss some. I’m looking for those. I have been doing this for a long time, and I can get very lucky sometimes, and get a bone that they have missed.“

Fukushima goes quiet, and then her face beams with delight. The makeup around her mouth makes it seem like she is smiling from chin to chin with a split mouth. Her regular mouth grins as she pulls out an ashy hand from an old urn holding a bone fragment. She blows some of the ash off, and admires it in her hand.

“This is one of the biggest one I have found! When you are looking for bones, you have to be persistent, and you have to be patient. Sometimes it can take a whole night of opening graves before you can find a nice big pearly one. It is going to go great with my collection. This is a very good find, right? Some of you may think that this is wrong, but I do not think of it this way. I am keeping these people’s memories alive. I’m taking them home with me like a grandparent. I researched the name before and these people seemed very rich and very corrupt. It would not bother me if their eternal rest were to be disturbed. Now, don’t worry. I am going to put this grave back the way it was, and they will never find out what happened to it. I am very methodical and careful when doing this. I can sometimes walk out of here with up to four good pieces of bones. That means that soon I will have enough to claim a full person.”

She holds the bone up again to look through the hollow hole with her eyes covered in a white contact lense.

“I have a very close relationship with death. All you need to know is my namesake to figure out where I have been. Fu-ku-shi-ma. That is what I have survived. One of a few. So I am careful, but I do what I need to. To cope. To move forward. This, I think, is shown when I won this Goddess of Sakura title. I became the champion after working at it for some time. I rose through the company slowly, and I suffered a lot. Then once I got it, I had to defend it in a very violent match where I played in the dark. I don’t take pleasure in hurting people, but I am not afraid to. I want Hannah Rockford to know that I have nothing against her. But once I collect something, I like to keep it. I have been rejected many times in my society for being what I am. I don’t fit in most places. Wrestling is where I can be myself. I can like who I like, and dress how I want, and be who I want to be. To hold this championship means that I am finally accepted. I had to fight for it. I know this is not right and it is naive of me to think so. You must be confused as to how someone like me can function. It must be a great surprise as to how I can even win a championship. I will tell you.”

Fukushima throws the circular bone fragment into the air and catches it before putting it up to her head.

“Sometimes at night I dream that I’m doing this, and I see some red gravestones. I pick out some golden urns from them. Inside I find whole skulls! I set them up on a wall side by side and I realize that these are the skulls of the family that I lost during the tsunami. Then I hear a rumbling sound, and I wake up. I don’t know if I’m about to be buried under my house again, or if I am about to hear their voices… I always try to recapture that feeling, and I get close when I am wrestling. So am I happy now? Many things have happened to me since I won this championship, but I am still a fighting to be accepted. When I go into a match I try my best to put on a good show. I want the fans to respect what I do in the ring. I am not so new a wrestler as you, Hannah. I have been learning since I was thirteen years old by the best in the world. That is why I am the champion. Does your training measure up yet? I am sorry, but I do not believe it is so. We have a chance now to showcase our training and represent Sakura Shoujo Stampede as best we can.”

Fukushima drops down to crouch next to the grave, and speaks excitedly.

“We are going to fight in front of another foreign crowd. In Madison Square Garden! I am very nervous but then I think back to what I am fighting for. This Goddess of Sakura Championship is my prized skull. It is the most perfect find in my life so far. It completes everything that I have been fighting for. I don’t need friends, and I don’t need love, as long as I have this. I am not going to be feeling empty again after Coup De Grace.”

There is a knock at the entrance, and Kimitsu Zombie pokes her head inside. She reels back as the smells overwhelm her.

“Get the fuck out of there, Fux. This air can’t be healthy.”

Kimitsu looked at Fukushima, as the little painted champion grins at her. She shakes her head and ducks back out of the mausoleum. Fukushima points at her.

“That is another reason I can not lose. I am going to be in front of someone that I consider my big sister. I am inspired by Kimitsu Zombie. This time I want to inspire her to do better. I am not being arrogant. She is a much better fighter than me. What I want to do is win my match so that Kimitsu is not worried about me. Then I can just sit back and watch as Kimitsu gets back her Trench War Championship.”

Fukushima brings her knees up to her chest to hug her knees.

“It will be the Zombie’s night at Coup De Grace. I am the newest member of the clan. I want to show the world that I am just as capable as all of them. This match is exposure to another audience. This match is exposure. This match is a test. I am not going to lose my title to a lucky Hannah Rockford. I am sorry to say, but that is the only way you will win this match. This is not a bad thing.”

She hastily sets the gravestones back in their place. The names cannot be made out in the darkness as the entrance closes. Fukushima leaves. The camera pans up, but Kimitsu pulls it back down before the name outside of it can be seen. Fukushima laughs with her cheshire grin, and holds up the bone.

“We can all get lucky some of the time… But defending this title once again is how I make my bones.”