In a small town lies Kaijo High School, but our story no longer takes place there. In the city of Tokuko, five hours from Kaijo, 4 old friends, who were a part of their high school culture club, alongside some new faces, embark on the next stages of their lives, and this is their story...
May 2024. In the small town of Kaijo, towards the south end of the town lies Kaijo High School. It's a large school, with acres of ground for multiple activities but overall it's an ordinary school with ordinary students. At the school, students are required to join a club in order to pass the year, there's no excuse, not even for part time work. The Culture Club was founded for this very reason. In their first year of high school, Lizzy had been unimpressed with the clubs available. She already attended softball outside of school and she wasn't prepared to change her team just for the sake of joining a club. She decided that she wanted to form her own club, but she had no idea what it was that she wanted to build it around. Her best friend Katie, was also struggling to find a club she could join. A classmate of their's Kieran, was attempting to set up a club about anime girls but he was failing to achieve any support. With this, the three agreed to start a club together, where they could just do their own thing. As they were first years, they couldn't lead the club, they needed an upperclassman, so they convinced Hunter in the year above to lead it, a feat that almost failed when Lizzy kept calling him old. In order to have the minimum number required to open the club, Lizzy threatened Tori is the next class over to join, who in turn brought her classmate Delia. Not long after that, Michi and Yazzy, in the same year as Lizzy and the others, joined the club, finally at the start of their second year, CC became the last member of the group, rounding out the club. The club meets daily, they're not supposed to but it's become routine for them. They spend their days hanging out in their club room, passing the time chatting, eating food, reading comics and abusing each other.
Today was no different. It was unseasonably warm for May, but the school had already agreed to switch to summer uniforms so at least they weren't completely melting. The school year had only started 6 weeks ago, but it already felt like months had passed. The first to arrive today was Lizzy, who had the keys to the club room. Hunter may have been the official leader but it was Lizzy who ran the club. She swung open the door and threw her bag down on the table, opened up the window and slumped into her chair.
Lizzy: It's too fucking hot
Michi: Tell me about it
Lizzy: Where they fuck did you come from?
Michi: I was literally just behind you
Michi was a second year like Lizzy. Michi had originally joined a different club but left after it became clear that the members were a collective bunch of right-winged assholes. The Culture Club was Michi's only real option, but it seemed an easy decision as Michi already knew Lizzy and Katie. It was nothing like expected however, but by now Michi was used to the debauchery that occurred daily and if anything now enjoyed it
Michi: I called your name as you opened the door
Lizzy: Did you preface it with Queen?
Michi: No?
Lizzy: That's why I didn't hear it then
Katie: Hi Hi
Next to arrive was Katie. Katie met Lizzy in middle school and it was an instant connection. They bonded over their similar personalities - although Katie was without violence tendencies - and similar tastes and humour. Katie came form a small family, and her brother was quite a few years younger than her so the club had taken her a while to get used to with all the different personalities, battling each other constantly. She didn't care though, she'd created this club with Lizzy and it was perfect for them
Lizzy: Oh thank god someone normal
Michi: I take offence to that
Lizzy: Oh go back to your clubhouse Mickey
Michi: IT'S NOT MICKEY! I'M NOT A DAMN MOUSE
Lizzy: M-I-C-K-E-Y, M-O-U-S-E
Katie: Not the Clubhouse song again
Michi: I'm actually going to kill you
Lizzy: Try me bitch
CC: Hey guys, that's enough, let's cool it down a bit
CC was number four in the door. She'd only transferred in a few weeks ago, at the start of the year but she'd become close with Michi quite quickly, and soon decided to join the same club. CC was level headed, calm, and had clear oversight of every situation. She was the one that mediated situations - or at least tried to when it involved Lizzy and Kieran. Everyone had breathed a collective sigh of relief when CC joined, as it put an end to Lizzy's reign of terror that had existed throughout the previous year
CC: Michi, you know she's teasing, don't rise to it
Michi: I know but it really annoys me
CC: Lizzy, save all that aggression for Kieran
Lizzy: I'm trying but he's late. AS USUAL!
Yazzy: Who's late
Yazzy was next. Fun, friendly and kind, Yazzy was the down to earth one of the group. Everyone loved Yazzy, she always kept things positive and never got involved in the arguments, although she did enjoy sometimes stirring the pot a little, especially when Kieran and Lizzy faced off. Yazzy joined the club after seeing the interactions between the two, deciding that she needed to see it more often. It didn't disappoint.
Michi: Who do you think she's complaining about?
Yazzy: Kieran?
CC: Naturally
Lizzy: Honestly, he should be here first so I can get all my aggression out on him, rather than subject you all to it. I try, I really do
Katie: We know, there there
Katie offers a reassuring pat on the back
Lizzy: I need my punching bag
Hunter: Hieeee
Lizzy: This'll do for now
Hunter followed next, with Tori close behind him, hoping she could slip in unseen. Hunter had been forced into setting the club up. He remembered the day clearly, sat in his second year class when Lizzy came barging in and told him her plans. He refused, naturally, but then she whipped out her cell and produced something incriminating, that Hunter can't repeat, that left him with no choice but to agree to Lizzy's demands. He didn't mind though though, as life was good, and with his exams coming up, now he was in his last year, the club was the ideal stress reliever. Tori, likewise didn't want to join but Lizzy had threatened her as well, telling her they needed 5 members and Tori would have to be the 5th. Lizzy had nothing on Tori, but Tori didn't want to make an enemy of Lizzy, so she agreed. She was able to bring her best friend Delia with her, so she had back up, but looking into the room, she saw that she had arrived before Delia, and she sighed
Tori: I tried to be late and everything
Lizzy: Just go sit in depression corner over there
Tori: I will
Hunter: What did you mean, "this'll do for now?"
Lizzy: Ok grandpa, put your hearing aid back in and chill a bit
Hunter: I am only one year older than you
Lizzy: In my eyes, that make you 80. Now shut up or I'm putting you in a retirement
Hunter: You're not my mother
Lizzy: You're right I'm not. I'm your granddaughter
Hunter: Ugh
Delia: Is Grandma Hunter acting senile again
In came Delia, the penultimate to arrive. Until she joined the club, she knew absolutely none of the group, except for Tori. They'd been friends since elementary and had somehow always gotten each other. Delia had absolutely zero interest in joining the club, her heart was set on joining the fitness club, since she was too young to get a gym membership at the time, but when she saw the desperate look in her best friend's eyes as she pleaded with Delia to join with her, Delia felt she had no choice. The club was alright, honestly Delia was ready to leave but now she was 16, she could get her fitness in at the local gym
Hunter: I AM NOT
Delia: Ok calm down, it'll all be ok, shhhhhh, don't worry, you're just having an episode
Hunter: I'M NOT OLD
Katie: You are
Hunter: STOP
Michi: You are a little old Hunty, you have to admit it
Hunty: I am a glamorous young lady, I will hear nothing else.
Outside the classroom, a voice can be heard
Kieran: No, that wasn't what I was trying to--Please, ju-- I just want to
Girl: PERVERT
The culture club stick their heads out the door to witness the fun
Kieran: Don't say that so loudly. That wasn't what I was trying-
Girl: PERVERT PERVERT PERVERT
Kieran: Please! All I was trying to do was compliment your bust
A loud slap is heard and the club burst into laughter as Kieran walks over to them with a hand-shaped red mark burned onto his cheek. Second year student Kieran is hapless in love. He's been rejected many times since starting high school. No one seems to understand him. Beneath his perverted exterior, he's actually a really nice guy and a vital part of the group, being one of the founders. He lives alone in Kaijo, a difficult family relationship facilitated the need to leave and he transferred into Kaijo High at the start of the first year. Kieran is useless at wearing his uniform properly and is always under pressure from Yazzy to tuck his shirt in or wear his tie the right way. Even the school cardigan hangs over his hands, but luckily for Yazzy, she didn't need to pester him over this currently. He never listens though, not properly anyway, he lets Yazzy fix him up and then a few minutes later, it's back to the way it was.
Yazzy: What were you doing complimenting her bust?
Lizzy: Were you just asking for a slap?
Kieran: No! I was after references for my manga. I want to draw a female character that has the essence of Chizuru in it, and her whole body is the same build as Chizuru, I won't get another opportunity like that
The group laugh again
Kieran: I'm serious guys
Katie: You mean this manga that we've never seen
Tori: Is it a secret?
Delia: He keeps it private, that way he can use it at night when he's--
Kieran: THANK YOU THAT'S ENOUGH! We'll have no more talk about what I do or do not get up to in the privacy of my own room
Lizzy darts a look at Kieran
Lizzy: Pervert
Yazzy: Why were you asking random girls about their boobs?
Kieran: Because the last time I asked you guys, this happened
Kieran lifts up his shirt to reveal a large bruise on his stomach
Lizzy: Hey! I'm proud of that bruise. That was some of my finest work
Kieran: I couldn't breathe properly for a week. I'd never even asked you anyway
Lizzy: You saying mine aren't good enough for you?
Kieran: Actually no
The group go silent
Lizzy: You are so dead
Kieran runs off down the corridor as Lizzy chases after him, he's surprisingly agile when his life is under threat and he's able to keep a good distance from Lizzy
CC: Shall we get started?
Yazzy: We won't see them again for a while
The group head into the club room. Downstairs, Lizzy continues to chase Kieran as he laughs
Lizzy: GET BACK HERE!
Lizzy: COME BACK TO ME!
He keeps running
Lizzy: KIERAN!......Kieran?
Kaijo. October 2024. Ash's Old House
Lizzy: Kieran? Come back to me Kieran, come on
Kieran: Lizzy?
Lizzy: Good you're still here. No dying on me yet, you hear
Kieran: You caught me....I thought I was getting away
Lizzy: What are you on about? You're delirious, shut up and save your strength, there's an ambulance coming....again
Kaijo. October 21st. Lizzy's House
Katie: Lizzy just text me, she's found Kieran, they're on their way to hospital
Yazzy: He's ok
Katie: I don't know. She just said "Bitch tried to die on me again, going to hospital, fish has drowned"
Tori: Can fish drown?
Delia: That's the bit you're questioning?
Katie: We should go over there
Yazzy: Good idea
Kaijo High School. May 2024.
Kieran: Owww that really hurt
Kieran is nursing a new mark on his back from where Lizzy threw a hardball at him
Lizzy: Don't fucking run from me then
Kieran: I'll never stop running
Lizzy: I know, and that's what scares me
Kieran: What do you mean?
Lizzy: You're always running, always moving on to the next thing, never staying in the same place for long. You need to slow down, to stop
Kieran: If I'm not fighting, I may as well be dead
Lizzy: You can live without fighting
Kieran: How?
Lizzy: Take a deep breath and take in the moment, enjoy this feeling, they don't come very often. Learn to enjoy this life, it's safe here
Kieran: I am tired
Lizzy: Look, let's just skip the meeting today, CC's probably already started it. Let's just take in this wonderful, peaceful, summer's day
Kaijo Hospital. October 21st 2024
Delia: How is he?
Lizzy: It's bad. Really bad. I don't think he's going to make it
Yazzy: No....
Yazzy begins to cry and Katie puts her arm around her
Lizzy: I don't even know where to start...Ash wasn't dead....well she is now, but she wasn't! She'd been alive this whole time. It looked like her and Kaylin were plotting some sort of revenge against Kieran for whatever reason. Anyway, they had him strapped to a chair and Kaylin was....no I can't repeat that, but Ash was on the floor, then Kaylin was, I tried to help but then...the knife just came out of nowhere, there was blood everywhere, it just poured out of him, I couldn't stop it, I couldn't. Kaylin, she....I don't know, where. She should be dead but I don't know, I hit her hard enough, I can't- I can't- breathe- I-
Katie: Lizzy!
Lizzy: Katie
Katie: Just breathe with me, slowly, in.......and out
Lizzy breathes in and out alongside Katie, as her breathing begins to slow down and eventually she's calmed
Tori: That was way too much information to take in
Delia: How do we even process that?
Yazzy: Lizzy, it's ok now, he's in the best hands
Lizzy: Where's Michi gone?
Delia: Michi had some news, and it meant getting back to Tokuko asap
Lizzy: Is everything ok?
Tori: We honestly don't know
There's a strange rumbling feeling
Yazzy: You guys feel that?
Katie: Weird
Kaijo. May 2024
CC: See you all tomorrow
Hunter: Laterz
Michi: Bye guys
CC, Hunter and Michi go off in a separate direction from the rest of the group, living in a different part of town. For the remaining six, they make their way towards their houses, enjoying the last little bit of sunshine spreading out across the landscape.
Katie: It was so hot today, I can't cope with another day like that
Yazzy: Unbearable
Lizzy: I didn't think it was that bad
Delia: That's because you spend your whole summer outside playing softball. Some of us haven't built up a resistance like you
Kieran: Exactly
Lizzy grabs Kieran's hand in a vice grip
Kieran: Ow ow ow ow ok yep that hurts
Lizzy: Keep your big mouth quiet alright, I know how to break fingers and it's as easy as...
Lizzy bends his fingers backwards
Kieran: OW owwwww ow ow ow yep I'm with you, please, I'll stop
Lizzy: Say one more word and it's bye bye fingers
Kieran stops speaking and Lizzy lets go. Kieran doesn't speak for the rest of the trip
Yazzy: So have you guys thought about university? My mom asked me the other day about it
Lizzy: I haven't really thought that far ahead
Tori: I don't want to think about that yet
Yazzy: My mom reckons that we should be looking now we're second years, that we should have our choices by the time we start our third year
Katie: You know, I think Hunter said something about that
Yazzy: I don't know about you guys but I was looking at potentially going to Hanabu University, it's only 30 minutes away in the next city over
Delia: I've been considering them too, they've got the best Law course in the country
Yazzy: They're one of the best uni's full stop
Katie: There's a massive anime shop nearby that sells loads of Love Live merch so I'm in
Lizzy: God you sound like Kieran
Kieran sticks his thumb up (on the non damaged hand) and Lizzy glares him down
Kaijo Hospital. October 2024.
Doctor: Uhh so we were able to open him up in surgery
The entire group has gathered round the doctor, making him a little overwhelmed and uncomfortable
Doctor: He suffered a lot of injuries, there was massive amounts of bleeding and internal injuries
Lizzy: But?
Doctor: Excuse me?
Katie: Lizzy stop checking out his butt
Lizzy: I WAS NOT
Katie: So sorry
Lizzy: I meant was that this is one of those moments where you list off all the catastrophic injuries, make it look really bad and depressing and then you say but, and you give us all the good news
The Doctor looks down
Lizzy: Right?....Hey....come on...that's not fair
Doctor: I'm afraid his injuries were too severe, he died on the operating table
Yazzy: No! Please no!
Yazzy begins to cry and Katie puts a consoling arm around her
Lizzy: This can't be true
Doctor: I'm very sorry for your loss
The Doctor takes his leave as the group huddle round each other. The strange rumbling feeling from earlier returns
Delia: There it is again?
Katie: What could it be?
Then, a large white light appears from everywhere and nowhere and envelopes the group, and the whole room
Kaijo High School. May 2024
Lizzy: Ok, let's get started
CC: We can't, we're missing one
Lizzy: Who?
Delia: Who do you think?
Lizzy: Fucking little bitch....wait til I get my hands on him....I'm gon.....
Lizzy's voice fades away as the marches down the corridor
CC: Let's just get started
Lizzy heads to the second floor classrooms to find Kieran. She checks their class to see that he's not in there, she's about to head off to the next floor down when she see's Kieran sitting at a desk by the window in one of the other second year classrooms
Lizzy: What are you doing?
Kieran: Lizzy? Oh sorry I was...uh....I don't know how I ended up here
Lizzy: Not even our classroom dude
Kieran: It felt like it though, for a brief moment it did. I can't shake this feeling that I've sat here before
Lizzy: Well yeah, we've probably had lessons here
Kieran: Except we haven't, but this is my seat, and this one in front of me, that's where you sit, always turning around to attack me, and then, here, next to me, this seat belongs to.....I can't think of her name...but she sits here
Lizzy: Kieran, you're running again
Kieran: I know
Lizzy: It's time to stop. Time to stop running. Time to live here and now
Kieran: I'm scared
Lizzy: Don't be, you're safe here. It's home
Kieran: It's ok to stop?
Lizzy: It's time to stop
Kieran: Yeah....
Lizzy: Now come on, we're late, well actually....you're late
Lizzy pulls Kieran out of the chair and drags him out of the class
Lizzy: Come on
Lizzy walks off ahead and Kieran follows closely behind. He can't shake the feeling that he's walked these corridors before, that he's lived a life here before. Lizzy's right, he does need to stop running, even if he doesn't know what it is he's running from. He climbs the stairs and heads down the corridor. No matter how strange anything has ever felt, weird feelings and coincidences, there's only been one place that always felt right, the club room. Nothing else mattered in there. Lizzy walks up to the door and swings it open, making her way in. Kieran stops and pauses, looking into the room filled with his friends
Lizzy: What are you waiting for? Get in here?
Yazzy: We've all be waiting for you
Kieran looks at the room. He thinks back everything that's happened in those four little walls. All the meetings, the laughs, the arguments, the violence from Lizzy. Any day that none of them really wanted to go home, so they sat in the room, passing the time reading manga, playing games or just chatting. Kieran then thought ahead to the future and the days to come. Christmas, Halloween, the Culture Festival, Sports Day, any other little thing that Lizzy got them involved in. The summer days ahead, the cold winter nights, Kieran having to drag the heater in that Lizzy wouldn't carry herself. He thought of all the happiness to come. Maybe he would find someone to love? Perhaps he would bring his future girlfriend to the club, maybe she would already be from the club? All these different options went round in his head, all the possibilities, but everything was going to be ok, no matter what. Kieran looked at the group and smiled, a smile brighter than any he'd let out before. He was happy, he was safe, he was....
Kieran: I'm home
THE END