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...
Lizzy didn't know where to start searching. There were too many places that they visited as teenagers he could be at. She walked to his old apartment that he lived at until he was forced home. He walked past her house, where he had stayed until graduation. They didn't live there anymore either, moved away about a year after the accident. He wasn't there either. She walked down past the river, a path they walked daily back in the day. No sign of him. It was dark now and cold, Lizzy knew there was only so much more she could manage tonight before she would have to call it a night. Then it dawned on her. She realised there was only one place he could be. Room 317, on the third floor of Kaijo High School, the home of their former club, the whole reason they became friends in the first place
Tori & Delia's Apartment. October 20th
Delia: I got the job
Tori: Huh, what job?
Delia: The Starbucks job
Tori: Oh...congrats
Delia: Thanks gaskets
Tori: You're welcome clyde
Delia: Where did those nicknames even come from?
Tori: Who knows? I don't remember
Delia: Probably more trauma
Tori: When do you start at bucks?
Delia: In a few days, they're short staffed so they needed me as soon as possible and well...I'm not exactly unavailable
Tori: This is probably the first time that you being unemployed has benefitted you
Delia: Ain't that the truth
Tori: So we celebrating?
Delia: After the other night? No way, my head is still banging from the other day. Besides, I'm going to the gym anyway
Tori: Figures
Delia: Hey, I haven't been in at least 18 hours
Tori: A new record?
Delia: Personal best
Kaijo. October 19th
Lizzy made her way to the high school, as she began walking the long road that led directly to the school gates, she thought back to the many times she made this journey. She looked at the trees, lining the avenue, now red and gold in colour, with few left clinging to the branches. She had seen these trees at the height of Spring as the Cherry Blossom tree nuzzled between them, sprouted beautiful pink blossoms. She remembered summer days, as the heat bore down on her, but the trees were the brightest green she'd seen them. Autumns as the leaves covered the wide road, creating a sea of autumnal colours and winters, where the naked trees contrasted the white frost that now decorated the landscape. She loved this walk, she loved this road but today, coming down the road, it was not as pleasant. She thought back to the last time, she had felt like this, back at the beginning of Senior year when a large storm battered the town, leaving her and half of the club, seeking shelter in the school, that is, until she saw Tori. Tori, who had been missing for days. She chased her down this road in the dreadful storm, desperate to save her, and now once more, she was making this walk to save someone else, at least she hoped she was about to
Lizzy & Katie's Apartment. 20th October
Katie: Morning
Yazzy yawns
Yazzy: Morning
Katie: You heard anything?
Yazzy: Nothing, I tried texting Lizzy last night but the message never went through
Katie: Same here, I literally spammed her phone but nothing
Yazzy: Do you think she's ok?
Katie: Yeah, she's a demon, everyone else should be scared
The doorbell buzzes
Katie: Do you mind getting that?
Yazzy: Oh sure
Yazzy heads over to the door and opens it
Delivery Man: Hi, I've got a delivery for Katie
Katie: Yeah I'm in here
Delivery Man: You mind if we just bring it all in?
Yazzy: We?
Delivery man after delivery man pile into the apartment, each carrying a large box, which quickly stack up around Yazzy until it looks like she is the Queen of her own Box Fort.
Delivery Man: Thank you
The door shuts and Yazzy turns around to Katie
Yazzy: What is this?
Katie: A delivery
Yazzy: These boxes say Love Live on them. Did you get more stuff at the exhibition?
Katie: Well I didn't have enough hands to carry it all and they said that is I spent of 3,000 dollars then I could get free delivery
Yazzy: You spent 3,000 dollars?!!!!
Katie: 5,000 actually
Yazzy's jaw drops
Kaijo. October 19th
Lizzy looked up at the school from the gates, she could see the club room from there, the one window that sent light into the room. From the outside, the room looks so much smaller than she remembered. She can't understand how they managed to fit 9 members in there at one point. There was no light on in the room, but Lizzy knew that meant nothing. Kieran could still be in there and knowing him, he most likely is. Although, she wasn't sure how he made it in, if he was in there? The door's would be shut tight, especially by now. She approached the glass doors that once welcomed her to the start of the day. She pulled one of the doors to find it was opened, surprising her. As if it was only yesterday, she made her way through the doors, past the lockers, and down the corridor to the east staircase where she walked to the third floor. She slowly strolled down the corridor towards room 317, feeling herself transported back 10 years, remembering every time she traversed this route. She reached the door of room 317. It was no longer a club room, in fact, it looked like it was nothing anymore, nothing more than an abandoned classroom.
She hesitated. Opening this door, was it the right thing to do? What if he doesn't want to see her and shouts at her like he did Yazzy? Normally this wouldn't bother her but for once she hadn't come all this way for a fight. What if he wasn't even there? She had no idea where else to look, so if he wasn't here, it was the end of her journey. She snapped herself back to reality and swung open the door. There, halfway down the classroom, was Kieran, sat on the floor with a bottle of vodka by his side. He's startled by Lizzy's sudden entrance, but he doesn't resist. To Lizzy, he looks exhausted. This wasn't the same person she had seen the day before he stopped coming into work. Even though it was dark, she could still make out the dark circles under his eyes, the overall scruffiness of his appearance. She wasn't sure but it looked like there was bruising around his cheeks, she couldn't say for certain though. She was sure about the bandage around his hand though, that wasn't deniable. With the door open and Kieran now aware of her presence, she opened her mouth and greeted him
Lizzy: Hey
Kieran: Hey
Tokuko Elementary. October 20th
CC: Any news?
Michi: They have a treatment plan
CC: That's fantastic
Michi: It's not all sunshine and roses though. It's only been done a 100 times, because these type of tumours are so rare. The success rate is only 3%. So only 3 people have survived
CC: But it's better than a 0% success rate right?
Michi: Yeah, and the side effects are actually pretty minimal so it would be no different than the chemo treatment
CC: What's the consensus then?
Michi: We have a lot to discuss, they're not ready to take the leap yet and dive into treatment, the doctors want to start as soon as possible though. I've said to give it a few days, but not to leave it too long because the longer they delay, the more the tumour grows in their brain, and the less effective the treatment would be if they decide to go for it
CC: You think they'll do it?
Michi: To be honest, I hope so. I'm not ready to let go yet
CC: Ready for another exciting day?
Michi: Can't wait
They both head down to their classrooms where Alex is waiting, looking impatient
Alex: We have an issue
CC: Already, the day hasn't even begun yet?
Alex: Come with me
Alex leads the two into her classroom, formerly Kieran's. It has been trashed, tables overturned, displays ripped, books strewn across the floor, with pages scattered. The computer has been smashed, as had the interactive whiteboard, and the desk is beyond repair. On the wall is written in red spray paint "scumbag"
CC: What the hell?
Michi: Who would do something like this?
CC: Any why target you Alex?
Alex: I don't think they're targeting me. Look at this
Alex leads them to the smashed desk where there is a picture of a sonogram
Alex: Unless I'm missing something, and it would have to be a big something, I'm not pregnant. Plus on the back, it says "baby daddy", so I'm fairly certain it's directed at Kieran
Michi: Baby daddy? Is he a baby daddy at 26?
CC: He acts like a child, maybe that's where it comes from?
Michi: I thought Kieran was in a stable relationship?
CC: Maybe they broke up?
Alex: Or he had an affair?
They all pause, before laughing
CC: Good one Alex
Michi: This is a real problem though, we can't have the kids in here, we can't have them anywhere near here. Alex, take everything you need from in there and then lock the door behind you. We will have to move you today, thankfully the 3rd graders are out all day so we can use their classroom. We'll have to move Lizzy's class as well so that we can close of this corridor
CC: That works for today but what about next week?
Michi: Hopefully we can sort it by then, if not, we'll have to arrange something, merging classes or something. I don't know but we can't think about that right now. We need to get the kids in and away from all of this.
CC: Do you want me to call the police?
Michi: Please. Alex, can you do gate duty today please? I'll guide the kids to the right rooms and then hopefully by the time everyone's in, CC will have reported the vandalism and all will be sorted for the day
Alex: On it
Michi: Another great day
Later that day
Police: So, the room was like this when you came in this morning
Alex: Yes
Police: And was the door unlocked?
Alex: We rarely lock the doors, the locks exists for lockdown protocol but as there's no danger to children in these classrooms, we leave them unlocked
Michi: That's school policy, we are supposed to leave the classrooms unlocked
Police: Ok. Do you know of any reason why this has occurred?
Alex: It's taken us all by surprise
Police: You say that you think this was aimed at the previous teacher of this class. Did he have any strained relationships with anyone?
Michi: None that we know of. Honestly, he's always been an incredibly private and closed off person. He puts forward a strong, confident persona but we don't really know a massive amount about him
CC: He has a girlfriend, we know that.
Michi: And he hasn't been here since July. Actually the other class teacher for this department knows him really well, they went to school together
Police: And where are they?
Michi: She's actually off currently, dealing with a personal situation. I can message her and see if she's available to talk
Police: No need, if you just get her to contact us as her earliest convenience, we'll take it from there. Do you have any contact info for his girlfriend
Michi: No. Again, he's very private, we don't even know her name
Police: I see. Well this is a very strange occurrence, it seems to me as if whoever did this was hoping to publicly out him for whatever reason. Whether or not they knew he wasn't here anymore is up in the air. My colleagues are coming to take some pictures of the scene for reference so if you could please leave this room for now, until they've been and got what they need. I'm afraid you'll have to handle the clean up
CC: We figured
Police: If anything like this happens again, or you have any suspicions, contact us straight away and if you can give his friend this number to call when they're free to answer some questions, the case number is on there as well which she'll need to reference when she calls
Michi: Ok, thank you
Tori & Delia's Apartment
Delia: This stuff is disgusting
Tori: It absolutely stinks
Delia: Why is it like this
Tori: The doctor said that it wasn't an easy treatment but apparently this helps treat the area
Delia: I think I'm gonna be sick
Tori: How many times do we have to do this?
Delia: More times that I want to think of
Tori: At least this cleanses us of her
Delia: Yeah but she's still impacting my life
Tori: How so?
Delia: I'm supposed to be going on a date tonight but it's gonna last all of 30 seconds if she catches a whiff of this
Tori: A date?
Delia: Weights weren't the only thing I was picking up
Unknown location
Ash: Well?
Kaylin: Totally trashed
Ash: Good work
Kaylin: It's a shame that he won't see what I've done
Ash: That's irrelevant, the people who he works with will see it and start questioning his integrity, plus there's a good chance it will make it into the papers, and he will instantly know that it's aimed at him
Kaylin: What's next?
Ash: Patience
Kaylin: Come on, I'm so hyped to destroy him
Ash: It will happen, but first we play the long game. We didn't come this far for us to rush the ending
Kaylin: You're right, I just can't wait
Ash: It will be worth it in the end. For now, let him suffer