Welcome To The Club

"And with that, I warmly welcome you to what will soon be the most powerful organization in the entire world, the We The People Club, or WTP Club for short!"

Grinning enthusiastically at six perplexed faces, 17-year-old Va tossed her light blonde hair over her shoulder. Several dices, that were attached to a bracelet, danced on her wrist.

"Organization?", "powerful?", the group murmured skeptically. Glenn finally spoke out what everyone was thinking "What do you want from us? What are we doing here?"

"I appreciate that curiosity!", Va replied confidently. Her green eyes sparkled. "It's no coincidence that I chose you six, of all people, for this world-changing pioneering project..."

"Chose?", Glenn interrupted slightly annoyed "You've been spreading your stupid flyers all over the school."

"Stupid flyers?" Va looked offended. "I spent hours working on that design!"

"It's just a drawing of a bunch of seemingly infinitely happy people just standing in a circle", Glenn argued "And above it, there is a text that says ‘Join the WTP Club, 4:30 pm today, classroom 4-C, 2nd floor’."

"The pooping dog in the left corner is really artistic though", Sousui commented amusedly.

Va, seemingly oblivious to the sarcasm, was more pleased again. "Thank you! I worked extra hard on that one."

Glenn sighed and gave up discussing it any further.

"So... where was I?", Va pondered "Oh yeah... So you six were chosen by me because of a very special characteristic."

The six looked at each other, trying to figure out what characteristic Va would ascribe to them that apparently qualified them for the WTP Club.

On the far left sat Glenn from 4-A, who was the most critical of the entire situation. He was visually distinguished by his muscular body, his light blond curls and his angular face. He was considered a heartthrob at school. Since he had gotten his driver's license a few months earlier, he had been out with a different girl almost every week. Consequently, the others were really surprised that Glenn had even taken the time to stop by this peculiar event.

Striking about Sousui from 4-C, who had also taken the floor already, were his large glasses and his pitch-black, shoulder-length hair. He was considered to be one of the smartest minds at school. The others recalled that he had won a chess tournament not too long ago and now held a certain reputation in strategy-game circles. 

Sousui, however, was generally considered to be rather reserved and uninterested in most things, which again made the others wonder why he had accepted Va's invitation in the first place.

Additionally, present were Wark from 4-A, Bane from 4-C, Beat from 4-D, and Sikh from 4-D.

The former three were known to be loners. None of them were ever seen in larger groups and were considered to be the uncool and odd ones at school.

Beat in particular was extremely introverted and rarely spoke a word. His sloppily cut hair was greasy and reached deep into his face and his skin was covered in pimples. Because of his unkempt appearance, he was often a victim of bullying and it was also rumored that he played a video game for children all day long,

Glenn recalled that Bane had also been pushed around at the beginning of high school. But when the bullies had figured out that Bane had just been released from a juvenile psychiatric hospital because he had planned a shooting in junior high, the attacks had stopped immediately. Bane was now avoided and only eyed skeptically from afar.

Glenn had to admit that something about Bane did indeed look a little creepy. He had small pupils that stared out aggressively from underneath his forehead fringes and he bore a prominent scar on his right arm that no one knew where he got it from.

Wark likewise didn't have to fear bullying attacks because he was the principal's nephew and thus received privileged treatment from the teachers. He had orange, disheveled hair, was thin, and his clothes looked like he got them from the kids section. He always tried to be friendly to everyone, but he was very insecure and untrained in social situations and therefore had no real friends.

Due to being loners, one would also wonder why Beat, Bane and Wark decided to follow Va's invitation.

The last attendant, Sikh, was unknown to the group so far. He had just been transferred to the school as an exchange student. Where exactly he came from, no one knew either. His appearance suggested that he was probably from southern or eastern Asia. His skin was slightly brownish, his lips and eyes narrow. He sat bolt upright; his hands were folded together in his lap.

Since Va had opened the event in classroom 4-C, he had not yet said a word, but had smiled permanently in a friendly manner, causing the others to slowly doubt whether Sikh was even fluent enough in their language to follow the talk.

Hence, the only common ground the six shared was the question of what they were looking for here in the first place.

Va finally solved the mystery. "What makes you so special is that you all have I-N-D-I-V-I-D-U-A-L and super exciting personalities in your own unique ways!" Va grinned broadly.

The reactions were mixed. Glenn still seemed annoyed, while Wark felt happy about the compliment. "That's very sweet of you", he said and directly returned the compliment "You seem like a great person, too! ...And you're really cute on top of that." He chuckled shyly.

Sousui and Beat were visibly uncomfortable with these strange flirting attempts. Beat squeezed out a forced laugh to stall Wark while Sousui changed the subject. "Va, I appreciate the compliment, but I am still confused, what you even want from us."

Va rummaged around in a box next to the teacher's desk. Then she took out a large poster of a boy with a broad face and a stubble hairdo as well as some sort of large calculator. 

She pinned the poster to the blackboard and turned back to the group with a serious look on her face.

"Hey, that's Keiichi from 4-B, isn't it?", Wark exclaimed.

"Correct! +10 importance, Wark!", Va replied in a military manner.

"... +10 importance?" Wark had a confused look on his face.

"I'll explain later... Anyway, I've been doing research and I have the assumption that Keiichi is trying to take over the world and replace all women on the planet. So we have to stop him!"

Everyone fell silent for a second. Then forced laughter from Beat echoed through the room again. Sikh, visibly confused about what was going on, joined in the laughter after a moment.

"-10 importance, Beat", Va declared "You haven't contributed anything useful yet and you're just laughing stupidly."

Beat fell silent.

"And what do you really want from us?", Sousui asked again politely.

"I just told you", Va replied surprised.

Glenn fidgeted impatiently in his chair. "Sousui asked what you REALLY want from us. Stop with the jokes or I'll be gone in a minute."

"I just told you!!", Va repeated, now also with an annoyed voice. 

"Alright, then tell us what you told the teachers to get the permission to use this classroom." Glenn sighed.

"I went to Professor Kjeld and told him that I am planning to stop Keiichi from his plan to take over the world and eliminate all women. He was so enthusiastic about the idea that, in addition to this classroom, he let me have the school's latest acquisition."

Va pressed a button on the calculator-like thing she had put out from the box earlier. The device began to shake slightly. Suddenly it extended arms and legs, climbed on the teacher's desk, and spoke "Hello, I am the Banana Supercomputer T-74. I am happy to answer your questions!" Its display showed two eyes and a grinning mouth.

The six of them looked at it wide-eyed.

"Isn't he cute?", Va asked delightedly "I named him Lenin."

"Lenin...? Why would you name him after a communist revolutionary?", Sousui asked irritatedly.

"He seems very communist", Va explained "Lenin, meaning of life!"

Lenin spoke "The meaning of life lies in the socialization of the means of production! The proletariat must revolt against the bourgeoisie and achieve a reorganization of social power relations!"

This was now the straw of absurdity that broke the camel's back with Glenn. "I’m done. Have fun at your idiots-meeting. I'm going home!" He headed for the door.

Bane was faster though and blocked his path. He looked Glenn so deeply in the eyes that Glenn shuddered for a second. "Didn't you hear Va? It seems to be serious. You can't leave."

Glenn was speechless for a moment. What did these nerds want from him? He regained his composure and grabbed Bane by the shirt. "You may intimidate others, but that won't work on me. Let me through right now or you will regret it!”

"Glenn, -10 importance! Fighting among WTP members is not allowed!”, Va shouted from the teacher's desk.

In the meantime, Sousui had also come up to Glenn and patted him on the shoulder. "Glenn, fighting is really inappropriate. Stay at least until this meeting is over. After all, you don't have to come to the next one."

"Sousui, Va's just messing with us", Glenn replied with a disgruntled snort "Like she'd gone to Professor Kjeld, told him something like that, and had been given the classroom and a weird talking computer in return."

"Maybe there's a reason Va won't tell us why we're really here", Sousui countered. 

Glenn gritted his teeth, but then gave in and walked back to his seat.

Bane and Sousui followed suit.

"Glad to see you've come to your senses", Va said with a smile on her face, sounding far more provocative than she had intended.

Sousui had decided for himself to just play along and began asking questions. "Va, what kind of 'research' did you do that led you to the conclusion that Keiichi would try to take over the world? And why are WE supposed to stop him? That sounds more like a case for the police... or the FBI."

Va bounced with her butt on the teacher's desk, her face darkened, and in a low voice she said "What I'm about to tell you must never leave this classroom!"

Spellbound, the six stared at Va.

"It all began on a Wednesday evening during the summer holidays. Without suspecting anything bad, I was strolling down the main street when I suddenly ran into Keiichi. I recognized him and greeted him, but his mind seemed to be elsewhere. He didn't pay any attention to me at all and walked straight past me. Surprised from the way he acted, I decided to follow him and saw him entering a suspicious store. In its window were a couple of dancing anime dolls. I decided to wait for him to leave the store again, then followed him back home. In his hand he now held a huge, highly suspicious box. Fortunately, I had quickly figured out which room of the house belonged to him and climbed a tree in his garden to catch a glimpse inside and what I then saw would turn my life upside down."

Va paused for a moment to build suspense, then she exclaimed "I saw him cuddling on his bed with a female anime doll and touching her on various intimate spots!”

Beat blushed bright red and hid his face in his sweater.

"Ah anime!", Sikh shouted all of a sudden and declared in a heavy accent "I’m like anime, it's really good!"

"No it's not! -10 importance!", Va shouted angrily.

"Va... Keiichi simply has some kind of perverted fetish and you...", Glenn clutched his head "are just a complete lunatic! What's wrong with you!?"

Sousui didn't seem entirely convinced by Va's conclusions from the experience either. "But how does that make you think that Keiichi wants to take over the world and 'replace' all women?"

"Sousui, I like your critical inquiries! +10 Importance!", Va stated rewardingly "Well, I started doing research after the whole thing. Apparently, Keiichi has been taking a programming course on artificial intelligence for a few years now. Also, while searching his room, I fou..."

"You searched his room?", Wark interrupted somewhat shocked.

"found out", Va skillfully ignored Wark's interjection "that Keiichi owns several female anime dolls, to which he has even given names. I think the evidence speaks for itself. Clearly, he wants to take over the world wipe out women, infuse artificial life into anime dolls, and then replace the killed women with living anime dolls. And he wants to do all of that only because this pervert gets sexual satisfaction from the anime girls!" Va pulled her face together in disgust.

Cautiously, Wark took the floor "Va, without wanting to doubt your research… don't you think your conclusion from this experience is a bit far-fetched?"

Suddenly Bane stood up and tapped his fist. "This all sounds very plausible and we must do everything in our power to stop this! The WTP Club is humanity's last hope!"

"Wait, wait, wait, you're not serious now, right?", Glenn said, trying to stifle a laugh. "Say something about that, Sousui!", he urged his seatmate.

Sousui did as asked. "If you're so convinced of your conclusion, Va, I still wonder why you don't go to the police."

"Yes exactly!", Glenn amusedly interrupted him, "Please go to the police right away, Va, and tell them this story exactly the way you told it to us. They will MOST CERTAINLY do everything to stop Keiichi right away!" Then he whispered to Sousui "Once they finished laughing."

Va again failed to recognize the sarcasm and explained "That was my first intuition as well, but then I began to doubt. Keiichi's parents are influential. After all, his father is a deputy section chief at the Ministry of the Interior. He would certainly try to sabotage the investigation against his son. In any case, before we go to the police, we need more solid evidence that leaves no room for doubt."

"Oh, don’t worry", Glenn said placatingly "I think you can definitely put your trust in the police!" 

"Thanks for the input, Glenn, but I've already made up my mind, no police for now!", Va determined, destroying Glenn's hopes of making a fool out of her.

"Then how do you plan to proceed?", Sousui asked "What do you think we should do to uhh... stop Keiichi or something?"

"I don't know yet!", Va replied, still sounding confident as ever "That will be your job to think about. Tomorrow at the same time we'll meet here again and evaluate your ideas. The WTP Club meeting is over for today, have a wonderful evening!"

With these words, the student packed her backpack. Lenin jumped on her shoulder. Then she strutted out of the class with big steps, while Lenin waved goodbye to the others. It was an absurd image.

"Finally!” Glenn rushed out of the class as quickly as possible. He had no desire to stay among crazy people any longer than necessary.

The sun was still high in the sky when he left the school. "I guess there is still time to work out”, he said to himself in mind. Before heading to the training park, he took one last look at the school. As of today, he was in the fourth grade of high school, his senior year. Next year he would be studying already. And yet he had never experienced such an extraordinary first day of school. Good that this nonsense was over now. After all, he wanted to devote his life to the important things. With one last thought of Va's dice bracelet, he walked away from the school.