Episode 1: What if I Say I'm Not Like...?

April 10th, 2015. It was a beautiful, sunny Friday afternoon at Yoshima Public Middle School. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping. Nothing could be any more perfect. Classes had been out for approximately an hour, so that meant the clubs were formed and were doing whatever they wanted.

Like for example, the literature club and the science club.

The reason these two were brought up, however, is because the science club asked permission to do an experiment in the literature club. Their reason, however, was not explained very clearly… or was it?

“Augh, I wish the stupid science club would get out of here,” groaned Kasumi Nakayama, burying her head into her hands. “They’re too loud! We’re supposed to be reading here!”

The science club was indeed bombastic with its sound, although that could also be the case of there being about four more people in their club than in the literature club. All the girls could hear the banging of science equipment and talk about what went where.

Mimori Hamasaki giggled with amusement. “You’re not even reading, dude!” She pointed this out whilst peering over her friend’s shoulder. Sure enough, her phone screen regrettably showed someone’s Instagram page.

Kasumi jerked away almost protectively, her blonde twintails swishing to and fro. “Y—yeah, I am! Reading someone’s Instagram page counts as literature!” She pouted, blushing deeply.

"Yeah, in that deluded head of yours." The brown-haired girl rolled her eyes. She scoffed obnoxiously as she picked back up her manga. It was a wonder how these two completely different girls were friends. Well, “different” on a base level.

"Hey there," Tomo Mizuno said as gently as she could. "Calm down, you two. We don't want to distract them by breaking out into a fight or anything." The girl, who was gently gripping an old Star Trek novel, looked over her thick-rimmed glasses, her deep purple eyes filled with intent.

The fourth ninth grader, Mari Suzuki, dragged her attention from her homework to the science club kids, who were gathered around the clubroom’s computer table, which now had six clear plastic cups on it instead of the computer. Said computer and its contents were now sloppily placed on the ground, along with the bulky monitor. The wires sprawled all over the floor looked like a disaster waiting to happen.

"What are they doing, anyway?" The auburn-haired girl quipped. "They've been making a racket here for about thirty minutes now!" She pretended to glance at a watch on her wrist. "Thirty minutes exact!”

“Have you not been listening to them talk?” The sole eighth grader in the literature club, Naoko Nakano, mused aloud, finally looking up from her eReader. “Any of you?” Her expression was dull and unchanging, as per usual.

The small-statured girl searched her clubmates’ eyes for answers, but all of them looked completely clueless about what was going on.

“ … No? I guess not.” She muttered a ding sound under her breath and continued. "The science club is experimenting on us. They're apparently going to give us superpowers with this goo stuff."

“That sounds like absolute bullsus,” Kasumi cackled. And no matter how hard Mimori shook her, she never stopped. “And they didn’t even give us our consent on that!”

Mimori’s eyes widened as she looked at the paper cups that were on the computer desk, each one a different color. “Oh… so that’s what they’re doing over there. Alright, cool!”

Naoko rolled her eyes, looking disgusted while still somehow retaining her stoic facade. “Yeah, I’ve been telling you guys about this for a while now, but Mari didn’t listen, Kasumi didn’t care, and Mimori and Tomo were too busy being on Cloud 1999 to notice. Our advisor told us about this on Monday, but I guess that slipped your minds too.”

Tomo’s head perked up slightly, hearing her name being called but then dazed back off into her book.

Mimori’s eyebrows narrowed. “Hey, in my defense, I was kinda listening to what they were saying. Sort of.” She closed the volume of her manga self-consciously.

Suddenly, the chit-chat of the science club silenced just as quickly as it began.

“HEY, EVERYBODY GET OUT!” A messy-haired boy shouted at the top of his lungs. “THE CUPS ARE GONNA EXPLODE IN IN 3, 2…”

Kasumi chortled, wiping the tears from her eyes while watching the crazed people run out like it was some sort of epic prank they were going to post on YouTube later. “Yeah, right. Guys, let’s just stay right here. Like—”

“1!”

The boy shouted this while he and his club members were in the hallway, peering into the classroom.

It was too late now for any of the literature club members to run out. It all happened way too fast.

It happened so fast that everything felt like it was going in slow motion.

The plastic cups exploded, and the goo splattered everywhere, including on the girls themselves.

Kssshsplat!

After the explosion, everything was quiet… until one of the science club boys broke the awkward silence.

“Aw, sweet! Michael Bay would be proud.”

The kids then came back in to clean up the rest of the mess and to gawk at the girls in amazement.

Mimori was the first to complain. “Ew!” she said, tongue sticking out. “I think it went through my skirt!” She picked at the pink, sticky liquid that got on her thighs and her thigh highs.

"Ugh, same!" Kasumi put her fingers through her hair and picked out the same liquid, except it was light blue. "It mostly got on my top, though. I bet it's ruined forever!”

Mari was trying to shake the sticky goo off like a dog would when they got wet. It wouldn’t budge. Hers was a different color as well, lime green, and it was mostly on her neck and chin.

Tomo decided to speak up while fingering the purple goo that was in her now matted side ponytail. “Umm… you guys wanna go over to my house and have a sleepover? We can wash off over there. I have a big bathtub.”

“Okay.” Naoko finally spoke up. She was nervously wiggling her arms around, which was understandable because there was orange goo on her arm sleeves.

“Well, it is Friday,” Kasumi added. “I’ll come over. I can manage wearing someone else’s clothes for one night.”

The other girls agreed. It was unanimous.

While the girls were talking, the science club kids were already moving into the clubroom, en masse, with wet rags and a mop and bucket. Mimori, who was always looking around while trying to engage in a conversation, was relieved that they didn’t have to be the ones to clean up all that mess… and also the goo didn’t get on any of her friends’ things too badly.

Tomo grinned widely. “Well, girls! Let’s get a move on! My house is just around the corner!” She clapped her hands together. “Yay! This is my first sleepover! I hope my parents don’t mind!”

★

The walk to Tomo's house was strangely silent, but probably because the girls had all witnessed a full-on goo attack in their clubroom, and were still processing the fact that it had happened.

When they arrived, Tomo’s mom greeted the girls with a great big smile on her face, eerily enough like her daughter’s, and immediately showed the girls to the bath and threw their clothes in the washing machine.

It turned out that Tomo’s bathroom was indeed huge, and the same went for the bath, which was about the size of an average jacuzzi—a pretty rare sight for a house in the suburbs of Asakusa. It was quite jarring, however, to see that and then go into the family room, for there only to be a tube TV, a VCR, and a record player in terms of electronics. Tomo's response to this was, "My parents are obsessed with the past," which made a whole lot of sense to the club members. After all, they all knew already that she owned a Nokia brick phone circa 1995.

The girls, while glad to be getting the goo off their bodies, were pretty uncomfortable about sharing a bath together. But after stepping into the warm water, they relaxed their nerves. And of course, after a silent walk home, they had plenty to talk about.

“Ah, this is the life…”Kasumi stretched her arms out and sank into the tub.

“It sure is,” agreed Mimori, looking down into the center of the tub at all the girls’ legs bunched together. While the bathtub looked large at first glance, it wasn’t large enough to where all five girls had plenty of space to themselves equally.

Mari chortled. “No kidding! Even though we’re bunched in here like a can of sardines. Hey, has anyone here had sardines before?!”

Meanwhile, the goo was fading off of the girls like water evaporating, instead of seeping off into the tub.

Naoko thought this was a good time to mention something the girls hadn’t pointed out yet. “Hey. Did anyone notice that we all got a different color of goo splattered on us?”

The girls stared at each other dumbly.

Tomo pondered the thought. “Well, now that you mention it…”

“Seriously? None of you? Ding.”

Everyone thought for a moment.

Mimori grimaced. Then, she muttered, “Well, it could mean something…”

“Who knows.” Naoko kept her cool. “Maybe these so-called powers will actually take effect on us. Or, it could’ve just been a fluke experiment.”

Tomo put a finger to her chin. “Well, have any of their experiments actually worked before? Does anyone know this?”

“Nope, no clue.” Kasumi contributed. “All I know is that that club is super top-secret. Even the members in it don’t talk about what they do.”
“Woah.” Mari tried imitating Keanu Reeves, but the result was laughable.

“We'll just have to wait and see!” Mimori said in a sing-song voice. “Dude, I really hope that something does happen! I wanna get superpowers!!”

★

When the girls got out, they dried themselves off and changed into Tomo’s pajamas, which, like the rest of Tomo’s stuff, were relics of a bygone era. 90210, Ghostbusters (the original), Space Jam, and the boyband 5ive were plastered on the girls’ shirts. It was something of a Buzzfeed editor’s dream.

As they entered Tomo’s bedroom, it was no different than her pajamas. Retro movie posters and boyband posters decorated her walls, and, predictably by now, a tube TV sat on her dresser, atop a VCR. There was no computer or laptop in sight, but there was a dresser stacked with books and a bookshelf with even more books.

Mari yawned. “Ah, man! Where am I gonna sleep tonight? Oh, wait. Here,” she chuckled, talking to no one in particular. “Sorry. I spaced out for a moment there.”

Tomo cleared her throat, getting the girls’ attention. “I hope you all called your parents at this point,” she said, sounding way too motherly.

“I texted mine,” Kasumi said casually.

Naoko raised her hand like she was in class. “Me too.”

“Ditto!” Mari echoed.

“I-I borrowed Kasumi’s phone and called my mom,” Mimori stuttered out, face a little flustered, and it wasn’t just because of the bath.

Tomo’s face went blank for a second, her brain reminding her that it was 2015, not the mid-nineties. “Wow, am I behind the times,” she mumbled.

Suddenly, the lights went out in the bedroom.

“You know what this calls for?” A deep voice that sounded like Mari’s boomed.

“Mari, we know it’s you,” Naoko said flatly. “We know your voice by now. Ding!” She just had to.

“Darn it!” Mari snapped her fingers, the other set flicking the lights back on. “If only I didn’t sound like me sometimes.”

“If only I didn’t look like me sometimes,” Kasumi added dryly, already lying down on her sleeping bag, browsing Snapchat. “Like, really. A lot.”

Bored out of her mind with the current conversation, Mimori decided to jump up onto Tomo’s bed. “I know, guys!” she declared. “Let’s all play a sleepover game!”

“Like Truth or Dare?” Mari queried. “I like those, especially when they’re really daring!”

“Okay, let’s do it,” Tomo said, already grinning. “Oh, and Mimori, please get off my bed.”

Mimori pouted. “Fine. Will do.”

As Mimori was doing that, Tomo got out a box of flashlights that she had for some reason and let the girls pick out which one they wanted.

Promptly, Tomo turned off the lights and the club sat down on their sleeping bags.

“Okay, who will go first?” Mari said menacingly, with the flashlight illuminating her face. “Truth… or dare?”

Naoko raised her hand. “ I will.”

“Ooooh, so Naoko-chan’s giving it a shot? Okay.” Mari elbowed her friend. “Truth? Or dare…?”

“Yaaay!” Tomo clapped her hands, obviously excited.

“Dare. I dare you to pick a random book off of Tomo’s shelf, flip to a random page, and read it out loud.”

“That isn’t daring!” Kasumi practically shrieked. “There are a million things more daring than that, like eating a whole spoonful of cinnamon, or—” Kasumi looked at Tomo intensely. “Do you have any more in mind?”

“Um, not really. I’m not a fan of doing anything terribly dangerous.”

“No, duh!” Mimori added rudely.

Mari, during this whole conversation, had already grabbed a random book off her shelf and flipped to a random page.

“‘Cause there isn’t a beast in the forest. How could there be? What would the beast eat?’” Mari read aloud woodenly.

Tomo gasped, hands to her face like Kevin from the Home Alone movies. “You just read aloud a part from Lord of the Flies! Yay, I love that book!”

Mari narrowed her eyes. “I did?”

Tomo smiled warmly. “Yes!”

“Next! Next!” yelled Mimori. “Me!”

Everyone but her sighed reluctantly. They had no choice.

Mimori cleared her throat epically before speaking. “Truth. Kasumi.”

Kasumi’s ears perked up like a dog. “Moi?” They were friends, yet she was still somehow surprised by this.

“It’s truth. Who was your first crush? No, who was your first real crush?”

“HEEEEEEH?!" The noise that she made sounded like a lawnmower starting up. "Uh, huh. Um. Uh. Peter."

Mimori made a laughing noise that was obviously not her real one. “Peter? Really? Why, because he makes stupid noises on a daily basis?”

Kasumi went red. “I—it’s much more than just that. It’s because—hey, you’re the one to ask! You hypocrite!”

“Yeah, yup. That’s me.” Mimori had to agree on that one.

“M—my turn!” Kasumi meant to throw her flashlight at Mimori teasingly but accidentally flung it across the room. Mortified, she went and got it.

The girls laughed at her teasingly. By the time she got back, however, they all quieted down.

Kasumi was still red in the face but went back to business.

After that little incident, the night dragged on until each girl took two turns. Then they were all tired so they agreed to hit the haystacks.

★

It was morning, Mimori knew. Tiredly, she rubbed her eyes and then rubbed the sleep out of them. The sunlight was burning, and she felt drained of all energy.

“Girls! Wake up! Your parents are here!” called Tomo’s mom from downstairs.

Suddenly, the sound of sheets moving could be heard.

And then.

“‘WAKEUP! GRABABRUSHANDPUTONALITTLEMAKEUP!” Mari shout-sang, jolting from her sleeping bag. “HIDETHESCARSTOFADEAWAYTHESHAKEUP!”

“ … Oh God, why…?” groaned Kasumi as she got up from the ground, scratching her silky blonde hair.

As Naoko and Tomo got up, Mimori noticed that their uniforms were laid out on Tomo’s ridiculously neat dresser.

“Which one’s mine?” Mimori wondered aloud, wandering over to the dresser. “Ah! This one! Yeah, the one with the faint ketchup stain on it.” The curious girl examined the skirt, and sure enough, there it was.

Mari stalked over to where her friend was, still in a musical trance. “‘I don’t think you trust…’ Oh, Mimori! Nice stain! I’ve never noticed it before! Hee!”

Mimori, still mortified about the incident, threw her skirt on the ground in a fit of autistic angst.

"Hey, I bet you accidentally spilled something onto your lap once too!" She tried to defend herself but thought it came off rather weak. In any event, Mari continued her singing as she walked away.

I wish I could go back in time and fix that mistake, Mimori thought, close to tears. Of course, that thought was likely due to her watching too much of a certain middle-aged women show recently.

♥

Mimori suddenly felt light-headed. She felt like she was going backward on an escalator. Worst of all, she felt like she couldn't open her eyes and all she heard was the sound of gusting wind, so loud that it almost made her deaf.

Her body was warm, like it was glowing somehow.

But then.

She heard talking and was able to open her eyes.

That was when she found herself sitting on the rooftop of her school, eating lunch. Sitting across from her and Kasumi were the popular girls, all in their little clique.

I’m in a different place now. Did I actually just travel back in time? (Somehow, Mimori was on point. She must be genre-savvy or something.)

Mimori looked down at her skirt, which was ketchup-free.

“ … right, Mimo-chan?”

Startled, Mimori looked to her right, and the girl in question that was sitting next to her was none other than Kasumi.

“Eh?” Mimori didn’t know what to say. Kasumi hadn’t called her that since the eighth grade, from what she remembered.

Which meant…

Holy crap, I did go back in time! OMGOMGOMGOMG!!!! (She wanted to freak out and do a little dance, but she decided that now wouldn’t be the appropriate time to do so.)

“I don’t mean to be an idiot, but… what year is it?” After however many minutes of unexpected silence (from Kasumi’s point of view), she finally spoke.

Kasumi looked both puzzled and concerned. “2014, why? What’s wrong? Did you just get amnesia? Is that why you were quiet just a minute ago?” She gasped. “Or, have you been possessed by an alien?!”

Mimori groaned at her BFF’s naivety. “None of that, and good God I hope you’re joking.”

Kasumi, noticing her friend’s distress, now looked at her with a mix of concern and curiosity.

A sense of excitement filled her nasally voice. “Am I talking to a future Mimori, then? If so, what year are you from?”

Sighing, Mimori answered the slightly dreaded question. “Just a year from now, that’s all. No big deal.”

Just then, she heard giggling coming from the popular girls. Crap, Mimori thought. Figures they were listening in on me and Sumi-chan.

Kasumi grinned. “Cool!” Then, she caught on to the other girls’ actions and whispered in Mimori’s ear, “Ignore them. They’re idiots.”

Mimori replied to her friend’s suggestion with a forceful smile and looked down at her lunch, which was just a hot dog from yesterday’s dinner, some chips, a brownie, and a juice box. Getting sidetracked, she reminisced of the days when she first met Kasumi, two years (er, a year) before—before she completely indoctrinated her with the things she obsessed over that made her friend into the nerdy, not-as-basic girl she was in 2015.

In short, Kasumi was now a clone of Mimori—except blonder, prettier, and more of a basic bitch.

“You gonna eat that?” Kasumi gestured to the still-whole hot dog. “The ketchup’s starting to fall off the side.”

“No.” Mimori chortled. “But you can have it if you want.”

Kasumi made a wicked grin. "Don't mind if I do!" Carefully and expertly, she picked up the hot dog and took a bite into it, some of the ketchup and mustard falling onto the napkin that was on her lap.

Suddenly, one of the popular girls shouted at Mimori.

“Hey, Mimori! Do they have flying cars where you come from?”

Mimori rolled her eyes. “Uh, no!" she sassed back. "But they still have you guys!"

“Ooooh!” another girl retorted. “Shots fired!” She said this while making a hashtag symbol (um, pound sign) with her fingers.

Mimori shook her head, dissatisfied with today’s generation. “Yep, and the Illuminati are confirmed,” she mumbled while Kasumi was trying not to choke on her hot dog. Meanwhile, the sound of air horns were playing in her head while the phrase “STILL RELEVANT” danced around in Comics Sans in front of her.

Feeling compelled to leave, Mimori closed her eyes and counted to ten, thinking of Present Day 2015.

★

When she could no longer hear the sound of the annoying girls and Kasumi’s loud chewing, she opened her eyes.

There they were, Kasumi included. Just like before, the girls were getting dressed into their uniforms, and Mari was still singing “Chop Suey” with perfect pitch. (You could say she was trying to imitate Serj too well.)

“Hey, Mimori! Nice hairdo!” Mari yet again paused her singing and commented on her somewhat sarcastically.

Mimori lowered her eyes. “Thanks, Mari,” she grumbled.

So much for that, she grumbled internally. But wait a second—how did I get the power to time travel?

Suddenly, an obvious idea came to mind…

It was the frickin’ goo.

★

Today’s Saturday! Yay!

Kasumi was extremely exhilarated.

Today her relatives were coming over for dinner like they did every April. And every year her relatives would comment on how much her older brother has matured… and how little she hasn't.

I feel like I should pretend that I grew some, she planned in her head. I’ll wear my highest heels and stuff my bra!

It was a great idea. Golden, even.

Except my parents might find out, so I’ll keep the boobs part subtle.

Quickly, Kasumi ran out of her room to see if anyone was in the hallway. What she heard was her big brother Shinji talking to her mom downstairs in the kitchen.

“Is it okay if I bring my friends over?” Shinji asked, clearly begging his mother figure.

Kasumi’s mom sighed. “Fine… as long as you guys aren’t too annoying.”

“I promise we’ll just be playing some video games.”

Kasumi knew that when he said video games, he really meant CS: GO.

Meanwhile, when she went back into her room, she started screaming internally.

THE BOYS!!!

They were all seventeen, so they weren’t that old. And they were surprisingly attractive.

She dragged her red high heels out of her closet. “So… high heels, check. Now, for my chest…” Her voice trailed off. “How big should I make them?” She said this while pulling out some stuffing from her closet as well. (Don’t ask…) She knew that she was still an A-cup, so maybe a B? Would that be too noticeable? But yet again, she did want to attract the boys’ attention…

Then, a warmth manifested in Kasumi’s chest. She felt funny, as if a certain part of herself was getting heavier...

“Hmm… hm?”

My breasts! They’re growing! Legitimately!

She began to watch, amazed at how her clothes were accommodating to the changes, not ripping or anything. There was also a slight haze of sky blue light that surrounded her chest as it was growing.

But then, she snapped out of her obvious distraction.

“Ahh! Eh? Ah! Stop! STOP!” At this point, she was at a C-cup and still growing. What was she to do?

“T-too, big for this occasion, but… amazing,” she murmured, under the spell of the moment.

Suddenly, as if her chest read her mind, the growing finally stopped.

“Ooo… ooo~hoo~hoo~hooo~!” she sang, taking a meme from her friend. (When I mean meme, I mean joke.)

Some way, somehow, she had wished for bigger breasts and it had come true. And it had made her dress, a nice red satin dress with spaghetti straps, look all the better.

She patted her new chest, clearly proud.

But this is too much for the party, though. I wish I could make this look less obvious that I did something strange.

As if it heard her, her chest started to shrink, inch by inch until it was down to a modest B-cup.

“Bye-bye, big boobs,” she muttered. She looked at herself in the mirror again, and she was back to normal—almost.

Hey, not bad, she thought excitedly. While I did look good with Double Ds, small Bs look good, too! Literally anything but a freakin’ A and I’m fine, IMO.

As if right on cue, the doorbell rang and Kasumi quickly ran downstairs, ready to greet the guests, AKA Hopefully the Boys.

Kasumi opened the door, hands shaking a bit.

“Oh, hello guys! Welcome to our house!” a huge grin was plastered on her face, totally not wobbling or anything.

Sadly enough, it wasn’t Shinji’s friends that she had greeted the door, but rather her dad’s aunt and uncle.

“Oh, hello there, Kasumi! My, my! Don’t you look the same as last year! Still sporting that adorable blonde hair, I see.”

Kasumi’s smile wobbled and wavered, trying not to deflate into a displaced frown. But I have grown a little bit since last year, she wanted to say but didn't.

After letting her family members in, she shut the door behind her and turned her smile into an aggressively smug smirk.

“Heh, heh. Heh, heh, heh! H—”

She stopped before she embarrassed herself in front of everyone.

★

"And that's the story of how my weekend went," concluded Kasumi happily. "So, how about you?" She nudged Mimori, who was sitting next to her, staring at the table. There was no response.

It was Monday again. The literature club had begun their afternoon meeting, and it was a very odd one. Kasumi seemed to have padded her bra a lot, Mari wasn’t talking, and Mimori looked like she was having Heroic BSOD (or, at least Vietnam flashbacks). Tomo looked flustered and Naoko… yeah, okay. Naoko seemed exactly the same.

Finally, Mimori snapped out of it. “Hey! So, yeah. Did anyone else have any weird, out-of-this-world stories last weekend?” Mimori said this, despite not having told anyone about her own experience yet.

“I went to Greece,” Tomo replied. “I actually teleported there like in those sci-fi novels. I am not making this up.” She giggled bashfully.

“Great! And I can time travel!” Mimori decided to just blurt the truth out unceremoniously. “So, has anyone seen that new Photoplasty yet about movies? I’m lonely.”

However, while Mimori was talking, Mari’s hand shot up.

Kasumi’s eyes widened at this weird gesture of hers. “Hey, let Mari speak!” she said roughly to her website-obsessed friend.

Mimori sighed. “Fine, whatever…”

Mari made a huge deal out of clearing her throat. Then, her lime green eyes began to glow an even brighter lime green.

“I saw that article! And I also awoke yesterday sounding like this!" Her voice came out sounding like a rich, forty-something-year-old British woman. Perfectly so.

“Woah, what? Hold the phone!” Tomo was shocked. “Did Mari just—”

“IMPERSONATE SOMEONE?!” Kasumi and Naoko said this in perfect unison. Mimori just gaped, at a loss for words.

“Psych! Sorta,” Mari’s voice briefly imitated Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony, much to Mimori’s excitement. “But I’m not joking. I can imitate people now. Ain’t that cool?”

Everyone had to agree. Mari had a legit reason to act weird now.

“Um, something strange happened to me, too…” Naoko muttered, but just loud enough for everyone to hear. “I can do this.” Motioning her right hand up, Naoko perfectly levitated Tomo’s book out of her hands and into hers, in a glow of bright orange light.

“Get outta town,” Tomo breathed.

Kasumi, having her hands to her mouth in shock, quickly then put them down and looked at Tomo funny.

While Kasumi was doing that, Mimori decided to put an end to this very obvious mystery.

“C’mon, guys! Seriously? The goo did this to us! Remember when Naoko-chan announced last week about the whole superpowers thing happening? I’ve hardly seen any superhero movies to know where this is going!”