Episode 8: Fun in the Sun

“‘Summer, summer, summertime!’” Mimori sang, rocking back and forth in her computer chair. Although she was singing her favorite song that she sang at the beginning of every summer vacation, she still felt bored to death.

Why was Mimori bored to death, exactly? Because it was in fact the first day of summer vacation and she already didn’t know what to do besides what she usually does—go on the computer first thing in the morning.

The sound of her home phone ringing startled her out of her computer and music trance.

“I’ve got it!” Mimori’s mom yelled from the family room.

Hearing that as a call to get off her computer and get ready for the day, Mimori jumped out of her seat and got dressed in some fresh, new clothes for the day: A solid color t-shirt, and a pair of jean shorts—her signature look.

This is gonna be another boring summer, Mimori thought, groaning as she put on some socks. Surely nothing significant is gonna happen, even with superpowers—

Thump, thump.

Like a mind reader (or rather, Erica), Mimori’s mom opened the door to her room, right as she was brushing her hair (or at least, attempting to).

“Hey Mimori,” she said in a tone that meant something was bound to happen. “Your friend Erica wants to know if you’d want to go to the waterpark with her and your friends today. It’s indoor and outdoor, and it’s not too far from here.”

Just at the mention of a waterpark, Mimori was sold.

Her mom must have noticed, because the next thing she said was, “Mimori says yes. Okay. I’ll drop her off in about an hour. Bye!”

Mimori couldn’t help it. She was making that stupid tea kettle noise again.

“Why don’t you eat and then start to get ready? I don’t wanna be late, I’ve got stuff to do today.”

Brain going 1,000 miles an hour, Mimori ran downstairs as quickly as she could and poured herself a bowl of cereal at lightning speed.

★

She got wrapped up in it. Boy, did she ever.

The music, not the drive there.

Mimori was super hyped about the drive there because the night before she stayed up late and downloaded some new songs, so now she could listen to them while her mom was experiencing some major road rage.

“AUGH! STUPID F’IN TOM-TOM!” she shouted.

Mimori groaned heavily. Wish Mom didn’t get so angry about traffic. She’s so annoying when she does.

Luckily, she wasn’t staying at the waterpark with her, so there was that. It was just gonna be six girls chilling out!

Mimori’s mom pulled up into the parking lot for the waterpark.

“Welp, Mimori-chan. Looks like we’ve arrived.”

The girl couldn’t help it. She squealed with glee!

Her mom smiled a nice smile her way as both of them got out of the car.

From the outside the place was huge, and she could see the outdoor waterpark right behind it, as well as the big blue slide jutting out the right side of the building.

“Here we are,” her mom announced. “Waterworld.”

Mimori, although still in awe, sneered a little. “‘Waterworld’? Like that crappy ‘90s movie?”

Mimori’s mom chuckled. “Yeah you know what, you’re right.”

Once they headed inside, they were greeted by the reception desk, a gift shop, and a bunch of noisy girls. Noisy girls who were, of course, her friend (except Naoko, who was just staring intensely at Mimori).

“Mimooooori!” Mari bellowed like Mimori always did—both had little to no regard for other people around them. “What up, dawg!”

Tomo waved spastically. “Mimori-chan, guess what? Great news! I got 50 whole subscribers now!”

“Cool, cool. Good news,” Mimori said, clearly distracted by something. “OH MY GOD, THEY HAVE THE DERPY PLUSHIE!”

Mimori’s mom noticed her daughter’s clear disinterest in her friends while she was paying for the day pass.

“Mimori,” she said sternly. “You’re supposed to be hanging out with your friends, not looking at stuff you already have.”

“But Mom!” she whined. “They have the Sunset Shimmer plushie too! They even have the elusive Sunset!”

The mom sighed as she walked over to her daughter, shaking her head. “Maybe if you behave here you can come back home and one will be waiting for you,” she whispered fiercely. Her friends, who were still waiting for her, bags, and all showed some concern for their friend… except for Kasumi.

Mimori pouted, letting the receptionist tie the day pass bracelet around her wrist, and went to her friends, face mysteriously pink.

“Moooou,” she whined. “Why did you have to embarrass me like that?”

Her mom shrugged. “Because you need that guidance. It’s the only way I can get you to behave. See you later! I’ll be back here around 4, but I’ll let you know!”

Waving goodbye to her mom, Mimori and her friends headed right on over to the locker room, ready to swim the day away.

I love her. Mimori mouthed those words to herself.

And it was true. She was just really intense, that’s all.

★

“Ah, the waterpark. Smells like chlorine and the sweat of many people.”

That was what Kasumi said when she walked into the changing room that no one else was in for some reason.

“Ew!” Erica was clearly disgusted by those words.

“More like ‘It smells like chlorine, sweat, and tastes like the tears of the toddlers that don’t want to leave.’” Naoko replied sternly.

“Shots fired!” Mari shrieked.

“There were no shots fired,” Tomo said, visibly confused.

Mimori gasped. “That was dark…”

While the girls were getting into their bathing suits, Mimori spotted Kasumi staring tentatively at her chest in the corner of the changing room. Also hearing her mumbling things, Mimori had to go up and bug her.

“Hey, Kasumi-chan!” she said cheerfully as she was applying some sunscreen lotion on her arms.

“Bwah!” Startled, Kasumi looked up and noticed her friend. “What are you over here for!? I was deciding on, um…”

“I think you should shoot for a B,” Mimori was trying to be helpful.

Kasumi looked at Mimori up and down, and proceeded to grimace.

“What?”

“Nice choice! Thank you!” Kasumi grinned as decently as she could, and gave her friend a thumbs-up.

Her friends suddenly looked at her, probably because she spoke Engrish.

“Wow, Kasumi-chan. Stunning tsundere.” Naoko said that in Engrish as well. “Ding.”

Mari stifled a laugh.

★

Once Mimori and her friends got into the indoor waterpark, they were absolutely amazed by how large the place was. A ton of people were there, enjoying the waterslides, lazy river, main pool, and the jacuzzi.

The huge crowd was what the girls expected, as it was the first day of summer, yet it still managed to surprise them. As for the Can Do Anything Club, they were finally geared up and ready to hit the water.

“What should we do first?” Tomo piped up. “I’m practically overwhelmed right now, there’s so much to do!” She looked like she was wearing a swimsuit from her mom or something. It was a yellow one-piece that had one shoulder strap and it totally screamed early ‘90s.

“I think we should all go off on our own and do our own thing!” Mimori suggested in an upbeat tone as she constantly kept looking back and forth at the jacuzzi that was nearby. Her swimsuit was a frilly two-piece that was in light turquoise.

“Then what was the point in even going together?” sputtered Kasumi. “To be honest, I’m in the mood to go off and look for some hot guys.” Meanwhile, the blonde-haired girl had on a lime green two-piece and had her hair tied up in a high ponytail.

“How cute. Someone’s a hypocrite,” Naoko teased. Her bathing suit was a frilly peach-colored two-piece with a fancy design on it.

Erica clapped her hands together. “I think we should all split off into three groups of two, explore the inside and outside attractions for about an hour, and then meet up at the food stall and get a bite to eat. How's that for a plan?” She nodded smartly. Her swimsuit was a simple red one-piece.

“I approve!” Mari gave a thumbs-up. Her bathing suit was a black one-piece with slits on the sides.

“Very specific, but it’ll do,” Mimori remarked. “Anywho, I’m going with Kasumi!”

Naoko inched closer to Mari, so that meant that Erica and Tomo were going to be partners together.

And so, the pairings were set and the exploring began.

★

“So all we’re doing is spying on boys!?” Mimori cried, the tone of her voice meshed between excitement and disappointment. “How predictable, even though I’m pretty excited now! Hopefully, we can find some hot guys, um… with glasses.”

“You and your glasses, Mimori.” Kasumi sighed. “And sorry for being so predictable. I just think boy-watching is fun.”

That’s when the blonde-haired girl gasped, and her friend almost ran into her full steam ahead.

“Did you see him?” she asked in a suddenly hushed tone of voice.

“Who?” Mimori silently dipped into the shallow end of the main pool, not hesitating for a second about its (probably lukewarm) temperature.

Kasumi got in with her, albeit hiding a bit behind the corner of the wall. Parents and kids were playing a game of water basketball, paying the two girls with likely overactive imaginations no attention.

“He was really hot,” she confided. “Dark hair, our age, glasses.”

Mimori’s eyes widened behind the goggles that she had just slipped on over her head. “Ooooh. He’s definitely a keeper, uh—I mean—I wanna see him first.”

Chortling, Kasumi gathered up her confidence and got out of the pool, carefully following the boy. Mimori followed after.

After about a minute or so of stalking the boy, the two girls had to stop behind a fake palm tree that held up the net to the obstacle course.

“And there he is,” Kasumi whispered loudly, peering out from behind the tree. “He’s sitting on a bench, eating what looks to be a slice of pizza.”

Peering out with her, Mimori noted that what he was eating was indeed a slice of pepperoni pizza, with a large soft drink cup sitting next to him on the ground.

“So what is gonna be our plan of action from here on out?” pondered Mimori, diving back behind the tree to get in a kneeling stance.

“I dunno,” Kasumi replied, face flushed a bit.

Mimori, who was half paying attention to Kasumi, thought she said “hoh sis” for whatever reason.

“I bet he gets the joj,” she joked loudly.

Kasumi rolled her eyes and flung herself bravely out from behind the tree, making a beeline for the poor, unsuspecting (lol) boy.

“Good luck!” Mimori shout-whispered. “Make sure you lift the house!”

Thankfully the boy had his eyes on his phone while he was eating, so Kasumi sauntered up to him with ease.

“Hey,” she said casually, flicking her wet ponytail behind her.

The boy finally looked up. “Hey,” he replied. His eyes darted back to his phone screen for a split second.

“How are you?” She got down to his eye level.

“Good,” he said.

Noticing her failure, Kasumi’s face turned red, so she jolted back up to her standing position. “Ah, uh… have a nice day!” The girl bowed violently.

As the girl fast-walked away (no running in the waterpark) she could hear the boy say “You too” in a slightly flat timbre.

“Well that was embarrassing,” she panted, diving back behind the fake tree. “And I thought I didn’t like boys with glasses. What’s up with me?”

Getting up from their now cursed hiding place, the two girls made their way to the lazy river, which was where Mimori wanted to go next. Kasumi obliged, not wanting to be anywhere near that poor boy again.

★

Naoko could feel the bubbles tickling her as they hit up against her back. It was, surprisingly enough, the most pleasant feeling all week.

She closed her eyes. Now this is the life. Subtract two sin points.

“I’m so glad that it’s just us relaxing in the hot tub,” Mari said, releasing a heavy sigh as she relaxed her arms around the top of the tub.

“Yeah…” Naoko said softly. Then, after a few moments of silence between them, she reminded herself of something. “Shoot!”

Mari looked across the jacuzzi to her friend, eyes widened. “What? What’s wrong?!”

“I forgot to bring up something before we split up.”

“Okay… what was it?”

Naoko lowered her already quiet voice to a whisper. “I forgot to tell the girls not to use their powers in this place…” She shook her fist at the ceiling. “Tomo I’m not worried about, but you guys are the ones that really concern me.”

Mari facepalmed. “Geez, thanks for including me in that bunch. I see what you’re getting at, though, but I wouldn’t worry about it. I think they’ll be too focused on having fun to do anything with their powers. Plus, I think they’re smart enough to know that using magic in a public place is the stupidest idea known to man.”

Damn, Mari’s being surprisingly sage for once.

Naoko shook her head, curling up into a ball on her seat. “I mean, I know that we’ve used our powers in public places before, but at least in those places, we could hide. We can’t hide here, not even in the bathrooms. It’s too crowded.”

“Hey, Naoki-chan. Look at me.” Mari scooted over to her friend and tilted her chin up. “Like I said, you’re worrying for nothing. It’s so unlike you. Just relax, have fun, and get the powers stuff out of your mind right now.”

“And if I don’t?” Naoko raised an eyebrow.

“Then I’ll embarrass you in front of everyone by getting on top of that play structure over there and screaming the entirety of ‘Before I Forget’ in Corey Taylor’s voice.” She smiled a devilish smile.

Naoko’s face flushed as Mari roughly let go of her chin and did devil horns with her tongue sticking out.

“You wouldn’t.”

“Oh, I would. I know all the lyrics by heart!”

Naoko giggled a bit, her stoic facade breaking for a mere second. “Alright then. I’ll focus on having fun.”

“Atta girl!”

★

Tomo didn’t mind that she was paired up with Erica. She was like the second leader of the group, not to mention that she introduced the girls to the spell book, which had now become an integral item in the club.

The only gripe that Tomo had with Erica was that she couldn’t make up her mind on what they should do, so for the next hour, the girls covered every single attraction in the place probably more than once.

Their current location? The outdoor pool, chilling out by the kids’ section with the volleyball net.

“This has been pretty fun,” Tomo said in a gleeful voice. “If it wasn’t for you coming in and giving us these powers, I would’ve never been able to explore all these cool new things—by myself or with you guys.” She grinned. “And to be honest? I enjoy hanging out with you guys just a bit more.”

Erica chuckled. “‘Just a bit more,’ huh? What does that make us? Chopped liver? Sliced ice cream?”

“No,” Tomo kicked her feet, droplets of water splashing onto her and her friend. “I’ve just always been a lone wolf because of, you know, my upbringing. So thank you”

“Awww…” Erica crossed her arms over her chest as she slid into the pool. “That’s so sweet of you! You really are the best club president ever! Yes, even beating out the science club’s!”

“‘Science~!’” Tomo sang, clapping her hands together and cocking her head to the side. She giggled. “So what was that club like, exactly? You never really told us much about it.”

“Hmm. Well…” Erica thought for a moment as she looked up at the clock on the wall behind them. “I don’t really have much time to tell you because we’re supposed to meet up in like, five minutes, but let’s just say that although the subject of science and, you know, was pretty interesting, the boys in the club were a bit annoying.”

“They acted like regular boys, right? Talking about gross stuff, video games, and rap music?”

“Yeah, basically. Not to stereotype or anything—and not to say that we’re better by any means.” Erica said this as she climbed out of the pool to retrieve her towel that was laying on a sunchair. “Alright, let’s get some F-O-O-D!”

Tomo got out as well. “Okay, I guess you can tell me more about it some other time?”

“Yup. We’ll save some more… savory details for another day.” Erica watched as her friend put her glasses back on and grabbed her towel. A smile formed on her lips.

★

“And so the Can Do Anything Club has been reunited!” Erica announced as she spread her arms out into the air epically. Well, as epically as she could in a crowd of people that were passing by. Luckily, no one really stopped and stared at them.

“We shall get some food to eat!”

“Yay…” Mimori droned. “I’m—okay, I’m pretty frickin’ hungry, to be quite honest.”

“Same…” mumbled Naoko.

The girls paid for their food and sat down on a bench and ate it like they had never eaten food before. After they were done with that, the girls headed back out to the outdoor waterpark.

Mimori grimaced. “It’s loud,” she complained.

“It smells like sweat, humidity, and chlorine,” added Kasumi. “Not to mention sounding like millions of crying toddlers.”

“Should we divide and conquer again?” Erica queried. She then paused. “Hmm… nah. Let’s not.”

The atmosphere of the outdoors now dissuaded the girls so they decided to go back inside.

“Let’s go hang out in the hot tub,” Naoko suggested. “It’s empty again.”

“Nah, I’m pretty sick of it by now,” said Mimori, pointing out the obvious. “I already went there like, four times.”

Mari shrugged. “I getcha. But hey, you know what would be cool? If Tomo could teleport us to the hot springs.”

“Sounds nice,” Tomo exclaimed. “I say we should do it!” After she said that, however, Tomo turned to her friends as they sat back down on their bench. “Where should we go? There’s a ton of hot springs here in Japan.”

Erica pondered. “Hmm… I remember looking into a lot of this stuff last year when I first came to Japan. How about that one in Arashiyama, Kyoto?”

“U—um, guys…?” Erica noticed her friend Naoko was trembling, fists clenched on her thighs. “Where on earth are we gonna, um… you know… to?”

The girls thought about it for a moment. Tomo was the first one to speak up.

“Now now,” she said in a comforting tone, patting Naoko on the head. “We’re going to be fine. I know just where we can go.” The girl looked over to the empty head tub.

“Y-you're kidding me, right?” Kasumi snarked.

Tomo gave her friend a sharp, motherly look. “It’s all or nothing,” she said. “Mimori can freeze time, remember? It’s just when we get back is what we gotta worry about. We’re just gonna have to get out of the tub and pretend like nothing ever happened.”

Mari pumped her fist in the air. “All right, let’s do it! I’m in!”

“Okay.” Naoko nodded. “Yeah, stupid me. Thank God for Mimori’s OP powers.”

And with that, Mimori froze time and all the girls held hands in the hot tub until they disappeared in a swirl of purple light.

★

In less than a minute, everyone was standing in the female hot springs area, which was luckily empty except for them.

“Woo hoo!” yelled Mari. “Now this is what I call a hot tub!”

With that declaration, the girls headed to the dressing room and took their clothes off, making sure to grab fresh, clean towels.

Now that they were all hot springs ready, the club was ready to relax in a heated pool and talk about whatever they wanted, without worrying about loud noises and people accidentally listening in on them (even though the waterpark was pretty loud, the girls basically had to either shout or talk in one another’s ear to actually hear anything).

For a few minutes, the girls were silent, no doubt taking everything in, one at a time.

It sure was relaxing. And serene. It was everything pleasant wrapped into one package.

Erica was the first to speak.

“Wow, this was quite the day.”

Mimori cackled heartily. “Quite the day, huh? I bet that’s the story of every one of our lives here.”

“Amen, sister!” responded Mari in an overly sassy voice. “Preach it!”

“Ughh… why’d you have to say that…?” The brown-haired girl cringed and facepalmed, making sure to not let the water touch her eyes.

“So, anyway,” Kasumi said, changing her friend dragged it all the way down, “How have all of you been lately since summer vacation?”

“It’s been pretty relaxing, thank you for asking!” Tomo smiled a pretty bright smile. “I’ve been getting into Metallica lately, per Mari’s request. It’s about time I listened to them since my dad actually owned their whole discography!”

Mari grinned. “You’re welcome. And you meant to say ‘Their whole discography up until Reload.”

“Ah, sorry!” Tomo waved her hands in front of her frantically.

Naoko, of course, raised her hand. “Not to freak you guys out or anything, but Nathan and I just started dating.”

As if on cue, all of the girls made loud reactions, which Naoko asked them to tone down in case anyone heard.

“Yup,” she continued, a small smile on her face. “He asked me out to dinner at some fancy restaurant that I forgot the name of. We were talking and enjoying our meal when he said he was interested in me. I… said the same.”

“Ooooh!” Kasumi squealed, jumping up and down like Mimori did. “I’m sooo happy for you guys! That’s soooo cute!”

Mimori’s jaw dropped. “Man, I wish Hank would ask me out too, despite the age difference! Age… difference...” Her words faded out like a song. It was clear that she was experiencing heroic BSOD again.

Erica, who was staring at Mimori curiously the entire time, wanted to bring the whole Naoko thing back to relevance before she landed back in reality. “So… you’re perfectly fine dating a guy that's two years older than you?”

Naoko smiled timidly. “Yup. I don’t mind. Boys mature slower than girls after all, anyway. And plus, whenever he comes to the clubroom, we can always have him drink… well, you know.”

The group of friends giggled. They all knew how Nathan felt about that “age potion’ thing.

“So, anyway, gossip time!” Erica said, clapping her hands together. “One of my friends back in America—I’m not gonna say her name—has a boyfriend that’s older than her too, but by three years… but he’s a total creep.” she shuddered.

“How did she meet him?” Kasumi asked, suddenly very interested in her friend’s story.

“By Facebook. They’ve been dating for like, almost a year now.”

Tomo scrunched up her nose in distaste. “Ew! See guys, that’s one of the reasons why I dislike current society with its social networking sites. Who knows what’ll happen when you start ‘dating’ someone online?”

“Crazy stuff.” Erica raised an eyebrow. “I watched a video that he posted on her wall, and it was hilarious and freaky at the same time. He was ranting about I don’t even know what while he was crying and his voice was cracking everywhere. He’s so ugly and whiny! What does she even see in him?”

“Oh, God!” Kasumi giggled manically. “You gotta show me it!”

“‘Kay, I will later on when we get back.” She cleared her throat. “Sorry guys. Went off on a little tangent there.”

Mimori, who had been listening intently, spoke up. “It’s okay! I go off on tangents all the time. You know who else does that?”

Before she started talking about one of the YouTubers, Kasumi quickly silenced her.

“Wow, have a lot of things happened to us these past few months! Let’s talk about that instead!” She blurted out.

Tomo’s eyes widened. “Oh, yeah! That’s a brilliant idea! I’m surprised that none of us said, ‘You know what? We could save the world with these’.”

Mari laughed. “That’s because only a few of our powers are actually useful.”

Everyone cracked up, including Naoko.

Mimori was the first to recover. “Well, we should probably get back to the real world now, right guys?”

The girls nodded and got out of the springs.

★

When they got back, the girls showed up right where they left off, which was in the jacuzzi. The sounds of families and the smell of sweat and chlorine quickly filled their eyes and ears again.

Tomo sighed. “Now what?”

“Well, we would probably call our parents,” Erica mused. “If anything, I bet they all have their phones near them right now, waiting for us.”

“Yeah, my parents are pretty anal when it comes to phone calls,” Kasumi confessed, smirking. “Alright, I’m gonna go to the locker room and get changed and all that. Are you guys coming with me?”

★

Once Mimori’s mom pulled up in the parking lot, she slid into the van like she was playing baseball, and was greeted with her mom’s smiling face.

“It was soooo fun! Thanks so much for letting me go, Mom!”

“No problem.” Her mom glanced at her while she was pulling out of the crowded parking lot.

“So, what did you do while I was gone?”

“Hmmm, let’s see…” She tapped her fingers on her steering wheel thoughtfully. “I washed the dishes, did the laundry, vacuumed the family room, and just sat down to watch Generic Hospital before I had to pick you up.”

Mimori nodded, understanding her mom’s always-busy schedule. “That’s a lot of stuff,” she said, amazed. “Sorry that you didn’t have enough time to watch your show.”

Mimori’s mom sighed. “You don’t have to say sorry, Mimori-chan. It just takes a long time to do everything.”

Feeling bad, Mimori tried to cheer her up. “I’ll help you with some stuff.”

“I highly doubt it,” her mom replied, making a show of rolling her eyes.

As the mother and daughter drove home, Mimori was actually not sure whether her mom got her the stuffed animal or not. As always, she was busy and had a lot on her brain. Plus, what did she do to deserve it?

Please let her get it for me. Please, God!

Right as she had finished listening to the fifth song on one of her playlists, her mom’s car pulled into the garage.

That’s when her heart started beating fast, nervous to see what was waiting for her indoors.

Creeeak.

Sure enough, right when Mimori glanced into the family room, there was the Sunset Shimmer plushie, sitting on their ancient loveseat.

What happened after that was a blur: Mimori ran and grabbed it like it was going to disappear, hugged her mom tightly, and started thanking her a bajillion times, all in succession.

“Thank you so much!” Mimori shrieked at the end of what could only be described as an autistic freakout.

“Uh… you’re welcome,” said Mimori’s mom, wincing slightly. “I love you, Mimori-chan. I want you to be happy.”

“Really?” Mimori said, looking her mom in the face, grinning (they’re about the same height).

“Mm-hm. Like I said, I love you.”