Episode 12: This Could Go On Forever, Part 1

“Ridin” by Chamillionaire was playing in Naoko’s earbuds. She was listening to a lot of one-hit wonder songs lately, and this one in particular just stuck with her for some reason. Perhaps it was the instrumentation, the oddly serious lyrics, or perhaps it was the rapping style of the rappers themselves.

In any event, she couldn’t stop listening to it.

After the song was over (having listened to it three times in a row now), Naoko ripped the earbuds out of her ears and sighed, placing her head on the table in the club room.

It was early October, dangerously close to the monumental event that was the cultural festival, and the Can Do Anything Club (middle school department) still had no idea what to do for it.

The senior, however, did have an inkling of an idea, and it had to do with a song that was festering in the back of her brain for the past hours—and no, it was not “Ridin.’”

At that moment in time, Naoko was preparing to tell her friends about the (supposedly) amazing idea, but she was trying to figure out just how to tell them about it, as it was a rather unconventional performance.

“Uh, Naoko-chan? Are you alright? Do you have a headache or something?”

Naoko jumped a little in her seat, lifting her head in the process. “Ah, sorry. Was I worrying you? And no, I don’t. Not yet at least.”

Ean rolled her eyes. “Okay, sick.” She then went back to looking at her phone and tapping her fingers. Naoko could only assume that she was playing that stupid Clash Royale game, as she heard the girl bring it up plenty of times during their regular meetings.

That was when, out of nowhere, the confidence arose in her and she spoke out her proposition.

“Um, everyone,” she said to her friends, sounding uncharacteristically nervous. “I have an idea as to what we can do for the festival.”

“Alright,” Miharu said, sounding mildly interested. “Hopefully it’s different from the other ideas Ean and Suika gave us.”

Naoko groaned. “No, it’s not like their ideas.” The girl thought back to what their troublesome friends said—Ean’s idea was a sketch about vaping (“Vape Nash” or something like that) and Suika’s idea was an a cappella composition of the Charmed opening (which Naoko knew obviously but didn’t have any talent in composing music, and neither did the other girls).

Jopi clapped her hands together. “Yay, Naoko-chan to the rescue! Maybe this idea will actually be good!”

“Thanks, Jopi-chan.” Naoko nodded and continued. “Anyway, my plan is to do choreography and dance to a song that’s been stuck in my head for a while now. Ean and Miharu, you were told about last year’s performance that our senpai did, right? The ‘Backstreet’s Back’”

Ean chortled. “No. What happened?”

“Yeah, what happened?” Miharu echoed, genuinely sounding curious now.

Naoko blushed, remembering what went down. She still felt bad for everyone in the audience (and not so much for Kasumi.) “Long story. Let’s just say one of the girls humiliated themselves.”

Ean gasped. “Oooooh, now I remember! Yeah, that was pretty cringe.”

Suika raised her hand. “So what song did you have in mind?” she asked, head tilted to the side slightly.

“Hm, right.” Naoko went to type the title of it on her phone.

Oh, God, what are they gonna think of it?

Once she brought it up, Naoko used the kickstand on her phone’s case and tilted the screen horizontally and to the opposite side of the table so all of the girls could see it (Suika’s laptop be damned, I guess.)

The girls huddled over and waited for Naoko to press play.

Well, here goes nothing.

The music video began.

“‘Epic?’” mused Jopi. “It certainly sounds like it is, for the 80s or whatever.” The girl giggled.

Naoko sighed and continued to watch the video along with her friends.

“Oh my God, that rapping!” Ean laughed and looked at Naoko with a smug look on her face. “I’m surprised you like this, dude!”

Once the video was done, Naoko asked the girls what they thought of the song and if they would be able to dance to it.

“It was surprisingly fuckin’ good,” Ean replied. “The cheesy rapping was kinda lit in the weirdest way.”

“It certainly was epic,” said Jopi, looking gleeful. “I could imagine Tomo or Mimori liking it! In fact I bet they already do!”

“That’s exactly why I thought it would be cool to include them and the other senpai,” Naoko said matter-of-factly. “We can get the original CDAC members back for our final hurrah.”

“That would be nice,” Suika said in a cool tone. “Although I would like to include You-Know-Who. He could play the guitar in our performance or something. It would be neat.”

Naoko raised an eyebrow, still somehow containing her stoic demeanor. “You know you can do your own act, right?”

“Ah. Yeah, you’re right. You can be in up to three acts.”

Oh, Suika.

Naoko took a deep breath and let it out. “So, it’s all settled then? We all agree on it?”

The girls all replied at once.

“Totally!” That was Jopi, eyes closed and looking happy.

“Yeah!” Miharu’s eyes looked sparkly.

“Mm-hmm.” Suika’s face showed a trace of excitement in it.

“Fuck yeah!” That was obviously Ean.

“Then it’s settled then.” Naoko nodded curtly. “Let me finally fill out that frickin’ paper.”

★

After school, Naoko was sitting on the couch in the family room, watching the group chat for responses from her senpai regarding the cultural festival performance. (As for the sheet she filled out—she submitted it and, in the section where it said “Additional people?” she wrote down “Likely yes.” This also meant she was going to have to tell Mrs. Kakushi, one of the ninth-grade English teachers who were in charge of the whole show, when they did say yes.)

So far she got a yes from Mari (of course), Mimori, and Tomo.

Only four more to go. Ding!

A new message appeared on her screen. It was from Asuka.

Honestly, I’m not sure what we're doing for the festival over here, she said.

Naoko frowned and responded. Well, you better decide soon. Pretty sure yours is a week after ours so you don’t have much time left to submit it.

I know. It’s just that a certain few people are picky. Erica should make them choose. Hopefully tomorrow.

Another message popped up on the screen, this one being from Erica.

I really wish we could color code these message bubbles, Naoko thought. That would make them a whole lot easier to decipher.

I swear I’m telepathic on phones too because I thought u were talking about me!! And u were RIGHT! MWAHAHAHA!!! 😂😂😂😂

A few seconds later…

Also I say YES to this collab! I’m super excited now!!

Ah, good. She said yes… In her usual cringey way, but a yes nonetheless.

Yes. In real life, Erica seemed chill (except when she got all leader-like) but on the phone, she was a force to be had with. The only other one she could possibly compete with was Mari, who made a habit to send a gif or sticker any time she sent something.

After that, Kasumi popped up in the chat.

I know the song! It’s kinda cringe but I’ll do it. Promise I won’t embarrass myself this time too!

Well, that’s certainly a promise.

Naoko sent a thumbs-up emoji and waited a little longer for the last girl, Behami, to respond.

Three dots appeared at the bottom of the screen with Behami’s name on top of them.

Ah, here she is. Good.

I’ll do it! Someone will just have to teach me how to dance!

It’s not that hard, Kasumi responded cynically (yes, even over text messages her cynicalness was prevalent). We probably just have to jump up and down and headbang and stuff.

Naoko chortled. I don’t know how the dance is gonna go yet but it will certainly have more to it than that.

I’ll make the dance steps, Asuka volunteered.

Ah, nice.

Good, Naoko said, finally actually saying something for the first time in a half hour. Now we just need to worry about the outfits… which I don’t think will be that hard to worry about.

She was going to add a “ding!” but resisted the urge.

Closing out of the app, Naoko sent her phone down and got off the couch, stretching.

“Guess we’re gonna have to do some time traveling tomorrow,” she murmured aloud. “But for now I better at least write down what we might wear.”

Naoko wasn’t a fashion designer in any sense of the word so she looked back to the music video for reference.

After about fifteen minutes of pure, cold hard research, she decided upon an admittedly simple getup: Very early nineties stuff, so baggy sweaters, high-rise jeans, the whole nine years.

Naoko, curious about how her friends were doing, looked back at the chat to see what was going on. When she did, her eyes almost bugged out.

Naoko-chan! Mimori said. You’re going to be the center since you came up with this idea!

Oh. Oh no, that makes sense.

Yes, it sure did. She was the one who came up with the idea for this performance, after all. It was only natural.

As a last minute addition, Naoko scribbled on the piece of ripped line paper: Me- tie-dye sweater while other girls wear their signature colors (solid).

The signature colors, of course, referred to the goo and the auras that appeared whenever (most of them) used their powers.

★

“Ugh, you want us to wear period-appropriate clothing?!” Ean said, cringing while pretending to gag.

It was now Friday, officially two weeks before the cultural festival.

“Yes,” Naoko said, rolling her eyes. Kouhai. Ding!

“Like, high-rise jeans? Fuckin’ yuck.” Ean sighed and waved a hand in front of her face, which generated tiny flames. She then took a deep breath and looked back up at Naoko. “Okay. Fine. If it’s just for one night, I’ll do it. But I’m giving the clothes back to you when I’m done.”

Miharu nodded along. “I actually wouldn’t mind keeping the clothes, although I’m not one for bright colors. But this is for the show, after all!” A determined look formed on her face.

“What am I going to do with you two?” Naoko said, signing. I feel like I’m talking to some five-year-olds who don’t wanna eat their peas. And when I mean five-year-old I actually just mean Ean. Ding!

The girls were, luckily, not against wearing their character colors (aka goo colors). As for Naoko, Suika, and Jopi, who recently got new powers—which meant new colors as well—she decided to stick to their original character colors for the sake of simplicity.

“Now,” Naoko continued as she herself regained her composure (although it was hard to tell from her mostly stoic facial expressions). “I told Mimori that she should take us back to—”

“THE 90S AHHHH!!!” a voice from a pink glowing mist, which then formed the girl in question.

Speak of the devil. Ding!

Mimori was indeed in the house.

“It’s back to 1990,” Naoko clarified. Cue Mimori wilting in place, looking more than disappointed.

After explaining to her what place she wanted to teleport into, in particular, the girls were off to go shopping.

❤

When the girls ended up in January 1990 (when the music video came out, although it was likely filmed in the winter of 1989 instead), Mimori blabbed on to the girls as to why the other senpai didn’t come.

“They thought it would just make sense if I came with you guys. I did get their sizes, though!”

“Real or fake for Kasumi?” Suika asked, eyebrows raised.

“Get your mind out of the gutter,” Naoko said snidely. “She’s talking about shirt size, not bust size.”

“Ah. Okay.”

It had then occurred to Naoko that Mimori did in fact teleport them into the changing room on the teen girls’ side (where luckily no one was, as always), she directed the girls to go and start to look for sweaters and/or high-rise jeans.

Looking for them as well, Naoko noticed a familiar-sounding artist playing from the small, tinny speakers inside the Macy’s: Phil Collins (*cue famous drum pattern*)

Why do I always pay attention to music? Am I becoming more and more like Mimori now? Ugh, I hope not…

“Hey guys, I found them!”

That was Ean shouting, and Naoko was rather surprised that no curse words were added to that sentence. Wonder what she found, exactly?

The girls gathered around Ean quickly like a swarm of bees, and that’s when Naoko noticed that the girl was referring to the sweaters she found.

Every color and shade imaginable was there. It was like the store knew that they were coming, kind of like the year before, when the original CDAC found the different colored, goo matching dresses at a different, Present Time store.

Naoko didn’t even need to tell the girls to find their respective colors. However, she did mention to the girls that they should choose one size larger to get the full Baggy Sweater Effect.

It was a miracle that the girls each found their color, especially in the early nineties when everything was still neon… as it was actually not the nineties yet. (The actual nineties began when “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was released. Fun fact.)

“It’s a bummer that I have to wear magenta,” Suika complained, eyes trailing the very toe of her shoes.

“Too bad.” Naoko sighed and shook her head. “We’re going with original colors here. Also,” she tried to inject some positivity into her speech for once. “I think magenta would suit you better.”

Suika looked up at her friend and thrust out her chin, whatever that meant to signify.

“Well,” Naoko said, clapping her hands together. As she did that, she noticed that Jopi brought over a shopping cart and was helping Mimori pick out six sweaters for the remaining girls who were back at school. “It’s now time to find the jeans!”

“I already did,” supported Miharu. “Ean just called us back at the wrong time. Would you like me to show them to you?”

Naoko nodded and followed her friend.

“Who cares? She said it again after just a few minutes, did you not hear?”

After that incident, the girls came out of the dressing rooms and saw each other in their respective goo-colored sweaters. (Except for Naoko.)

Once the girls arrived at the jeans section, Naoko’s jaw almost dropped.

“No shit. This is what we need,” she whispered. Then, at a regular volume, she said, “Now we just need the scrap paper from—”

“Already made a copy myself,” said Miharu, chortling. “We will need the other girls back here, though. Oh, wait—here they come.”

Naoko looked behind her and saw her three kouhai approaching.

“Wow! So rad, dude!” Jopi said, impersonating Tomo somehow perfectly.

“Totally tubular,” Suika echoed in her flat voice.

“What the fuck are you guys on about?” Ean frowned.

Jopi groaned. “Uuuu… you totally ruined it!”

Naoko cleared her throat. “Anyway, guys. Go get your jeans. Ding!”

The girls did as told and after that, they were truly ready to check out at the register—courtesy of Miharu’s Real, Actual 1990 Money, of course.

Sometimes I hate being underhanded like this, Naoko admitted in her mind.

★

It was now a week until the cultural festival, and the dance (as simple as it was) was already completed. Now the girls just had to rehearse it.

“‘It’s a beautiful life, oh-ooooh-oh! It’s a beautiful liiiife…’”

That was Tomo singing. All of the Can Do Anything Club members decided that it would be best to meet in the high school club room because it was slightly bigger, therefore it could fit all twelve girls in it.

“Oh, I love that song!” Mimori shrieked, expectedly. “I’m glad I got it stuck in your head, Tomo-chan!”

“Mm-hm,” Tomo nodded and grinned with her eyes closed, as usual. “You sure have been humming it a lot lately though!”

Naoko rubbed her knuckles on her forehead, trying to get rid of the growing migraine in her head. “Arrrgh. Where is Nick? He should be here by now!”

Yes. One of the few instances of Naoko getting upset was at late attendance. Sometimes she truly did feel like a school teacher.

“He texted me a few minutes ago saying he just got done with an E Chem quiz,” Miharu said, speaking up from the corner of the club room. “He’ll be coming with his girlfriend soon.”

Suika’s ears pricked up, as did Mimori’s. “This is the first time I’ve ever heard of this. And who’s this girl, perchance?”

Miharu looked up and sighed. She knows what Suika and Miharu are getting at. Ding! “Her name is Kuroe Busujima. They met in E Chem, actually.”

“Ohmigod!” Mimori gasped in an overdramatic fashion. “AHHH I’M SO JEALOUS!!!”

Unfortunately, that was when the door opened. There stood Nick and his girlfriend, a petite young woman who had the same colored bow as Naoko’s senpai, a light blue. She wore her light brown hair somewhat short, and her dark blue eyes were sparkling.

“This is the club room you were talking about, Nick-chan? How nice!” Kuroe then looked at the CDAC members, a huge gin on her face. “You must be The Can Do Anything Club, then!” She giggled. “Wow, that was a mouthful to say!”

Nick nodded tersely. “Sorry we’re late. It was a partner quiz and Kuroe wanted to go over the limited reactant problems one more time.” He then took a deep breath, probably reconfiguring his consciousness. “I know you guys haven’t really met before, but this is my girlfriend, Kuroe. She’s super sweet so I think you guys will really like her.”

Naoko nodded as well, but her head movement was in a very business-like manner. “Let me introduce the girls really quick.” Naoko could feel her impatience meter rising. “Or, I’ll at least tell you our names.” She placed her hand on her chest. “As you probably already know, my name is—”

“—Did somebody ring The Dinkster?” Mimori interrupted her.

“—Naoko. Sorry about that. The annoying girl that just said that over there is Mimori. Right next to her is Kasumi, then Tomo, Mari, Behami, Erica, Asuka, Suika, Jopi-chan, Miharu, and Ean. Any questions?”

Damn did I say their names super fast. Subtract one sin point for that.

Kuroe clapped her hands together. “That was awesome! You have a serious tongue for that! You’re like Eminem!”

Pfft. Naoko continued. “Anyway. I’m sure Nick already told you but if he didn’t: Our middle school cultural festival is coming up, and we’re going to do a choreographed dance to ‘Epic’ by Faith No More. I asked Nick to be in charge of the lighting because it’s going to be pretty specific.”

“I don’t know what you mean by that but I guess I’m going to find out,” Nick said, chuckling.

Naoko smirked a small smirk. “Kuroe. Since you’re here and present, you can be in charge of the soundboard.”

“Oh, okay! Sounds good then!”

On the signup forum, it was mentioned if you wanted to have specific people control the lighting or soundboard and Naoko checked yes on both of those, although she marked down Nick for both of them. Gotta tell Mrs. Kakushi about that then, she noted.

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Kakushi will probably help you with it.”

“Ah, alright then!” Kuroe pumped her fists. “Then I’ll do my best, then!”

“Good.” Naoko pounded her fist on the table this time. “Okay, guys. Let’s change into our outfits then.”

The girls agreed in unison.

As Naoko began digging her outfit out of a plastic bag in her backpack, she threw a look at Nick, which was her language for “LEAVE.” (Kuroe was free to stay, however.)

“Okay, okay,” Nick replied, snorting.

With a bang of the door, the girls got to changing.

★

Anyway, once the girls were all in their outfits, Nick and Kuroe were stationed on the right side of the club room, at the computers. Kuroe had her finger posed above the left clicker of the mouse. The webpage pulled up was the YouTube page with the “Epic” music video on it.

And yes, the desk was pushed to the back of the classroom, so the girls could have enough room.

Next cultural festival, make sure to choose a different place to rehearse, Naoko noted mentally.

It almost felt like a repeat of last year… Except without Mr. Fujiwara, sadly.

“Ready?” Kuroe asked cheerily.

Naoko nodded and she heard the clicking of the mouse.

The song began.

★

Their rehearsal had gone well, as expected, Naoko was once again at home, sitting on her couch. This time, however, she wasn’t on her phone.

Instead, she was laying on the couch, eyes staring at the ceiling mindlessly.

“Something’s missing from our performance…” she murmured.

That’s when it popped up in her mind.

It would be cooler if one of us used our powers.

Thinking of last year’s performance, however, didn’t help.

But… Our new powers wouldn’t go away.

The temptation was real.

Suddenly, Naoko’s mind went into a daydream which played out like a scene in a comedy movie.

Naoko, Miharu, and Suika were all up onstage, standing in front of a podium. They were about to announce what their act was about.

“Next up, we have an act put together by me that’ll strike fear into your hearts,” Naoko, face looking incredibly smug.

Miharu looked at Naoko. “Oh yeah, me and Nao-chan were discussing our greatest fears outside, before the show.”

“And what was your biggest fear?” Naoko said, eyebrows narrowed.

“Fire,” Miharu said flatly. “Terrified of it.”

It was Suika’s turn to chime in. She leaned in close to the microphone. “M-me too,” she added lifelessly. “I’m scared of fire, too.”

Then, all of a sudden, as if like magic, the whole stage caught on fire, and the audience gasped and began clapping. Naoko turned and looked at her friends once more, and she saw that both of them had amused grins on their faces. She also saw, out of the corner of her eyes, Ean standing by the curtains, laughing her ass off.

Then abruptly, the daydream ended and Naoko sat in her seat, mind back to reality.

“I’m gonna do it,” she said determinedly.

Now that their powers weren’t able to disappear, why not?

It was a banger send-off for Naoko and Suika, and a cool thing to do all together.

And what power would we use?

Naoko didn’t even have to think about it for a second.

“Heh.”

She giggled out loud a little.