Episode 2: Tick, Tick, Tick… Boom!

“‘Pardon me while I burst into flames…’”

Ean had “Pardon Me” by Incubus stuck in her head because Naoko recommended it to her one day. She immediately loved it upon first listen, which was weird since Ean was way more of a rap fan.

The song did have wrapping in it though, so that was probably why. That wasn’t the only part of the song she liked, however.

It was the lyrics too.

The lyrics discussed “bursting into flames” because of the current day’s environment, but Ean only acknowledged the flame part of it.

Yes. She was still pretty salty about her powers.

★

It was the same week as the previous episode, but this time it was Thursday.

Ean was, of course, bored as usual. The middle school CDAC in particular did fun things with Miharu’s powers but most of the time they just chilled because Naoko wanted to chill after her classes.

A chill atmosphere was something Ean liked but didn’t crave.

I need excitement in my life for Christ’s sake!

Ean thought back to what they did the previous month. Naoko teleported to a nice grassy field near Mt. Fuji and Miharu created a firepit where the girls made s’mores via Ean’s powers (Finally! Something cool for her to do!). They ate until they were stuffed and chatted about inconsequential stuff, it was pretty neat.

Another time they went to New York to see a musical that Naoko was dying to see, and that was also fun, even though Ean wasn’t exactly the musical type (she didn’t think Naoko was either but who knew?).

On another occasion close to that New York trip the Black Sash cast taught the girls karate at their apartment which Ean totally dug—the apartment and the karate, actually.

Alright, so she had quite a lot of fun the past few months… So sue her.

Well, anyway. Ean was currently bored. She had already finished her math and Japanese homework and stuff, so she was bored. She was thinking of going on her phone but even there, there was only so much to do on Vine, YouTube, and Twitter.

Drawing in a deep breath, Ean reached for her phone anyway, opened up YouTube, and typed in “24-hour challenge” to see if any cool new ones came out.

Her friend, Sekai Konohana, was a big fan of them. In fact, she was the one who recommended that she watch them in the first place.

Yes. Someone who was even more up-to-date on the newest trends than Ean. She existed.

Ah. Didn’t Sekai wanna do her own “24-hour challenge” really soon? I should ask her how she was going with that. OH! And speaking of Sekai, I should tell her about my fire powers tomorrow at lunch! She’d dig that, right?

Now Ean was cooking with gasoline (haha cuz fire powers geddit.)

Finally. Something exciting was going to happen.

★

It was the next day already and it was lunchtime, the moment Ean was waiting for. In fact, she was waiting for it so hard that the night before she managed to write down a rough script of what she was going to say to her friends regarding her secret superpowers.

Ean was sitting at the table near the back of the cafeteria, which was mostly occupied by the kind of kids who were popular but not normie popular like someone like Kasumi was.

Looking at her friends Sekai, Aoi, and Konomi, cold sweat began to grow on her face.

Yes, she was that nervous to tell them. Shit was getting real.

Ean gulped the last bite of her egg salad sandwich, guzzled some water, and then cleared her throat.

“Alright,” she announced, taking the crumpled script out of her pocket. “I have something important to say.”

“‘Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?’” Sekai intoned, pretending to hold a megaphone. ‘“I said—’”

“Shh!” Ean said forcefully, but she ended up giggling anyway. “Guys… ‘I just felt like you should know, fam, but I happen to have superpowers.’” The way she read that came out predictably robotically.

Konomi’s eyes grew wide. “No way, dude! You’re joking!”

“No, I’m not! ‘I got the ability to create fireballs from the literature club—I mean, the Can Do Anything Club—which used to be called the former.’ Damn, did I write this all fancy.”

“Yeah, that’s so not you,” Aoi remarked coolly as Sekai and Konomi were freaking out. “But fire powers? Really? Sick. Can you prove it to us?”

Ean pondered for a moment on whether she should or not but figured that the sound of the cafeteria and people looking at their phones wouldn’t matter in the long run.

The girl created a small fireball on one of her hands. Her friends were totally impressed.

“AWESOME!” Konomi shrieked, then quieted herself. “I want powers too! Is there any way—?”

“Sure.” Fuck. Now they want some.

That was pretty predictable.

“I know! Let’s all get elemental powers!” Sekai said, shout-whispering. “Ooh, ooh! I know! I’m water, Konomi is air and Aoi is earth!”

“Figures,” Aoi replied, rolling her eyes. “I get the boring power.”

Sekai shrugged. “At least it isn’t heart.”

“Hmph. That doesn’t sound that bad… Wait, what’s ‘heart?’”

“Nevermind.” Sekai shrugged again and turned her attention back to Ean. “Anyway, I think that's a dope idea. Right, Ean?”

Ean was too busy being in space than paying attention to them. Upon hearing her name being called, she perked up. “H-huh?”

“I-I guess…” Shit, why am I scared now? Well, I should get the club’s permission to do this, right?

Ean may be all anti-authority and all that, but there was one person she wasn’t against: Naoko and her terrifying scowl.

“Sweet! When can we do this, then?” Sekai grinned widely. (She was the sort-of leader of their little posse.)

“After school sounds great!” Konomi said, bouncing up and down in her seat. “You guys?”

“Agreed.” Aoi nodded.

Ean was now thrusted into the spotlight, which she normally enjoyed.

What am I gonna say? Yes?!

“Sure!” she squeezed out of her throat. “After school sounds great. So, 3:30?”

Her friends all nodded in agreement, and all Ean could do was try to choke back her fear.

The fuck am I gonna do now?! AUGHHH!!!

★

Ean had to tell someone about what she was going to do that afternoon, and she decided that the easiest person to tell would be her friend Miharu since they were in the same grade and both shared fifth-hour history together. Her reaction to Ean’s not-at-all-thought-up-well plan was not what she expected it to be.

“What!? But Ean, there aren't any other elemental powers in the spellbook!” Miharu, an expert at controlling her volume, said this in the perfect hushed voice.

Ean’s eyes narrowed. “That’s what you’re concerned about?”

“Well, yeah.” Miharu rolled her eyes just like Aoi had the day before. “No need to worry, though. We can always create some. All we need to do is find the firestarter potion in the book and alter it!”

“So you’re not concerned about the other girls finding out?” Ean was dumbfounded and confused. But mostly dumbfounded.

“No, I am. It’s just—shhh.” Miharu stopped talking. Ean looked up and saw the history teacher look at them with eyes of scorn.

Makes sense though, Ean thought, actually making sense for once. We’re supposed to be working quietly in pairs, after all.

★

It was after school now and unfortunately, Miharu told them about what was going to happen soon.

… And in the most bizarre turn of events that Ean had ever heard, Naoko wasn’t angry about her friends getting powers.

Well, to put it simply she said, “I just don’t care anymore.”

Huh. Total apathy took over her now, huh? Neat. Wait, why did I just say “neat”? What decade am I from now?!

Ean was at the clubroom door with her friends, and once she opened the door she heard Naoko talking about something rather casually to Suika, Jopi, and Miharu.

“So, apparently Mimori-senpai had a boy over at her house a few nights ago. This came from Mari-chan, by the way.”

Like that information was important.

Suika, for once actually showing a hit of emotion on her face, scooted up further to the edge of her chair and leaned in across the table to Naoko. “Woah, really? With whom?”

Pfft. She wants to know if it’s Drew.

“No, it wasn’t with Drew. Ding!” Naoko added that obligatory ding sound. “It was with a guy whose nickname is Cone.”

“Who?” Jopi said, and Ean chimed in as she went fully into the room and closed the door.

“Oh! Yeah, I believe I’ve heard of this,” Jopi said in a tone that suggested she didn’t actually care about the current conversation. “If you look in the group chat frequently enough you’ll see that Mimori-chan talks about him all the time in there.”

“So a new love.” Suika’s eyes were dead set on Naoko as if she could turn her phone into stone.

Finally, one of Ean’s friends cracked.

“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?” Sekai shouted unnecessarily.

“Uh, sorry to intrude!” That was Aoi being polite for once.

Naoko rolled her eyes. “Nothing important to you guys. Also, nice to meet you.” She then magicked the spellbook over to her. “So, I heard you guys want powers? Let’s make the spells.”

“I thought they were potions,” Konomi said pointedly, twirling her long blonde hair around one finger.

“Well, there are but they’re a pain in the ass. Ding!”

“She does that a lot,” Ean whispered to her friends so that they could understand just what the hell Naoko was saying to herself.

“Ah, okay!” Sekai looked at Ean and winked. I guess she gets it then.

Naoko clapped her hands together, briefly imitating Tomo. “Alright, so I’m already at the page in the book for the fire spell. Does anyone care to alter the incantation for it three times?”

Sekai raised her eyebrows and her hand. “Um, I could try, I guess? It’s for all the elements, right? You already know about that?”

“I told her,” Miharu informed. She then shrugged. “I have no problem with you altering them.”

In a mint-colored flash on the table, blue, purple, and green food coloring was in front of the girls.

“This is something we’re going to be using for the potions that you’ll be drinking.”

Konomi stuck her pierced tongue out. “Ew, we have to drink food coloring?”

“It’s no different than drinking Kool-Aid,” Aoi said, shrugging.

“Oh. You’re right.” The girl’s mouth closed accordingly.

As that was all going on, Ean looked to where her friend Sekai was and saw that she was sitting down, already writing the spells that they were going to use. While that was going on, Ean felt very thankful for her friend. After all, one of her hobbies was writing rap lyrics… or at least trying to. In any event, she was pretty decent with rhyming, and that was what mattered the most in this situation.

Probably.

Two minutes more passed and impressively, the incantations were done.

“You get them all written?” Naoko asked, looking over to Sekai, who passed her the spells that she wrote down on ripped lined paper.

“Yup!” Sekai said, albeit pretty smugly. “You think they’re good?”

Naoko looked all the spells up and down twice each and then nodded. “Yup. As good as they’ll ever be. You guys ready?”

Sekai nodded and gave a thumbs-up.

“Hell yeah!” Aoi cried.

“Me three!” Konomi echoed.

“Alright, then. Aoi is up first. Aoi, you may read the spell aloud and then down the Dixie cup that is in front of you. The spell will kick in hopefully overnight.”

Aoi blinked. “Wait, when the hell were those potions made?”

Ean looked over at Miharu, who had just finished mixing what was in the Dixie cup. “When you weren’t looking,” she said in a teasing tone.

“Ah, okay then!” Aoi grinned and seemingly forgot about the bizarre event that occurred without her even looking. The girl got up, got the small paper cup and the sheet of paper, and began reading.

“Ahem: ‘Gods of the elements, I wish that thee would grant me the power that will set me free. The power of earth, the strength it brings; let me experience this affinity for as long as I desire.’”

“‘For as long as I desire?’ Fam, that doesn’t fucking rhyme!” Ean was suddenly hysterical as she glanced over at Sekai, the offender. “Bro, that doesn’t rhyme! I thought you were an expert rhymer! And Naoko approved this?!”

It was Naoko’s turn to blink. “It was originally like that in the book. I don’t think it was even supposed to rhyme, I just felt like it should.”

Nevertheless, Aoi downed the drink and Ean forced herself to carry on, no matter how much pain that whole ordeal was bringing to her brain.

“Augh, that tasted kinda nasty but I’m good now! Woo!” Aoi pointed her finger at Naoko. “Now, who’s next?!”

Naoko sighed. “Sekai.”

Sekai spoke up. “Alright.”

“Heh.” Konomi smirked. “‘What’s cooler than being cool?’”

“‘Ice cold!’” Aoi and Sekai responded, and Ean did as well.

“Please don’t start,” Naoko growled. “Ding! Sekai, your turn.”

“Woot!” she hollered and then began to read the nonsensical incantation aloud.

“‘Gods of the elements, I wish that thee would grant me the power that will set me free. The power of water, the wisdom it brings; let me experience this affinity for as long as I desire.’” After that, she downed the drink like Aoi did. Ean wondered if it truly tasted nasty or not.

Spell still fuckin sucks.

“Lastly, Konomi.”

Konomi nodded and did her thing, except this time the incantation read “freeness” (that’s a word?) instead of “strength” or “wisdom” and “air” instead of “earth” and “water.”

Finally, the parade of dumbass spells and swigging was over.

“Finally, it’s over,” said Naoko, echoing Ean’s thoughts exactly. “If you guys don’t mind, I would like to go home now so I can read some more Captain Swan fanfiction. This drained some of my energy.”

Wait, she likes fanfics? Since when?

“Huh?” Aoi was curious as well.

“Nothing. Nevermind.”

Sekai gasped and slammed her fists on the table. “Hey, that was a great album!”

Naoko predictably groaned. “The spells should kick in sometime tonight. I suggest you guys text each other when you get them.”

Konomi looked ecstatic. “Really? Awesome! When we get them tomorrow, we should sooo hang out after school together and fool around with them!”

“Dude, totally!” Sekai was just as pumped. “I don’t even think I can wait that long, I’m so excited for it! Ean, text your parents right now and see if we can all sleep over at your house tonight! I’ll do the same!”

Ean just nodded along with her friends, slightly terrified for the kind of madness that was about to occur tomorrow.

“Sweet! This is gonna be lit!” Aoi cried, pumping her fists in the air.

★

It wasn’t lit. In fact, you could say that it was unlit. Even though Ean loved her friends and all that, she was still super nervous about how they were going to handle having their superpowers.

Like, all four elements of nature? We’re fucked. Might as well call us the “Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse.”

Now that was a worthy title.

Anyway, there Ean was, sitting on the couch with her friends, watching a movie on Netflix called The Forest. It was the second film of the night and Ean already felt like closing her eyes and falling asleep.

Ahh… wait, what’s this? Actually… tiredness…

She fell asleep, right in between Sekai and Konomi.

★

Ean actually fell asleep because when she woke up, it was around six o’clock in the morning, and her “friends” were also up, likely seeing if their powers were active yet.

And they were totally freaking out about it.

“Wow, Ean-chan!” Konomi practically screamed, mouth fully agape. “You missed so much last night and this morning, it’s un-fucking-believable!”

“True that,” echoed Aoi.

“Also,” Konomi continued. “We tried waking you up like this, but that was a fail! You were dead asleep!” Then, she did something that shouldn’t have surprised Ean but did.

The girl waved her hand and all of a sudden, water began to form in an empty water bottle that was on the side of the couch.

I don’t think that would’ve woken me up. Pretty sure she just wanted to flaunt her fuckin powers… ah well.

“Woah…” she murmured. “That’s amazing.”

“Isn’t it?” Sekai chirped, looking positively euphoric despite the strong bags under her eyes. “That was one of the first things I did when I woke up! Because I just knew that my powers were there!”

“Oh, hey, and check this out,” Aoi said, smirking. She brought over a plant that was all wilted and raised her hands up in the air. As that happened, flowers began on the plant again.

“Woah!” Ean gasped. “That’s sick!”

Talk about having the power of plants…

Aoi’s cheeks then blushed. “Uh, um,” she said, softly. “Whatever you do, please don’t look outside your driveway. Just please don’t.” Aoi looked like she wanted to shrink or disappear, or both at the same time.

The fuck does she mean with this? What did she do with our front yard?!

“And last but not least!” Konomi said proudly.

The girl floated to the top of the ceiling with no prompt whatsoever.

Okay, that was fuckin sick.

“WAAAAHOHMYGOD!” Ean shrieked with glee. Then, she remembered something. Shit, my parents! “Uh, guys. I think my parents are still sleeping.”

“They’re not!” Konomi said, giggling, while gradually falling back to the ground. “They were out walking the dog last time I checked.”

Aoi nodded seriously. “Yup. Walking the dog,”

Ean wiped the sweat that was forming on her brow. “Whew! Thank God!”

Wait. Fuck, I gotta them that really important thing.

“Guys!”

The girls turned to face her (if they weren’t facing her already.)

“Please, please, please! Whatever you do, I do not, I repeat, do not want you to show anybody at our school your powers. Please. For the love of vape.”

Aoi chortled at that last part. “Alright. Sounds like a bummer, but alright.”

“Mm-hm,” Sekai mumbled.

“Your ‘Can Do Anything Club’ friends don’t count though, right?”

Ean almost facepalmed but didn’t. “Nope. You can show them. I don’t care. That’s what we’re for, after all.”

★

Question time!

What do you get when you mix three thirteen-year-old girls, elemental superpowers, and school?

The premise of this series, obviously.

But actually—

Chaos. Absolute chaos.

That Friday was fine, no issues there—but the next Monday when Ean arrived at school, it was complete anarchy. The whole area was flooded, tree branches and vines were growing all over it, and the wind surrounding the school was extreme enough to be called a tornado.

“What the fuck are they doing?!” Ean said between gritted teeth.

Absolutely furious, Ean stormed into the school, despite the school being almost entirely submerged in water. The girl made a beeline for the middle school clubroom anyway.

Sure enough, there they were, all giggling to each other and snacking on some totally stolen food from the vending machine.

“YOU GUYS!” she screamed, not caring about the good mood that her friends were in. “STOP THIS SHIT RIGHT THIS INSTANT!”

The girls stopped to face Ean, their faces all in shock.

“What?” said Sekai, tone obnoxiously phony. “What is it?”

“This is it!” She spread her arms out. “You guys are abusing your powers, which is totally not cool! People are gonna find out about this, you know! If they haven’t already!” Ean bit her lip. “You did it! We’re fucked! Eternally fucked!”

Once Ean was done that little spiel the girls began to do something that startled her, somehow.

They laughed at her.

“AHAHAHAHAHA!”

In reaction to that response, Ean backed up to the corner of the room, and—

★

Just like that, she woke up with a start.

Huh? Where am I?

Ean looked at everything around her. Bookshelf, big table, chairs, computers, her friends…

Yup. I’m in the clubroom. And it was all just a dream. Because of course it fucking was.

“Oh, good. You’re awake.”

Ean jolted and looked to where the voice was coming from. She heaved a heavy sigh. “Oh, Miharu-chan. It’s just you, thank God.”

“Uh, yeah. You’ve been sleeping long enough. Everyone else went home but me. Somebody had to make sure you went home alright.”

Ean’s eyes widened. How long have I been sleeping?! “Okay. Thanks, man.” She paused for a moment. “Oh hey, I just had the strangest dream…”

With a voice full of relief, Ean began to regale the tale of the wild dream she just had.