Episode 12: Because You Said So

The new school year finally started, and the club was doing… what it always did, which was exactly nothing.

Okay, something was kinda going on.

The girls were waiting for their newest recruit, Ayaka Madein, to arrive.

Yes. Kasumi Nakayama’s “crazy cousin.”

In the meantime, Mimori, Kasumi’s best friend (despite a lot of differences between them) was blasting Good Charlotte in the clubroom on her Bluetooth speaker because she said that Ayaka’s last name reminded her of the singers in that band.

I mean, she’s not wrong though. They are pretty similar last names, strangely enough.

That wasn’t the only thing that was going on, however, as I (the narrator) have lied to you.

Since the girls were moving up a grade, that meant that Naoko and Suika were finally welcomed into the high school division of the club. (Naoko claimed that her kouhai were going to be fine on their own. Kasumi really hoped so too.)

So make that two things that were “kinda” happening in the clubroom.

Despite all of that, Kasumi was hit with a sense of dread.

Ayaka in the club…

This can only spell danger.

It was all her fault, spilling the beans to Ayaka on the phone before she moved that she should join their club.

“It’s fun!”, she said. “You can get your own power!”, she said.

In reality, Kasumi really should’ve kept her mouth shut… but she couldn’t help but feel like the reason why she told her cousin was because she had no one else to tell.

Her old friends were still popular girls and would definitely tell the other girls; she was friends with none of the girls in any of her other classes…

So she just had her CDAC friends.

Is that pathetic or what?

That morning while Kasumi and Ayaka were walking to school she heard her cousin mutter to herself, “Ahh, what power should I geeet?”

She was (understandably) terrified of what was to happen.

But… Was her “crazy cousin” like, exactly?

Ayaka was only the most emo person alive on the face of the planet, in the grand year of 2017. (This isn’t an exaggeration.)

Every time Kasumi saw her, whether at a party or a simple get-together, she was always in the corner in her own little world, probably listening to the Emo Quartet and drawing some edgy drawings or some shit (Kasumi always saw her with a digital pen there).

The last thing Kasumi needed was another emo girl who liked mediocre (totally mediocre) music in the clubroom…

But here she was, stuck in an impasse that she made entirely by herself.

“Now where is she?” Kasumi muttered as she laid the side of her head on the table, tapping her fingers to the beat of the Good Charlotte song that was currently playing.

Naoko must have heard the girl because she looked at her from across the table and simply said, “I’m sure she’ll be here soon,” with a small smile on her face.

Okay, that was kinda cute. Who knew Naoko could smile like that?

And then…

Knock, knock.

Fuck me, she’s here!

“I’ll get it!” Mari sang, and at that moment Mimori turned off her music (to be polite, Kasumi guessed. That was rare for her friend).

Mari opened up the door, and sure enough, Ayaka was there.

All of the girls (except Kasumi) greeted the newcomer, as expected.

Ayaka waved a little. “Hi.”

The look on her face was something of nervousness mixed with that usual stoic facade she put on. After that big greeting, Ayaka glanced at Kasumi and gave her a head nod.

Ah. Time to pretend to be nice to my cousin!

“Welcome to the club!” Mari said loudly, continuing her speech. “Let me introduce you to everyone!”

That was until Erica cleared her throat.

“Let me introduce her to everyone,” she said, pouting. “I haven’t done it yet, and I’m kind of the leader of this whole thing!”

“Hm. Okay, fair enough.” Mari shrugged and returned back to her seat. Kasumi was surprised that she didn’t make a bigger fuss out of that.

Erica pounded her fist on the table, getting everyone’s eyes on hers. “Alright, so! Welcome to the Can Do Anything Club High School Division, est. 2016! You’re the first new recruit of the new school year!”

“Hooray!” Ayaka said cheerfully, clapping her hands together. That sight was far too jarring for Kasumi, but she couldn’t help but smirk because of it.

Erica continued. “Here in this club, we do all sorts of things, like the title suggests! We’re not the literature club anymore—that’s a dead industry!”

“Heeey that’s my joke!” Mari said slyly, but she seemed more proud of the fact that it caught on.

“Aaanyway, let’s introduce everyone right now! Right here is Mimori—you may have heard of her, she’s Kasumi’s friend; Kasumi herself, obviously; Tomo, Mari, Naoko, Asuka, Behami, Suika, Cone, and… oh yeah, me!”

Oh yeah, Cone is in fact here. Right, right.

Despite how cute the boy was, Kasumi often forgot he was there since he was so quiet most of the time.

“Hm, nice, nice. But how come there’s only one boy in the club?”

“Umm…” Erica thought for a moment. “Yeah, you’re right, good question.”

Cone rolled his eyes and finally spoke for the first time during that meeting. “I’m Suika’s boyfriend now, that’s why I’m here.”

Oh, right. Suika and Cone started dating at the beginning of the year. I often forget about that, it’s such a weird pairing.

Kasumi was still surprised that Mimori hadn’t managed to get her grubby little fingers on him before Suika did. Just goes to show her that perhaps not all of Mimori’s wishes could come true.

“Hey, are you the guy from Sum 41?” Ayaka queried.

“Yes, I am.” Cone sighed. “But I’m sixteen so not yet, actually.”

“Really? Huh, that’s neat. Isn’t that one guy that almost died from alcohol poisoning also in the band?”

“Huh?” Cone cocked his head to the side. “Um, no?”

“Huh. Wait—how are you so young-looking? Or young?”

“We’re going to explain that right now!” Erica announced, slapping her hand on the table once more. At this point, Kasumi was convinced that she really just liked touching the table for fun.

“Okay…”

“Ahem, anyway! Young Cone here was summoned by magic.” The girl made sure to do a dramatic pause. “Yes! Magic! We have a spellbook and everything.”

Right then and there, Kasumi saw Ayaka’s narrow eyes go as round as saucers.

“Ohmigod, really?! It’s actually real?! Ohmigod, no way!!”

The whole scene was incredibly uncanny to Kasumi, as she had not seen that much happiness on her cousin’s face in her whole seventeen years of living.

Kasumi looked at Tomo, who got the spellbook out at the perfect time.

A light thud sound hit the table.

“Alrighty, here it is! The spellbook!”

Ayaka’s face eyebrows raised. “Really? That is?”

“Uhhh, yeah.” Tomo closed her eyes and scratched her head sheepishly. “Well… I, um, copied it for ourselves. It’s still authentic and everything!”

“Really? So where’s the real thing?”

“The original creator has it,” explained Naoko in her usual flat voice. “His name is Henry and it’s a long story we’ll have to tell you another time. Ding!”

“Hm, okay.” Ayaka shrugged it off and began to look through what was essentially a booklet.

As she was, asked a very important and obvious question.

“So… you guys have superpowers, I’m guessing?”

Mimori squealed. Kasumi rolled her eyes.

“We do! In fact, we do! I have time travel powers!” Kasumi’s friend made sure to repeat the first half twice for whatever reason. (She had a feeling it was for some meme she didn’t know about.)

“Ahhh! That’s so cool!” Ayaka blinked. “Wait, why did you word it so redundantly?”

Oooh Ayaka. You have much to learn here about Mimori’s various speech quirks. Kasumi honestly wished that she was her cousin in that regard.

After flipping through a few more pages, Ayaka paused and looked up at her new club members.

“C-can I pick out a power to have?”

“Go ahead!” Tomo clapped her hands together and smiled sweetly. “You can have anyone you want, although we always encourage getting ones that we don’t already have!”

Behami giggled. “I think you just totally contradicted what you just said there!”

“I hope I can find out what powers you guys have eventually,” Ayaka said softly. And then, she spoke up.

“I know what power I want.”

“... And what power is that?” Tomo’s eyes were still closed happily. Kasumi wondered how she was able to do that so much.

“The ability to manipulate darkness.”

“Huh,” Asuka said, raising her eyebrows. “I didn’t even know that power was a thing. Should she get it?”

Ugh, I feel the same way. Emo people + darkness powers = bad idea.

That bit totally reminded Kasumi of her quip about giving pyromaniacs fire powers, which her fellow club members totally ignored.

“I think she should! There’s no harm in trying, right?” Tomo giggled cutely and finally opened her eyes. “Let’s get the ingredients then, shall we?”

The girls muttered in agreement while Cone just simply nodded his head.

“Well, you said so,” Asuka murmured darkly.

“Yay!” Tomo sang. “She’s gonna be one of us now! How dope!”

“AHHH I LOVE THAT WORD!” Mimori shrieked for no reason whatsoever.

★

The potion ritual went as planned, and Kasumi had to admit that it was pretty amusing to see her cousin going through it the first time.

Setting up the cup with the goo in it and watching it explode over Ayaka was all so nostalgic… So nostalgic, in fact, that Kasumi felt like she wanted to do it all over again, just for old times’ sake.

But I don’t feel like it. After all, I have no use for another power. I’ve gotten what I needed. Kasumi smiled to herself as she put her arms under her (magically-enhanced) chest.

Hm, wait. Has Ayaka ever commented on my breasts?

The answer was no. Kasumi assumed that she probably kept those questions to herself and assumed that her older cousin stuffed her bra or something, which was a pretty valid guess.

Once the goo got all over Ayaka, the girl expectedly had a reaction.

“Ew, why am I covered in this stuff?!” Ayaka cried, looking at all the club members from across the room. “Is this how it works? How come no one told me beforehand?!”

Erica shrugged, smirking. “Because we wanted you to experience how we felt about it the first time it happened to us.” Another dramatic beat. “Yes, the first time… except the second time was pretty different.”

“Now what?” Ayaka’s face was understandably still red and panicky-looking. “I can’t go home looking like this!”

“I’ll teleport you two home, then. How about that?” Tomo looked Kasumi, who was a few people away from her, in the eyes. “Is that alright with you? Going home right now?”

Why does she sound like my mom—again? “Uh, yeah. That’s okay with me.”

★

Ayaka staying at Kasumi’s household for her high school years was quite something and was going to continue being that way until the girl graduated.

The reason being, Ayaka was interested in going to the high school in particular so she could take some classes there that would apparently help her get accepted into a college she wanted, which was also near Kasumi’s house.

Huh. Fun fact.

Since Kasumi’s brother Shinji had moved out recently, Ayaka was able to take his room, which was now empty.

It’s kinda creepy that he’s no longer here, I don’t know…

She was sort of glad, however. Not only was her brother chasing his dreams of becoming a video game developer but she also didn’t have to hear him scream and use gamer words every single day anymore.

Is this what they call a blessing in disguise?

In any event, Ayaka had been using Shinji’s room for about a week now, and she was already more tolerable than her brother was… which isn’t hard.

And, as Kasumi was laying on her bed, doing what she usually did before she went to bed, which was scrolling down her Instagram feed.

And of course, the time I decide not to wear my headphones she decides to blast emo music in the shower. MY CHEM, to be exact.

Kasumi wanted to smack herself in the face for saying that Ayaka was better than Shinji so soon, but yet again hearing the music from across the hallway felt a bit comforting.

It’s weird. This never would’ve comforted me before.

That was likely due to the fact that her friend Mimori had gotten into emo music lately and had been recommending her some stuff. It wasn’t as good as her favorite “emo” bands like Nickelback, Staind, Seether, and Fuel… but it was still good.

Kasumi chortled to herself as she turned off her phone and looked at the moonlight creeping in from her window blinds.

“I may become even emoer soon. Who knows?”

★

After Ayaka got out of the shower, she knocked on Kasumi’s door and the two ended up talking for a bit. Of course, the conversation had to involve what kind of power Kasumi had, to which the girl wanted to dance around the topic as carefully as possible.

Yes, she didn’t want to tell her. You could almost call her a tsundere regarding her powers.

“Okay, so you can basically change the way you look just by thinking about it? That’s so cool!” Ayaka’s face was full of so much excitement Kasumi had to wonder why she chose the power she did and not a shapeshifting one.

Kasumi clicked her tongue. “Every time you ask me about my powers, I’ll say something cringey.”

“I’m guessing you change the size of ch—”

Oh, fuck she figured it out. Quick!

“‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! My bitch, she bad to the bone!’” Kasumi tried and failed to say that in her best Lil Uzi Vert voice (which was actually her worst).

Ayaka sighed dramatically. “Oh. Okay. Santiago.” She pretended to shoot herself in the head.

“Ah. I know that reference.”

I don’t know who’s more cringe-inducing, Kasumi discovered, like she was coming across a revelation of sorts. Me, Mimori, or Ayaka…

★

The night passed by, and soon enough it was the next day…

Judgement Day (!!).

And—spoiler of all spoiler alerts—they did in fact appear.

Right when Kasumi got out of her room to go downstairs and get some breakfast, all she saw was darkness.

“Aw, fuck.” she muttered.

For the briefest of seconds, she thought that the power had gone out, but after her brain settled back down on planet Earth after being in dreamland for hours,

“What’s with the dark?” Kasumi asked as she made it all the way down the stairs, even though the answer was pretty much obvious.

She heard a chortle. “I got my powers, duh.”

Ah. So Ayaka is down here. Who woulda thunk?

Kasumi smiled tightly. “Hey, it’s a cool power.” She paused. “Is that all you can do, though? I didn’t really look too good at the power in the spellbook. Is that it? Just summoning shadows and darkness?”

“Yup, that’s it,” Ayaka replied. “Kinda lame, I know, but I think it’s the coolest.”

Kasumi raised an eyebrow even though she knew Ayaka wouldn’t be able to see it. “Mm- hm.”

She’s certainly an emo girl, all right.

★

“Who did this!?” Kasumi shrieked, striding into the clubroom with Ayaka later that day.

“Heh, Mimori did,” Behami said, grinning. She then looked at Ayaka excitedly. “Hey, did Aya-chan get her powers yet?”

The thing that Kasumi couldn’t believe was that right next to Cone in the clubroom, was Deryck Whibley, lead singer of Sum 41… but also a teenager.

The girl’s attention turned quickly from Behami to Mimori.

I am SEETHING right now!

“Kasumi-chaaan!” whined Mimori. “I love that reference but don’t use it in this instance! Deryck is here for a wholesome reason!”

“Pfft.” Kasumi had to giggle at that statement. What kind of reason is wholesome in this instance?

The girl could just imagine it now—Mimori summoning Deryck here so they could recreate some scenes from her yaoi fanfics about them in the clubroom.

Okay, she isn’t that perverted but I can sorta see her doing that… or at least Suika. Yeah, that’s more in her line of work.

“Uh, yeah…” Cone replied, raising his hand. “Mimori summoned him here a few minutes ago.” He shrugged. “I don’t mind, though. It’s the Deryck from my timeline, after all. I’m cool with it.”

“Ah. That’s good then.”

All of a sudden, the room was enveloped in darkness.

“AWE-SOME! THAT’S YOUR POWER!?” shrieked Mari. She then uttered something in a movie trailer narrator’s voice. “‘Welcooome to the night…’”

Ah, I get that reference too. Lots of references going on here.

Those were the type of girls they were, after all.

“Is it everything you ever hoped for and more?” Asuka said snidely.

“Yes, it is!” Ayaka said cheerfully. “It’s so awesome!”

Asuka sighed heavily. “The both of you, I suppose.”

She thinks it’s cool but we’re literally just in darkness right now. I will never be able to understand non-basic girls.

“So, Ayaka-chan!” Tomo said, sounding unnaturally happy. “Is there anything else you can do with your powers? I only read the first line in the spellbook, which is my bad.” She giggled. “I guess I wanted to keep everything else a surprise!”

“Ah, well, um… I found out this morning that I can make shadows disappear, too!”

“Hm.” Kasumi hmed.

“Like this!”

“Nothing’s happening,” Cone, Deryck, Tomo, and Asuka said flatly, all at once.

“Ah! Um, oops!” Kasumi couldn’t help but feel a little bad for her cousin.

That was a stupid mistake, though.

There was silence for a brief moment.

Erica sighed. Kasumi could just barely make out her looking out the window. “Welp! I guess the power’s out for real, then!”

“Ahhh really?!” Mimori squealed.

Kasumi heard the light switch being turned on and off, and sure enough, no lights came on. Upon finally realizing it, she looked out the window herself to just see…

Nothing. Literally everything was black.

“Oh, well, shit,” Kasumi muttered.

“My thoughts exactly,” declared Naoko in her usual voice. “Ding!”

“W-w-what do I do now?!” cried Ayaka.

Knock, knock. Kasumi jolted and used her phone to turn on the flashlight, which she was surprised no one else did yet.

Ah. It’s Vice Principal Mrs. Ramai, and she has a flashlight. The girl turned off her flashlight.

Everyone turned silent while the door opened.

“Hey, everyone. Just wanted to let you know we’re doing our best to get the power back on. If you want to go home though, I suggest you contact your parents if you haven’t already!”

Everyone responded in their own way.

“Um, okay…” Ayaka said quietly. Kasumi assumed she was embarrassed.

Before Mrs. Ramai walked away, she did a double-take into the clubroom.

“What?” Mimori said bluntly.

“Ah, nothing. Nevermind.” The vice principal sighed. “I just thought the blonde-haired boy looked familiar. Anyway, have a nice day!”

“You too!” Everyone chorused.

When Mrs. Ramai was out of ear and eyeshot, the club members talked amongst themselves again.

“Now what?!” Asuka said, voice raised. Kasumi could tell she was losing her temper pretty quickly.

Yikes. I’ve never heard her yell like that before.

Mimori groaned. “Could you stop pleeease stop yelling? It’s hurting my ears! Your voice is so shrill!”

“Heh.” Kasumi chortled. “You’re one to talk.”

Erica flipped on her phone flashlight so everyone could see. Immediately Kasumi saw Ayaka looking at what she could see of the light switch.

Good Ayaka.

Kasumi crossed her fingers that her cousin could fix it. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what the janitors or technicians would think as they investigated this situation.

The room was tense for the next two minutes, except for the sound of Mimori singing to herself.

“‘You make me feel… like I was born yesterday!’”

“Shhh!” Suika said, trying to shush her.

Suddenly, with an almost ear-bursting electrical sound, the power turned back on, and all the darkness was gone.

Damn, that was kinda anticlimactic.

“Well, everyone! Do you feel like going home right now?” Tomo stated to everyone in the room.

“I call a sleepover at my house!” Mari shouted excitedly.

“Um…” Mimori said carefully. “Isn’t it Thursday, though?”

Mari grinned. “Tomorrow's a half day.”

“Ah. Whoops.”

Tomo looked thoughtful. “Wouldn’t that be too many people? Even if you exclude the boys…”

Everyone was silent again. Kasumi assumed the boys were a little disappointed.

“Sure, why not? Mimori will just have to do the reverse spell and take Deryck home first!”

“Yes, M’am!” Mimori did a cute salute.

As the ruckus of phone tapping began, Kasumi saw Ayaka dash up to her.

“Hey, Kasumi-chan!” she said happily. “Thank you so much for letting me join this club! This is gonna be a blast!”

“Hey, no problem.” Kasumi smiled back, albeit with a wonky smile.

The girl’s junior year was already off to a promising start.