Forget About It: Part 1

One evening at the Sakura Residence, Sojiro was seen entering the living room carrying a glass of wine. He sat down in his chair, placing his wine glass on the table next to him before grabbing the remote control an turning the T.V on to ¥20 Million Monolith ($100,000 Pyramid).

"Ah, life is good," Sojiro said as he took a sip from his wine glass and enjoyed his game show.

Just as Sojiro was really starting to get settled, Futaba, her boyfriend Yuuki Mishima, and their 12 friends, along with Ren's cat Morgana, enter the living room carrying an assortment of snacks and beverages. A couple of them were even carrying extra chairs.

"What's all this now?" Sojiro asked.

"Sojiro, can me and my friends have a movie night tonight?" Futaba asked sweetly.

"Tonight?" Sojiro asked quizzically, "But isn't tonight a school night? Why are Ren, Haru, and Makoto here? Shouldn't Ren be back at his own hometown, and shouldn't you two girls be at college?"

"I could benefit from a mental health day or two," Ren said.

"My class got canceled for tomorrow," Haru said.

"Mine too," Makoto chimed in.

"Come on Sojiro, pretty please?" Futaba asked with puppy dog eyes.

"Sorry, Futaba, the answer's no," Sojiro said.

"Did you really think pulling out the puppy dog eyes would work?" Hifumi asked rhetorically.

"Kind of," Futaba said as she looked at the clock, "Oh no, the movie's going to start in three minutes! At this rate we're going to miss the whole thing!"

"Not if we run at top speeds to my treehouse," Ichiro chimed in, "I have a T.V in there."

"You have a treehouse, Ichiro?" Hayato asked with intrigue.

"Yeah, I showed it to Sumire the other day," Ichiro said.

"Before he showed me 'other things', if you know what I'm getting at," Sumire said naughtily.

"Way to go, Sumi," Ann said, feeling proud of her gymnastic friend.

"You guys are really that hellbent on watching your movie, aren't you?" Sojiro asked, getting the gang back on topic.

"It's all any of us can think about at this moment in time," Futaba answered.

"Well what's the movie?" Sojiro asked.

"Tonight on the History Channel they're airing a movie that aired back during the days of the Cold War," Yusuke said, "It's called Chapped Lip Jun (Barefoot Gen)."

Hearing the name of that movie made Sojiro's face drop. It's clear that the 14 teens and one cat have no idea what they're getting themselves into.

"Apparently Japan gets into a nuclear war with America," Ryuji continued for his artist friend, "Sounds like an epic movie. Not to mention all of the teachers at our schools told us not to watch this movie, so now we have to watch it to send a clear message of 'suck it'!"

"I can understand where your teachers are coming from, kids," Sojiro said, "I saw that movie back when it first came out years ago, and it gave me nightmares for a week. I think this movie is going to scare you all."

"Sojiro, we're anywhere from 17-19 years old, not 7-9 years old," Futaba said, "I think we can handle it."

"Yeah," Yusuke chimed in, "You're talking to someone who watched 'A Woodwork Purple' (A Clockwork Orange) at least seven times in the past year."

"As well as someone who used to go to sleep watching 'The Exorciser' (The Exorcist)," Hifumi chimed in, "I think some of us know horror."

"Not like this," Sojiro said, "But, if all of your minds are made up on wanting to see this movie, I guess I have no choice but to let you watch it."

Hearing that made the group of 15 cheer before Sojiro could continue talking.

"But," Sojiro continued, "If at any point either one of you feels scared, tell me and I'll shut the movie off. Agreed?"

"Sure, whatever Mr. Sakura, thank you!" Yuuki said gleefully.

"This is going to rock!" Ryuji said.

But it did not rock. Not at all.

"This does not rock," Ryuji said in horror.

"Not at all," Yuuki chimed in.

The group of 16 are seen watching the movie, and they just got to the nightmare inducing scene where they drop the bomb on Hiroshima. The 14 teens and one cat could do nothing more but watch in horror and sorrow at the scene that unfolded before them as well as the scenes that came after it.

(Author's Note: Anyone who has seen or at least heard of Barefoot Gen ABSOULUTELY knows what I'm talking about)

It turns out Chapped Lip Jun wasn't some kind of action film like Ryuji once thought, and it was instead about a terrifying and all too real depiction of the citizens of Hiroshima, Jun being the central character, facing the fallout after America dropped the nuclear bomb on the fair city.

Sojiro was watching the movie stone faced, as he had seen it before, but everyone else's reaction varied. Futaba felt sick and nearly vomited out of stress at one point. Ann nearly fainted a couple of times. The scenes were so intense that Hayato and Hifumi resorted to stress eating their snacks. Sumire, Haru, and Shiho were so scared that they clung to their equally afraid boyfriends to feel safe. Ryuji, of all people, was nearly reduced to fear induced tears. Morgana ran and hid beneath the couch. Ren, Makoto, and Yuuki just watched in silent horror, too afraid to express it into either words nor action.

Anytime Sojiro thought that one of the teens were too afraid, he'd ask them if they wanted him to turn it off, but because they wanted to see if the movie would at least have something resembling a 'happy ending', they turned down his offer. But it didn't matter how happy or sad the ending was. The damage was already done, and the 14 teens and one cat were left utterly traumatized as the credits started to roll.

"Too real," Daisuke muttered.

"War is hell," Shiho added

"So scared," Ann whimpered.

"Never sleep again," Yuuki said.

"I'll never be okay," Sumire said.

"You know it's been so long since I last saw this movie that I forgot how great the acting was," Sojiro said, trying to be optimistic. But Futaba turned around to face him.

"Sojiro, don't you care about what you just saw?" Futaba asked her caretaker.

"Yeah," Daisuke chimed in, "Back in the day, Hiroshima got blown to smithereens, taking hundreds of thousands with it! Who's to say the same thing won't happen again in this day and age to us and our city?"

"Daisuke's right, Sojiro," Ryuji added, "There could be a mushroom cloud outside your window at any moment."

"I say bring on the cloud," Sojiro said bluntly, "Then maybe you'll all run for the hills and I can get back to watching my shows."

Suddenly, Sojiro yawns.

"Well, if the mushroom cloud does come hopefully it's when I'm sound asleep so that when I wake up the first thing I see is my maker," Sojiro said, "You kids have a goodnight and a safe trip home."

And with that, Sojiro left the shell shocked group of 15 alone in the living room to process the movie they just witnessed.

"That…That can't happen, right, Ren?" Morgana asked his owner as he crawled out from beneath the couch, "It's just a movie, right? Stuff that happens in movies can't happen in real life, right? Please answer me."

Ren couldn't answer his cat. Not just because the likes of Hifumi, Hayato, Shiho, Yuuki, Daisuke, and Ichiro were there and they'd think he was weird if they saw him talking to his cat, but because he didn't want to tell his pet the cold hard truth about reality. The dropping of the atomic bomb happened once in humankind's history, and it could happen again at the drop of a hat.

"Well then, that's it," Hayato said glumly, "I'm done."

"What do you mean, you're done?" Makoto asked.

"I mean I'm done with it all," Hayato said, "I don't want to live in a world where stuff like that can happen. I'm out. Game over man, game over. If any of you are feeling the same way, follow me to Shibuya Crossing so we can become smears on the pavement and end this cruel game we call life."

"Okay, you are not going home or spending the night alone," Ren said, not wanting to deal with the guilt of one of his friends committing suicide over this movie, "Someone needs to keep an eye on you."

"He's my boyfriend, I'll do it," Hifumi offered.

"Should you call your mom and make sure she's okay with this?" Yusuke asked.

"My mom should be asleep at this hour," Hifumi replied, "I'll just sneak Hayato in and he can sleep in my room."

"At this moment I'd make some kind of a crude joke about you two sleeping together, but I'm so scared and depressed I don't even have the energy to do it," Ryuji frowned.

"Yeah, that movie drained all of us," Makoto said, "We should all just go home, try and have a good night's sleep, and maybe we'll all feel better in the morning."

"I guess so," Futaba sighed, "I'll just show you guys out."

Futaba went over to the front door and let her friends out, wishing them a safe trip home before retiring to her room for the night as well.

That night, practically none of them slept a wink. Every time they closed their eyes, they just keep seeing the horrifying images that Chapped Lip Jun had to offer. And when they weren't seeing that, they were having nightmares based on the bombing scene from that movie. Usually they'd be one of the unfortunate civilians in Hiroshima when the bomb dropped, but other times they dreamed that they were in the present day doing a daily activity when suddenly a flash appears out of nowhere, the sky turns a hellish orange, and fire washes over them all.

It was a rough night for everyone.

When morning came and the likes of Ann, Ryuji, Sumire, Futaba, and Yuuki showed up to Shujin Academy, the hallways were filled with the nervous chatter of the student body, and legit panic ensued. Chapped Lip Jun was all anyone could talk about, 'Did you see the movie last night?' 'How bad were your nightmares?' 'What if this happens to us?' 'I'm so scared!'

It got so bad that midway through the day, Sadayo Kawakami requested a meeting with the students of Shujin Academy. Everyone gathered after lunch hour in the gym so Kawakami could try and talk to everyone in an attempt to calm their nerves.

"Okay everyone, welcome to the 'Chapped Lip Jun Emergency Assembly'," Kawakami said into a microphone, "The whole reason I requested this assembly is to assure all of you that we're all going to be okay."

"How can you be so certain?" One student said, "Who knows what our prime minister or the other world leaders are planning right now? For all we know one of them could be planning a coup to kill us all, and there's nowhere to hide in a nuclear winter!"

Kawakami just chuckled nervously before continuing, "I think what he's trying to say is that there could be a nuclear winter, but it definitely won't happen."

"Until it does," The student shouted back.

"Does not!" Kawakami snapped back, "Because Chapped Lip Jun was just a movie-"

"Based on real life events that could very well happen again," The student said, cutting Kawakami off,

"Look, everyone, I know you're scared that our prime minister is going to snap, push a button, and flash cook all of us like meat in an oven," Kawakami said, slowly becoming more afraid, "But I assure you that it will not happen."

"But when it does, I'll be in a bunker somewhere living out the rest of my days in solitude while the rest of you scrounge and kill each other for whatever non-contaminated food is left," The student said.

This time, Kawakami fell silent as she broke out into a cold sweat. But she wasn't sweating because she was angry at the student's constant interruptions…she was genuinely afraid of what would happen to her and all that she knows and loves if a nuclear holocaust were to occur.

"What's wrong, teach?" The student asked, "Got nothing else to say?"

"No, you're right," Kawakami said, surprising everyone, "Chapped Lip Jun absolutely rattled me. It's without doubt the scariest thing ever put to film, and just knowing that nuclear annihilation could happen at any given moment just scares me to death. I mean, I have so many regrets."

"Well, you've got only so much time to fix them, Kawakami-sama," The student said.

"In that case let me start by telling you all what I do for a second job when I'm not here," Kawakami said, taking a deep breath before loudly stating, "I work at the maid café under the name of Becky! And I'm in love with Yamato Hashimoto!"

"Uh, isn't Yamato Hashimoto one of the janitors here?" Yuuki asked.

"Yes, he is but I don't care!" Kawakami said, feeling emotional, "I'm shouting it as loud as I can! I love you Yamato! Are you out there?"

Everyone remained silent, waiting for some kind of response, but mostly they were just taken aback by how emotional Kawakami had become.

"Okay I guess not," Kawakami said, realizing her crush isn't in the gym, "You're probably unclogging a toilet. Oh well."

Kawakami calmed down just enough to address the rest of the student body.

"Well, I declare this whole day to be a wash," Kawakami said, "Everybody go home and hug your loved ones."

Kawakami left the gym as everyone cheered with glee, knowing that they could go home early. As the rest of the student body piled out of the gym, Ann, Yuuki, Ryuji, Futaba, and Sumire remained seated, the threat of nuclear armageddon still hanging around their heads.

"I know we should be happy to have the day off, but I'm genuinely terrified," Ryuji said.

"Me too," Yuuki chimed in, "I feel so helpless."

"There's so much I haven't done yet," Sumire added, "I never got to compete in the Olympics, or see Niagara Falls, or get married to Ichiro."

"So, what do we do now that school's out?" Futaba asked.

"I think we should go round up the rest of our group," Ann suggested.

"Yeah, let's go be scared and wait for the end together," Yuuki said as he and the other four got up from their seats and left the gym.

Upon exiting the school the five teens were surprised to find the likes of Shiho, Yusuke, Hifumi, and Hayato outside waiting for them. Hayato was currently laying on his side in the fetal position in a little red wagon (i.e Radio Flyer).

"If you four are here then I guess that means your schools let out too?" Sumire asked.

"Yeah," Shiho answered, "It's crazy, everyone is so worked up over this movie. And to be honest, I don't blame them."

"Uh, is Hayato going to be okay?" Ryuji asked as he stared at the tall scarlet haired teenager in the wagon.

"Death…fire…eyes melting…endless despair…poison rain…sadness…" Hayato whimpered as he rocked himself in the wagon.

"He's been like this all day," Hifumi worried, "I've never seen anything like it."

"Uh, Shiho, where's Daisuke?" Ann asked, "I would've thought he'd be here with you."

"He didn't show up for school today," Shiho said, "I texted Ren, Haru, and Makoto to go look for him, and they said he wasn't home. I hope he's okay wherever he is."

"Ichiro did the same thing this morning," Sumire said, "He texted me saying that he's staying home from his school today to hide out in his tree fort. What's worse is that his parents are out of town and he's home alone. Poor thing. He must be so scared all by himself after watching that movie."

"We should pay him a visit once we found everyone," Yusuke said.

Suddenly, Shiho's phone vibrates. She takes it out to find a text from Ren saying that they found Daisuke.

"Oh, thank God," Shiho said happily, "They found Daisuke. He's on a street corner in Akihabara."

"Doing what?" Hifumi asked.

"I guess we're about to find out," Shiho said, "Let's go!"

And so, the group of nine set off for Akihabara, with Yusuke pulling Hayato in his wagon the whole time.

Sometime later, the group arrive at Akihabara to find Ren, Morgana, Haru, and Makoto standing on a street corner, looking at something across the street.

"Guys, there you are," Shiho said as she and her friends approached the trio, "Where's Daisuke?"

"Over there," Haru said as she pointed to what they were looking at across the street.

The group looks and they see Daisuke standing on the street corner on the other side of the street, ringing a bell and wearing a sign that reads, 'It's the End of Days.'

"The end is near! The end is near!" Daisuke chanted as he rang his bell.

"Oh, this is bad," Ryuji frowned.

"Really?" Ren asked, sarcasm mode kicking in, "Because I thought one of our friends going insane and becoming a doomsayer was a good thing. And can someone please tell me what's wrong with Hayato?"

"Pain…misery…unfathomable sadness," Hayato continued whimpering in his wagon.

"The movie last night has taken a toll on his sanity," Yusuke said bluntly.

"We're all just slowly losing our minds," Makoto said, "This movie is going to do us all in."

"Come on, everyone," Sumire said, "Let's go get Daisuke so we can find Ichiro and we can all fear the end together."

They all walked across the street to where Daisuke was. When they approached the frightened teen, he cracked a smile as they were the first friendly faces he's seen all day.

"Ah, my friends," Daisuke smiled, "Come to warn everyone about the potential apocalypse as well?"

"No, babe, we're here to get you out of here so we can go find Ichiro," Shiho said, "We're all going to spend the rest of the day with each other just in case whatever happened in that movie happens for real."

"I can get behind that," Daisuke said as he took his sign off and threw it on the ground, "My arm's getting tired from waving this bell around anyway."

"Well if you're on board then let's hurry up and find Ichiro, dude," Ryuji said, "I swear, I feel like we're going to get nuked at any moment."

Suddenly, a loud booming can be heard in the distance, catching everyone's attention. The group look skyward to see dark clouds blocking out the sun. Lightning flashes across the sky as rain begins to fall. With their nerves frayed, Yuuki and Futaba begin freaking out.

"Oh my God!" Yuuki exclaimed, "It's happening! It's happening! Judgment Day has arrived!"

"It's poison rain!" Futaba cried, "Don't let it touch you!"

"Settle down, you two," Makoto said calmly, "It's just a regular thunderstorm and rain shower."

Hearing Makoto say that made the couple calm down. Futaba and Yuuki looked at their friends and rubbed the back of their heads as their faces turned red from embarrassment.

"Let's just go find Ichiro," Sumire said as she led everyone out of Akihabara, "I think I know where he is."

The 13 teenagers and one cat eventually make it to the Tanaka Residence, the thunderstorm that occurred during their visit to Akihabara passing as quickly as it came, the sun back out in full force to dry up all of the rain. Sumire walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell, waiting for Ichiro to come and answer. Two minutes pass, but no one came to answer the door.

"He's probably in his tree house out back," Sumire said.

"Cool," Ryuji smiled, "I can't wait to see this tree fort of his."

The group walked around the house to a gate that led to the backyard. Sumire managed to open it and she led all of her friends into the backyard where they came face to face with a huge tree house that had stairs leading up into it. From within the treehouse, the group could hear music. Ichiro must be inside!

"What a treehouse!" Morgana said in amazement.

"I thought treehouses like this would only exist in the world of Pseudonym: Minors Across the Street (Codename: Kids Next Door)," Ann said.

"Ichiro's father is an engineer who works at construction sites all over the city," Sumire explained, "He used his connections to build Ichiro this treehouse for his 10th birthday."

"If I had a treehouse like that, I'd never want to go back into my own home," Yuuki exclaimed.

"Let's go inside and see if Ichiro's in there," Sumire said as she led everyone up the stairs. Hifumi and Yusuke pulled Hayato out of the wagon and guided him up the stairs as they followed everyone else.

The group made it to the front door and Sumire slowly opened it up. The inside of the treehouse looked like a teenager's paradise. There was an entertainment center with a T.V and a video game console hooked up to it as well as a couch and some bean bag chairs in front of it. In the corner there was a stereo system that was currently playing Janie Rumhouse (Amy Winehouse). In another part of the treehouse there was a tire swing. The treehouse also had two exits; a door that led to a zipline and a trap door with a fireman's pole. On the wall was a wall mounted basketball hoop with a basketball beneath it. Finally, in another part of the room, there was a keg that Ichiro was laying in front of. The young male gymnast was lying in front of the keg surrounded by red plastic cups, and he looked very depressed.

"We only said goodbye with words, I died a hundred times," Ichiro somberly sang, "You go back to her, and I go back to us."

"My God," Sumire frowned at her boyfriend's stupor, "I've never seen him like this."

"Awesome! A keg!" Ryuji exclaimed as he ran up to it, grabbed a red cup, and filled it up. Ryuji gulped it down before spitting it back out in disgust, "This is pink lemonade, man! I thought there was alcohol in there!"

"I frown upon underage drinking," Ichiro said.

Sumire helped her boyfriend up on his feet so he could look upon his group of friends.

"So what are you all doing here?" Ichiro asked.

"All of our schools closed down early because of Chapped Lip Jun," Yusuke responded.

"Really?" Ichiro asked in shock, "Damn, that movie had a profound effect on everyone."

"That's nothing," Haru said, "Look at Hayato."

The group looks over at Hayato who was on his knees, looking down on the floor.

"This world...this world is over," Hayato lamented, "Gone are the days of joy. Gone are the days of childish laughter. All we have now is to atone for our sins."

"That is a cry for help if I've ever seen one," Ren said.

"Hifumi, dude, that movie broke your boyfriend," Ryuji said as they watched Hayato go through his mental breakdown.

"I think it broke all of us in some way shape or form," Shiho said, "I don't know about you guys, but I had nightmares all night."

"The visions I saw last night are ones I never want to see again," Yusuke said.

"Somebody needs to find every copy of that evil…EVIL movie, as well as the original film strips, and incinerate them all so it can never hurt anyone anymore," Morgana said.

Ren looked around at all of his friends as all of their mental states were slowly falling apart. There had to be something they could do to forget that his movie ever existed. Fortunately, Ren had an idea that would hopefully fix everything. Before he got his text from Shiho to look for Daisuke, he stopped by Dr. Takemi's Clinic to see if she had something that could erase someone's memory, and she gave them something that he hoped would do the trick.

"Hey, can I have everyone's attention, please?" Ren asked as all eyes were drawn on him, "It's no secret that Chapped Lip Jun had hurt us all, and we want nothing more than to forget that last night ever happened. Well what if I told you all I had something that could help with that?"

"No way," Futaba said, "No way you have one of those memory wiping pens from Gents in Grey (Men in Black)."

"Not quite," Ren said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small baggie filled with a leafy green material. He reached into his other pocket and pulled out some rolling paper. When the other 13 saw what Ren had in his hands, their eyes widened and their jaws dropped.

"Ren," Makoto began, "That better be oregano in that bag, and you'd better want to make some pasta."

"It is not, and I do not," Ren responded, "What I have in my hand is weed that I got from Dr. Takemi. She made sure to remove the 'addictive' parts of the drug so we don't get hooked on it."

"So basically we'll all get high, but not become total druggies," Yuuki asked.

"Pretty much," Ren said, "I went to Dr. Takemi earlier today to see if she had anything that could do a 'memory wipe,' and all she gave me was this. What do you guys think? You want to hit this stuff with me so we can forget Chapped Lip Jun together?"

"At this point I'll do anything to fix my shattered psyche," Hayato said.

"Count me in," Shiho said.

"My parents won't be home for a few days," Ichiro said, "I can go for a little mischief right about now."

"Fine, I guess I'll give it a try too," Makoto said, "But no one better tell anyone that I did something like this."

"You're in college, Makoto," Morgana said, "I'd think everyone would be more surprised if you didn't do something like this. Also, there's a high chance none of us are going to remember these next 12 hours."

With everyone agreeing to try Takemi's weed with Ren, the raven haired, bespectacled teen rolled 15 blunts, one for him, one for Morgana, and the other 13 for his friends. Ichiro ran inside his house to grab a lighter and when he returned he lit all of the blunts up. Everyone took a blunt and examined them before putting them to their mouths.

"You guys ready?" Ren asked.

"Ready when you are, babe," Ann said.

"I'm ready to forget about that damn movie, man," Ryuji said.

"See you all on the other side," Hifumi said.

"Let's chase some dragons," Futaba said.

"Alright, gang," Ren said with a confident look on his face, "Let's do this!"

The group put their respective blunts into the mouths and took a deep breath before letting out a long exhale. Almost immediately they felt the effects of the drug, as everything became blurry and colorful.

This was going to be a crazy night for everybody.

(To Be Continued in Part 2…where things get really wacky)