“I swear, that’s the meaning of life.”
  With raised eyebrows, the group of teenagers slowly turned their heads to look at the speaker. She looked shocked that the others were staring at her.
  “Surprised expression? What’s up?”
  Her best friend spoke. “Nami, that was just…nevermind.”
  It was about 4:20pm in the city of Tokyo, Japan. Bits of fluffy snow flew outside of the café where a group of eight high school students had conjoined for the Saturday afternoon.
  The speaker, Nami Takayute (1), looked at the bunch before shrugging. “Fine then, how about you guys try and figure out what the meaning of life is, huh? Yeah, see, it’s not as easy as you think!”
  Yasashiku Naoki, one of three males in the group, raised his hand slightly. “Nami, the meaning of life is a hard thing to decipher…but I assure you, it’s not pudding.”
  Nami’s eyebrows shot up. “How can you even think of saying that?! Pudding is the answer to all of life’s problems!”
  “No no,” Haya Sakamoto waved the notion off after talking a gulp from her hot cocoa. “While I agree that pudding is an oh-so-delicious treat, it’s not the answer to all of life’s problems.” She paused. “Duct tape is.”
  The girls – that is, Nami, Haya, plus Tani Tasogare, Surudoi Omoi, and Leiko Utsukushii – burst out in laughter. Yasashiku and his two fellow males, Ryu Takeda and Isamu Konijiki, remained silent, looking at one another with ‘Why are they our friends again?’ looks scripted to their faces.
  “Are we even gonna do anything today?” Ryu asked in a bland tone, leaning into the full comfort of the cushioned bench and tapping his soda can. There were several attempts within the group to answer, but they instead produced croaks or silence.
  “All I can really think of is just going to the arcade to hang out,” Nami replied slowly, propping the mug of coffee to her lips. “I mean, it’s...” She cranked her head to look out the window that her back currently faced. “…It’s snowing. So we can’t…” She slammed her head onto the table. “Ow…GAH! I can’t think!”
  With not-so-concerned looks, an array of agreement formed. “Okay then, the arcade it is,” Tani spoke with indifference to her best friend’s sudden infliction of pain. Her words caused the others to shuffle out of the booth, leaving behind several yen coins (and their pal) as means of a tip.
  …
  “Where the hell do you think you guys are going?!” Nami shouted into the table.


The Not-So-Meaning of Life
Obligitory Disclaimer: So this story is about a group of kids, living out a Saturday evening/afternoon. This wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that these children aren't of my native culture - in others words, they've not American, they're Japanese.
So please, if any of you know things about Japan or are yourself Japanese, then I apologize for any errors in my representation of the culture (and the names). I first started writing with these kids back in seventh grade, and have since learned so many things. But of course, I still have a ways to go.
Also, there is a "notes" section at the end of this piece, so any numbered words/phrases correspond to the note. Danke~!

  The group of teenagers, who called themselves (more often then not) “The Posse”, fought their way through the crowded sidewalks of Tokyo. The snow had lessened up, producing a grey cloudy sky that had decided to show off the somewhat-setting sun.
  “Everyone! Find a meeting point!” Nami hollered from her spot in the back, about ten feet behind the forerunner, Leiko.
  “Ryu it is!” Haya unanimously decided, and soon the group clumped around the unusually tall, six-foot-four boy. He sighed but continued forward as they huddled around the giant, the tallest of them (Isamu) coming up to maybe his shoulders.
  “Uh, where are we going?” he asked as they reached a stoplight. They stood on the edge of the sidewalk, between the border of cement and asphalt.
 “The arcade, you dunce,” Nami quipped in reply. While in middle school, the two were thought to be siblings due to their ever-quarreling antics and vaguely similar looks.
 He shot her an aggravated glare. “I know, midget.” She fumed while muttering, “Tani’s shorter.” Looking around the group, Ryu repeated, “Where are we going?”
  “Dunno. Nami’s answer seemed to phrase it quite nicely,” Yasashiku said with a grin, ducking to avoid getting walloped by Ryu’s spinning arm.
  Haya answered the question in a form befitting of her character. “Valiant heroes!” she proclaimed, stomping her foot on the ground. Several people in the crowd stared at the spasmodic action. “Today, we journey forth to yonder arcade!” She shot her arm into the air before flicking her wrist, pointing across the street and down two blocks. “The reward for this quest is an evening full of video gaming adventures!”
  Luckily for everyone except Haya, the ‘walk’ signal flashed for the people to continue on their way. As the line of traffic halted, an army of commuters flooded the street instead.
  “Heroes!” she called out from her spot, now replacing Nami as the tail of the group. “Don’t forget about meeeee!”
  “Just go faster!” Ryu hissed, and, laughing as they did so, the group broke out running. But with Nami and Leiko having no sprinting powers granted to them, they soon fell back to the ranks of their Quest Master.
 “Hff…hfff…You guys...really…suck…”
 “Huff…Yeah, well...ehhh…At least we’re not...”
 “Not…hefff…what?”
 “I’ve lost…my train…heff…of thought…”
  Once again hitting a red light, the dynamic trio managed to catch up to their friends. Even though everybody was out of breath, it was Nami, Leiko, and Haya that were totally wiped.
  “I now lack any will to…to…”
  “To live?” Isamu wondered.
  “Not a chance, emo boy,” Haya replied. Completely changing the subject, she pumped a fist into the air. “Today, I will finally complete a level in DDR!”
  There was a pause as Nami started counting on her fingers. “Me, Yasa, Leiko, Tani, Suru, Ryu, Isamu…uh…hmm.” She looked up. “Now that I think about it, Haya’s never completed a level in ‘DanceDance Revolution’. Odd.”
  Tani laughed. “Even I’ve finished a level, and I have no dance coordination whatsoever.”
  “Pfft, dance coordination, whatever,” Surudoi sniggered. “I’ve taken dance classes, and all DDR does is make you stomp your feet.” As the group turned their gazes to stare at her, she quickly covered by saying, “B-but that’s not to say it isn’t entertaining.” Whew, close call.
  After more arguments, discussions, and jokes, the crusaders finally reached their destination – a six story arcade, its ‘awning’ aglow in red and yellow neon lights.
  “Can’t wait can’t wait can’t wait!” Nami jabbered excitedly. Ryu matched her enthusiasm, but would never talk the way she did. Boy, girl – quite different.
  Being easily distracted, the two began staring at posters for upcoming games to be released for the next month (joined in this by Isamu and Haya). Meanwhile, Tani, Surudoi, Leiko, and Yasashiku headed inside to embrace the warmth and drop their money.
  Tani looked at a poster taped to the wall, describing each floor and what games it housed. Before them were rows and rows of crane games (the ones nobody could ever win no matter how well they think they have the hook on that stuffed frog), screaming to passer-bys in displays of LEDs and chimes.
  “What do we feel like doing today?” Tani asked to no one in particular. But someone in particular did reply.
  “Well, we were talking about DDR and stuff,” Haya said, placing her finger on the poster. “Third floor. There’s the music games up there too.”
  Nami snickered. “I’ve always wanted to try those music games. I can prep for next marching season by playing those drum ones. I’m on bass drum next year, you know.”
  Leiko raised her eyebrows in mild amusement. “So Aoshi-sensei finally bumped you up?”
  “Yeap!”
  She giggled. “You know, Nami-chan (3), we always thought you looked so cute on the drumline. There they were, the third years on your sides, and then little you, squatting down in-between them.”
  “Uh…really?” Nami blushed. “Haha, cute. That’s great.” She was used to being viewed as a somewhat ‘brutal force’ figure, due to her tomboy-ish personality. “But you know that oboe is my true calling.”
  “It’s not like the third years are ugly or anything,” Tani pointed out. “Who were you sitting between? Jiyuu and Amika? They’re our friends.” Both Jiyuu and Amika were what people like Nami referred to as ‘real percussionists’. Amika was the strong-willed captain on bass drum, while Jiyuu, tapping away on snare drum, decided to call himself the co-captain after feeling left out. He had been the only other third year on the drumline for the past season.
  The eight of them – Nami, Tani, Leiko, Surudoi, Haya, Isamu, Ryu, and Yasashiku – were first years in their high school. In comparison to, say, American standards, they were sophomores, ranking in ages as either fifteen or sixteen. Only three of them (Tani, Haya, and Isamu) were sixteen, with Tani being the oldest and Nami bottoming out as the youngest.
  “Are we going to play games or what?” Ryu asked, a weird tone of anger rising in his voice. “Sheesh. I’m here to blow my allowance, not talk about drumline.”
  “But drumline’s cooooool!” Nami and Leiko chirped in unison as Ryu took off for the stairs to the third level. The rest soon followed, leaving the two of them observing the crane machines. After a moment’s hesitation, they took off for the stairs.
  “DDR dance-off,” Surudoi announced to the group as they huddled around two machines set up next to each other.
  So without resentment, it was decided. As they began to shed their jackets, hats, and scarves, Surudoi and Leiko hopped onto the DanceDance Revolution platforms, tapping their feet around on the translucent surface. Four arrows, lighting up in either pink or blue, were to be the controllers for this game.
  The two practically hacked through the preferences and start-up, but when it came to the music they were to dance to, it was a long-honored Posse rule that they had to put it on ‘roulette’. As the ticker flicked away and churned through the music, the strange anticipation in the group began to mount.
  Yasashiku stood next to Nami as the two observed the screen. “And…it…is…!”
  “Oi, it’s ‘Asterisk’,” his compatriot observed. Technically speaking, the song was titled “*~Asterisk~” by the band Orange Range, but the way spoken language was set up, that wasn’t how a person was supposed to speak of it.
  As the two on the game platforms began to flail their legs about in attempts to hit the arrows, Tani soon came up with an idea to keep the rest entertained.
  “Let’s do foreign language observation,” she said. They stared at her, blank looks clearly written on their faces. “What?”
  “It’s not like we know that many…” Yasashiku said, attempting to somewhat reason with the short girl. She just brushed it off.
  “We have languages! I know some German from my sister, and Nami’s good at English, while Isamu can speak Chinese and…and…uh, that’s it.” The remaining party members – Haya, Ryu, and Yasashiku – groaned at their being left out of the group.
  “I don’t really feel like offering my Chinese to you guys,” Isamu said before getting whacked in the back by Haya. “What the – what was that for?!”
  “Woah, Isamu showed emotion!” Haya exclaimed, jumping backwards. “Somebody, preferably Tani! Quick! Write it down!”
  “…On what?”
  “Your flesh, what else?” Haya was quite renowned for her tactic of mixing in morbid words and tones within her normal, everyday conversations.
  But as the two of them looked around for some form of a writing surface – and, not to mention, an object to actually write with – Surudoi and Leiko had completed their round.
  “Wait, what?!” Tani cried out in bewilderment upon observing the two recuperating and checking out their scores. “We missed it?!”
  “Uh – yeah,” Leiko responded, partially breathless. “You missed it while being complete bonkuras.” (4)
  “How dare you call us that!” Nami shouted dramatically, pointing her finger at Leiko. “Us? Bonkuras?! I think not!” Her arm began waving violently. “Do you even know what that means?!”
  Leiko scratched the back of her head. “No, not really. I got it from you, remember? The Azumanga Daioh freak?” (5)
  “Not my fault you liked it too.”
  “…Actually, it kinda is, since you practically force-fed it to us.”
  Nami was taken aback. “You…didn’t like it?”
  Haya cut in as she collapsed to her knees. “Nami’s feeling…the teenage ANGST!” She smacked her hands over her heart as she began to (quietly) scream. “‘My whole world is destroyed!’” she shouted in a somewhat vain attempt to imitate Nami. “’I have no mean –’”
  “That was unhealthy,” Surudoi noted from her stance on the DDR platform, leaning back onto the machine. “Any bones pop?”
  Haya’s torso shot up, her hair flying behind her. “Holy God that frickin’ hurt!” She scrambled up before whirling around, landing a kick to Ryu’s ribcage (thanks only to previous years of learning Tae Kwan Doe). “Dumbass!”
  He reeled to the side, one hand over the site of the attack. “Psycho midget…” he grumbled, rubbing the spot. “What was the attack for?”
  The group stared at him in disbelief (except for Isamu – he was staring at a token machine and debating on whether or not to change some bills into coinage). But as this behavior was quite normal for Ryu, it was soon shrugged off as Surudoi and Leiko hopped off the platforms. Tani and Haya, having hardly played DDR (and, quite frankly, embarrassed to admit they weren’t good at it) volunteered themselves for the next dance off. The previous two contenders went down to the first floor to get some water bottles from the vending machine.
  “Oh Yasa-kun (6),” Nami sighed out, leaning against a support beam for the building. “What is the meaning of life?”
  His head shot in her direction, eyebrows raised. “You’re…you’re still on that?!”
  “Uh, yeah. I mean, I was wrong earlier, wasn’t I? Now I want to know.”
  “Well…the meaning of life…” Yasashiku shifted his weight onto his left leg as he gazed across the group. With Tani and Haya slapping the arrows with their hands, Ryu shouting out random words to distract them, Isamu offering no contributions, and the newly-returned Surudoi and Leiko cheering on, the Posse had become somewhat of a sight to behold.
  “The meaning of life is something we’re always searching for, right? So…there’s not really an answer. My meaning may be independence, though yours may be fun. Surudoi’s may be knowledge, while Haya’s may be living the moment.” He sighed, folding his arms across his chest. “We all have different interpretations of things and different goals in life, so it’s not the same.” Yasashiku paused before looking at the shorter girl. “Hmm…I’ve got a question for you, Nami-dono.” (7)
  “What’s with the formality?”
  “Nothing, I just felt like it. Okay, so – what do you think is the sort of ‘meaning of life’ that can be applied to everybody?”
  “Ouch, tough question…that’s reserved for school, jerk…” She looked up to see her friends, which put a smile to her face. “I believe that everybody’s ‘meaning’ can be applied to love in whatever way, shape, or form it chooses to take.”
  Yasashiku smiled as well. “I would have to agree with you on that.”
  “So then…” Nami stroked her chin, intently studying her posse. “Pudding isn’t an answer?”
  “Err…I guess not.”
  “That’s unfortunate."


[/Fin]

Notes (for people who didn't understand the random stuff)

1.) Technically speaking, the way the kid’s names are written is incorrect in accordance to the Japanese language. For example, Nami’s name should be written as “Takayute Nami”, but since we don’t write names that way, it was simply avoided for clarity’s sake.

2.) Building off of that note – if any of you know things about Japan or are yourself Japanese, then I apologize for any errors in my representation of the culture (and the names). I first started writing with these kids back in seventh grade, and have since learned so many things. But of course, I still have a ways to go.

3.) Nami-chan: Adding the “-chan” honorific to a name generally makes it sound cuter and displays either holding seniority to a person or have a close friendship with somebody. In this case, Leiko adding “-chan” to Nami’s name is a display of their being friends. “-chan” is generally tacked on to girls’ names, and, more often than not, the girls of the Posse will call each other with this honorific.

4.) Bonkuras: In the gambling game of bon, if you are the game overseer but cannot do math quickly enough, you are dubbed as a bonkura. Leiko throws out the term because she wants to be a bit more original in her insult – even though she doesn’t know what it means.

5.) Azumanga Daioh: Nami’s favorite anime and manga series; drawn and illustrated by Kiyohiko Azuma. The term of bonkura and the girls’ common use and knowledge of it comes from the series.

6.) Yasa-kun: First off, there’s Nami’s so-called “mutilation” of Yasashiku’s name, which she tends to do a lot (as evident before when she listed off Suru and Yasa instead of Surudoi and Yasashiku). Adding the “-kun” honorific is sort of similar to adding the “-chan” honorific to a girl’s name, except it is mainly used on boys. Nami adding the “-kun” honorific to Yasashiku’s name displays their friendship and informality of conversation.

7.) Nami-dono: The honorific “-dono” has a stronger use than “-san” (Mister, Misses, etc.) but is more casual than “-sama” (which displays a huge amount of respect a person might have for another). Strictly speaking, “-dono” means “lord” or “lady”, and displays an admiration or respect a person may harbor for another person – and, as indicated above, it is acceptable for either male or females. But when Yasashiku calls her “Nami-dono”, he is really just joking around, since the two are of the same age group and are friends. “-dono” is a somewhat dated honorific, but it is still in use.