Scooter 7.5 - The Best Days of Our Lives

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Hi everyone; welcome back to the Scooters. The whole time I've been writing for this generation, I've been thinking about this really short-lived show called underGRADS that aired on Canadian TV when I was like, 11. Specifically I'm thinking about that absolute cock slapper that is the theme song where today's title comes from. Anyway, let's going!

 

A new year, a new semester rolled around at Foxbury Academy. The campus saw all manner of students: new ones, returning ones, and ones that it would see for the last time. Here is a little bit of what happened during Laila and Koichi's final year as students.

Koichi: L--Laila! Hey...

Laila: Ichi. You got a haircut!

Koichi: Yeah, looks like you did too. You, uh...you look good.

Laila: ...

Koichi: Y--y'know, given how you normally look like a pile of wet socks.

Laila: There he is. (giggles) It's good to see you again, Ichi.

Their campus housing was afforded a nice little facelift for their final year. Besides their personal areas, the main common area got a proper kitchenette and a roomier living room. I don't know why I spent so much time on it for literally just their final year lmao... ok

Some other students also got to live in the home because I finally allowed them to (out of being so fucking annoyed by them just piling out in front and complaining and pissing themselves).

I made them cute because I couldn't stand the sight of having those terrible, randomised townies. Additionally, I gave them names but I couldn't for the life of me recall. And also this is one two times I thought to take pictures of them. Lmao

Since Laila is so into activity (and since EA didn't think fitness and basketball should be separate skills lol...) I got her a punching bag. Perhaps it isn't the healthiest outlet for all of her negative energy but it sure is better than her yelling at people.

Laila: (panting) Incorrect. You're only making me stronger and more likely to win in a brawl.

Over the summer, Koichi allowed himself to have 1% more fun than usual, and so he's taken up--what else? esports.

Koichi: (muttering) Take point! Take point!!! AAAGHHGHHGHGHG

What? I'm having fun.

The winter vacation era came and went, of course. Koichi stayed on campus while Laila went back to Canada, opting to spend Christmas with his parents over a Zoom call. It was nice, but he found himself missing the presence of Laila Scooter. His other two roommates, who had also elected to stay on campus, were just too nice. Too mild.

It was certainly alarming, but he had to entertain the idea that maybe he liked Laila, more than in a friendly way. But that was nuts, of course. She didn't like him back in that way. She couldn't.

That's what he was convinced of, anyway.

The first thing he did when she came back for classes in the next term was ask her out. After all, he was a man of science, and to be sure of something...he needed to test.

Laila: ...you're serious. You and me?

Koichi: Is that a bad idea?

Laila: Hmm. No, actually! I'm down. God knows I have to start off this term right. So, Pepper's Pub like usual?

Koichi: Yeah, that sounds great!

Feeling like she was beside herself with anticipation, Laila had even dressed up for the occasion. But not too nicely. She didn't want him to think she was getting desperate, or anything. Or that she was overthinking things. Even though she definitely was.

Laila: I'd like aaaaaahhh uhhhhhhh a glass of bleach please.

That changed when he came into the bar.

Koichi: Hey...Laila?

Laila: Ichi! ... (sniffs) Wow! You smell really good!

Koichi: (big dumb smile)

Laila/Koichi: ...

Koichi: I mean--! Thanks! Sorry, I meant thanks!

 

It didn't need to be as hard as they were both making it, they realised. They talked and drank and even danced a bunch, letting the room around them melt away for the first time. It wasn't that the two introverts suddenly became extroverted: it's that they could finally ignore the outside pressure and just be the two of them.

Laila Scooter and Kawahara Koichi, against the world.

Bartender, from across the room: Alright, you lot, that's last call for tonight!

Laila: (giggles) I think they want us out now.

Koichi: Alright then. What do you say we get out of here, Miss Laila?

Laila: Stop! Oh my god, you're making me b--b... BLEGH!

And so they stepped outside into the cool, clear Britechester night, letting the sounds of the pub fade away behind them.

Laila: ...this is when we went to St. John's in Newfoundland. Not to be confused with Saint John, which is in New Brunswick, which is a smelly doodoo province. Following so far?

Koichi: I am not. I have had too much to drink and I don't know a single thing about Canada.

Laila: (sigh) Please learn to keep up, Ichi. You wound me.

Koichi: Laila. Listen for a second. I know this is completely unrelated to everything, but...I think we had a good time. I would like to continue having a good time. Uhh--I mean, that is--I would like to have a further...good time. With you. With--with none of the euphemisms. Unless--unless that's something you--you--ugh.

Laila: Ichi. If you're asking me out... Yes.

Koichi: Yes? ...oh, really?

Laila: Really. I'm not fucking with you. I'll go out with you, Ichi.

Koichi: Oh, thank god! I mean (ahem) cool. Good. Can--can I...kiss you...Laila?

Laila: Say no more, you four-eyed stud.

Koichi: Don't ruin this.

*＊✿❀　❀✿＊*

Laila's newfound happiness had to be cut short. The very next day, she got the notification that Damián had passed away. It was her sister that broke the news.

Yasmin, over the phone: ...please come back as soon as you can...

Laila: Yaz...it's okay. I'll...I'll be home. (sigh) I'll get on the next flight.

Yasmin and Hari travelled to the family plot to put Dami to rest with their family.

Rest in peace, Damián Torreo Scooter. I'm sorry your generation was such tedious ass. You deserved better.

Laila arrived home in the middle of one of her courses, full-swing in her last semester. She'd speak to her professors about the whole thing later. Right now, her sister and her father needed her.

Yasmin: (sniff) Thanks for coming back, Lay. I'm sorry it was so sudden.

Laila: Not your fault, Yaz. Listen, you've done a lot already. How about we both go to the bar later, huh? Go lie down for now.

Laila: Ayah...!

Hari: Laila, darling. (deep sigh) You didn't have to come in the middle of your courses for this. We would've been alright.

Laila: I know. But I wanted to be with my family, too. (sigh) I knew...I knew it was time, but I didn't want to...

Hari: I know. The same here. But...they were at peace with it, in the end, you know? They knew full well...

Laila: ...that it was coming. (sigh) That's so like them.

Hari: Precisely. You know.

And so Laila took up residence in her old bedroom she had as a teenager that night. And she never said it aloud or to anyone just yet, but she wouldn't be packing to go back to school anytime soon. It would, in fact, be a long time before Laila would return to Foxbury Academy.

Hari: You're deferring your degree?

Laila: Don't try to talk me out of this one, ayah. I'm doing it. You and Yaz, we need to be a family now more than ever, and I can't do that if I'm fucked off halfway across the world.

Hari: Not that I'd try to stop you, Lay--it's a really big decision. I just want you to be sure of it.

Laila: Have I ever been unsure of anything in my life, ayah?

Hari: Well, you used to be sure you were going to ride horses forever, buuuuut.

Back across the pond, Koichi is worried for Laila's mental health but has his own grades to take care of. So here he is, uh...uploading his consciousness to the intranet?

Koichi: (pant) Damn... (pant) that... (pant) is really no joke. Aauuggh. My brain cells.

Unbeknownst to him or their other roommates, Laila did return one day. To pack up all of her things, talk with her professors and the registrar, and to put her degree on hold for the time being. The effort it took to do all of it in one go was immense. Laila decided she'd have one nap...then she'd go.

She didn't want to face Ichi. She really wasn't sure if she'd be back. She didn't want to give him--either of them--any sort of hope. She thought it'd be easier that way.

And so the next day passed. And the next week, the next few, and soon it was a month. Laila Scooter didn't return to Foxbury, and she didn't leave any way to contact her. If she wanted to disappear, she had almost done it.

Koichi tried to contact her, but she had gone dark on all of her social media. She seemed to rarely use it, anyway--perhaps it was too much of a stretch to think she'd reply. Which hurt, of course.

Koichi hurt like a teenager in love. But the adult in him told him that he needed to suck it up, and keep focusing on his degree. He had spent so much time on it, he couldn't just let himself slide now.

If Laila didn't want to be found, then he would have to be okay with that. And he was--just like he was okay with everything else about the girl so unlike all the others he'd met before.

After all, the Bot Savants needed their no. 1 team lead back in action!

Koichi: ...

Club members, aside: ...

Koichi: ...what? What're you all just staring at me for?

Club members: Koichi, you haven't said anything in like, 30 minutes. What are we supposed to be learning again?

Koichi: Oh. Uh...right. Upgrade parts.

When he learned that he was graduating at the end of his four-year stint at Foxbury, he wasn't surprised, naturally. But neither was he elated like he thought he'd be. He simply just was.

Koichi: (sigh) Well...we did it. We fucking did it, Ichi.

Damn. I'll be working off this debt forever :)

Koichi: ...you've been a good roommate, girl with red hair.

Roommate: My...name is Rae-Anne. You didn't know my name for a whole year?

Koichi: Nope. And I will immediately forget once I step off this campus.

Roommate: Yeah, okay, fair.

Koichi Kawahara has graduated!
Degree: Distinguished in Computer Science with Honours
GPA: A+

*＊✿❀　❀✿＊*

Well, we did it! For one of them, at least. We shall see what happens to Laila in the coming chapters, but for now, let's just be satisfied that Koichi got through his terrible, terrible time here at Foxbury. And now I shall never do it again :) See you next time, friends!