Overgrown trees, vines and moss were in abundance, evident by the birds’ nests on several branches. Squirrels scampered about to look for acorns as honeybees rested in flowers. Bushes had also clogged up some buildings, which were going to be a hassle removing later. It was believed that this town had been abandoned for years, hence the amount of hours it took to fully clean and revamp the laundromat. To add some light to this mystery though, a calendar hadn’t been changed since 1997, which meant everything here was stuck in that time. The weirdest thing of it all was why people left in the first place, especially when it seemed like this place was really thriving. As far as exploring had gone, there was a supermarket, arcade, carnival, skating park, clothes shop, shoe store, playground, basketball court, and finally, a tiny school with one bus parked right outside the gates, it’s whole interior remaining dusty. The town pretty much had everything the girls needed to settle down, their only job now was to revive it. And speaking of which, Zoa acted as an alarm once more by strumming her ukulele loud enough to cause her roommates to stir in their sleep. She giggled when Monday peeked up from the blanket before groggily getting up to brush her teeth while Jiyoon still remained in deep slumber. Zoa barged into the others’ rooms not long after as Jihan and Jaehee struggled to get out of bed, even playfully tossing a pillow at her. Soeun was already before this ‘alarm’, thankfully, and smiled immediately after hearing the ukulele playing aloud. Soojin softly groaned at both the noise and bright morning, despite the curtains drawn, as she rubbed her eyes.

“Morning. Did you sleep well?” Soeun laughed as the older girl nodded.

“Yeah…but still a bit tired.” 

“Me, too. Let’s have snacks for breakfast, I don’t feel like cooking today since we have so much to do.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Soojin agreed before heading inside the bathroom to freshen up.

A while later, Zoa stopped playing her ukulele, Jiyoon woke up at last, and soon, everyone was downstairs in the motel’s lobby to eat chips and cookies. Since all they could do with their phones was just message each other, there had to be some sort of way for them to get wifi connections without being traced anywhere on the globe. That was when Jaehee brought up the idea that they could perhaps build their own router and then she and Monday could power it. Zoa was especially excited because she’d always wanted to make something like that, therefore, she quickly planned out a blueprint, mapping it’s entire anatomy and directing the group to gather some metal scrapes. Thankfully, this town still had some wires, as well as a few batteries to spare, so while she was busy piecing together this router, the girls decided to head towards the clothes shop first. The glass door was locked on the inside when Soeun was trying to turn the knob, but Jihan simply decided to just knock the whole thing down. As an unfortunate result, a whole cloud of dust rushed towards the girls as they screamed and ran to get out of the way. Afterwards, she and Soojin used their powers to direct wind, which helped clear out most of the dust inside, though it still needed some heavy cleansing. Thus, they started off with water, grabbing a fire hose nearby and connected it with the hydrant. 

Soeun, Monday, and Jaehee had to all hold it together since the pressure was unexpectedly strong, but effective enough to thoroughly wash off the dirt on the walls, floor, ceiling, even the clothes. Next, Jihan carried all of the garments and levitated them towards the laundromat, using half of the soap they had left. The others grabbed some rags and constantly sprayed water inside just to wash through every little crack, making the majority of the store spotless. Soon, the clothes were dry cleaned and were hung back on racks, though their aesthetic-like vintage design certainly piqued the girls’ interest, thus they all took whichever ones they wanted and barged into the changing rooms. Shortly after, everyone walked out feeling all snazzy while laughing with each other as Zoa entered the shop just in time. She was surprised to see how clean the whole interior was before trying on some new clothes herself. They hyped her up because of the clever fashion choices, which then somehow led to an entire dance battle between Monday, Jiyoon and Jihan. When they finally determined a draw between them, the girls decided to revamp the school as it was right next to the clothes store. 

Judging by its large playground, it had to be elementary. They recalled their memories being young kids and constantly playing around in the jungle gym, slides, and swings. Soeun set the fire hose in front of the building’s entrance before prying it open, allowing Jihan and Soojin to use their powers once more, clearing all of the dust inside. Desks, books, pencils, etc. were all over the place, sort of mixed in with the ceiling debris after years of decaying. Thankfully, everything was easily gathered, then carried outside before the girls the fire hose. They found it amusing because it was as though dusts and dirt were flames. This process luckily didn’t take long, thus, the girls grabbed their rags again to scrub off any last dirt. In the meantime, however, Jihan looked through a storage room and found tons of paint, along with the roller brushes before excitedly telling everyone about it. Monday was especially delighted since she loved art, suggesting that they could redesign the whole interior and just draw whatever they wanted. Several hours later, the school was completely new, like it’d never been deteriorating beforehand. Maybe they should look into interior decorating once this was all over since the rooms were still mostly empty.

The rest of their afternoon was spent inside, splitting up into small groups to explore around. Soeun and Soojin stayed in the main room, simply getting to know each other more while painting. “To be honest, I’ve never actually drawn anything before.”

The older girl looked over to see, then immediately giggled after seeing a stick figure elephant. “I think that’s cute, but why an elephant?” 

“Monday suggested it because ‘it fits’?” Soojin was silent momentarily before shrugging. 

“Huh, oh well. Hers and Jiyoon’s comparison is really something.” 

Soeun looked behind her to see the amusing, but obvious difference between their art styles, causing her to giggle. One side was practically giving Picasso a run for his money while the other was as simple as scribbles on the wall. “I don’t blame them though. Stick figures were easier to draw.” 

“Zoa taught me how to watercolor, so I’m just drawing a rainbow now.” 

“Wow….” She gazed upwards at the massive art. “That’s really amazing. You’re doing great.” 

Soojin shyly chuckled. “Thanks.”

“Do you like rainbows?”

“Yeah, they're really beautiful.” Then a brief moment to admire the painting herself. “I want to see one someday.”

“Wait. You’ve never seen a rainbow??” 

“No.” Soojin shook her head, genuinely oblivious. 

“Not even after rainy days? Rainbows are pretty common.”

“Oh, I usually just sleep in because I easily get a fever.” 

“Ah, I see. That’s understandable. Don’t worry, you’ll see one some day.” 

“Let’s do that together, just to make the experience nicer.” 

Soeun spaced out for a second, wondering what that meant, but nonetheless nodded whole smiling a little. “Sure.” 

Just then, both Monday and Jiyoon barged back into the main room while panting, which set off an alarm between both her and Soojin who thought they were running from something. But what they held in their arms said otherwise. “Guys!! Look at these! There’s a crap ton of skateboards stuffed in several lockers!”

“Jihan, Jaehee, and Zoa already hit the park, come on!” Monday added before riding off, immediately followed by Jiyoon, leaving both of them standing there, utterly astonished. 

“S-skateboards?” Soojin muttered as Soeun simply shrugged. 

“I guess so.”

The younger girl led her towards the same lockers and was shocked by the sheer amount of skateboards in a whole pile. It seemed like elementary kids were really into that back in the day. Soeun grabbed one before testing its sturdiness as Soojin hesitantly did the same. Shortly after, they went towards the back where everyone was currently having fun skating up and down the ramps, not wearing any protective gears whatsoever. Soojin’s motherly instincts were over the roof seeing this, but didn’t have the time to say anything when Soeun quickly joined them. The older girl yelped when she rode down the long ramp with ease, quickly taking the stairs down while also trying to avoid crashing into one of the girls. Jiyoon was practically circling the whole area as Monday did some tricks with Zoa. Jihan and Jaehee were both dangerously speeding around as Soeun was trying to catch up with them. Then Soojin, on the other hand, simply watched and sincerely hoped none of them accidentally hurt themselves, clutching on her skateboard. After a while, someone finally noticed her sitting all alone, approaching with concern.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” 

“N-nothing, it’s fine, Soeun-ah.” 

“Come skate with us, it’s pretty fun.” She offered her hand, which Soojin gently grabbed, but didn’t get up from her spot.

“Actually…I don’t know how to skateboard.” 

“Oh, I can teach you.” 

“I’m scared of falling….” 

“Don’t worry, I’ll always be by your side. Here, just carefully step on it.”

Soojin nervously did so, trying her best to balance as much as possible. However, thanks to Soeun’s strong grip on her hands, she was able to at least get that difficult part down, which left the hardest part. She instructed the older girl to use one foot on the ground to push herself forward, which instantly made her lose her balance. Soeun was luckily quick enough to hold Soojin by the waist before directing her upwards again. Now, instead of just having her do this manually, Soeun simply got on the board as well and carefully rode towards their friends. Soojin yelped when the whole thing moved, but she continued to balance on it thanks to her. Everyone cheered, applauded and whistled upon their entry, clapping when they saw the oldest girl skating with them at last. Soojin decided to seriously practice skating with all of their help and pretty soon, she was able to ride on her own, earning proud thumbs ups from Soeun. Though at one point, the older girl had accidentally slipped while riding and she was there to catch her from a nasty fall with both arms. They both froze at the same time, just lost in each other's eyes for some odd reason. Soojin didn't know what to think, but everything around her simply blurred away and it was only Soeun. Their moment was quickly interrupted when Jiyoon teasingly cleared , smirking as she informed them that it was getting late, thus they should go back to the motel. Slightly blushing, Soeun gently put Soojin down.

"Ha…sorry about that, I guess we outta head back now."

"Y-yeah, let's ride back together."

Intertwining hands, they both shyly smiled, first going up the stairs and then skating through the empty streets with their friends. The sky was currently twilight, making the scenario all the more beautiful and fun. Monday and Jiyoon were zigzagging as the kids cheered them on while speeding forward, with Soeun and Soojin right behind. The duo went at a steady paste for the older girl to fully get used to the skateboard. She couldn't describe just how relieving it was to finally ride this dangerous board, or as she's always thought. All of Soojin's friends from school had known how to skateboard, but then that'd always leave her out of the fun since it was difficult to get over the fear of losing balance and falling, thus, she gave up trying. But now, despite how much the world had gone to hell, this was the most fun Soojin ever had in a long time. Like the usual night routine, everyone showered, made themselves dinner outside and stayed up late at night doing whatever. But when Zoa finally got the router working with Monday and Jaehee's help, their moods were lifted once there was wifi. They all cheered and celebrated by watching movies together on their phones. However, the fun didn't last long when the girls saw the news. Military personnels and the government were doubling down on detaining innocent kids in the camps, the hell that brought back nightmares. After their successful escape, a handful of more prisons were broken out of, thousands of soldiers suffering casualties in the hands of fellow escapees as a result. The girls felt the tension growing progressively as they continued watching the news, thus, Soeun shut it off, not wanting to hear anymore. Everyone felt the same, sighing as they all either laid on Soojin's bed or sat on the ground.

"……that was something." Jiyoon exhaled while resting on the mattress, momentarily closing her eyes as Jihan nodded beside her. 

"Yeah…I wonder when this will ever be over." 

"Who knows. At least there's a lot more they're looking for now, so it's not just us." Jaehee said. 

"Also about the whole 'building our own city' thing, how the hell are we going to invite a bunch of kids to help us out? They might not even have the internet like us." Everyone nodded and agreed with Monday, but Zoa had the plausible solution.

"I found a radio at the laundromat the other day and have been trying to get it to work somehow. If we could make a code and record a message, then that way, they can use that code to tune in on the radio to hear that message of invite." 

"But how would they know the code? We can't just write it out somewhere that the military could easily find it." 

"Well not just any code, something that kids would know what it means, but adults wouldn't." Zoa smirked.

"Wh—we're just gonna sit here and come up with some millennial password that's like a repellent against boomers?" 

"Yeah? It's not like they could pull their twisted brains out of their own asses to solve the puzzle." 

"So what do you have in mind?" Soeun asked curiously. 

"Hm…I might know just the thing. In the meantime, any one of you can come up with the message?" 

The girls all glanced at each other. They knew exactly how it felt to struggle and survive on their own, especially with the multitude of near death experiences. Determined, everyone nodded as Soojin answered. "Let's do this."