The Christmas Pine Tree

          In some woods there stood a big old pine tree looking proud and tall. But the pine tree was sad. It was nearly Christmas time and the tree had been watching men cut down other pine trees for christmas trees. The pine tree wished he could become a christmas tree, but it had heard other men say that the tree wasn’t right enough for a christmas tree. This made the pine tree feel it would never become a christmas tree.

          One day the pine tree began to moan with grief. A robin heard its moaning and flew onto one of the tree’s branches. “Why do you sound so sad Mr Pine tree?” the robin asked. The pine tree explained to the robin of its wish to become a christmas tree. “All the other pine trees get picked but I never do”. “Oh but those trees never come back to the woods again, and I’ve seen them get turned into fire wood in the end” said the robin. “Yes but still it would be nice to be decorated and look beautiful, instead of looking plain and ugly” sighed the pine tree. The robin felt sorry for the pine tree and wished there was something he could do to help. But then an idea came to the robin and it flew off.

          The robin flew around the woods looking for the animals of the woods; rabbits, squirrels, mice, badgers, foxes, deers and other birds that lived in the woods. Once the robin found the animals, he told them about the pine tree and its desire to be decorated as a christmas tree. “I was wondering maybe we can decorate the tree to cheer it up” said the robin. “What would we use to decorate the tree though?” asked a squirrel “we don’t have any of the things humans use to decorate trees with”. “No but we do have things like pine cones, acorns, and berries here in the woods that we can use” said the robin. “We can also use bits of ivy too,” spoke a mouse “there’s lots of that stuff around here”. “I call this a good idea,” an owl said “that tree has been miserable for quite a while and it does need cheering up. So let’s decorate it to make it happy”. All the animals agreed to the robin’s idea to decorate the tree and soon all the animals and birds started to gather things for the tree. The foxes and badgers gathered up pinecones, the rabbits and mice gathered up ivy vines, the squirrels gathered up some of their acorns and other nuts they stored for winter, the birds gathered berries from trees and bushes and the deers gathered cattail plants from some ponds. Soon the animals had lots and lots of things to decorate the tree with. The robin even found a big sycamore tree leaf which he thought would make a good decoration. “Okay everyone let’s go and decorate the tree” said the robin.

          All the animals carried the ivy vines, pinecones, acorns, nuts, berries and cattail plants to the pine tree. “Hello Mr Pine tree,” said the robin “we have come to make your wish of being decorated come true”. The tree noticed all the pinecones, berries, etc on the ground and felt happy at once. The mice, squirrels and birds started to place everything on the tree as the badgers, rabbits, foxes and deers couldn’t climb the tree. It took some time but soon the tree was decorated with acorns, nuts, ivy vines, pine cones, berries and cattail plants. The robin placed the sycamore tree leaf on the top of the tree. “How’s that Mr Pine tree?” asked the robin. “This is lovely,” answered the pine tree “I thank all of you for doing this for me”. “We’re sorry that it’s nothing like how humans decorate their trees” said the robin. “Oh it’s alright,” said the pine tree “I’m happy with these decorations. I couldn’t ask for anything else”. The animals were happy they cheered the pine tree up. By now it was getting dark so all the animals and birds went back to their homes for bed.

          The next day all the animals and birds went to check on the pine tree. When they got to the pine tree they had the surprise of their lives. The pine tree had frost over it so now it looked very sparkly and glittery; the decorations had frost over them as well so they all looked glittery and sparkly too. “Woe Mr Pine tree,” said the robin “it seems last night’s frost decided to decorate you as well”. “You are right little robin,” said the pine tree “I now feel more splendid than ever”.

          The pine tree felt happier than ever because it finally got its wish of being a christmas tree, and the robin and other birds and animals were happy too because of how happy they made the pine tree.

           

The B.G.S.'s part 7

6^th May 2025

 

Hi Kiki. After school lessons were over with today, Shizuyo, Yuko and I went straight to the high school section to talk to the boys about our bit of excitement yesterday.

“The boys will not believe this” said Shizuyo.

“They will believe once they see our little friend” said Yuko. She had the B.G.S. in her schoolbag.

When the boys saw us on the school ground they ran up to us right away. “We heard stories about the janitor of your section saw a ghost yesterday, is that true?” said Kouhei. The story of the janitor seeing a ghost yesterday spread through the whole school.

“Well the janitor did see something, but it wasn’t a ghost” said Yuko. She opened up her school bag and the B.G.S. jumped out.

“Oh god!” gasped Tatsuya.

“What is that?!” gasped Hiroshi.

“We do not know what it is,” I said “we just call it a B.G.S. because it bounces, glows and squeaks”. The B.G.S. started to bounce and squeak in happiness.

“Okay,” said Hiroshi, dumbfounded, “I take it doesn’t talk huh?”

“Only squeaks,” answered Yuko “but it seems to understand what we are saying though. When we told it to stay put in the janitor’s closet and to keep quiet it did as it was told. And when we talked to it, it squeaked in response”.

“You girls really don’t know what it is?” said Kouhei. He couldn’t stop staring at it and began touching it.

“As it looks like a mixture of a jellyfish and octopus, it’s hard to make out what it really is,” said Shizuyo “not to mention it doesn’t need to stay in water to survive like actual jellyfish and octopuses”. The boys thought this was strange indeed.

“There is only one way to solve this,” said Tatsuya “we ask it questions”. Tatsuya kneeled down on the ground to talk to the B.G.S. “Okay little guy, I am going to ask you some questions. So I want you to squeak once to answer yes and squeak twice to answer no. Do you understand?” The B.G.S. squeaked once, meaning it did understand.

“See I told you it can understand what we are saying” said Yuko.

Tatsuya started to ask questions. “Okay do you live in the sea?” he said. The B.G.S. squeaked twice for no. “Alright what about living in a lake, pond or a forest?” The B.G.S. squeaked no.

“Maybe he lives in outer space or something” said Kouhei. We thought Kouhei was just joking but the B.G.S. squeaked once for yes.

We couldn’t believe it Kiki. This B.G.S. was an alien? I didn’t know what to think of that; everyone knows aliens don’t really exist in the real world.

Tatsuya went back to questioning. “Okay so you’re from outer space, are there are many more like you up there?” The B.G.S. squeaked yes; another unbelievable answer.

I stepped forward to talk to the B.G.S. “Did you come here to earth yourself or are your friends here with you?” I asked. The B.G.S. squeaked no and then yes.

“I reckon that means this thing didn’t come here itself,” said Hiroshi “did you girls see another look alike of this thing when you found it?”

“No we didn’t,” said Yuko “I reckon this B.G.S. got separated from its friends when it arrived here. It’s always like that in the science fiction stories; strange creatures or something coming to the planet earth and getting lost from each other”.

“If that’s true then this little guy’s friends must be scattered somewhere outside the school” I said.

“Oh that’s great,” said Shizuyo “what shall we do now?”

“Well we should not tell the teachers this;” said Kouhei “because the teachers will call scientists to come and take our little friend away from us. And those scientists will use and might dissect it for experiments, and we’ll never see it again”.

“I’m certainly not having anyone take this B.G.S. away from me” said Yuko, picking it up and giving it a hug. All of us started to shudder at the thought of our little friend being taken away from us and we were never going to see it ever again.

“If there are any more of these weird alien things, we should go look for them before somebody else finds them or they’ll be sent to science labs” said Kouhei.

“I agree with you Kouhei,” said Yuko “it’s not fair that we have only found one B.G.S. and the others haven’t been rescued yet. Besides this little guy will want help of finding its friends, don’t you little guy?” The B.G.S. squeaked yes.

We stared at each other for a second. “Okay then,” said Hiroshi, at last, “its official we are going on a hunt for little aliens”. We started to laugh a bit.

“Hold on a minute,” said Shizuyo “how should we start looking for these little aliens?”

“Easy Shizuyo,” I said “as we found our little friend here at school, the other little aliens couldn’t be that far from here. So we’ll start looking around the school and outside the school grounds and then we’ll go to places near the school”.

“I guess that makes sense” said Shizuyo.

“Okay everyone we start searching for the little aliens on Saturday sharp” said Tatsuya. We all agreed.

“One more thing;” I spoke up “apart from never telling the teachers about our discovery, we must not let any other students find out about this. And we most especially not let that student Kazuko find out because she will just tell on us to the teachers about our friend”.

“Not to mention she wouldn’t care at all of how sad we will become once our friend is taken away from us” finished Yuko.

“Our high school head disciplinarian student Masato Nii is no better either; he likes tattling too” said Kouhei. We all agreed to never tell anyone about our friend the B.G.S. and about our quest of searching for its friends.

So Kiki this was our start of searching for more little aliens like our friend the B.G.S. I hate to admit it, but I do feel like the girls, boys and I have just started our own science fiction story life, even though it sounds really ridiculous and impossible. I knew yesterday was just the beginning of a strange science fiction story life for us and I feel more weird days are yet to come. 

The Cry of the Watery Ghost

          One day, out in a forest three twelve year old boys were dragging a nine year old girl to a big pond. These boys were bullies and the poor girl was their victim. When the four children reached the pond, the boys pushed the girl into the pond. The boys were the cruel, selfish, mean type of bullies who liked bullying other children, especially children that were younger than them. The poor girl screamed and splashed around for help because she couldn’t swim, but the horrible boys didn’t care. They ran off, leaving the poor girl to drown.

          It wasn’t long till the girl’s dead body was found floating on top of the water, and of course the boys didn’t step forward to admit what they did. Sad thing was these cruel boys were the types who would never admit their wrongs and show no remorse for their sins. Another sad thing was no one knew what had happened; they never saw the boys bulling the girl and pushing her into the pond. So the boys were let off free.

          One night, not long after the girl’s body was found, a watchman was guarding the pond. Because of the drowning with the little girl, it was decided that someone would watch over the pond during the day and another during the night. While the man was keeping watch he suddenly heard a noise, a noise of somebody crying. He held up his lantern to see where the noise was coming from and there. Out on the middle of the pond, the water was gushing up from the pond and moving around like it was walking; it was like a watery ghost. The watchman was scared and ran away. A new watchman was placed to guard the pond at night, but he got scared after seeing the watery ghost and so did the next and the next and the next.

          One day a priest came to visit the pond; he heard about the watery ghost and wanted to see what was going on. That night he waited at the pond with the five watchmen who got scared before from the watery ghost. Soon they heard the crying and saw the water. “Oh ghost of the pond,” the priest called out “why do you haunt this pond? Does thou have regrets or art thou a spirit who is not put to rest yet?” The watery ghost heard the priest and stopped moving. Then the water took shape of the little girl who drowned. The watchmen knew at once who the girl was and told the priest. “Please tell me little girl,” said the priest “why are you still here?” The little girl walked over to the priest and tearfully told him about the boys and what they did to her. The priest and watchmen were horrified about what the little girl said.

          The priest and watchmen told the story about who the watery ghost was and about how the ghost died. The three cruel boys were punished severely for their crime and a little shrine was made for the little girl by the pond.

          The watery ghost never appeared at the pond again because the little girl’s spirit moved on to heaven, finally at peace.

The B.G.S.'s part 6

5^th May 2025

 

Um Kiki, you remember when the last time I wrote to you the girls and I wished for something exciting to happen? Well today something exciting did happen and you will not believe this.

It all started very early this morning, at 6.00 am when we were all still sleeping, when a loud noise was heard inside the middle school section. A school janitor was screaming and yelling out “Help!” The noise woke everyone up including the girls and me.

“What’s going on?” said Shizuyo, sleepily “what’s all the noise”.

“I don’t know,” I said “maybe something’s up”.

Something was up alright. Thirty minutes after everyone woke up we were all told by the teachers to get dressed and go to the assembly hall at once. This was confusing as it was only 6.30 am and nowhere near ready for school time to start yet.

In the assembly hall all of us students were curious about what was going on. Some of the students were still sleepy and wanted to go back to bed. Just then the principal came in and told us what happened. The janitor claimed he had seen a ghost. He was checking to see if everything was okay outside, when suddenly he noticed something glowing and bouncing around by the school’s flowerbeds and he thought it was a ghost which was why he was screaming and yelling for help.

“Students,” said the principal “I do not know what the school janitor saw, but I can reassure you it wouldn’t be a ghost because there are no such things as ghosts. But I would like all of you to keep looking out for anything strange today, just in case the janitor did see something. He will be taking a day off from work today to calm his senses. You are all dismissed now”.

“That was weird, the janitor seeing a ghost?” I said when we all came out of the assembly hall.

“He’s been working too hard or been in the sun too much that’s probably why he’s a bit dotty” said Shizuyo.

“I wonder what he really saw?” said Yuko.

“He probably just saw fireflies,” I said “fireflies always make weird shapes of things when they are flying about together. I’ve seen that myself”.

As it was now 7 am in the morning we all had to change into our uniforms and have breakfast. Thanks to the janitor waking everyone up so early we were still very tired.

When it was break time everyone decided to sleep through it as we were all still feeling sleepy. Shizuyo, Yuko and I decided to have a nap too and we went to have a nap under the trees.

Before we did doze off there was a rustling noise from a bush.

“What’s that?” asked Yuko, looking at the bush.

“Probably a squirrel or a stray cat” I said.

Yuko decided to take a look in the bush in case something was there. I told her to be careful.

“Hey Shizuyo and Kyoko look at this quickly” Yuko said.

Shizuyo and I joined Yuko and there lying in the bush wasn’t a squirrel or a cat, it was a red and white strange looking creature with six tentacles. White in the middle of the body, and red everywhere else.

“What on earth is that?” I said.

“Looks like an octopus to me” said Shizuyo.

“Really I thought it was a jellyfish” said Yuko. The creature had a round body of a jellyfish but its legs did look like an octopus but with six instead of eight.

The creature looked at us and it started bouncing about and glowing red. It even made squeaking noises.

Yuko laughed. “I don’t know what it is but it’s adorable” she said. She picked it up and gave it a hug. The creature liked it.

“Do you think this creature is what the janitor saw this morning?” asked Shizuyo.

“Well seeing that this thing bonces, glows and squeaks then it must be” I said.

Just then the school bell rang telling us break time was over. The girls and I didn’t know what to do; we couldn’t leave the creature there in the bush and we dared not take it into the classrooms with us. We knew if the teachers saw the creature they would take it away from us. But I suddenly had an idea; since the janitor was having a day off from work today I decided the creature could stay in the janitor closet while we were in class. Shizuyo and Yuko agreed with my idea so while no one was looking we went to the janitor closet. Luckily for us the janitor had forgotten to lock it, so we went inside the closet and placed the creature in there.

“I hope no one will hear this thing squeak while they walk past here” said Shizuyo.

“I’m sure it will be okay and once the school day is finished we’ll come back for it at once” I said. Yuko said goodbye to the creature then we all ran to our class before we could be even later.

Hours later the school day ended and the girls and I got the creature out of the closet and back into the garden. Luckily for us there were no reports of anyone hearing any squeaks or any other noises so we were safe.

“What are we going to do about this weird creature?” asked Shizuyo.

“That’s a good question,” I said “I mean this thing doesn’t need to be in water like jellyfish and octopuses. So I don’t think we need to take it to the beach or anything. Truth is we don’t even know what this thing is, nor do we know where it came from”.

The creature started to bounce around and glow and squeak again.

“This creature sure likes to bounce, glow and squeak,” said Yuko “seeing it doing that gives me an idea of calling it a B.G.S.”

“B.G.S.?” said Shizuyo “what’s that mean?”

“Well,” said Yuko “since this thing can bounce, glow and squeak; it makes it a bouncy, glowing squeaker”.

Shizuyo and I laughed. “Okay a B.G.S. it is then” I said, still laughing.

“So what should we do with this B.G.S.?” said Shizuyo.

“I suggest we show it to the boys,” I said “they might know what to do”. The girls agreed to the idea. It was too late now for us to go and visit the boys so we decided to show them the B.G.S. tomorrow.

And that Kiki was my strange and exciting day of meeting this strange creature which we called the B.G.S. and I have this feeling that today was only the beginning.

The B.G.S.'s part 5

1^st May 2025

 

Hi Kiki. Today was one of those dark, grey days for Shizuyo, Yuko and I. One because it had been raining all day and two we had been given the job of cleaning out the school basement.

“Urgh why were we chosen to do this?” asked Shizuyo.

“Because of Kazuko that’s why,” I said “she suggested to the teachers that we do it because we had nothing to do today”.

“That bitch,” said Yuko “if I was bigger and tougher than her I would give her a real piece of my mind”.

“Here, here” said Shizuyo.

“Let’s just get on with this and the sooner we’ve finished the sooner we can leave” I said. We got to work at once tidying up boxes and putting books in piles.

While I was picking up some old books that had been left on the floor, I stumbled upon some old comic books. Some were about aliens and spaceships from outer space and others were about girls with magical powers. I showed them to Shizuyo and Yuko.

“I’m surprised old comic books like these are at this school” said Shizuyo.

“They must have belonged to students who used to attend here,” I said “students have always left things behind like books, small toys and other bits and pieces after they graduated and left the school”.

“Seems a waste to me, especially if they were presents from someone” said Shizuyo.

We started to get back to cleaning but Yuko was more interested in looking at the old comics, until I told her to get back to cleaning.

“Do you know,” said Yuko, who was looking at a comic about a magical girl, “I wish sometimes that a magical girl or a mysterious being from other space will come here and give us some joy, comfort and excitement in our lives here, like they do in the comics and manga”.

“Pfft, excuse me Yuko,” Shizuyo chuckled “but the chances of somebody visiting from another planet, a different dimension or a different timeline are somethings that would never happen”.

“I do know that Shizuyo,” huffed Yuko “but still it would be nice to have something as exciting as that happening for real”.

“I do see what you mean Yuko,” I said “I mean nothing exciting ever happens around here much. And nothing new happens much whenever we go to the park at the weekends or at the beach when we go there during the summer holidays. Sure we have school trips to places now and again, but even they don’t excite us as much”.

“Exactly,” said Yuko “and it’s going to be like this till we leave this school for good. That is why I wish that things that happen in books and films will happen in real life while we are still at this school, just to give us a little surprise in our lives”.

“I get the picture,” said Shizuyo “and I do agree our lives won’t be full of excitement till after we graduate and start new lives for ourselves”.

“Come on you two,” I said “let’s just get back to cleaning. I want to get this over with and get the heck out of this dirty room”.

“Same here” said Shizuyo “and once we’re done I’m going to have a nice bath to get this dust off me”.

It took all day for us to clean up the messy basement, put everything in the right place and toss out rubbish and things that were broken. But we were soon done to our relief. Once we got ourselves bathed we went straight to bed; we were exhausted by our cleaning day. 

The B.G.S.'s part 4

27^th April 2025

 

Hi Kiki. Today I’m stuck in bed with a cold which of course is no fun. But it gives me plenty of time to write to you. So today I will tell you what happened when Yuko, Shizuyo and I met Hiroshi, Tatsuya and Kouhei. But I warn you this is a long story.

It all started two years ago at the start of September. At that time Shizuyo, Yoko and I were in our last year of the elementary school section of Kurai Jinsei. We were visiting the middle school section with our classmates to get to know it for when we enter it. Two middle school students were there to greet us and give us a tour.

During the tour we noticed three boys were arguing with a teacher; those boys were Hiroshi, Tatsuya and Kouhei. At this time they were in their last year of the middle school section. The two middle school students told us who they were and that they were always in trouble with the teachers.

“Do they do bad things or something?” asked a classmate of mine.

“No they don’t,” answered one of the middle school students, “but something bad happened to them before they came here, which is why they are always treated with suspicion from the teachers”.

“What did they do?” asked another classmate

The two middle school students didn’t answer the question and just said it was better not to get involved with Hiroshi, Tatsuya and Kouhei. Yuko, Shizuyo and I thought it was unfair for them to be put under suspicion if they haven’t done anything wrong.

After being shown around Yuko, Shizuyo and I asked if we could walk around the school again because we wanted to explore around the school more. The two middle school students thought that was okay as long as we didn’t touch anything and did not disturb anyone. So Yuko, Shizuyo and I went to look around the school again.

“I can’t believe we will be here soon” said Shizuyo.

“Yes I feel like our time in the elementary school section was short” said Yuko.

“Time goes by quickly, too quickly really” I said.

Just then Hiroshi, Tatsuya and Kouhei came towards us. “What are you girls doing here?” said Tatsuya. The girls and I explained to the boys we were looking around the school some more. The boys offered to walk around with us and we saw nothing wrong with that.

“So why are you three in this boarding school?” asked Kouhei. It’s always like that; whenever you meet a new student or a student you haven’t spoken to before at Kurai Jinsei, you would ask that student why they were attending the boarding school.

“Since you are curious to know, we wanted to come here because of our parents” I said. Despite this was the first time we met the girls and I told the boys everything about our problems with our parents.

“That’s the same as us,” said Hiroshi “we came here because we wanted to get away from our parents too”.

“Really what had happened to you three?” asked Shizuyo.

Before the boys answered Shizuyo a teacher came by and told Shizuyo, Yuko and me it was time for us to get back to the elementary school. We said goodbyes to the boys and left. What we didn’t know then, it was the start of a friendship between us.

A few days after that, the girls and I met up with the three boys again. It was on Saturday at the park. The girls and I were playing a game of throwing and catching when the boys came up to us.

“What are you three doing here?” I asked.

“Just enjoying the day away from the school, teachers and things” answered Hiroshi.

“We like coming here at the weekends, especially after having the teachers on our backs for the whole school week” said Kouhei.

“Pardon me for saying so,” I said “but we were told that something bad happened with you three, which made the teachers keep an eye on you all the time. May I ask why?”

“Should we tell them Hiroshi?” asked Tatsuya.

“Might as well, after all these girls told us their stories” said Hiroshi.

The boys told us about their pasts and the reason why they came to Kurai Jinsei. The girls and I were shocked because their stories were worse than ours. Sorry Kiki I have no time to tell you about our pasts yet, but I will soon I promise.

Yuko, Shizuyo and I continued to meet up with Hiroshi, Tatsuya and Kouhei as time went by. We had become friends with each other and were happy with that. Being with each other helped us all forget our troubles and other things. What we didn’t know then was that the start of our friendship was going to give us some very annoying trouble.

That trouble happened during the last week of September. It all started when the girls and I were talking to the principal of the elementary school section in his office. Hiroshi, Tatsuya and Kouhei wanted to take us somewhere on Sunday, so we asked the principal if we could go with them. Of course the Principal was reluctant about letting us go with the boys somewhere without a teacher because of the rules. The girls and I feared we weren’t going to be allowed, when suddenly the phone rang. The phone call was from the principal from the middle school section. For ten minutes we heard the principal saying ‘yes, ah, and okay’ till at last he put the phone down.

“The principle of the middle school section said he has allowed those three boys Hiroshi, Tatsuya and Kouhei to go out with you on Sunday,” said the Principal “therefore I will allow you three girls to go as well”. The girls and I were happy to hear that. “But I do expect there will be no trouble right?”

“Of course not sir” I said. Then we left the office.

That Sunday soon came and the girls and I were out with the boys. We asked them where we were going, but the boys said it was a surprise.

Our destination turned out to be a house where an old man and old woman lived. The man was named Shiro Tamara and the old woman was his wife Akiko Tamara. The reason why the boys brought the girls and me to their house was because their pet Akita dog Sonata had six puppies. The girls and I fell in love with the puppies at once. While playing with the puppies we learnt about Mr and Mrs Tamara. They lost their son Hikaru to an illness ten years ago and didn’t have any other children or relatives, so they cared for Sonata like family and her puppies made the family bigger. The boys also told us they met Mr and Mrs Tamara at the park during the year they first came to Kurai Jinsei, so they knew about the boys past.

“Are you three girls at that boarding school for a reason too?” asked Mrs Tamara.

The girls and I told Mr and Mrs Tamara about our pasts and the reason why we entered the boarding school. Mrs Tamara felt sorry for us and gave each of us a big hug.

“You three have lived hard lives like the boys have,” she said to us “but don’t let that keep you down. My husband and I were hurt after we lost our son but we continued to stay and live happy for our son’s sake. And now we have Sonata and her puppies we have become happy again. I believe you six children will have happier futures when you leave the boarding school, as long as you don’t let the past continue to hurt you”.

I must say Kiki hearing Mrs Tamara’s comforting words made me remember my grandmother. My grandmother, my father’s mother, used to comfort me when I was sad, lonely or angry but she died before I entered Kurai Jinsei. I’ll tell you about her some other time.

Suddenly we heard a commotion outside with police sirens. “What on earth?” said Mrs Tamara. The girls and I went outside with the boys and Mr and Mrs Tamara to see what was going on. And there we saw two policemen grabbing a man and arresting him, but to our surprise it was Mr Kisaragi.

“What’s Mr Kisaragi doing here?” said Kouhei.

“Is that the gym teacher you boys told me and my wife about?” asked Mr Tamara.

“Yes Mr Tamara,” said Tatsuya “that’s Mr Kisaragi the nosiest teacher at Kurai Jinsei who likes to poke around in everyone’s business”.

“And the one who keeps a close eye on us because he always thinks we are going to do something bad just because of our troubled pasts” said Hiroshi.

Mr Tamara walked up to the police and told them who Mr Kisaragi was. The police explained Mr Kisaragi was seen looking outside Mr Tamara’s house for hours by a neighbour, and because Mr Kisaragi looked suspicious the neighbour phoned the police.

“Care to explain why you were spying on my house sir?” said Mr Tamara.

You wouldn’t believe this Kiki but Mr Kisaragi said that because the boys, girls and I were all visiting Mr and Mrs Tamara, he had secretly come along to check we weren’t going to do anything bad to Mr and Mrs Tamara. We were not happy to hear that.

“Let me tell you something sir,” said Mr Tamara, a bit crossly, “Hiroshi, Tatsuya and Kouhei have been allowed to visit me and my wife since we first met them four years ago, and Kyoko, Shizuyo and Yuko are allowed to visit us too since they have become friends with the boys. And another thing the boys have never done anything bad to us; you just don’t trust them because of their pasts”. He told the police the reason why Mr Kisaragi thought the boys were troublesome.

“I suggest we go and talk to the principals of the boarding school sir” a police officer said to his colleague.

“I suggest that too” agreed the second officer.

The boys, girls and I said goodbye to Mr and Mrs Tamara and the police gave us a ride back to the boarding school in their cars.

When the police brought us and Mr Kisaragi back to Kurai Jinsei, the police told the three principals of the school what Mr Kisaragi had done. The three principals were not happy with Mr Kisaragi’s stupidity.

“We are sorry for the trouble Mr Kisaragi has caused officer,” said the principal of the middle school section “we will punish him at once”.

“See that you do,” said an officer “we do not want anything like this to happen again”. The police released Mr Kisaragi from his handcuffs and left.

“First things first,” said the principal of the elementary school section “I take it you girls know about Hiroshi, Tatsuya and Kouhei’s pasts?”

“Yes sir because the boys told us themselves about their pasts,” I said “and we understand how they feel because of our pasts”.

“We also understand how hard it is to try and recover from the hurtful pasts” said Yuko.

“But how can Hiroshi, Tatsuya and Kouhei recover, if some stupid moron like Mr Kisaragi isn’t giving them a chance to redeem themselves?” said Shizuyo. Mr Kisaragi wasn’t happy from being called a stupid moron but we didn’t care.

“Hiroshi, Tatsuya, Kouhei, Kyoko, Shizuyo and Yuko, you six go back to your dorm rooms while we deal with Mr Kisaragi” said the principal of the middle school section.

“Yes sir, but tell Mr Kisaragi to mind his own business next time” said Kouhei. Then the boys, girls and I left for our own dorm rooms.

Mr Kisaragi got into a lot of trouble with the three principals and was warned not to spy on students when they went out of the school again. All the students, including myself, claim it served Mr Kisaragi right. But of course it didn’t stop him from poking into a student’s business inside the school, but at least he minded his own business when we were outside of school.

And that Kiki was how the girls and I met the boys, and about the stupid mistake Mr Kisaragi made. I told you it was a long story.   

The B.G.S.'s Part 3

23^rd April 2025

 

Hi Kiki. Today Shizuyo, Yuko and I were spending the day with Hiroshi, Tatsuya and Kouhei at a park. Outside the school there is a bus stop which goes to a town and a park. The students are allowed to go to the town and park on weekends, but we must always ask permission from the principle or deputy head teacher first. Elementary students are not allowed to go to the town and park without a teacher there to watch them.

Shizuyo, Yuko, Hiroshi, Tatsuya, Kouhei and I always look forward to spending our weekends at the town or park because it gives us a chance to get away from teachers and disciplinarian students. Today I was drawing the pond where some ducks were swimming, Shizuyo was reading a fashion magazine and Hiroshi and Tatsuya were just lying in the sun. As for Yuko and Kouhei, they were eating some crepes. As Yuko and Kouhei like to run around so much they always end up very hungry and eat quite a lot.

“Oh I always like coming to this park,” said Yuko “especially when the crepe and ice cream shops are around”.

“Is food the only reason you like coming here Yuko?” asked Shizuyo.

“No I like the flowers here too, especially when the blossom trees have bloomed” said Yuko.

“What I like about being here is we don’t get bothered by the teachers, especially by that jerk Mr Kisaragi” said Kouhei.

“Same here” said Tatsuya.

“Well he was warned not to bother us again, especially after that stupid mistake he made three years ago” said Hiroshi.

“You’re right;” said Tatsuya “phew I still get a headache just thinking about what happened that day”.

“Same here,” said Hiroshi “especially when he thought we were going to do something bad”.

“Hmph,” snorted Shizuyo “despite after what happened that day, it doesn’t stop him from still poking into anyone’s business and keeping a guard over everyone”.

“Come on all of you,” I said “we didn’t just come over to the park to talk about Mr Kisaragi. We came here to have fun and not think about school today”. I didn’t want to hear any more talk about Mr Kisaragi.

“I agree with Kyoko;” said Yuko “school starts again tomorrow, so let’s have a nice day off before we have to head back to school again”. The rule for going to the town or park is students had to be back at the school before 5pm. Thing is Kiki; when the girls and I met the boys for the first time three years, it led Mr Kisaragi to get the wrong end of the stick. I’ll tell you the story the next time I write.

“Hey I know,” I said “I’ve heard there’s a band playing in this park today. Let’s go listen to them playing”.

“Good idea, I could do with some music right now” said Yuko.

The other’s agreed with my idea and we went to the park’s bandstand where a brass band was playing. All sorts of people including bands come over to play music in the park. We like it when musicians played music in the park because the music makes us forget our problems for a moment. So we listened to the brass band’s music until it was time for us to get back to the school.

The B.G.S.'s Part 2

19^th April 2025

 

Hi Kiki, sorry I haven’t written to you for four days. These school days have become busy for me; when you are a middle school student you go through a lot more than you ever did as an elementary school student. Hiroshi told me it’s harder as a high school student. Oh well the three boys have one more year of school to go through while Yuko, Shizuyo and I have four more school years to go till graduation and we will all be free from school life.  

There is something I must tell you Kiki. I do like being at this school, but there are some people at this school I don’t like. In fact the others don’t like them either. First off there is this student who I really hate. Her name is Kazuko Araki and she is the head disciplinarian student of the middle school section. There are three reasons why I hate her very much.

 

1. She loves to show off like she’s some important celebrity.
2. She pokes around everyone’s business like a guard on prison patrol.
3. She loves getting students into trouble with the teachers and she’s a real telltale.
    

There are many horrible stories about Kazuko; one time she tattletaled some boy who hid candies in his desk to a teacher, and she didn’t care about the trouble he was in. There was also a time when she spied on some students who were having secret talks to each other, just in case they were thinking of doing something bad. But they weren’t doing anything bad, just talking about their own secrets. And then there was a time when she found some girls having a secret midnight snack and she tattletaled on them at once. The girl’s punishment was to clean the whole hallway and Kazuko loved watching the girls working on their punishment. Truth is she loves watching anyone get into trouble and likes watching them getting punished. I won’t tell you anymore Kiki because telling three rotten stories about Kazuko is quite enough.

The other people I don’t like at this school are these two teachers in the middle school section. First of all there’s this teacher named Miss Harada who teaches math. She verbally abuses students who don’t understand maths very well; she calls us stupid and pathetic girls or boys if we don’t understand something and would slam our maths books on our desks in front of our faces. And if you fail a maths tests she would keep you in maths class for two hours after school and do a lot of maths work. Ugh she is such a bitch she shouldn’t even be working here at all; she should be working in prison and scaring the prisoners.

The second teacher is Mr Kisaragi the gym teacher and a master of kendo. He is like a general soldier and he treats students, especially boys, like they are weak little soldiers that need a lot of training. Always talking and shouting with a loud voice. Apart from giving us unfair work outs and training, he is always up our backs; he accuses those who haven’t even done anything wrong and he pokes himself into everyone’s business. He should really be working in the army, not at a school.

Hiroshi, Tatsuya and Kouhei hate Miss Harada and Mr Kisaragi the most because they kept a very annoying close watch on them during middle school, especially Mr Kisaragi. He treated them like they were going to do something bad any second. But they never did of course.

I’m telling you Kiki, Shizuyo, Yuko, Hiroshi, Tatsuya, Kouhei and I will be happy when we won’t have to see those two teachers and Kazuko again after we all leave Kurai Jinsei. I certainly won’t be missing them a bit.  

The B.G.S.'s part 1

15^th April 2025

 

Hello little diary. My name is Kyoko Moto. I found you in an old box of books in a storage cupboard at school 2 days ago. You were all empty inside, not one word, and looked completely forgotten like no one ever owned you. I asked a teacher, Mr Saitou, if I could have you and he said it was okay since no one had claimed to have lost a diary. Believe it or not I actually like writing in diaries; I get to write down my true feelings about when things happen to me, especially when I’m angry and upset. I have written in diaries ever since I was 8 because of my parents. I will tell you the reason some other time.

Since we have become friends now I will give you a name, like how that girl Anne Frank named her diary. I will call you Kiki because it sounds cute for a diary. So let me tell you somethings about myself Kiki. First of all I am fourteen years old and I am an 8^th grade school student. The school I’m attending, well actually living in, is the Kurai Jinsei Boarding school for boys and girls. This school goes on from elementary school to high school, so I won’t be leaving this school till I graduate high school which I can’t wait for. I have been at this school since I was nine.

I share a dorm room with my two friends Shizuyo Sakuma and Yuko Yanagino; both my age. We became best friends with each other ever since we first met three years ago because we all have two things in common; bitter pasts and hatred towards our own parents. I’ll explain about it another time. All I can tell you now is we are happy to be at this school and with each other. Shizuyo likes anything to do with fashion, Yuko likes to do sports and I like to do painting as well as writing. As we are best friends with each other it makes people think we are sisters, despite we’re not. We do all sort of things together; we study together, hang out together and we even complain about someone or something together.

I must admit to you though Kiki when we first met I didn’t feel like making friends yet because of my troubled past. But when Shizuyo and Yuko told me about how they hated their parents like I hated mine it was the start of a beautiful friendship between us. I have made many other friends at this school too, but Shizuyo and Yuko are my best friends.

There are three more students who I call my best friends too. Three boys in the 11^th grade called Hiroshi Masui, Tatsuya Aratani and Kouhei Takayama. Shizuyo, Yuko and I met them during the first year we attended Kurai Jinsei. How we met is a long story which I’ll save for another time as well. Hiroshi is in the baseball club, Tatsuya in the kendo club and Kouhei is in the track and field team.

As Hiroshi, Tatsuya and Kouhei are three years older than Yuko, Shizuyo and I, they are like older brothers to us. But truthfully we have crushes on them; I like Hiroshi, Shizuyo likes Tatsuya and Yuko likes Kouhei. That is a secret I’m only telling you Kiki.

Kiki you have now become one of my new best friends and I will be more than happy to fill all your pages with anything I wish to write about to tell you whenever I have time to write.