One big trigger warning. Beware.
Tsukuyomi High- a boarding school in Japan for those with supernatural, mutant, or magical abilities. At the top are the prettiest, the richest, and the most powerful; At the bottom are the losers, the weakest, the poorest.
And ruling above them all from below the social ladder entirely are the Gokiburi Girls. Schoolgirls by day, delinquents by night, the whole of Tsukuyomi respects, fears, and loathes this allegiance of superpowered schoolgirls, led by the feared Himura triplets.
And then Midori Himura came along. As the triplet's final year at Tsukuyomi before they graduate (and Midori's first year) begins, Midori is the heiress to the title of Sukeban. And between controlling her powers over plant growth, high-ranking Gokiburi Girls trying to eliminate her to become Sukeban, the really cute second-year she shares a dorm with, her sisters' horrible reputations, and her sisters trying to 'toughen her up', all Midori really wants for this school year is for it to be at least a little normal. But with gang leaders for older sisters and the fact that every student in Tsukuyomi has some sort of power, is 'normal' even possible?
Geoff and Naomi are dead, and they're depressed, but when Geoff's cat Bernie dies as well, they embark on a wild journey to find it in the underworld.
*****
When Geoff dies, alongside his girlfriend Naomi, they end up sharing an apartment in the Underworld as skeletons. But after a few years, Geoff starts suffering a mid-death crisis. What's the purpose of going through the motions as a skeleton if you can't really live? Then he gets word that his cat, Bernie, just died and he can collect him and bring him home! Geoff and Naomi hurry to get Bernie only to discover that, due to a clerical error, their cat has been lost. With the hunt for Bernie giving new purpose to Geoff's un-life, he and Naomi begin a quest to get back their cat. Battling skeleton pirates, climbing the sky ladder and facing off against the villain who took Bernie, Geoff is determined to find his purpose - or die a second time trying!
[[2018 Wattys Winner - The Originals]]
[[word count: 30,000-40,000 words]]