บท 14: Pleasant day
After exchanging pleasantries and introducing ourselves as we got up the second floor.
We bade each other good night and went to our separate rooms.
I took a quick night shower and went to bed. It was past midnight now and I only fell asleep 2 hours later.
-------
My first class starts at 7, and my last ends at 1, and after that is free time for me.
It was about 5 right now so I only slept for 3 hours, but unsurprisingly I still feel awfully good and positive, despite the lack of sleep.
I went and prepared myself as I took a shower and an early morning walk.
I went out of the house and went to buy a loaf of bread and a pack of coffee as well as a pack of cigarette, on a nearby store.
When I went out of the store. I saw a piano displayed on the street near the entrance of a subway station. There were occasionally people passing by and checking out the piano by pressing the keys.
I also decided to approach the piano and sat down on the chair in front of it. I put down the things that I bought and started pressing random keys.
Back in the organization, we were taught about how to perfectly blend in with the surrounding and environment through various means, just so we could have more opportunities to get closer to our target.
One such way is by acting as a hired service provider such as a photographer and a musician.
So basically, they taught us how to play many kinds of instruments. I learned how to play numerous types of instruments but the piano was not a part of it.
I did not took my piano lessons seriously back then and would rather spend my time idling with my only real friend back at the organization.
I started pressing the piano display and was randomly pressing the notes. It was really hard to memorize all the notes and I had a hard time getting the gist of it at first.
But after playing around some more without a care for the surrounding people, I finally understood the basics and fundamentals.
I started playing a song I always heard my father listening to. I played roughly at the start but slowly improved throughout the song.
And when I finally finished the song, I heard the crowd of people that gathered around me, clapping and praising me.
But one particular individual caught my attention. He was so damn flashy.
He screamed "Bravo! Bravo!"While clapping his hands really loud and hopping around.
The people were looking at him but couldn't find themselves to mock his embarrassing actions. Because he looked just like a model from a magazine.
With brown hair, tall stature, sporting a fashionable branded clothes, and an eye-catching smile.
He then stopped and approached me before he asked "can we get an encore please, maestro?"
'The hell's wrong with this weirdo. His energetic antics reminds me of a certain annoying red head'
The people also seemed to be intrigued with what the man said as they too, requested another performance.
I replied. "Sorry. But I still have places to go. Maybe some other time."
The crowd was dismayed but they soon slowly dispersed after.
The energetic man approached me again as l was about to walk back.
"Hey there Mozart! Can I invite you for a coffee later?"
"....sorry. I'm not into that."
"Oh nonono. It's not like that. I wanted to discuss to you something about a proposition. That is if you're interested. Of course I won't force you. That is only if you don't reject me HAHAHAHAHAHA! Kidding! Just kidding! Did you get it?"
'Yup. He sure is annoying.' I thought to myself while the man was still chuckling.
"I'm really sorry but I would have to decl-'
"Yeah! I understand partner. You're kinda busy right now so I'll meet you up later. I'll be here tomorrow, same time same place. I'll be seeing you later, Mr?"
"Amaru. But as I was saying I really don't-"
"Amaru yeah? You could just call me Joseph. Well, bye then Amaru. See you soon!"
He shouted as he walked away while facing me. I did not bother following him to explain, and just decided to stay away from this place for the time being starting tomorrow.
------
When I got back on the house. From the lounging area, I could see Darren, the cop, sleeping on the sofa while the TV is still playing.
I approached him and turned off the TV before going back to my room to wear my school uniform.
It was a white coat with black linear patterns, paired with a black pants, and a white emblem found in the shoulders. I wore a black shirt for the inside and started buttoning up the coat. Then I went out of the house and rode a bus.
After the bus trip, Is a bit of walking to get to the school. Along the way, I saw an abandoned farm house on the side of the road.
And then I saw.
A bunch of cats scuttling around to and fro.
The school was located on a forest area where lots of trees could be seen.
I believe that this is a sign.
A sign that I will enjoy each and every single day of school, even when it turns out that school is actually shitty.
Since I still have at least 40 minutes before the first class, I played with the cats first.
And while doing so, I decided.
That if this school fails to keep my interest, then the closest I would be to its vicinity would be this forest barn, filled with love and hairballs.
I called all of them towards me while holding the lunch that I prepared earlier.
I then picked up a flank nearby and spread it on the flank and started feeding the cats.
Then I stroked their furs, one by one.
After playing around with the cats, I went back on my way and entered the school gates after I showed the guards a pass slip.
I then asked around for the Directors office, which I ultimately found soon.
-------
I was now standing in front of metal door with a plate that indicates ~Director's Office~ in it. I had a very hard time looking for this office as it was actually located on the 6th floor of the large faculty building.
'The owner of this office is one of the persons on my hitlist. I could take this opportunity to learn more about my target.' I thought to myself as I was preparing to enter.
When I opened the door, the one who greeted me was a short middle-aged man sitting near the Director's table.
He looked at me and stood up before saying.
"You must be the transferee? Amaru Sta. Maria correct?"
"Yes, yes I am."
"Splendid. I'm Mr. Kramer. The Director's Secretary."
'Of course it was the Secretary. what the hell was I expecting from a person dealing with dangerous people.'
The secretary urged me to sit and proceeded to interview me as he too sat down.
He asked some casual stuffs such as "why did I enroll this late in the year?" and "what is the status of my parents?" and many more, which I answered with carefully thought out bullshits.
Then he took a picture of me as I stand on a black wall from the backroom.
He said it was for my school ID which he processed immediately and I received, before leaving the room.
-------
I went to the room that Mr. Kramer assigned me in and saw a man at the age of 40, standing outside the door. I approached him and introduced myself, then the man told me.
"I'm the adviser of this class, my name's Mr. Heinrich. Welcome to this school Mr Sta. Maria. Go enter on my signal, and introduce yourself to your new classmates."
I nodded, then Mr. Heinrich entered and announced to the class the news, then he gestured to the looking glass of the door for me to enter.
I opened the door and stood in front of the class. Mr. Heinrich motioned and urged for me to start introducing myself.
I could not help but to blank out for a moment as what I saw in front of me was out of my expectations. Even so, I still managed to recompose myself.
Because on the front seat, directly where I'm standing from. I could see the man I met back at Bob Koi cockpit, the one who directed his intense bloodlust at me.
He was looking at me straight in the face with that sleepy eyes of his.
But it seemed like he didn't want to make a commotion here, so I proceeded to go as planned.
"You can all just call me Ocho. Pleased to meet you everyone."
Weirdly enough, no one was surprised when I didn't announce my full name and a nickname instead. Even Mr, Heinrich wasn't surprised. He just urged me to go and take a seat anywhere that's free.
I picked the centralmost seat on the very back and relaxedly sat down.
Then the girl in front of my seat turned towards me and said something.
"Excuse me. That's Kyle's se-"
"Pardon me?"
I cut her off and stared directly at her lips before redirecting it at her eyes. She stuttered as she replied to me with a blushing cheeks.
"N-nevermind. He's absent today so forget about it."
She then turned her back towards me and listened to Mr. Heinrich.
The class was going on for awhile now and nothing eventful or noteworthy was happening.
Just a typical class with a typical high school level mathematics lesson.
But 20 minutes before the end of first class, a girl started to secretly use her cellphone inside her bag.
Then Mr. Heinrich noticed it and threw the white board eraser towards the girl. It hit her solidly in the forehead which stunned her for a few seconds.
Then Mr. Heinrich approached her in quick strides.
"Stand up Ms. Nicole."
"Yes sir"
The girl named Nicole stood up with a frightened expression while her head was lowered.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you Ms. Nicole"
"Sorry sir"
"Good, you know what you did wrong, right?"
"....yes sir. I'm sorry. I was waiting for an update from the doctor, my mother is in the hosp-"
Nicole was trying to explain herself, when Heinrich suddenly slapped her left cheek.
"I did not ask, Ms. Nicole. Look at me. I said look at me!"
Nicole seemed like she wanted to cry but Heinrich still slapped her again and shouted "where's your respect?!"
Heinrich' actions just answered some of my questions. Because earlier, when the class started, everyone was very silent and behaved very well.
Everyone was listening silently to Heinrich without doing any funny business. I thought it looked strange, considering everyone in this classroom are either a pampered and prideful children of influential people, or persons with a powerful background.
I was curious if my classmates were all actually the studious types or just following the rules obediently.
So the answer I came up right now, is that all of them are afraid of Heinrich and intimidated.
Nicole now has a slap mark on her face and Heinrich was about to slap her again, when the door opened abruptly and someone entered that gave me a pleasant surprise.
"Didn't know you were actually photogenic Mr. Heinrich. Could you please give me a smile?"
With a cold voice slightly cracking and an annoying look on his face, partnered with a mischievous smile.
It was Darren. The occupant of the room beside mine back at the shared house.
He was holding his cellphone while pointing its back camera at Heinrich.
Then the same girl in front of my seat whispered with an annoyed expression "This is just great. Now this delinquent just entered the ring."
'Delinquent?' I asked myself.
"Mr. Darren. You're late."
"No dude. I was outside the door since forever. I even caught the whole thing from the looking glass. I must say, you have one sexy hand Mr. Heinrich"
".....stop with your nonsense Darren. Hand me that thing this instance."
Darren turned off his camera and sighed before approaching Heinrich and saying in a low voice, barely enough for everyone in the room to hear.
"You don't seem to understand our roles right now you fucktard. You, a newly hired teacher on a prestigious school, just got filmed smashing a princess' face. Now tell me, Heinrich, what do you think will happen if I send this to the dean, or better yet post this video with a weird ass caption? Huh?"
"...I understand. You made your point now. So give me that already."
"Sure. Look at me in the face first."
Heinrich gritted his teeth before looking at Darren. Then Darren slapped him with all his might which made Heinrich stagger a bit before holding his cheek and composing himself.
"That's where my respect is." Then Darren walked towards the podium and took something out of Heinrich' bag
"Tell you what, I'll swap my phone with your pack of ciggies, yeah? Fair deal right?"
Heinrich was just looking at him with cold eyes as Darren took the cigarette pack out of his bag, then he walked towards my direction and sat on the seat on my left.
He glanced at me once before relaxedly sitting on his chair and used a lighter to light one of the cigarettes. He puffed once and blew it towards the ceiling.
"What are you waiting for Mr. Heinrich? I came here to learn, and we still have at most 20 minutes of class time. I'll give you the phone at lunch break so go and do your job right now." he said calmly but everyone could feel the threatening tone he used.
Heinrich sneered at him once before walking back to the podium and awkwardly continued the lecture from where he left off.
Darren, who was fogging up the back area of the air conditioned classroom, looked at me from his shoulders and said in a low voice
"So you're actually the new guy eh? Amaru."
"Yeah...By the way, just call me Ocho. I'm more comfortable with that one."
"Yeah whatever. It's not like someone would flaunt their surname or even names in here."
Darren said as he huffed and puffed a smoke.
He continued as he looked at a certain girl.
"Except for that girl, Nicole, the one who just got slapped. She told someone her surname and the next day, everyone connected with the underground scene, treated her like shit. She was actually the daughter of a lawyer."
Now another one of my question was answered. Since everyone around here had some type of special family affiliations, not just anyone would dare flaunt their name for everyone to hear and use to get information out of.
It's a way to preserve one's safety and social survival.
'So doesn't that mean he's ostracized too? After all, he's part of some junior police squad as he said so last night.' I thought to myself and then asked him.
"Would you mind telling me her surname?"
"Woah. Didn't know you were the gossipy type. But sure. She's Nicole Zeman. You'd do well not to aim for that chick, she's one real piece of work."
'...that name....well would you look at that. After a pleasant night, now comes a pleasant day. Didn't know I'll find Ozzy's little girl so easily.'
A bunch of ideas popped up in my head regarding my plans for the future. And as I was thinking to myself, Darren once again puffed the last bit of the cigarette before turning at me and saying
"Welcome to ICARUS Academy."
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