DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT A PART OF THE PLOT!
Chapter 9 – WORLD PARTY
Right now, it was half past eleven at night, every living being was quiet at the moment, but I was super energetic. Only about thirty more minutes and we would say goodbye to 2009. So now I had decided to stay up and enjoy myself throughout the night! Haha!
Looking at the assortment of luggage beside me, they reminded me that tomorrow, 1st January 2010, the five of us were going to be on the flight to Tokyo. Yes! We would be free from the Devilish Director forever! Muahahaha~! Furthermore, the letter stated that if we had grown accustomed to everything there or we did not wish to return to Malaysia anymore, we could stay and engage in further studies as international students until graduation! It looked like we just happened to lose something we did not really need after all.
"静かに…" My GPS device rang again. It was Zexion. He sent a message, "A kind of early Happy New Year to you! Have you packed everything?"
"Yup, everything's fine here… What about you?"
"OK as well. The others were quick with their preparations, too, but do make sure to bring along all required documents."
"… Passport, student visa etc. and everything else, check!"
"We will meet at the airport at 0600 hours sharp and wait for our flight at nine. The tickets are here with me. I will distribute them to you all tomorrow."
"Yes sir!"
"I am not that old…"
"Sorry! Yes Mister!"
"Oh, right, Kairi called a while ago, about the Lower Secondary Assessment (PMR) Exam, we had agreed to sit for it before and our names were still on the candidate list, what to do about it?" PMR was a Malaysian public exam taken by Form 3/9th Graders, replaced by PT3 in 2014. We had to study at least eight subjects for it.
"… The letter stated that the school we are heading to reopens in January, and we could choose to be back in April the same year, right?"
"Yes."
"If I decide to return to Malaysia again, then I would take the exam. If not, just leave it. There will still be time to decide. The PMR certificate won't help us much in other countries anyway."
"Hmm, alright, I will also ask the others about what they think."
"Hey, did your parents know about the expulsion?"
"Of course not, if yes, would I still be alive to sit here and send you messages?"
"Good, because from what I know, Devilish Director is unaware that we are going to Japan. If she finds out, we're dead meat!"
"Why?"
"Because our parents will be sure to go after and question the school regarding their decision, and that Devil would tell them everything. And I guess you can imagine what would happen next. Also, in May, when that first invitation letter arrived at school, Devilish Director, Fayra and her whole family were not in Malaysia, that means none of them knew about this student exchange programme. If they found out about it, they would inform the school in Japan. If that happens, we would not be students anymore, for real."
"Right…"
"Besides, that Devil might hear about our plan of studying in Japan from our parents! It is too risky, so it would be the best to only let our parents know that we are going to Japan simply due to the student exchange program."
"OK, copy that."
"Eh? One more minute to midnight, would there be fireworks?"
"Of course, why not? Counting down…"
After reading the last message, I turned to my left to look at the clock on the wall… ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" The crowd outside screamed and shouted and then cheering could be heard throughout the neighbourhood. The air was filled with fireworks of a variety of colours, cracking everywhere. Despite the loud commotion, I was having fun too. Yeah!
I wished Zexion, Demyx, Roxas, Axel, Kairi, Naminé and Ven a happy new year via messaging, and then I hit the bed to sleep. ZzzZzzZ…
"Somebody call 911!" … What? Fire?! Holy Bananas! I jumped out of the bed and grabbed the phone, and I was just about to press the buttons- STOP! Wait a minute, wait a minute… Was 911 not the emergency hotline of the United States? What did it matter in Malaysia? I was in confusion, and then I finally realised that it was just my alarm clock. What the heck? I thought the fire brigade was needed… (P.S. The main point was that this song was loud enough to wake me, who slept like a dead pig, up, hehe! I do not own this song!) Let me see; it was now five in the morning. After I had a quick breakfast downstairs and got everything ready, I shouted facing upstairs, "Hey! Mum! Dad! I'm going to the airport now! I will call you guys when I hit Tokyo, yeah?"
There was a muffled sound, "OK OK, wait! Grab the Japanese Yen on the table! Spend it wisely, alright?" That was my dad. "OK! I'm leaving now! Bye! "Bye bye!" Both my parents responded. After I got outside, I took a taxi straight to the airport.
"Attention all passengers on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH4896 to Tokyo Narita via Kuala Lumpur KLIA, the check-in counters will be closing in ten minutes. Please proceed to Gate XX for boarding," the announcement blared.
The five of us waited at the airport for some time, and finally it happened! We were blasting off! Yo! Despite the fact that my family and I have just been to Beijing in late November, and this was my second flight ever, it was as exciting as ever.
After the security check, and one tunnel after another, we finally arrived at the entrance of the plane. The cabin crew had smiles on their faces and they welcomed us all on board. Coincidentally, the five of us sat together; three at the front and two at the back.
After three minutes, we followed their instructions and fastened our seat belts. After the briefing on safety precautions, everything went silent. The lights went out. The noise of the engines was getting louder; I could feel the aircraft moving as well. I looked out the window, we were moving forward very slowly towards the runway.
And then we halted. Suddenly, the aircraft charged full speed ahead. Holy Bananas! Not even enough time for mental preparation… I was jerked backwards and my back glued to the seat, the blood in my blood vessels suddenly flowed rapidly to my feet, looking outside of the window… We were in mid-air! Woohoo! The lights came back, the cabin crew started to get busy once more.
(OK! Ladies and gentlemen! Ahem! I supposed that most readers here would have been on a plane at least once, right? Plus the details on the plane were kind of boring anyway. So I should probably just skip them. You guys should have more experience than I did.) We ate then slept, woke up and ate again. Rinse and repeat…
I dozed off for a while, and then I felt the aircraft vibrating more than usual. Hmm, the scenery outside was not bad either, and there was snow… Oh! We had reached Tokyo!
We retrieved our respective luggage and got off the plane. The airport here was really huge! Beijing's was humongous too. The signboards were written in both Japanese and English, so we did not get lost… Finally, we saw "イミグレーション" [Translate from Japanese: Immigration], time to officially enter the country!
I waited in the queue for about three minutes, finally it was my turn. The Japanese seemed very busy, bustling about here and there, would they ever get too tired? A professionally dressed lady sitting behind a counter greeted me, "こんにちは。 パスポートを 見せてください。" [Translate from Japanese: Good day. Please present your passport.] Luckily I could understand what she was saying, so I handed over my passport.
She was very well-informed; once she saw the line "Malaysia" on the red booklet I gave, she immediately switched to English, "What is your main purpose of coming to Tokyo?" Her pronunciation sounded a bit off. I answered nevertheless, "Overseas study. Student exchange." I then followed all her instructions. "… OK, thank you for your cooperation, you may go now. Have a nice day," she smiled and said, returning me my passport. "ありがとう ございました。" [Translate: Thank you very much] I replied, also returning a smile. And then I left.
After that whole thing, Zexion, Demyx and Roxas were already waiting for me. "Sorry to keep you all waiting for me!" I dragged my luggage behind me while I was running over. "Hey, have you seen Axel?" Roxas asked. I said, "No? Why? Didn't he reach the immigration counter faster than I did?" How strange, did he get stuck or what? Soon, he showed up.
Zexion asked, "What took you so long?" Axel exaggerated, "Oh god! That dude over there kept asking me in Japanese, and his English wasn't accurate! I had to use sign language, and then he finally got what I was saying…" … Looks like it was still better to learn another language after all, no disadvantages… "Let us go through security," Zexion said.
I could only say one thing: The Japanese security was very complicated! They checked everything over and over again, what the heck? Did I look like a terrorist? I was only fourteen years and eleven month old… But in all honesty, whatever it took to ensure everyone's safety.
"So the school we are going to is 'Matsuaki Academy (まつあき がくえん)'? [Translate from Japanese: Pine Autumn Academy]" Demyx asked. I nodded.
[CUT! The Authoress was here once again! I hoped this was not annoying to you guys! Actually this school was FICTITIOUS. It was of my idea of a Utopian school; its infrastructure, teachers, activities, academic performance etc. were of one of the best in the world. The word "academy" was only a general umbrella term; it comprised of kindergarten to university, there were also technical schools, colleges, subject-based colleges, private schools and so on. (That was why I said it was fictitious…) The area coverage of the academy was equivalent to that of a small town. There were many dormitories for those who did not reside in Tokyo. Peace out! Back to normal]
The snowing scenery outside was simply beautiful. It was January, the snow would melt in February or March, and then it would be spring in April. And when that time arrived, we had to leave again. We could only stay until spring. Just then…
"Excuse me, are you one of the students who are participating in the Matsuaki Academy student exchange programme?" A sweet voice came from my right. We all turned to said direction; a teenage girl with a ponytail. Her face was kind of chubby, I kind of wanted to pinch it…
"Yeah, that's us," said Axel. The girl was stunned for a second. And then she said, "So you guys know how to speak English… Thank god, I thought I was going to have a hard time!" … Were Malaysians' language talents so bad that we could only understand our own language? We had to study for three mandatory languages, namely Malay, Chinese or Tamil, and English for god's sake!
"OK, I will introduce myself first. I am Mizuhane Harayuki, fifteen years old, a student from Matsuaki Academy. Pleased to meet you guys," she said and bowed slightly. I was not planning to get outdone at the moment, "初めまして。 私はNemixです。どうぞ よろしくお願いします。" [Translate: First time meeting you. I am Nemix. Pleased to meet you.] The girl got a little excited, "You know Japanese too?" "Only a little bit…" I said sheepishly.
She clapped her hands once with glee and said, "Right, you people are Malaysians… OK, you are the last batch, now we are going to take the Shinkansen!" We followed her, Roxas asked me, "Shinkansen?" I answered him, "The 'new trunk line' literally, or better known as the bullet train. The first train, running since 1st October 1964, connected Tokyo and Osaka. The speed is 240 to 300 km/h (149 to 186 mph). It helps to alleviate the traffic confusion which was a pain in the neck for the Japanese government."
Before we entered the train, I could see the bustling scene of the railway station. There was a sea of people; looks like many Japanese were used to taking trains instead of driving their own cars. I also took a look at the railway map; unprecedentedly complicated… Harayuki called, "Hello! If we don't get on, we are going to miss the train!" Only then I got into the train. The air outside was cold, so heaters were installed in the passengers' compartment. "It will take fifteen minutes to reach our destination. There were many services available in the train, let's take a seat." Harayuki found a space enough for six people, and then we all sat down. How comfortable…
The train departed. That was fast! The scenery outside was a blur. I had been on the bullet train from Beijing to Tianjin, the speed was 324 km/h and I could also see two suns outside! One thing to feel grateful was that the trains of both China and Japan were very hygienic… And the vibration was minimum when the train moved. If you placed a glass full of water on the desk, it would not spill out, too. Now that was what I call high technology, when would Malaysia have something like this? (Answer: when flowers wilt and I got old… Haha, just kidding, we have Light Rail Transit etc. in Malaysia too.)
Fifteen minutes whizzed past soon, and we also arrived at our destination. "Holy Bananas! There's a Shinkansen railway station just outside the school?!" I was stunned! "Hmm, not really, we still need a five-minute walk," Harayuki, who was walking in front of us, answered. Oh god! It would be better if there was an airport! [Authoress: Are you nuts?! Do you know how much noise pollution will that cause?! *Knocking Nemix's head* Nemix: Ow… Sorry…]
We carried our luggage of various sizes and entered the gigantic Matsuaki Academy. Due to the winter climate and the mild snow, the students who were strolling in the school were wearing their winter uniform. They were walking in the snow in cliques. Harayuki could sense that we were confused at what we witnessed, so she took up the job of a guide and started explaining, "We have four seasons here, so we have four types of school uniform set; and for each set, we have two uniforms, one for special occasions and assemblies, and one for normal school days. As for the sportswear, one for spring and summer, one for autumn and winter, so there are two."
Zexion thought for a while and asked, "Will it cost a lot of money?" Then I realised; Japanese school uniforms were very expensive, some could cost around 100000 Yen! Let alone buying the whole attire, four seasons, sports attire etc. … Bankruptcy alert.
"It costs a lot indeed… But to foster international friendship, the participants of this student exchange program are exempted from paying any fees, except for the food in the canteen and some class fees. Nice, isn't it?" Harayuki said with a smile. "Hooray! Yeah~!" Upon hearing the good news, Axel and Roxas jumped three feet high and cheered. Suddenly we heard a "BONG!" from behind us, and we turned around and see Axel and Roxas lying on the frozen lake, one facing the sky and one facing the ground! Dude, what an epic disgrace… Axel held his nose in his hands and commented, "I fell onto a frozen lake and caused no cracks; worth it!" "Yeah, you're the one to talk! Pull me up already… that hurts. My back…" Roxas slowly crept up and said. "Hehe… Hahahaha!" Nevertheless, all of us laughed at what happened.
There. Were. A. Lot. Of. Dorms in here! Maybe if they ever closed down, they could operate as a six star hotel… There were dorms for the kindergarten to university, colleges and so on… 7th, 8th and 9th Graders resided in Area E out of all twenty-four areas/dorms. There were a total of twenty-three dorms for students, and they were very rest assured to place boys and girls in the same room in some cases, like lack of space. They had better have excellent security or something… The remaining one dorm was reserved for the principal, teachers and VIPs. So, we were placed in Area E as well. In the area were three high rise buildings, the names were as follows: 7th Grade, Alpha; 8th Grade, Beta; 9th Grade, Gamma. Even the buildings had the shape of an equilateral triangle prism. They were situated so that each made up the three vertices of an equilateral triangle.
Oh my god… Was this a dorm, or a palace? Even the floor tiles were made of marble… But when we entered the elevator and reached our room, the decorations and furnishings inside were strongly inspired by ancient Japanese architecture, like an antique house in a cultural village. I could even touch the snow from a tree outside of the window.
We set our luggage aside and were just about to bury ourselves in the soft beds, an announcement came in, "Attention to all international students from Malaysia, please report at the principal's office. Thank you." What? … But, was it only to report ourselves?
In the principal's office…
Knock knock! "Come in." We knocked the door and entered the office at once. Luckily there was a heater in the room. We could unfreeze ourselves because we were lost and almost frozen to death outside… It was really cold! The amiable female principal invited us to sit down and off we went into the topic.
"Good day to you all, I'm the principal of Matsuaki Academy, Aerith Gainsborough. Welcome to Tokyo!" "Nice to meet you too…" We said in unison. "I'm happy to have successfully invited you here, not just for the student exchange programme, I wished to… seek help from you all, regarding something serious…" When she said that, a flash of worry appeared on her face.
What happened? What was the serious thing?
"Lately I could sense that below this mask of a high standard academy, there hides a sinister force, I don't know who are involved, but they are getting more and more active…" The principal said. I started to think, "What did she mean by 'active'? Could it be…?" "I suppose you have heard that the disciplinary problems of Japanese schools have experienced deteriorating trends. I think, we have similar problems here, and they are way more serious!"
What the heck? Of course I had heard of it! Especially bullies in schools! Zexion went straight to the point, "So, you wished to see us so that we can help to solve the problems?" "Exactly what the candidates I have chosen would say. Yes, it is. One of the reasons why I organised this programme is to search for some students who possess detective capabilities and can help to solve the crimes. Coincidentally you happened to attach relevant documents and information, exactly what this school needs. I can't thank you people enough!"
Um… well, the people she should really thank were Kairi, Naminé and Ven! We did not even know about this programme until much later, let alone attaching anything…
"You've gotta be kidding me! Such an accomplished academy has this kind of problem too?" Axel sure was surprised. After that, Roxas sent a punch to him, "No one's calling you mute even if you are not yelling! Keep it down!"
Zexion smoothed things over, "Miss Aerith, which of the groups do you think is the most suspicious? Elementary school, high school or university?" I started to analyse the situation in my head: It was highly unlikely to be university students. Study pressure was very great in Japan, students were pressurised so much that they studied all day long; they could not afford to ignore their studies to become school bullies. It could be elementary students or middle school students.
"After my own further investigations, it was found that the 9th Graders had something to do with it," she said. Aha! The hypothesis was accepted! Yo! My first victory of the day!
Demyx said, "9th Grade… Hey, isn't that us?" Miss Aerith nodded and said, "In order to create the coincidence, I only accepted the applications of 8th Graders in your country, so when the next year comes, these applicants would be in 9th Grade."
… The idea was not bad… But, I had a question, "Miss Aerith, aren't schools in Japan reopening in April? Isn't it a bit too late until then?" "Good question. Matsuaki Academy is exactly the opposite; the school reopens in early January. For 2010, the date is 4th January, and that's three days later," The principal snapped her fingers and said.
Zexion said, "Then, Miss Aerith, which class would you place us in?" After she thought about it, she said, "Due to your identities as exchange students, it would be not advisable to place you all in the normal classes which always have the maximum number of students; there will be no room for newcomers. You will be placed with other international students in one class. But, I will try my best to arrange your classroom to be near to all the 7th, 8th and 9th Grade classrooms." "Can we get to know who our future classmates are?" Demyx asked. Out of my expectations, she answered, "Why yes of course. Here's the list… Examine it when you returned to your room. As for now, let Harayuki and Ryutaro give you a tour around the school, so that you will never be lost again." "Thank you!" "You're welcome."
So that was how we bid our farewells. We followed Harayuki along with another 9th Grader named Ryutaro and walked around the school. Seriously, the school was WAY too big! We could hardly finish the first few kilometres and we were totally exhausted.
It was eight o'clock at night when we finally reached our dorm. I quickly sent a message to my mum and dad. We had been hurrying from place to place; alighting from the plane, boarding the Shinkansen… Heck, we did not even have the time to rest. It was not that I had forgotten about my home and family or something, I just could not find the time to do the messaging. Sorry for the very late message! Forgive me!
After having dinner and settling down, we started to investigate our list of classmates:
1) Anne Schneider, Berlin, Germany;
2) Antonio Giovanni, Venice, Italy;
3) Carlos Fernandez Lopez, Madrid, Spain;
4) Soo-Ji Geum, Seoul, South Korea;
5) Ian Thames, Windsor, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;
6) John Davis, New York, the United States of America;
7) Katra Chunpenatya, Bangkok, Thailand;
8) Lawrence Wong, Perth, Australia;
9) Yuanfang Li, Beijing, China;
10) Laura Danielle, Lyon, France;
11) Harayuki Mizuhane, Tokyo, Japan;
12) Ryuutaro Yamazaki, Tokyo, Japan;
13) William Boon Hui Tan, Singapore, Singapore;
14) hbfcnklfmjofbikfbnhukfvndikfpn (I figured that the computer could not recognise the name or somehow crashed)
15) ~ 19) (Our names)
"Holy Bananas! My cousin!" My jaw almost dislocated. My eyes went wide and stared at the words "Lawrence Wong". Roxas said, "What? Your cousin? An Australian? And you're a Chinese?" "Um, yeah, he's Chinese, but born in Australia, like, an overseas Chinese like I am? Diaspora issues, you know." I was still shocked though… Oh god… Actually, it was not all that shocking in the sense that it was unbelievable. The two of us were playmates when we were kids. Every two years, he and his family would come to Penang for vacation for about one to two months. But, I still remembered that when we first met, he was nine while I was eight… If they had not come to Penang in the first place, I would have never known that I have a cousin like him. Haha… He was my father's younger sister's only male child. For a person who did not have siblings (unlike me), he must have been very lonely, perhaps?
Axel said jokingly, "Bummer, I thought he's your boyfriend or somethi-" "BISH!" I punched him when he least expected it. "Say Axel, did you miss my punch too much lately? Or you still can't get enough of it?" I was so annoyed by him that I wanted to send a second blow, if it were not for Demyx who calmed me down, I was afraid the smell of "gunpowder" in the room would be suffocating in the next second.
Zexion quickly changed the subject, "Eh? Why is there a name with the garble?" He pointed to the line after saying. Roxas thought about it for a while and said, "Maybe it's typing error? If not, it could be that the name isn't available in the character system of the computer." I asked, "You mean like, a rare name?" "Maybe," he answered. Axel who received two punches in a day learned not to misbehave this time; he shut his trouble-making big mouth, and said nothing.
"Slash slash…" Sounds of water could be heard from the bathroom. I turned my head to look- Holy Bananas! It was flooding! I yelled, "Alright! Which idiot turned on the bathtub tap and forgot to turn it off?!" "Oh shoot! I forgot, crap crap crap…" Axel jumped up and rushed into the bathroom. But he accidentally stepped on a random soap on the wet floor. He staggered and crashed into the bathtub full of water head first. "DONG BANG! SPLASH!" And there were mists of white steam coming out from the bathroom… Did he use the water heater?
The rest of us stared at each other after tearing away from the scene. We sighed in unison and then burst out laughing. Axel finally resurfaced from the water and reprimanded, "OI! All you guys know is to laugh at me! Someone come here and pull me out?! Don't bully me just because you are older!" We went silent for a second, then Roxas and Demyx retorted, "We were a few months younger than you! That doesn't count!"
We messed around, but we still had the sense of obligation to "save" him from the hot bathtub. After we had done what needed to be done, we went to separate beds and slept… Zzz… ZzzzZ…
After three days, Harayuki told us to wait for her at the foyer. We wore our new school uniforms and grabbed our textbooks which we received on the second day and stationery, and then we headed off. "All here… OK, let's go," Harayuki smiled and said. She led us to the classroom.
We were quite early today; no one was in the classroom when we set our feet in the silent room. After I took a seat, I observed my surroundings… The classroom was well-equipped, and the environment was very clean, there was even greenery in the classroom; small pots of plants were placed in the corners and a vase of flowers on the teacher's desk. Very conducive for studies… So that was why I always said learning from the East (implying eastern countries like Japan, Korea etc.) was a good thing.
Later, more and more students arrived at the classroom. Soon, the vacant and deserted classroom was getting heated up. It was a world party!
I then saw a boy whose skin was a bit tanned came in. I waved at him and called, "Yo! Lawrence!" He jerked his head up upon hearing his name, and he turned his head towards the sound. He was astonished to see me as well. It looked like he also never expected me to be here.
"Hi! I don't even know you were here! How are you and your family doing?" He asked. I answered, "We are fine, what about you and Aunt? It should be summer by now in Australia." The both of us went on and on talking about nonsense. Then, I dragged him to meet my teammates. "OK, this is… *introducing each one of them*, they are my friends from Malaysia," I said with some hand gestures. "I am Lawrence Wong. You may address me as Lawrence. Pleased to meet you," my cousin greeted them.
"Hi, how are you…" The boys also joined in the conversation. Although they had just met, they seemed to get along pretty well… Not bad. They somehow reached a consensus. But there were more foreign students in the same class. It seemed like we had to spend more time communicating with each other.
Nevertheless, the classmates were too enthusiastic. Once they saw a crowd of people, they flocked over here. A delicate and pretty girl came up to me to say hi, "Hi. I am from Seoul, Korea. I am Geum Soo-Ji, nice to meet you." Luckily she spoke in English and a little bit of Chinese, or else I would be doing the sign language thing like what Axel did at the airport days ago… "Hi, I come from Malaysia, I'm Nemixiljix, Nemix for short. Pleased to meet you too!" Facing Soo-Ji who had tidy bangs and beautiful black straight hair, I bowed slightly. When I shook hands with her, her hand felt like cotton. Maybe she seldom did the chores at home.
A blond boy with a red cap also joined in, "Hi, I'm John, John Davis. I'm from New York, nice to meet ya!" "Hi, nice to meet you too. I… (bla-bla-bla the usual crap)" Just then, a boy who had a stalk of rose in his mouth popped out of nowhere and grabbed Zexion's hands! "Hola, ¡Señorita! ¡Me llamo Carlos Fernandez Lopez!" [Translate from Spanish: Hello, Miss! I am Carlos Fernandez Lopez] Zexion was dead shocked and at a wit's end; for crying out loud, he was mistaken as a girl! He put on a very awkward expression and said, "Sorry, but as you can see from my school uniform and my voice, I am a male." "Wha-? Ay, ¡perdón!" Carlos dropped his hands and said sheepishly. Demyx nudged Zexion playfully and commented, "Hey, maybe you should change your hairstyle or something." He scowled at him and Demyx said he was only joking.
"Bonjour, je m'appelle Laura." [Translate from French: Good day, I am Laura]
"Bonjour, bonjour…" Demyx replied.
I faced a girl with a ponytail and I clasped my hands together just below my chin like what the Buddhist monks did. I said, "Sawadee ka." "Sawadee ka," She said. Roxas was chatting with a German girl, Anne. Axel was talking to an English boy. Harayuki herself was having a friendly conversation with a Chinese boy… Well, everyone was busy.
"Ding Dong Dang Dong~~" The bell? It was not the same bell we had back in Kingdom Hearts High School. Once all of us heard the bell, we quickly took our seats. But, after the entire chaotic search, Zexion, Demyx, Roxas and Axel were sat in front of me, while my cousin was a bit far away. The seat on my right was empty. Did that mean I was going to get bored to death or something? At that moment-
"Tap tap tap tap…!" Footsteps? Soon, the answer was revealed…
"*Pant*… *pant*…! I finally made it!" A girl with a short raven hair and fair skin appeared at the entrance of the classroom, out of breath. I looked at said entrance, and my eyes widened. "You… Are you… Xion!?" "Huh? Who's calling me… What? It's you?!"
Hehe, of course I knew you! There was one time when I finished the cleaning duty, and I mistakenly left the classroom dustbin at the dump site. When I was rushing out of the classroom to retrieve it, I accidentally stepped on a damned sweet wrapper, slid and fell on my left side. I bruised my knees and one of them bled on the spot. And then she happened to pass by and pulled me up. I did not get the chance to say thank you; she was dragged away by her friends. I only remembered her name as her friends addressed her; Xion. … so, the final unknown name which was replaced by the weird codes was hers?
"My god! Why are you here?!" I went to her and said. She returned me the question, "That was my question to you; why are you here?" We confessed everything to each other, then the both of us realised. "Oh… so that's why. Poor you," She said with sympathy.
Her story was like this: she could not stand the school's way of doing things (thanks to the director), so she applied for this program at the same time we were "being" applied for (thanks to our three friends). Oh, I forgot, I heard that Xion was one of the members of Counter Crime Group 24. Wait, then that meant her group… "Our group was disbanded shortly after what happened to you guys, without reason. We had successfully restored Roxas' formatted laptop," she said with suppressed fury. "Holy Bananas! What about the evidences in Roxas' laptop?!" I wanted to know the answer very badly.
"Yeah, everything was there safe and sound. After we copied a backup file, we tried to erase any traces we left behind after what we had done. But then Fayra caught us in the act! She told the director what happened and then we were disbanded…" She sat beside me and recalled. Not that stupid Fayra again! Thinking about her disgusting face made me want to slap her with a fish.
I said, "… It hurts, right? You were almost there…" I thought she was disheartened after what happened to them, but she cracked a smile and said, "But, they forgot about one thing…" She said, pulling out a pendrive. She continued, "They found the laptop all right, but they overlooked one missing document! Inside here are vital evidences that would take them all down!" … Nice shot! But, so what? I was not planning to go back anyway. "I guess you should keep this, if you ever go back…" Xion put the pendrive into my palms. "… Thank you, Xion."
There was a knocking at the classroom door. The class coincidentally turned to look outside. A young female teacher stood outside, she then walked into the classroom, and the class stood up. Later, the phrase "Good morning, teacher" in different languages came out of our mouths. "Good morning, sit down please," she said.
"My name is Aqua Toyoguchi, I am your Mathematics and Japanese Language teacher. I hope we can get along well. OK?" Well, her bright blue hair was what made me gawk at her… "Aye aye captain!" Most of the boys shouted before everyone else could answer.
"… Oh, OK…" She was taken aback a little and stuttered. She had this serious, calm and collected vibe with her. For a new teacher like her (she was younger than the teachers we saw) she sure seemed calm.
"Ahem. OK, to break the ice, let's play a game tomorrow. You guys have to answer some quizzes as a challenge that comprises general knowledge, math, anything," Miss Aqua said. Well, as expected, everyone started to pout and protest. Especially John and Ian, even Xion too! I think I remembered she said she was not into math…
"Don't be afraid of challenges, class. No cross, no crown. How would you succeed if you never strive? Plus, you guys haven't tried it yet, what makes you think you will not succeed? Believe in yourself! You can do it!" Miss Aqua tried to reassure us. We calmed down and agreed.
Soon, the bell rang; we had to be at the field for my favourite PE lesson! (How I missed Mr. Lexaeus…) Oh yeah~! We quickly changed into our sports attire and headed to the field. Our new PE teacher was a young woman as well. She was… well, fit. She looked like an athlete herself. But, why the hell did she dress up like-
"Alright! Hello everybody! I'm your PE teacher! My name is Yuffie Kisaragi. Now, let's warm up…" -like a ninja? I would never know… The whole class did the warm up exercise with her. After that, we started our game of the day, "dodge ball"! (I had never played dodge ball before, so this was what I thought it would be. Sorry!) It sounded fun. But, Miss Yuffie thought that was not challenging enough, so she called out to a redhead (very much like Axel's) over the other side of the field, "Hey! Reno! Get your butt over here!" She had a talk with him for a few minutes. So now, the two classes were going to have a match! Let us do this…
The class going against us was class 3-10. (Oh, almost forgot to mention that our class was 3-13. Yeah, Organisation XIII!) Both of the classes seemed to be well-matched. This was going to be one hell of a battle!
The flame of war was ignited once the ball was thrown into the air. Once the ball hit the floor, anyone could grab it and throw it to hit someone else. Most of the boys in our class wanted to show the other class what they were made of. When John was evading a ball, he purposely put on a breakdance pose; Ian quickly grabbed the ball and he hit his opponent; Carlos was the one that caused an anime sweatdrop on my head; he used the techniques the matadors used in bullfights. Antonio, the Italian, was quick on his move despite his tall frame. But he instinctively used his hands to block an incoming ball and was now held "captive" by our opponents.
Yuanfang was not half bad; he somersaulted and dodged three balls in the process! My cousin Lawrence was too "demure" for a game like this, he almost got hit at some point, but as long as he enjoyed the game, I supposed it was OK. Ryutaro was "captured", but he did his best anyway. William, the Singaporean, was good too. He was quick and always landed critical hits on his opponents. Good job!
As the saying goes, "women are no inferior to men", so how could I ignore the girls' effort in this game?! Let us talk about Anne first. She seemed to be the weak one, but what shocked all of us was that she threw the ball and hit three in a row! Triple kill! Meanwhile Soo-Ji was too meek to play offensive. She could only manage to evade some of the balls, and soon she was also "captured"; Katra (for short) did not disgrace her country; judging her firing skills, there was a high possibility that she knew Thai boxing. Laura was unable to calm down, she was screaming out of excitement most of the time. Harayuki surprised us by leaning backwards ninety degrees to dodge the ball! Whoa… Not bad!
Back to us, the Malaysians. There were too many opponents, so we could not take them out one by one, but to target a few and progress forward. Zexion was too calm that he dodged two balls in a row. Axel? Well, duh. He was born with athlete's genes; this game was nothing more than a piece of cake to him. Demyx and Roxas worked together since they were stuck together, one gave the warnings and signals, while one attacked. I had witnessed Xion's skills before; she always played on the offensive side.
Our opponents were also well-prepared for this game, it was getting overwhelming. Phew! It had been a while since I played to the point that I was sweating profusely. I was gasping for breath, but we could not let our guards down. There were three more "captives" from our side ready to be rescued. We had to throw the ball towards them for them to escape, the question being, how were we going to do this? The opponents' side had some really big guys targeting me, and I could be hit at any given moment.
I backed away a few steps, and I met Xion who was about to rescue the "captives" too. We started to plan, "Hey, what's the plan?" "Hmm, the ball was on their side, I guess we should… Copy?" "Copy that!"
When the ball was fired against us, we started to invade the opponents' base. At that moment, the balls started to fly in every direction. We decided to create chaos as a distraction, and then we would grab a ball to rescue the "captives". When our opponent caught us invading, they threw some balls at us. I waited for my chance and when the ball got close to me, I dodged the ball, only to let the ball drop near one of the "captives". I did it!
Now two out of three "captives" were rescued, only Soo-Ji was left. She was a little slow in sports, so she needed full support from Xion and I. Just then, a ball dropped on her side. She picked it up. When the opponents saw this, they spread out as they did not want to get hit. Once the ball was thrown, the three of us ran out at once. Just then-
A huge dark shadow emerged and was coming at Harayuki who was guarding the "captives" on our side from being rescued. She did not notice it since the shadow was charging from her back. I shouted, "Danger at your six!" Unfortunately she did not get what I was saying. That was it, I went up and pushed her aside, the shadow crashed into me instead. I was hit on the leg and I fell, grazing my knee in the process. The shadow, which was a girl, also fell.
The game stopped abruptly. When everyone saw the commotion, they debated about it, and they almost quarrelled. Miss Yuffie and Mr. Reno came up and cleared up the mess. After their quick investigation, they found out that one of the opponents was not willing to stay "captured", so she wanted to shove Harayuki away to grab the ball, which meant foul play! We won!
I only scraped a little bit of my skin, no bleeding. Mr. Reno told them to apologise for their behaviour, which they did, but some of them did this kind of begrudgingly. Once the lesson was over, the unwilling ones threatened, "You dumbs were only lucky to win! Pure dumb luck!" What nerve! Did they think I did not know English? That was it! I shot back, "Shut up! You lost because you cheated. Don't be a sore loser! LOSER!"
"You! Remember this day, because you will regret this!"
"My memory is always sharp, so don't you worry. Just bring it!"
Soon, we went back to our class. After that, it was Home Science class. We studied the recipe and we were supposed to do the real work at the next lesson. After Japanese, English and Science lessons, only then was recess.
After I had lunch, I was in the class thinking things through: which class was the one that caused the increment of disciplinary problems? Why had they not made a move yet? Would they attack us first? Hmm… What a headache…
"Hi! I see that you had your lunch already?" I looked to my right to see Xion and Lawrence. "Yup, I did. And I was spacing out. Why?" Lawrence answered, "Oh, it's nothing. Just some problems with the spot quiz. What to do about it anyway?" Oh, yeah, right.
"Hmm, why don't test ourselves by asking some random questions?" Xion suggested.
"Sure," we answered.
For the next ten minutes, the three of us sat together and posed random quizzes and had discussions. Whatever we could think of were used up. Some of them were really funny or trivial. Just then-
"Kop!" Eh? Why were there footsteps outside the door but no one was there? "Eavesdropping while hiding is what a thief would do. Still want to remain in hiding?" I purposely shouted at the door. After three seconds, three girls slowly sauntered out from their hiding spots. Two girls stood behind a girl whose body size was bigger. Needless to say, she must be the "Big Sis". Wait a sec! Big Sis? Then, what I wanted to know was finally revealed?
The one standing at the front looked down on us (literally and metaphorically) and jeered, "Hmm, look who's being the smart ass over here? You think you're the best if you knew a lot?" I could not stand the provocation dripping off her voice, so I stood up and retorted, "What about you? Recess time is quite long, so why were you wasting it by hiding outside like a mouse stealing cheese? Stalking?"
"You… How did you know I was outside a while ago?"
"Look at your shoe heel; you unknowingly rubbed it against the wall too long while hiding, so now it has those white scratches on it, doesn't it?"
"… Pfft! Know-it-all!"
"Why were you hiding outside?"
"… In short, listen up! This, is my territory! During the PE lesson earlier, you guys got lucky. In this place, I call the shots on every one of the same age as me or younger!"
Pfft, so they were the people from 3-10. And they still had the nerve to provoke me? "Oh yeah? I am not here to follow your orders, and what are you going to do about it?" I put on an "I-do-not-give-a-damn" face, and said disdainfully, crossing my arms in front of my chest.
Her face was getting awfully red, a sign of "fury in the making" appeared on her face. She was condescending and scanned before us haughtily. Soon she snapped a finger as a cue. The two "bodyguards" behind her rushed against us! I evaded them, but they caught the unsuspecting Xion and Lawrence!
I threatened, "Hey! You rascal, resorting to violence when you can't win! Let them go! If not…" I was now focusing my energy, she asked, "If not what? Huh?" "I will kick your butt!" "Enough! You two! Bring out the cold water!" She was a bit panicked, so she called her allies. Soon, three more very fat girls appeared with buckets of water! Uh-oh…
Quick! No time to lose! I unleashed my pent up fury. I landed a punch on the face of the bodyguard who caught Lawrence. While she was whining in pain, I kicked her aside. I pulled out a stick tied to the bodyguard's side and used it to hit Fat Girl Number 1's belly! Although it went flat temporarily, it returned to its original shape and size almost immediately. How elastic…
Said fat girl aimed her bucket at me and poured out the water. Immediately, I pulled Big Sis's hair and pulled her towards the incoming water. Fat Girl Number Two was not that bad either; she quickly changed her target to Xion and was about to douse her with water, so she started running. Not so fast! I chased up to her and outran her, and then I used the stick to tickle the other bodyguard's armpit. She felt ticklish somehow and released Xion… Now was the chance, I said, "Cut her off!" Xion understood the cue and evaded to the other side and used her foot to trip that fat girl. How should I describe this? That girl rushed from about five meters from us. Her mass was too great and her velocity increased over time, thus causing her momentum to be too great (hard to stop). The collision time between her foot and Xion's foot was less than one second, so the momentum turned zero too fast, and the impulsive force was too great. Besides, her inertia effect was way too great, so… BAM! Inelastic collision! She crashed into a bunch of tables and chairs and all of them flew together. Total kinetic energy was not conserved. (Some energy was lost as heat and sound) What a waste of energy resources!
"Why you! Hey! You! Go get her!" The drenched Big Sis could not take it anymore, so she commanded the already-freaked-out Fat Girl Number Three to step in. I was getting tired too, so I used eye contact with my pals for a second and we screamed, "COCKROACH!"
"WHAT! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH~~~!" The last girl jumped and clung on Big Sis. What they did not know was that her bucketful of water was thrown into the air in the process and the water cascaded all the way down. Waterfall!
"Argh! I had had enough! You 3-13 idiots will pay for this! Get your asses out of here!" Big Sis lost her cool and screamed. Temper, temper… She stomped out of the classroom with all her henchmen trailing behind! Oh yeah! My first victory of the day!
The three of us cleaned up the mess and regrouped. I said first, "Seriously, they think they were so great, but we still taught them a lesson! That was so cool! Woohoo!" Xion said, "Your attitude still hadn't changed at all, but I like it!" Lawrence still had not recovered from the commotion, he mumbled, "Oh my god… What just happened?" Suddenly, a voice reached our ears, "WHOA! Why was the classroom so wet? A flood?" Needless to guess, that was Axel all right. Zexion was confused, "I swear this is the correct classroom. What happened?" Demyx and Roxas were too stunned to say anything.
I told them everything, and then they realised something; the school bullies had made their move! Just then, Harayuki arrived at the scene, gasping for breath. She panted, "So, you guys… are here… OK, the principal wanted to see you all… Seven of you!" … Now what?
Later, the seven of us gathered at the principal's office, facing Miss Aerith. "How was your day?" She asked while smiling. Well, it was great, until the school bullies targeted us and almost ruined my day. I did not say anything, let us see how this would develop.
"I had thought over some things, and I decided to put the seven of you in a group and solve the crimes together," she went straight to the point. I was a little shocked; if it was Xion, then I could understand why, since she was one of the helper prefects. But, what about Lawrence?
Demyx asked my question for me, "Lawrence… was a crime solver in school too?" Lawrence said sheepishly, "Back in my school in Australia, I am the leader of the Forensic Group of the Board of Prefects…" FORENSIC! That explained everything…
Organisation XIII had been revived once again, the only difference being that we had two new members! After some discussion, we decided to name our group as Lucky 7! Oh yeah! Go! Go! Go!
~ CHAPTER 9 FIN ~
TO BE CONTINUED
Haha! Done! It is really long, sorry for the crappiness. Anyway, hope you enjoy reading this, I would appreciate if anyone kindly rate or review, so I can improve my skills. Thank you! Stay tuned!