Smile For Me
- chapter 3 -
"Hey, Kai, d'ya have a minute?" Tyson chirped cheerfully as he practically bounced about beside Kai, completely oblivious to the fact that the boy was trying to hard to keep up his pace. "This is the only time of the week Kenny and me get to see each other! I wanna introduce you to him!" He grinned and not waiting for a reply, he took Kai's hand - seeing that Kai's wrist was bandaged - and lightly dragged him through the crowd back to their spot behind the school building.
"Yah know," Tyson started as they ran through the halls, "It's a bit surprising how Kenny and me get to stay close even though his schedule is really, really confusing. He's a year younger than us, so you won't see him in any of our classrooms. We call him chief, though. I dunno, it just came out. Max and Ray's in the next class, so we only see each other when it's lunch break or dismissal. I'm a bit surprised that you don't have a driver, Kai. You look like you could afford one." He grinned, "I mean, this school is a pretty big one and a very known one, too, so it has a bit of a high reputation. Me? I dunno how the hell I got here, but don't tell anyone. The principal's a close friend of my father and one time, when my father was in the house, the principal decided to visit and well, yeah, I challenged her to a bet and I won. So, most probably, that's how I got into this school. I dunno how the principal covered for it, but anyway."
"A bet?" Kai was surprised. He came into this school because of a bet?
"Yep. Surprising, huh?" Tyson grinned as he pushed open the doors, "Hey, look, there's Kenny! YO, KENNY!"
Tyson practically dragged Kai towards the tree again, where Kai could see a mass of really messy auburn brown hair.
The boy immediately stood up, and before Tyson could glomp him as he usually does whenever they see each other, the boy suddenly raised his hand and pointed a finger in front of Tyson's nose, "Tyson! You haven't been doing your homework, have you! Kyaaaaaah, I knew it would be bad to leave you all alone! Why oh why did Max and Ray leave at the same time? Your grades are going down! Kiresu-sensei talked to me the other day and said that you've been slacking off again! Do you know just how long I had to endure that torture? Hours and hours of her voice! Oh, the horror!" Kenny huffed, burying his face in his hands with a groan, before fishing out a ruler from his pocket, "Here, she asked me to give you this."
Kai raised an eyebrow as Tyson took the ruler with scowl, "And I should smack myself with this because?" Kenny shrugged. Tyson rolled his eyes, "Oh yeah, chief, I wanna introduce you to someone! Kai Hiwatari! He's the new student you've heard so much about."
Kenny smiled, "Nice to meet you, Kai. I've heard so much about you." Then he added with a chuckle, "Mostly from the girls."
"See, Kai?" Tyson grinned, slapping Kai from the back, unaware of the slight wince, "Three days and you're already popular! Lemme tell you, Kai, if you're ever gonna live in this school like that, make sure you have arm and knee pads and a helmet made from the hardest metal! The girls would be chasing you all over the campus! Same thing happened with Tala and Bryan when they first came here."
Kenny grinned at the memory, "Whenever it was break time, they mostly hid in the janitor's closet."
Kai wasn't phased. He was used to the crazy-and-obsessed-fangirl-mobs from his other schools. His death glare works perfectly. It was one of his tactics to warning everyone to keep away and shut up.
"Oh, and Kai, are you going to the camping trip? Hokkaido, right?" Kenny sighed, "I wanna go with you guys, but our batch's going to Okinawa."
"Cheer up, Chief!" Tyson grinned before turning to Kai, blinking as the boy fished out a slip of paper from his pocket. Tyson raised an eyebrow before taking it, "Woah, yes! Kai's going!" He was then found bouncing around the garden, whooting for all he was worth. "Heh, the guys are all gonna be there! I wanna introduce you to them! Relax, Kai, they don't bite and oh, be warned about Kiresu-sensei's obsession about beer! You can find her a lot through the halls mumbling about ducks and penguins!" At Kai's bewildered look, Tyson grinned wider, "It's true! Last year, we even had to stop her from leaving the building cause she was aiming to buy ducks!"
Kai twitched, Ducks... He shrugged before taking back the slip of paper and pushing it back in his pocket. Well, it took a lot of convincing and a lot of broken bones, but I managed. He sighed contentedly, A month. A month without him. That's about as near as I can get to ultimate freedom.
"You don't talk much, do you?" Kenny asked him, looking a bit amused as the school bell rang, signaling the end of lunch break. All in all, he didn't mind that Kai was all but talkative. In this school, you can say that he was used to it. "I haven't heard you say a thing!"
"Don't worry, Chief! Kai's like that! Just give him a little bit of time! Right, Kai?" Tyson chuckled, as to where Kai shrugged.
"I'll take that as a yes."
"Alright, class." Kiresu-sensei grinned widely in front of the classroom, which had her students inching away, "The trip's only three days away!/1/ I expect all of you to come here before six in the morning-" A few groans at this part, "-and make sure to bring extra clothes, because Hokkaido's not in the north for nothing! I have the last of the reply slips with me, and I hope that everyone's geared up." She sent a warm smile at Kai's direction, "And Mr. Hiwatari, I apologize for the sudden trip after your arrival here at this school, but I am thankful that you decided to join us." She waved the slip of paper that Kai had gave her a few hours ago. It had a paycheck stapled to it.
Kai shrugged and looked away, shifting a bit as the attention was brought to him. Kiresu-sensei continued, "Now, as I have informed you a few days ago, this trip would last for a month instead of the usual two weeks. I've talked to your parents and assured them of your safety, and by safety, I mean you guys would come and leave Hokkaido unscathed without any problems." She stated firmly, "That means I don't want to see any of you fighting with your classmates or any of your batch mates. Like last year."
Bryan scoffed at that, despite the teacher didn't look at him.
"Now," Kiresu-sensei cleared her throat, "About Max, I heard from Mrs. Tate that Max would be coming back to Japan tomorrow evening as he would be coming with us to the trip as well."
"Really?" Tyson cheered and pumped his fist in the air, "Woohoo! Maxie's coming back! YES!" A ruler collided with his nose after that. Kai looked at Tyson sympathetically.
Kiresu-sensei glanced at her watch, "Well, it looks like our time is up for the day. Class is dismissed. Have a good weekend everyone."
The class bustled with students standing up and leaving the room after that. Tyson neared Kai with an outstretched hand, "Come on, buddy. Kenny's probably waiting for us at the canteen." Kai stood up and nodded.
"Oh, and Mr. Hiwatari?" Kiresu-sensei stood up and neared the two boys. "May I please speak to you for a while? It'll only take a few minutes."
Kai and Tyson looked at each other before Kai shrugged, before the three walked up to the front of the class, waiting for the room to become empty. After that, Kiresu stood up and locked the door, chuckling at Tyson and Kai's confused expressions. Kai raised an eyebrow before looking a bit surprised as Kiresu fished out a compact powder, Kai wincing as something soft hit his left cheek, right above the white plaster.
Kiresu looked at him disapprovingly, "If you want to hide something, bring extra powder. The purple is beginning to show."
"Woah, Kai! A swollen cheek?" Tyson looked surprised, and - Kai noted with the same amount of surprise - concerned. "I dunno what happened, man, but if I were you, I would have really stayed in bed! I mean, I understand if you don't want to be absent in your first school days here, but man, your body must be aching! You sure you're okay, Kai? You don't look okay. Maybe that's why you're so pale. I dunno if it's just lack of sleep or rest or something or maybe it's because of powder or something. How come you never told me? I mean, I know we just met and all, but holy cow! I'm a pretty observant person, though I may not look like it, but man, if you managed to hide something like that from me for three or two days, I salute you! You sure you're okay? I know you're only walking back to your house. Don't tell me you have wounds on your legs, too!"
Kai inched away as Tyson looked as if he was ready to take his pants off, just to see if there were bruises. Kai felt his face heat up.
"Now, Mr. Hiwatari, I don't know what's going on, but please refrain from inflicting yourself any more wounds." Kiresu sighed, before grinning slyly, "Besides, flawless skin should not be wasted. I can't wait to see what you'd look like without those bruises!"
"Ugh, yuck!" Tyson sent her a look, "You nasty, old hag."
"OLD?" Kiresu sulked in the corner. The word old seemed to have this effect on her.
Kai bit his lip. I knew I should have asked Nami to put the powder for me. I suck at anything that has to do with make-up, but I was almost late, I was in a hurry.
Kiresu and Tyson glanced at Kai, looking a bit taken aback at the boy's - almost - panicked look. Tyson spoke up, "Hey, Kai, chill. We won't tell anyone. It's just a few bruises right? I know some of us get into fights often, it's nothing to worry about."
Fights? Kai blinked, They think I've been fighting... Fighting for my life, more like it. Well, it's better than them knowing the truth. "Yeah, thanks." He mumbled under his breath and the two had to strain their ears to hear it,
Kiresu grinned, before unlocking the door, "Well, now that's done and over with, have a nice weekend, you two."
"Hai."
Tyson stretched his arms up, feeling refreshed after a long, warm bath. He raised the towel to ruffle his hair dry, before putting on his sleeping robe. Yawning a bit, he aimed to lie down on the futon in the middle of the room, before something made him think otherwise. He didn't know what it was, but whatever it is, it didn't want him to sleep just yet.
Leaving the room feeling a bit restless, he walked through the garden of the dojo, coming across a small shrine in the middle of the large pond. Crossing the small bridge, he pushed the sliding door of the shrine to the side and paused, before entering, closing the door as he did so. He knelt in the middle of the shrine, looking up at the picture in front of him.
"Mother..." He furrowed his eyebrows. His mother always told him when he was 12, that she wanted to introduce him to someone. The boy that she was tutoring. She never told him the name, saying that she wanted them to be the one to tell their names to each other.
"I want you to meet him, Tyson. He's the same age as you, and a nice child. I think you two would get along together perfectly. I wish that you two can finally see each other... You two can be great friends, don't you think so, too, Ty?"
After hearing so much about this mysterious boy, Tyson found himself curious. He wanted to meet this boy, half for his mother and the other half because he himself wanted to.
The problem was... how was he supposed to meet a person whose name and appearance was unknown to him?
Sighing, Tyson said a small prayer, before smiling at the photograph in front of him, "Good night, mom." He then went to his own room and slept.
"There's no use running away, Kai. You won't get anywhere."
Kai shut his eyes tight as he bit his lip, drawing enough blood as he attempted to stifle a scream. Something slashed across his back before he felt something push up his stomach, feeling his insides burn. He fell to the floor, crumpling up and throwing what he had for dinner. He coughed, before he was thrown towards the wall, hearing the sound of cement cracking and cursing as he felt something thick drip down the side of his face.
He barely felt anything for the next minutes but he heard everything. His own screams, the cracking of cement and the sound of the whip that slashed across his skin, giving his milky skin a red mark. He felt a burning pain on his stomach, then at his back before he screamed as he clutched his aching head, feeling an excruciating pain from beneath his skull.
I'm... bleeding...
Then it was oblivion.
/1/ Hmm... I'm running out of ideas, so please bear with me... ahem, hehe... I had to rush. Three days, remember? Kai transferred on Wednesday, so that makes this Friday. Another three days, which means that the trip would start on Monday.