Marianna Lorena - Thursday, March 31st
"No one will ever love you like me," the voice told me.
"Please let me out," I pleaded, banging on the door. I let out a scream of terror as the voice simply laughed. "Please! I promise I'll be good. I won't leave you."
"Why would you ever want to leave me?" the voice questioned. "You have everything you need here. Nothing will hurt you here." I shook my head kicking at the door.
"I need to go outside! Please let me out!"
I jolted upright before sighing. I slowly peeled the blankets off of me, taking the time to rub my eyes and adjust to the sun that was beginning to seep into the apartment. I robotically moved towards my closet and pulled out a shirt and skirt for the day, along with some black tights. My feet carried me to the bathroom where I turned on the bath water. I let my hair fall over my head and craned my neck under the water. Once my hair was fairly wet I grabbed a towel and wrapped my hair in it. I immediately stood and slipped on my clothes.
Then, I scampered into the kitchen and made myself a lazy breakfast of toast with no butter. Well, there was no butter because I couldn't work up the courage to shop at my local supermarket. I felt self-conscious about speaking with strangers in English, so you can imagine how much stronger that fear was for me to be heard speaking Japanese. Japanese was my third language and not one I had been studying for very long on top of that.
I shook the thought away and finished the last bite of my toast. I grabbed my hairbrush and tugged roughly on the tangles. Once it was combed, I put it in a braid and slipped on my coat and shoes. I grabbed my bag and keys and left my apartment. I watched as a few of my neighbors were leaving as well. They glanced at me for a few seconds longer than usual before heading about their day.
I pulled out the map Kagame-san had given me yesterday afternoon. I looked down at his instructions for boarding the train versus walking and decided to walk. Even though it was silly, I could remember watching videos about how Japanese trains were always crammed full of people. It probably wouldn't be the case in the Yakazawa District because it was much smaller than any normal city but the thought of being around so many people unnerved me.
And so I began the 30-minute walk to Ouran. There wasn't a need for me to rush since I was still going to be there at least 20 minutes early at this pace. The park I found yesterday was on my route. I glanced over the bench and remembered the couple and the little blonde boy I watched. I wondered briefly about what my future children might be like. I hoped they'd be free and happy. I imagined two children playing on the playground structure I passed by before shaking the thought away.
I saw Kagame-san suddenly and squinted my eyes to double check. When he saw me he waved enthusiastically. I returned the gesture but internally groaned. "Lorena-san, good morning," he greeted me warmly.
"Good morning Kagame-san," I answered in kind. He gave me a radiant grin.
"Suoh-san sent me to escort you to Ouran this morning," he informed me.
"Oh I see," I nodded feeling annoyed. I would have preferred to have gotten lost by myself than deal with a babysitter.
"How are you liking your apartment so far?" he questioned.
"Oh it's very nice," I answered, giving him a cheery smile. My cheeks began to ache from all the smiling.
"Wonderful!" he gushed. "So how today will go is we're going to have a whole faculty meeting for about an hour with Chairman Suoh. After, we'll split into elementary, junior high and high school. You will be meeting the homeroom teachers for the 3rd to 5th graders and working with them on your lesson plans for the first two weeks of school."
"When are we getting our work schedules finalized?" I asked him.
"We should be getting the timetables tomorrow," he told me. "Usually the Elementary English Teachers work in the morning and then the High School and Junior High Teachers work in the afternoons."
"I see."
"You will have lunch and then you come back after school to finish grading or attend more faculty training or meetings," he added.
"Okay," I nodded my head again.
"The teachers all have lots of fun," he began. "You are the youngest person we've ever hired to help teach at Ouran Academy. Where did you work before?"
"I worked at an elementary school as an aid, and I also worked part-time as an ESL Teacher for kids," I answered. "Before that, I worked in afterschool programs."
"And you got very good grades in college right?" he inquired.
"Yes, they were pretty good," I shrugged trying to be humble.
"Chairman Suoh says he observed you in the classroom and took a look at your transcripts and was very impressed." I blushed at the comment.
"I'm glad he gave me the opportunity to come and teach here, I hope to learn a lot of things before I finish getting my degree and credential," I responded. Kagame-san let the conversation die after I spoke which relieved me.
I wanted some time to privately digest the fact that I would be having to get through a faculty meeting in Japanese. I worried about not understanding things fully, making a silly mistake. Or worse yet, not having good lessons when the kids started school next Monday.
Sylvia Sanchez (Suzume) Wednesday, March 30th
When we pulled into the auto shop I glanced over at Hiro as he raced out of the car whooping and hollering. "You get the haul?" Big G asked calmly. His big brown arms were crossed and his eyebrow was raised. Hiro practically bounced off the walls as he exhibited what we had collected for all to see.
"Damn right we got it," Hiro answered at last. Big G just nodded, not showing any trace of a smile. I sighed and rubbed my chin, waiting for the others to arrive.
"Scar's back," a deep voice stated.
I eyed Silver and Knuckles warily before acknowledging them. "Yes, I'm back alright."
"You have the gun?" Silver questioned. I showed it to him promptly, purposefully letting it loosely face in his direction.
"When are you taking it back?" I asked him with raised brows. "The last thing I need right now is to be accused of a murder I didn't commit."
"Don't be like that Scar," Knuckles jumped in. I rolled my eyes as he tried to grab my shoulders and give them a massage. "We're just asking you to hold onto it for temporary safe keeping."
"Safe keeping my ass," I scoffed pulling away from him.
"What's this all about?" Big G interrupted. Silver narrowed his eyes at me in warning.
"Nothing," I yawned. "Just talking about some of my new inventions."
"Hmm," he hummed before turning back to listen to Hiro brag. Knuckles joined in the conversation but Silver pointedly stayed quiet. I could feel his eyes peer at me every once in awhile. I did my best to act as though I was unaware of his staring. Hiro continued to chatter on and on. Other than Big G, everyone seemed to tune him out. Quite frankly, that's what happened most of the time. No one was ever quite interested in Hiro.
"And that's how Scar and I managed to escape," Hiro chirped.
"Well let's get back to work," Big G responded. He placed a wrench in Hiro's hands. "Scar help him change out the tires of the car we got out back. We'll be needing it for tomorrow."
"Aww come on," Hiro whined before I could answer. "Why don't you ever let us help fix the nicer cars." Knuckles grabbed Hiro roughly and shoved him against the wall.
"I wouldn't get too cocky fresh blood," Knuckles barked. "We all earn our way up."
"Get the fuck off me," Hiro hissed in irritation. Knuckles laughed and gave him a kick in the shin. Hiro howled out in pain and I simply sighed.
"Let's go, Hiro," I told him in a resigned tone. If Hiro would ever learn to shut up and not be such a coward, Big G would probably let him work on any car he wanted, or so I'd like to think. Big G was always very firm and sometimes I couldn't fathom what he was scheming. It's why he was so respected in Kalyuga.
Hiro grabbed some tools and passed them to me. I held onto them gingerly. I looked towards the door of the shop and saw a slutty looking woman with a short dress and high heels. Her face was caked with make-up.
"Can I help you?" I asked her skeptically.
"Im looking for Hiro," she answered. She narrowed her eyes at me slightly.
