KEISHIRO

The guys then brought me into a building not far from the cafeteria. From the outside, it didn’t look too different from the other school buildings except the front sign that says “Recreational Building” and the ground floor windows were covered with the school’s cafe logo. As we walked in, I noticed that the ground floor also have a bookstore and a dry cleaning shop.

When we entered the elevator, I saw the floor buttons were labeled on the side; “Spa & Salon” on the second floor, “Indoor Pool & Gym” on the third floor, “Bowling Alley” on the fourth floor, and “Avocado Avenues” on the fifth floor – Rob punched his thumb on that one.

I was wondering what kind of place it was until we arrived at the fifth floor - Avocado Avenues turned out to be a restaurant. From a glance, the place looked like one of those 50’s diners in America’s Route 66; the floors were donned with black-and-white checkered tile, while all the chairs have blaring red colors that glistened against the floor. Swivel barstools lined up neatly in front of a bar, which have an overhead blackboard with the menu handwritten with colorful chalks. The walls were covered with all sorts of metal plates, and various rock-and-roll memorabilia were placed on the side tables. The place was quite crowded, and there’s still a bunch of people lining up outside. I wasn’t sure if we’re going to get a table before recess ends at this rate, but instead of joining the line, Rob and the others just walked in.

“Oh, hello guys!” a waiter greeted. “Good to see you all again after the summer!”

“Hey, Tom. Is Kayla in?” Rob asked.

“Yes she is, with everyone else. They’ve been waiting for you- oh, is this the new kid the whole school been buzzing about?”

“Yeah, this is...Kei Bellrose.”

The waiter twitched one of his eyebrows when he heard my family name. He then walked closer to me and stared right into my eyes. Instinctively, I tilted back - I had no idea what he was trying to do. But a few seconds later, he suddenly flashed a giddy smile and shook my hand.

“My goodness! It is you! The Adulescens Salvator!”

Oh no, not this again… Didn’t Her Majesty put up some official notice about my title change or something?

“Uhm, no, not anymore- I, uh…never mind.”

“You’ll get to talk to him later, Tom. Maurelle is waiting for him right now. Take us to the Dungeon, will you?” Rob said.

Hold on - dungeon?

“All right, all right! Follow me, gentlemen!”

Tom walked ahead of us, and we all followed.

“Thanks,” I whispered.

“Don’t mind it,” Rob replied.

Tom led us into a small hallway leading to the bathrooms, and stopped in front of a door with a sign that says “Janitor’s Closet”. He opened the door, led us all in, and closed the door.

The room was really small, and, like the sign said, filled with all sorts of cleaning equipments. The only light source was a dim yellow lightbulb on the ceiling, with mops and broomsticks leaning on one side of the wall, a bunch of buckets stacked on the other side, and right in front of us was a cabinet full of household cleaning products.

Okay, what the heck? - was the only thing that popped in my mind, until Tom knocked on the left side of the cabinet three times and it suddenly moved sideways, revealing a passageway leading to another room.

Riiiiiiiiiight. A secret hideout behind the janitor’s closet.

I don’t think I’d be surprised anymore if this school have a Gundam Base hidden somewhere…

The room was way more spacious than the janitor’s closet that we just went through, and differ from the interior of Avocado. If the restaurant was all about 50’s rock-and-roll diners with bright colors, this room looked like some sort of a teen rebel hideout; the walls were painted black up to the ceiling, covered with a massive number of posters – The Beatles, Star Wars, Jim Carrey, Captain America, L.A Lakers…even Theodore Roosevelt. Most of the posters were stacking on one another; I guess nobody ever bothered taking down anything that’s been sticking there when there’s no more space for the newer ones. A disco ball hung on the center of the ceiling, but it wasn’t on; the current light source in the room came from the giant lava lamps that were placed on each corner of the room. A black-and-white zebra stripes carpet covered the wooden floor, where people slouched on multicolored beanbags - each one of them were occupied either with a book, a magazine, or just simply chatting with each other. In the middle of the carpet, there is a wooden coffee table filled with either half-full or empty glasses. A punching bag hung on one empty corner of the room, right next to a door with a toilet sign on it. On the opposite corner, a jukebox sat between the soda and snacks vending machine, playing Carnival from The Cardigans on a mild volume.

What is this place?

ROBERT

Everybody was busy with their own stuff until they realized that we brought Kei with us. The sound of Nina Persson’s singing quickly dissolved by the rasping noises from shifting beanbags as people rose up from their seats.

“Is it okay to bring the new kid here?” I heard Ralph whispered to Sandra, who replied with a shrug.

“I guess? I heard Kayla and Elle wanted him to be here.”

Kei, who obviously heard that as well, stared at me awkwardly.

“It’s okay,” I whispered to him. “The restaurant outside belongs to Kayla’s family, which is the reason why we have this hideout in the first place. If she wants you here, that means you’re okay.”

The bathroom door suddenly creaked open and Kayla stepped out. She, of course, noticed Kei’s presence immediately. “Hey, look who’s finally here!” she beamed, “Welcome to The Dungeon, newcomer! Come on, take a seat! Tom, could you wait for a minute before you go out again? We’re going to make another order!”

Tom waited in front of the passageway as he took out his pen and pad, while we joined to sit among the others. Kayla told Kei to sit on one empty beanbag between hers and Elle’s, which I presumed had been reserved for him, since the other ones around them have been taken. I sat on the one right behind him, next to Vivienne and Mattie. As I tried to get the comfy on my beanbag, the others started passing around the menu and make their orders to Tom.

“So…I heard from Martin that Kei got into some trouble with the groupies?” Mattie asked.

“Yeah, but he’s all right-“

“More than all right, Rob! He did a kung fu chop and split a table into two, scared the shit outta those brutes!” Dave exclaimed, raising both of his hands and gestured some random kung-fu like movements excitedly. “And then, he smooth-talked through Mr. Harrell and Mr. Smith, and they let him loose without any detention!”

Except Jim, Marc, Kei and I, everybody stared at Dave disbelievingly until Cordelia turned towards Marc. “Uh…Marc, care to elaborate?”

“Hey, I’m tellin’ the truth!” Dave retorted.

“Yeah, Dave. We know. But it’s more believable if our new student happens to be Bruce Lee. So what’s the real story, Marc?”

Marc just shrugged. “Uh, pretty much what Dave said, mate.”

“Seriously, y’all don’t wanna mess with him!” Jim added. “He’s totally Bruce Lee’s long lost brother, yo!”

“Jim, Bruce Lee is Chinese. He’s Japanese.” Courtney corrected.

“Uh, I’m Anglovan-”

And everybody turned their heads towards Kei, who instantly felt awkward by the sudden massive attention.

“-Technically...” he murmured.

And then, the room was filled with a long, awkward silence. That is, until Vivienne popped a question. “Did you really split a table into two with your bare hands?”

“Uh, yeah. I…did.” He answered reluctantly.

“Does it hurt?”

Kei wiggled his fingers a little bit, and then clenched his hand into a ball of fist. “Nope, it doesn’t.”

“Can you show us?”

Kei twitched one of his eyebrows. “I’d rather not.” he said. “I, uh, I just promised Mr. Harrell and Mr. Smith not to break another table in the school.”

“How about if you use that punching bag?” Elena suggested, pointing to the punching bag on the corner.

“Um, I don’t want to break anything-“

“Come on, just a little!” Cindy begged.

“Yeah, I wanna see you do it!” Trish added.

Suddenly, all the girls started begging on him to show them some action. Meanwhile, I just exhaled deeply and shook my head. Bloody hell, I brought him here for some peace and quiet! 

KEISHIRO

Things were getting out of hand until Rob decided to cut it out. “Uh, ladies? I understand that you wanna see a handsome guy doing some cool kung-fu stunt, but that punching bag belonged to Dave’s brother and he told us to take good care of it. And besides...”

Rob then passed me the menu to my hands. “Kei needs breakfast. He was interrupted during his meal, and those bullies messed up his food pretty badly. So just let him relax here, okay?”

The girls moaned and grunted in disappointment until Rob added, “He needs his food, guys. We both have Mr. Langford’s class after this.”

And then, the girls immediately stopped pestering right away. Looking at their faces, I could already assume that this Mr. Langford isn’t a favorite teacher. Meanwhile, I thanked Rob again as I opened the menu to see what’s in store.

“Order anything you want, Kei!” Kayla said cheerily, “Because this is your first visit, it’s on the house!”

The others didn’t respond so well to that - they booed and groaned to Kayla.

“Whaaat? Just Kei?”

“What about us, Kayla?”

“At least give us some discount, will ya?”

“No, guys! My father will cut my neck if I’m giving freebies way too often!” Kayla replied, laughing along with the others. The crowd quickly went rowdy with some humorous banter demanding Kayla to give them some free food, while I put my attention back the menu. It didn’t took me long before I started to shook my head in disbelief; Lobster Thermidor, Sevruga caviar pasta, escargot bourguignon…all these five-star gourmet food in a school café? Half an hour ago, I thought a chirashi-zushi with fresh ootoro was way too fancy for a school cafeteria meal - not to mention that the prices were crazy! But then again, I have to remind myself that nothing’s too expensive for these folks, and it’s not like I couldn’t afford it anyway.

So I told Tom that I’ll take the Sevruga caviar pasta and a glass of apple juice, and I handed the menu over to the blonde girl behind me – I think her name was Vivienne? Wait, she does seem familiar…

As she browsed through the menu, I couldn’t let my gaze off her pretty face, trying to remember where I might have seen her before. I didn’t realize that I looked so conspicuous, she purposely looked up and smiled at me! I was instantly flustered, but that’s when I finally remembered her; how could I be so stupid? I’ve seen her countless times since I was a little kid!

“You’re Vivienne Williams, aren’t you?” I asked excitedly.

She nodded shyly. “Mm-hm.”

“I loved watching your movies since I was a kid!”

“Thank you,” she replied in a tiny voice. “It’s nice meeting you as well, Keishiro. You’re very handsome!”

My eyes popped open. I stared at her for a few seconds until Vivienne tilted her head with an agitated look. “Um, did I said something wrong?”

“No!” I shouted, making her flinched. “I-uh, sorry! I was surprised that someone in this school finally pronounced my name correctly!”

“Oh! I was kinda worried that I might get it wrong!” she giggled, “I learned some basic Japanese when I was filming in Osaka a few years ago, you know.”

“Was it for the American Kaguya?”

“Yes! It was a wonderful experience! I really love learning about the Japanese culture! And during the filming, I get to wear this pretty junihitoe…”

MAURELLE

HMPH!

The more I listen to Keishi and Vivienne’s conversation, the more I get irritated! I mean, hello, Keishi? I haven’t met you for like, ages? We’re obviously sitting next to each other, and you’re talking to some other girl? Wait – it’s not just another girl; It’s Vivienne Williams - the Hollywood actress whom we spend a lot of times watching her movies together when we were kids. I used to adore her as well until she came to Sterling in sixth grade. It’s not that I grow to hate her, but...it’s just weird if you keep acting like a fan towards your own schoolfriend.

Keishi looked so happy talking to her to the point that it’s getting so irritating. Gee, why does Keishi have to be so giddy over her? I know how to pronounce your full name properly way before she does even though I can’t speak Japanese. And, in case you don’t remember, I went to Japan with you a few times back when we were little! Auntie Nichola even dressed me up with her old kimonos each time we go, and all of them looked so much prettier than what Vivienne wore in the movie!

...But honestly, I don’t remember that much about those trips - the one I remembered the most was that day where we both dressed up in an elaborate kimono ,and Keishi went to the temple together with his parents for the special ceremony. A few days ago, I found the photograph of us that day. I asked my papa about it, and he told me that it was taken at Auntie Nichola’s family home in Sendai, during a special day for little children of certain ages - uh, what was it called again...?

“Shichi-go-san?”

That’s it!

I turned towards Keishi when I heard him mentioning the name of the ceremony. Did he read my mind or something?

“...Yes! There were so many little children running around the temple where the filming was done – turns out that it was shichi-go-san day! Oh, the children were so cute!” Vivienne squealed.

...Oh. He’s still talking to her.

“I loved shichi-go-san day,” Keishi added, “Which reminds me – I happen to celebrate mine when Elle and her family came along to Sendai. Do you remember, Elle? My mother lend you her old furisode for us to take photos together!”

The moment he looked at me, I instantly turned away. I don’t know why – I didn’t mean to!

Gosh! Why did I do that?