In the early mornings of the Belloni 3rd district's biggest high school, when the clocks strike 4 o'clock in the summers and 5 o'clock in the winters. All students and teachers are to report to school in order to pay their respects to the country, its leaders, both past and present, and finally to keep fit.
This event is known as the morning tithe. People know that it exists but none of the students are allowed to talk of its activities even if they seem minuscule.
It always starts the same every time, a student would be picked on Friday and for the following week, he would be responsible for opening up the morning tithe. First the national anthem, second a prayer, third the country's motto, and lastly their school's mission.
Afterward, a random member of parliament is picked and the students are told about them and their achievements. If a member doesn't have any they would not be kicked for these ceremonies. The student picked is always the one who scored the highest in the weekly tests and has held admirable behavior.
For the first part of the routine, no one is allowed to have idle talks, and sitting isn't permitted until the end of the talks. From then on the exercises begin. This is the part where some students and teachers disappear into the school's gym and the large school hall.
No one knows what they do but they can take a good guess. The students picked are usually the ones associated with the local gangs, the ones good at fighting, and the ones identified as talented in odd things.
The rest who don't stand out in any way, even if part of some fighting club in school are excluded. But today, everyone was together in the sports field, this left a feeling of unease in the students which followed them home and back to school again for classes.
"I thought I was going crazy earlier during thee tithe but Monke really did miss school today." One boy whispered to his friend's ear.
"No no that can't be it, he came late yesterday too." His friend said back.
"But yesterday he attended the tithe. Today he didn't show up at all, something is fishy."
"Even if there is something going on, you won't be able to do anything about it." The friend responded.
"I think it has something to do with the guy that barged in yesterday. My mom said she saw the Divinity van zooming past our house yesterday too." The first guy lowered his head and turned to look back at the front while supporting his head with his hand.
"Oh yeah, I also heard..." the same conversation was being held everywhere else in the classroom if not the whole school. Po and Joao were zoned out by the students and it was like they weren't even there.
"Have you talked to him?" Joao's head laid on the cold steel table and his hands were left hanging lazily on the sides. He was bruised all over but his face was fine, even though he could barely walk he still had no choice but to show up to school.
"Yeah, yes I did," Po answered, in front of him was a calculator and a mathematics set. He had a pen in his hands and he was happily going through questions when Joao interrupted.
After answering, Po went back to his work while Joao continued to stare at him. The silence didn't hold as Po started humming, Joao swung his arm and knocked Po over and over again until he grabbed him and tossed his hand on the table.
"What do you want?"
"Well... Didn't he tell you anything?"
"About?"
"Yesterday, my fight and handing over the hostages. Did he feel like I am dead weight." Joao readjusted his body and turned to face the opposite direction.
"Monkey is too monkey to think about these things." Po paused and put his pen down to face Joao. "Everything you do out there is on you and doesn't concern us or the family. You might be our friend in here but out there you just another associate."
"Are you saying you don't need me?"
"I'm saying that we have no use for someone who wallows in self-pity," Po said so with a little chuckle and went back to writing.
"Yesterday I met a girl at the first building."
"Really, do you have a crush?"
"No, but she was nice. Maybe can introduce you to her sometime."
"It sounds like you spent quite some time with her. Are you sure that you're not trying to ask your old boy for some relationship advice? Maybe it's the confession you need help with, I know a lot of associates use the Divinity..."
"I said it's not like that," Joao said as he rose back up quickly and faced Po.
Startled, Po put down his pen again. "Okay, then why did you bring it up?"
"Nevermind." Joao sighed and he stood up to leave the classroom his eyes were a bit watery and he could barely see.
"Moody," Po said as he picked up his pen along with the calculator to get back to work. He started to recall bits and pieces of the call he received from Monke yesterday.
Monke told him about the elevator thing and asked him to be careful about how he addressed Joao. Po smiled as he remembered this. Monke also asked him to have Joao and two other associates roam around their territory to look for anything amiss. Monke wouldn't stop going on about his gut feelings and how they have never been wrong.
In the last quarter of their call, Po tried to remind Monke about the test being redone in three days but was dismissed. Monke said that he got it and boasted about his superior adaptation skills. They had a chuckle about his five percent on the previous test and that's all there was to their talk.
When Po finally returned to reality Joao was already back and was copying notes from the board. The teacher had come and officially marked Monke's absence.