Ah, it feels nice to be back in this room. It's also nice that I'm always greeted by an angel who resides here. Just look at her, looking at me with her disappointed expression. Oh, what a beautiful sight to see.
Sensei: "It's just been 24 hours and you already caused a ruckus. You really are quite a handful don't you know that?" She said to me.
Mike: "Well, you know me sensei."
Sensei: "What did you do this time Mike?" she asked me.
Mike: "Nothing, I was just minding my own business."
Sensei: "Is that really true?"
Mike: " ... I guess so ... "
Sensei: "sigh* I can't believe you were being this reckless even without Jack. You should start to learn when to keep your head down Mike. Trouble will always find you if you don't do that."
Mike: "Trust me sensei, I already keep my head down, it's just that there's a lot of people here who don't know how to take things easy."
Sensei just let out a big sigh* knowing that I would probably never realize my mistake.
Sensei: "Speaking of Jack, does he really have appendicitis?" She suddenly asked me.
Wth is appendicitis? Is that what uncle tells sensei the reason why Jack is in the hospital?
Mike: "Oh yeah, he's already had it since he's a kid."
Sensei: "Why does he never show any symptoms of it?"
Mike: "Well, eh, you know he's a tough guy. He's really good at hiding it."
Sensei: "That makes sense. Poor kid, I'll make sure to visit him if I have the chance."
Mike: "You don't have to sensei, he's probably going to recover in just a couple of days."
Sensei: "You might be right ... "
Mike: "Soooo what's up sensei? I know you didn't pull me here just to remind me of my stupidity and reckless behavior."
Sensei: "Have you decided when you're going to meet her?"
Mike: "Meet who?"
Sensei: "The girl, Alessa."
Mike: "Oh, I actually already met her."
Sensei: "You already did? You're surely a fast one. How did it go? Did you manage to make her talk?"
Mike: "Yes, I did."
Sensei: "You did? hah, I know sending you was the right decision after all. Tell me, what did she tell you?"
Mike: "It's not much actually. She just told me about the relationship between her brother and those seniors. I just found out that they were actually friends and they have been friends with each other since middle school."
Sensei: "Liam and those seniors were friends?"
Mike: "You didn't know about that? I thought you already knew."
Sensei: "How can you think I already know that they are friends?"
Mike: "Because you're our teacher? I thought you would already notice that they were friends. I mean, Have you ever seen them talk to each other or hang around together at school? "
Sensei: "Have you?"
Mike: "No, I haven't."
Sensei: "Well, so do I."
Mike: "Huh ..."
Sensei: "What else did she tell you?"
Mike: "Well, she tells me about their situation. It turns out those two were literally living on their own since they lost their parents-"
Sensei: "Wait, didn't one of their relatives help them?"
Mike: "Who said that?"
Sensei: "Liam."
Mike: " ... Well, Alessa said they were on their own. She told me that no one was helping them after they lost their parents. She told me that her parents didn't have the best relationship with their own family and that's why none of their relatives helped them."
Sensei: "But Liam once told me that he was getting help from his uncle. He said his uncle was sending him money every once in a week. I once even got a call from him asking me how Liam was doing at the school."
Mike: " ... I think he was lying to you sensei. Liam didn't get his money from his uncle. Those seniors were the ones who helped him to get that money."
Sensei: "Alessa told you that?"
Mike: "Yup. She said Liam was working with them."
Sensei: "So he works for them ... Did she tell you what they do?"
Mike: "No, she doesn't. Liam never tells her what he did with those people. But she believed that he and his friends were doing something shady."
Sensei: "How could she speculate that?"
Mike: "She tells me that once in a while, she finds Liam comes home with blood, cuts, and bruises all over his body after he was 'working' with his friends."
Sensei looks surprised. She realizes something.
Sensei: " ... Why didn't I notice?"
Mike: "You got something on your mind?"
Sensei: "I've seen Liam with those bruises before. Every time I asked him about it, he always came up with a good reason on how he got them. I should've noticed that he was lying."
Mike: "Even if you notice that he was lying, what would you possibly do?"
Sensei: "I could've forced him to tell me the truth on how he got those bruises. I could've known the real reason why he's failing his subject. I could've known why he always seems so tired at school. If only I was being more attentive... I could've saved his life ..." I can see sensei getting a little bit distressed.
Mike: "Don't think too much about it sensei. You shouldn't put that kind of weight on to yourself. There's no use looking back at it now. "
Sensei: "You're right ... I should learn from my mistakes." She said as she fixed her composure.
Sensei: "But still, I didn't get why they choose to live on their own. Why didn't they choose to go seek help from foster care?"
Mike: "That's because foster care and child care in this country are freaking sucks. Being on your own is arguably better than being in foster care. Living in a group home for orphans in this country is just like living on the streets. You'll definitely be neglected. The people and families who register themself to take care of these orphans are just aiming for the subsidy money. For real sensei, it won't make a difference."
Sensei: "Are you sure what you said is applied to every foster care in this country? There must be some individuals or an organization who still runs a perfectly well-organized foster care."
Mike: "There is, but generally, what I said is true for most of them."
Sensei: "sigh* This is ridiculous."
Mike: "Well, what can I say? God bless this country and its people."
Sensei just shook her head, disappointed by the things I just told her. Tired of hearing my rant, sensei continued to ask me about Alessa.
Sensei: "Back to Alessa, does she tell you anything that could help me get this case to court."
Mike: "Nothing in particular ... but she told me she's going to give me something that could help you."
Sensei: "What is it?"
Mike: "I don't know, she won't tell me."
Sensei: "When will she give it to you?"
Mike: "After I've done her request."
Sensei: "She asked you to do stuff?"
Mike: "Yeah, she wants me to help her to pay her debt to the hotel that she's working and living in."
Sensei: "She has a debt to the hotel?" sensei asked.
Mike: "Yup."
Sensei: "Is it her parents' debt?"
Mike: "Nope. It's her own debt. It's the reason why she ended up living and working at that place. She wasn't just hiding there, she's also trying to pay her debt by working there."
Sensei: "How much money did she owe to them?"
Mike: "She said it's slightly above 100k."
Sensei: "100k? how can a girl like her have that much amount of debt to a love hotel???"
Mike: "It's from her hospital bills. She told me that the owner of the hotel helped her cover it after she got hit by a car and went into a coma. Well, considering she was in a coma for a few days, those numbers are actually to be expected. You shouldn't be surprised sensei, medical bills in this country truly are a sick joke."
Sensei: "sigh* This is getting more troublesome." I can see sensei is getting more desperate.
Mike: "Don't worry sensei, I'll help you."
Sensei was surprised.
Sensei: "You want to help me get that 100k dollar?"
Mike: "Yeah."
Sensei: "What are you planning to do to?"
Mike: "Well, I'm going to make money of course."
Sensei: "And how are you going to do that?"
Mike: " ... Sell girl scout cookies and lemonade."
Sensei: "Don't play with me Mike, do you know how hard it is to make money these days?"
Mike: "Yeah, I know-I know. Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude, It's just that I can't really tell you how I'm going to do it."
Sensei: "...You're not going to do something stupid aren't you?" She glared at me with a suspicious look.
Mike: "No ... "
Sensei: " ... Alright, I will trust you. But I just want you to know that I will not help you if you end up troubling yourself with what you're going to do, you understand?"
Mike: "I understand."
Sensei leans back and exhales a sigh of relief.
Sensei: "I really have to thank you, Mike. I've been trying for a whole month just to make her speak to me. I'm glad that you were able to do it."
Mike: "Sensei, can I ask you something?"
Sensei: "What is it?"
Mike: "Are you really doing all of this just because you felt guilty for not being able to save Liam and help both him and his sister before all this happened?'
Sensei: "Well, that's one of the reasons."
Mike: "And the other reasons?"
Sensei: "I just want to see justice to be served."
Mike: "That's it?"
Sensei: "You have a problem with it?"
Mike: "No, I guess not. I think I'm just glad someone like you still exists in this world."
Sensei smiled after hearing that.
Sensei: "Heh, you should save that compliment for other girls, Mike."
Mike: "Don't get full of yourself sensei, I'm just being genuine here. After all, you're too old for my taste."
Sensei: "What did you say?" she asked me menacingly.
Mike: "Uh ... nothing."
Sensei: "If you don't have anything to talk about, you should go back to your class-"
Mike: "Eh sensei, I do have something that I want to talk about with you."
Sensei: "What is it?"
Mike: "It's about Lucy."
Sensei: "Oh, the transfer girl. What's about her?"
I pulled out my phone to show her the beatings yesterday.
Mike: "This happened yesterday. Could you do something about it?"
Sensei: "I'm afraid I can't. The school rules are only applicable in the school area. I don't have any jurisdiction if anything happened outside the school."
Mike: "This girl is not like me sensei. She's a quiet girl. She doesn't run around looking for problems. Are you really sure you can't help her?" I asked her.
Sensei: "The only thing I can do is probably tell their parents about this."
Mike: "That's not enough."
Sensei: "What do you want me to do?"
Mike: "I was hoping that you could suspend them or expel them maybe. I mean, just look at what they do to her. They really turn her into a punching bag. I'll tell you what, she barely can stand after she got beaten like this. I lost 4 compression wraps on that day just to patch her bruises around her legs and arms-"
Sensei: "You helped her?" sensei asked me.
Mike: "Of course I do. Who the heck doesn't want to help a cute girl like her?"
Sensei just looked at me with her disappointed expression.
Mike: "It's a valid reason right?"
Sensei: "You really are lecherous."
Mike: "C'mon sensei, can't you do something about this? You said you want justice to be served right?"
Sensei: "As I said, Mike, I don't have the jurisdiction to do anything about this. Besides, isn't it a bad idea to suspend those girls since It will just make them want to bully her more?"
Mike: "Well, yeah, you have a good point there. But still, I have a feeling they won't stop bullying her until someone tells them not to."
Sensei: "Then, why don't you tell them yourself?"
Kringg* the bell rings signifying the lunch break is over.
Sensei: "You should go back to class, I don't want you to miss your school study. We'll talk about this another time."
Mike: "Ok ..." I got up and headed towards the door.
Mike: " ... Sensei."
Sensei: "Yes Michael?"
Mike: "Arigato Gosaimas." I said while slightly nodding my head before I got out.
Sensei: "You're welcome."
I closed the door.