It was the first day of school for the students of Balete Academy. The corridor was filled with students who were mostly talking about their schedules. The buzzing noise of people talking all at the same time made Akari cringe as he walked.
"Let's tune it down, people!" He shouted in a light and upbeat manner.
The girls screamed in excitement after seeing Akari in his tight uniform that complimented his pectoral muscles.
"It's him!" One of the girls shouted while the student next to her almost fainted.
"Professor Akari!" The girls kept calling him.
He laughed softly while he brushed his hand through his hair. "That's not what tuning down means." He laughed some more.
"Quiet down!" Obyne, the copper-skinned Fearology teacher who was passing by, yelled.
The people in the corridor finally calmed down.
"Now that's what I'm talking about," he said gratefully to him.
"Hmp." Obyne scoffed, then with his book in hand, he marched forward.
Akari shrugged and then blew raspberries in response to Obyne's snobbish behavior. He was gonna continue walking but a girl with blonde dreadlocks all clamped together in a ponytail, approached him.
"Professor Akari!" She held a piece of paper in her hands and showed it to him.
"If it isn't Treasurer Matias' little princess," he said in a joking manner. "Spill the beans, Pamela. I have eager students waiting for me."
She gave him an awkward smile. "Oh, Professor." She pointed at something on the piece of paper. "I'm a wee bit lost. I couldn't find Tinkery class."
Akari took a moment to look at the paper then looked at Pamela with grooves between his brows. "And why are you asking me this?"
"For my first class, silly." She covered her mouth with her hand and then chuckled.
"Well..." he clicked his tongue, "it seems to me that your first class is Fearology—not Tinkery."
"Oh, is it? Then where should I go now?" She asked as she flattened the wrinkle on her school uniform.
"Professor Obyne just walked past me. His classroom is just next to mine."
"Oh, that one?" She pointed at room 107.
His eyes smiled. "No, that's my class. Fearology is at 108."
Pamela started walking away and then waved at him as she did. "Thanks, Professor! Gotta hurry."
He tilted his head. "Tsk tsk." He breathed in then started walking toward room 107.
"Good morning class." He knocked on the already open door with his body bent forward as if he was peeping.
The students inside were not noisy at all. Maybe the fact that it was just the first day of school and nobody knew anybody stopped them from mingling.
"Good morning, Professor!" The whole class stood up and greeted him in unison.
He scanned the faces of his students then entered and approached the teacher's table.
"Welcome to Thrill of the Hunt! Name's Professor Akari for those who missed me in the orientation on Wednesday." His energy lit up the room.
Everybody settled down. Hanz, Carlo, and Barbara sat in front.
"In this subject, we are going to bring out the team player in you. Today is just introductory hence we're using this classroom but normally, we will be out in the open area to hunt."
"Sounds like fun!" Carlo, who sat in between Barbara and Hanz, whispered.
"I love him already." Barbara with her eyes shimmering, stated.
"Alright! Each activity that we will be doing this year will be done as a group. So today, we are going to figure out who will team up with whom." He opened the table's drawer and pulled out a glass bowl with tiny rolled-up paper sheets inside.
"Fuck." Carlo whispered as Hanz shook his head.
"For the love of the tree, don't be too pessimistic you guys. We still have a chance to be all teamed up together." Barbara leaned in.
"You sound like Gertrude." Carlo stared at her then both held their laugh.
Akari shook the bowl with his left hand covering the open lid. "Three members per group." He sat on the table with his leg muscles almost bursting his pants.
The trio eyed each other with worry apparent in their eyes.
"First, we have Carlo the kapre." He read the name on the paper that he randomly picked.
"There goes my name." Carlo looked hopeless. "There's no way your names are next."
Hanz sat quietly as Barbara looked at him.
"At least you two still have a chance to be teamed together." He added.
"Joining him, Willow the albularyo and..." he unrolled another piece of paper. "...Imelda the manananggal."
Imelda, who was seated not too far away from the trio, blushed.
Hanz leaned to his left toward Carlo. "At least you have Imelda in your team," he whispered.
Carlo suddenly looked excited.
"So there's our first team. Next..." he scrambled the contents of the bowl with his hand and picked a name. "Sam the santelmo!"
"I don't wanna fight him. His fire can easily kill all my babies," Barbara mumbled. "I hope Hanz and I get to be teamed up with him."
Hanz looked back at Sam who was seated in the back. Sam caught him looking so he smiled.
Akari picked two pieces of paper and opened them at the same time. "Dave the sigbin... and F-Flora the babaylan."
Dave, who had his wavy hair covering his eyes, was seated next to Sam. They nodded at each other.
"Ezra, the mangkukulam." Akari went on.
"I just hope I don't get teamed up with idiots." Ezra exhaled.
"Levi the hunyango."
"Good pick!" she said joyfully. Everyone looked at her. "What?"
"To wrap up our third team... we have Tiny the tiyanak!"
Tiny, the chubby guy who was eating chips, let out a dorky laugh.
Ezra sighed. "Oh well..."
"Ugh..." Barbara looked impatient.
"This is the fourth team. If you guys aren't called, then you will be teamed up together for sure." Carlo said after he counted all 15 students.
"So far we've teamed up 9 students. We have 6 left so let's keep it rolling, shall we?" Akari, who was still sitting on top of the teacher's table, winked.
"Kurt still hasn't got a team. That's the undin that you knocked out yesterday, right?" Barbara addressed Hanz.
Hanz didn't respond.
"Imagine if you got teamed up with him." Carlo chuckled.
"I have an idea." Akari faced the class. "Since we only have 2 teams left, I will announce them at the same time. You guys good with that?"
The class didn't seem to be against his idea because most of them were already called.
"Okay. Here we go..."
"Moment of truth!" Carlo put his arms on both Barb and Hanz.
"For the fourth team, we have Kurt the undin!" He looked at Kurt who wasn't fazed about anything. "And Hanz the aswang for the fifth team."
"That's the best-case scenario," Barbara commented as she shared a look with Hanz.
"Joining Kurt... Trevor the tikbalang!"
Barbara looked nervous.
"Joining Hanz is..." Akari paused.
"It's you Barb, don't worry," Carlo reassured her as they both waited for a name to be called.
"Dexter the sirena!"
The boy with short blue hair looked ecstatic. "Good thing I wasn't teamed up with my village's known bully." He said to Flora who was sitting to his right.
Barbara's hands were shaking. "50-50 chance. And I always lose in luck-based games. This is bad!" She laid her head flat on the armrest of the armchair she was sitting on and then covered it with her arms.
Tris, the girl that was with Kurt that day at Pesca Village, was seated in the back. Her eyes gleamed with hope.
"To complete the fourth team, we have..." Akari stopped. It was as if he was intentionally making everyone's heart skip a beat.
"Not me. Not me." Tris whispered to herself.
Barbara on the other hand, with a muffled voice, "Let me win this draw. Please let me team up with Hanz," she pleaded and prayed.
Suddenly a noise came from the corridor. The class from room 108 were all standing outside. Inaudible murmurs filled the air.
"Wait, what's going on?" Akari stood and dashed toward the door. From the windows, they could see Professor Obyne dragging Maurice by his ear.
"Isn't that Maurice?" Carlo gasped. "So he's a troublemaker then..."
"That's not true. I was with Maurice yesterday at the aviary and his personality was so far from being a troublemaker." Barbara defended.
Hanz just stared with his neck extended to get a better view through the windows.
"Professor Obyne, what's going on? Could you not treat students like that?" Akari intervened. Obyne stopped in front of Akari and was waving his hand in the air, seemingly explaining what had transpired to Akari. The people inside couldn't understand what Obyne was saying due to the noises made by the students outside.
"Looks like he's in trouble." Barbara looked concerned.
The people outside went back into their respective classrooms. Akari walked back toward his table and then clapped his hands.
"Alright. Mind your own business people. We should not trouble ourselves with other people's problems."
The class settled down then Akari stared at the bowl—only two names remained.
"Joining Kurt is... Tris the tiktik," he announced, "that makes Barbara the mambabarang the third member of the fifth team."
"Darn it..." Tris mumbled as she hit her armchair with her palm.
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Hanz and his classmates all walked into room 108 where their second class of the day was scheduled. Obyne sat at the teacher's table and watched them enter one after the other.
"Not a single sssoul said 'good morning' to me. Isn't it a common courtesy for students to greet their teacher the moment they sssee them?" Obyne spoke with great emphasis to the letter s.
The students' eyes roamed as if they were all waiting for a student to step up and apologize. But no one was brave enough to front him.
"I should have just stayed working as a fear farmer had I known how stressful this job wasss." He rambled and then stood after the last student entered the room. "What isss fearology?" He suddenly asked.
Barbara, who sat in front along with Hanz and Carlo, raised her hand with a hint of hesitation.
Obyne looked at her and smiled. "Ah!" He looked delighted. "Name?"
"Uh, Barb." Her cheeks turned pink out of embarrassment.
"Short for Barbara?"
She chuckled. "Yes, Pro—"
"And where are you from?" He interjected.
"Narama of Dreadwoo—."
"Narama of Dreadwoods? Okay, Barb. What isss Fearology?" He scanned the faces of everyone as he waited for her answer.
She lifted her chin up and inhaled. "Fearology is the study of fear."
"Fantassstic." He clapped with the tip of his fingers and smiled with his teeth showing. The whole class awkwardly smiled in response then he approached the whiteboard. "Alright," he uncapped the marker and wrote his name on the board. "For those who were absssent during the orientation, my name is Obyne. I am a hasa and I will be your Fearology teacher. Obviousssly." His hand swayed as he spoke.
"I'm bored already," Carlo whispered to Hanz.
Hanz blinked slowly at him. "Me too," he responded.
"Hey!" Obyne yelled and everybody in the room flinched. He glared at both Hanz and Carlo as he put the cap back on the marker.
The two didn't blink out of fear when suddenly Obyne whistled two notes. The students looked at each other with confusion painted all over their faces when out of the blue, a skinny black bird with a long neck and legs landed on the teacher's table.
"You two." He pointed at Hanz and Carlo while the bird was scratching its beak with its foot. "What animal is thisss?"
Hanz looked at Carlo who was shaking his head at him. "It's... It's a stork." He answered.
"It is indeed a stork—" Obyne uttered, "if you're a human that is. Here, in Balete city, we call it tagak."
The whole class murmured.
"Why are you telling us this, Professor?" Sam, who was in the farthest row asked.
"Good question!" He offered his arm and the tagak instantly jumped on it. "Tagak are very important when it comes to farming fear from humans."
"I've seen a tagak before, Professor, but never a black one," Flora said.
"I like your quessstion. Your name?"
"Flora, from Arko Village of Horned Fo—"
"Arko Village of Horned Forest? My house is situated near that village." He cut her off. "To answer your question, Tagak are naturally white but they turn black when they are full of fear energy and they turn back to white when the Tree has fully consumed it."
"The Tree eats these birds?" She followed up.
He shook his head. "Of course not! Only the energy that is stored in them is consumed." He stood still and observed the curious looks of the students. "To better understand fear farming, I'll give you some ssscenarios then you're to answer the questions that I will give. Do you underssstand?"
"Yes, professor!" Everyone in the room responded.
"Alright. First question." He paused for a moment. "If a rice farmer farms rice, then what does a fear farmer farm?"
Kurt from the right side of the room rolled his eyes. "That's easy Professor, of course, it's fear," he said with his feet resting on the seat in front of him.
"Correct," Obyne confirmed. "What's your name?" He asked while glaring at Kurt's feet.
"Kurt."
"From where?" He asked again.
"Pesca Village of Deep End."
"Are people from Pesca Village usually as arrogant and disrespectful as yourself?" His eyes shifted to Kurt's.
Oblivious, he didn't get where Obyne's line of questions was headed. "Heh. Excuse me?" He crossed his arms while his feet still rested on the seat in front of him.
Everybody looked uncomfortable hearing the exchange. Some pretended to write while others looked down.
"Put your feet where they belong!" He shouted as he petted the tagak.
Sam snorted in the back row. Kurt heard it so he turned toward Sam as he put his feet down on the floor. He gave Sam a fearful look.
Sam immediately looked away.
"Where were we?" Obyne cleared his throat. "Oh, right! Next question..." He continued walking around the room. "If a sssickle is a farmer's tool to farm, then what do fear farmersss use?"
The class went silent.
"Professor!" A girl with pink hair and glasses raised her hand. "It would be—"
"And who are you?" He interrupted her.
She bit her lip. "Ezra, Professor." She looked him in the eye and saw that he was waiting for her to go on and so she did. "Fear farmers—"
"No, no. After you say your name, tell me where you originally come from." He sighed at the stunned Ezra. "What are you staring at? Go on!"
"Ezra. Arko Village of Horned Forest." She looked like she ran out of interest in answering the question. "Fear farmers use their original form and abilities to scare humans," she said without pause then sat in her chair with a thud.
Once again, Obyne clapped with the tip of his fingers. The tagak that roosted on his arm shook. "Yesss!"
Barbara mouthed to the boys, "I don't like him!"
Hanz cringed.
"Now..." he approached the table and let the bird land on it. "If a wheat farmer transports his grains using a wheelbarrow or a cart, what would a fear farmer use in this case?"
The class tried to hide their faces with whatever they had in front of them. No one dared to raise their hand.
"No one? You already forgot what I told you 3 minutesss ago?" He went back to stand at the side of his table.
"Professor!" Sam raised his hand.
Obyne pointed at him. "Yesss, the guy with blonde hair."
"Sam. From Dua of Amberlands—"
"Dua? So I assume you're a sssantelmo."
"Correct, Professor!"
"Oh... so you're that infamous boy who Council members call 'the Lassst Santelmo.' SSSorry to hear your loss..."
Sam didn't utter a word.
"It must be hard living by yourssself."
He glanced at Dave. "No. Before the school was opened, I used to live in Dua with my best friend Dave."
"A friend?" He cleared his throat. "Friendsss are nice to have, aren't they?"
Dave nodded at Sam and so did he.
"My answer, Professor."
"G-Go ahead."
"It's the tagak." Sam smiled.
Obyne looked like he was lost in thought and just stood there.
"Professor. Are you okay?" Barbara asked.
Obyne shook his head and sat down on the chair behind his table. "Y-Yes, of course. Yesss, tagak is the correct answer."
"But how does it work?" Ezra asked as she fixed her glasses.
"Take out your notesss and write what I'm about to say." He let the tagak land on the table. "The farmer, you, will use your abilitiesss or looksss to scare the humans. Fear will then be siphoned by the tagak but they have to be within 15 metersss from the source for it to work. Once the tagak is full of fear energy, it will turn black and will instinctively fly back to our realm and roossst in the roots of the Balete Tree. The bird will stay there until the Tree has fully consssumed all the fear energy from it."
"That's interesting," Carlo said.
"I'm afraid that I will have to cut our class here as I have a meeting with someone. For your homework, I want you to write down the techniquesss used in fear farming. See you at the next meeting." Obyne stood up and everyone did the same.
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Headmaster Yanu, with his hands behind him, stood by the triangular window that had glasses of different colors. If one was to look at its entirety from afar, one would see that it was made to look like a half-body portrait of the Headmaster himself.
Yanu, who was barely 4 feet tall, had all sorts of appliances and furniture made exclusively with his height in mind all over the room. The ceiling that had an exquisite chandelier at the center was so high that the tallest species of tree dwellers could still be accommodated. A vinyl record player played the Flight of the Bumblebee in the background.
The large door of Yanu's room burst open. Obyne marched with big strides toward Yanu then stopped next to the Headmaster's table. Gertrude, Maurice, and Pamela, along with two other people, entered.
Obyne wiped the corner of Yanu's table with his handkerchief and then knocked on it. "Headmassster?"
Yanu didn't hear them come in. Even the sound of the sudden opening of the huge door wasn't enough to catch his attention.
"Headmaster Yanu." Gertrude spoke in her deep voice.
Yanu, who was looking through the window, slowly faced the people behind him. "This is my favorite song, did you know that?" His head subtly moved to the rhythm. "I have no knowledge whatsoever of whoever wrote this song but I like it," he said in a soothing voice. "I have to hand it to the humans—they have the most wonderful taste in music."
"Headmassster—" Obyne uttered but he was interrupted.
Yanu snapped his finger and the music stopped.
"Professor Obyne..." he greeted him with a nod. "Ah... Gertrude! How did you find teaching History so far?"
"I have a feeling that it will be the end of me," Gertrude replied comically.
"That's nonsense." Yanu croaked. "And who do we have here?"
Obyne cleared his throat. "This is Pamela, Maurice, and his parentsss, Lando and Opal."
Lando and Opal were Maurice's adoptive parents. They wore matching robes of white and gold.
"Former Mini—" Lando started speaking.
"It's Headmaster now, sweetheart," Opal whispered.
He nodded at her. "Pardon me, Headmaster. As you see, we are still wearing our uniform because we were summoned by Professor Obyne and he said it was for an urgent matter. I have a long line of patients that I need to attend to—"
"What is this 'urgent matter,' Professor?" Yanu turned to his left where Obyne stood.
"I wasss teaching Fearology—Pamela and Maurice were in my class. I brought a black tagak to introduce to them the concept of fear farming. Suddenly, the tagak flew toward Maurice and he touched it on its head then it instantly turned to white!"
"That is nonsense, Headmaster!" Gertrude roared. Lando held Opal and Maurice close to him.
"I didn't see it but my gut tellsss me that he used babaylan magic to turn the tagak from black to white. Magic while in class, Headmassster!" Obyne pressed his lips in anger.
"If that is true, then it would mean that Maurice took off his ring so he could use magic. Did you see what he looked like when he turned?" Gertrude protested.
"Professor Obyne, did you see him turn?" Yanu inquired. Obyne was avoiding eye contact.
Obyne shook his head. "I ssswear he used magic in class. That is all I can say, Headmassster."
Yanu sat on his chair and it swiveled. "I'm old Obyne." For the first time, Yanu did not address him as a professor. "I have seen so many things... all sorts of things in my lifetime. And I have yet to see or hear about a tagak that changed its color because of magic."
"Headmassster, you have to believe me. The tagak I brought was black then it turned white. No tree dweller has ever done that before."
"There is indeed no one—because it is nonsense, Obyne!" The Headmaster raised his voice. "Only the Tree can do that."
"Ask Pamela. I brought her here to tell you what she sssaw." Obyne gestured for her to come closer.
Pamela walked closer as she looked at Gertrude's serious eyes.
"Go ahead, young lady, tell us. Did you see Maurice take off his ring?" Yanu pointed at Maurice who looked uncomfortable in his father's arms.
Pamela, who was Maurice's classmate, was present when it happened. If anybody could've seen Maurice take off his ring, she would be the best candidate to bring as a witness as she was seated right next to him.
"He..." she said with a shaky voice. "He n-never took it off."
Everybody glared at Obyne who seemed to be stuttering.
"P-Pamela! Don't be ssstupid to think that you can lie in front of the Headmasss—" Obyne yelled.
"Professor! That is not an unacceptable way to speak to a student!" Yanu exclaimed. His chin jiggled as he spoke.
"H-Headmaster, one more... let us ask her one more quessstion." Obyne held onto the corner of Yanu's table.
"Enough! This is absurd!" Yanu slammed his hands on the desk.
"P-Pamela... did you sssee me bring a black tagak?" Obyne's eyes looked wet.
Pamela looked at Gertrude's eyes as if the old kapre was pleading.
"N-No. You brought a white tagak, Professor." She closed her eyes expecting to be yelled at once again by Obyne.
Maurice got out of his father's arm and he looked like he didn't agree with Pamela's version of the story. His father grabbed him by his arm and hugged him.
"Stay put, son. This is for your own sake." Lando whispered in his ear.
"You..." Obyne walked towards Pamela with his feet slamming to the floor at each step he took. His eyes were red out of anger and his nose was wet with tears. He was about to strangle Pamela from behind but suddenly...
"Obyne!" The Headmaster snapped his finger and a gust of air instantly entered the room. An invisible entity grabbed Obyne by his clothes and lifted him in the air. "
Do not dare mistake me for someone who would stand idly by someone's lies." He jumped out of his chair—his big belly bounced almost violently to his movement. "You said it yourself that you didn't see him turn. Pamela also denounced that you brought a black tagak. Unless you have evidence to support your claim, I am ending this meeting now."
Yanu snapped his finger again then Obyne was dropped to the floor.
End of Chapter 7