Academy of Misbehavours

Chapter 4

A Promise to be Feared and the Lengths a Man will go

"No, father, I'm sorry. I'll be good now. Just... don't leave me here!" Hideki shouted out to his father.

Kisho looked down and turned his back as he began to leave the room.

"Father! Please!" Hideki said trying to run for him but the man in the camouflage was able to hold Hideki down. The man in the white shirt began following Kisho out of the room while Hideki struggled to get away. "Please! I'll be good. Father, father?"

Kisho kept walking. He tried his upmost best to ignore his son's pleas of mercy and promises that he would be better.

Father? Father. Father!"

Kisho stopped. The last word Hideki said was not in a pleading tone. No, Kisho heard something else in his son's voice, in his tone. What was it? When he heard Hideki call out again, he knew what it was. It was hate. He turned around had looked at his son. The man in camouflage had held him down and now he was on his knees. There was a fire in Hideki's eyes, a determination his father had never seen from him before and it scared him.

"Father! Pray... pray that I do not make it through this!" His son's voice began to change near the end of the sentence. It became deeper and developed a rasping noise to it. "Because if I do...!" Kisho looked back at his son as the doors were beginning to close on him. He could see his son begin to transform. His body grew big with a mixture of fat and muscle. The right side of his head began to bulge out as his left eyeball began to protrude outward until half his eyeball was out the eye socket. Using his massive body he was able to shrug off the man holding him down and ran for the closing door. He burst through the double doors as he ran for his father. Hideki, in his new monstrous form was now three times the size of his father. Using his pointing finger he grabbed Kisho and lifted him up into the air. His son's finger was elongated to be longer than a normal human arm and instead of ending in a white fingernail and a stub, it ended with yellow fingernail and at the end was a malformed hand. Kisho noticed that his son's ten fingers all ended with these deformed hands and the one finger that had grabbed him had its fingers balled into a fist which it used to grab his shirt.

Kisho began to panic and looked around for help. The man who was in the white shirt was nowhere to be seen... in fact there was nothing to be seen for all around him there was only blackness, blackness, him and his grotesque son.

"If I do...!" His son said in that strange voice. "I will make sure that you will live to regret it!" His monstrous son opened his mouth as he got ready to bite his head off...

/

Kisho woke up with a start. His breathing was shallow and he was perspiring with fear. He reached out to the night stand beside him for his glasses. He placed his thick prescription glasses on so that he could see the time from his alarm clock. The digital clock flashed 2:50 PM.

He would have to wake up in four hours time but he had no sleep left in him. The dream had unsettled him, making him almost fearful of going to sleep again. He swung his feet off the bed and searched through the drawer of his nightstand until he produced the pamphlet for the Academy. He turned on the night lamp and read the pamphlet quietly to himself.

Every child is important! That statement is truer in this country and in this time more than it has ever been in any other place in any other time. As parents we have only but one chance to produce individuals that will be worthy of not only carrying on our family legacy but who will be a success in life. But what of the children who fail to be worthy? What of children who we give everything we have not only to make them happy but to also to improve themselves but who still fail to not only succeed but fail to appreciate what they have? Do we give up on them? Do we let them grow to be delinquents of society? Do we allow them to be the shame of our names?

There is no reason to let this happen because it is not too late for them. At The Academy we will teach your child discipline, hard work and respect. We will show them what they are truly capable of and we will help them break away from whatever it is that is holding them back. Whether it be violent behaviour, lawlessness, addiction or poor academic performance. It is not too late! Sign your child up now for we have only failed as parents when we give up on our children.

Kisho read the back of the pamphlet. He saw the promise of physical labour to help the enrolees develop strong and healthy bodies. Kisho remembered his son's promise to make him pay. He would definitely be able to do that with a stronger body. And Kisho did not even know how to defend himself. Maybe he should withdraw his son from The Academy and deal with his behaviour himself. No, he would look weak to his son... which he probably was but his son would know that he could get away with anything. He stuffed the pamphlet back in his nightstand drawer. If his son was going to get stronger than he would also have to get stronger, even stronger than his son.

/

Kisho arrived at work early. He began to immediately work on his part of accounts for a big company. The accounting firm he worked at had just received business from said company and the project was very important. If he was still doing his old shift than he would not be in this account, however since he changed shifts to better guard his son, he now had more work than usual. This was something that did not bother him, being a natural hard worker and anyways when he changed shifts to better help his son's behaviour he knew what he may be getting himself into.

Kisho sighed to himself when he thought about his son. Did he give up on his son too quickly? He thought to himself. He was willing to work with him, to spend time with him and rekindle their relationship as father and son and yet he still had no choice but to send Hideki to a place for delinquents. A son he feared would keep his promise of making him regret his actions of sending him to said place.

"Kimoti!" Kisho heard a voice that snapped him out of his deep monologue. He realised that he was looking out of the small window near his cubicle as he pondered on the events that happened in the past few days. "Kimoti, close your mouth and get back to work! How far are you to completing your part of the accounts?" His supervisor, Yae, asked him.

Kisho felt very insulted by the 'close your mouth and get back to work' comment. He looked at the watch on the wall and noticed that his shift had not officially begun as he had arrived early. "Actually sir! My shift has not officially begun, so I will open my mouth and not work until it does!" Kisho wished he said that but instead he said, "I'm still working on it sir but I'm almost..."

"The reason why you're 'almost' anything is because you're not working enough!" Supervisor Yae said, nearly shouting. "Hopefully more work will help you with that problem." Yae said dropping off a bunch of paper work on Kisho's small overcrowded desk. "Finish off this part too." He said before leaving.

"Okay sir..." Kisho said to his supervisor who was already walking away.

"Honestly, I think I got a lazy worker. Why did he have to take this shift..." Kisho heard the supervisor said.

Kisho knew that Yae was saying that sop that Kisho would hear him. He had heard rumours of how much of a jerk Yae was but now he would get to experience it first hand. He sighed again to himself while getting back to work. He had done all this for his son and it was all for nothing.

/

Kisho had finished all of his work for the day, even the additional one that Yae gave him. As he was about to walk out of the building Yae stopped him and gave him more work that he wanted completed by tomorrow. Kisho reluctantly accepted the extra work with no complaint before he placed the papers with the account details into his briefcase.. He walked out of the building of the accounting firm to the nearest bus stop, where a bus picked him up.

He made sure to sit near a window so as to look at the city sights. When the bus stopped and the city images stopped passing rapidly by him he saw a reflection of himself in the window. He saw an exhausted face with thick square rimmed prescription glasses and his thinning come-over failing to hide his balding head. Kisho used his palm to smooth his come-over over the brown skin peeking from the top of his head. When he stopped he noticed a poster. The poster began moving... no, the bus began moving away from the poster. Kisho quickly got up and ran to the front of the bus.

"Please stop! Please stop!" He said pressing the stop button on the way to the front, making a bell ring at the driver's seat. The bus lurched to a complete stop, making Kisho fall forward onto the floor. He quickly got up as the people in the bus either giggled or asking if he was okay. He raised his hand in a friendly gesture. "I'm okay. I'm okay." He said rushing to get off the bus and away from the embarrassing situation. When he got off the bus he heard the bus driver call him an 'i***t' before he sped away.

Kisho walked to the poster he had seen. He straightened his skewed glasses on his nose before he read the poster. The poster was bright red with golden writing and a picture of a black dragon. It was advertising a martial arts school. This is what he needed to be stronger and be able to defend himself against his son, he happily thought to himself.

He began walking deep into the town to find the martial arts school that was on the poster. When he heard the chorus of 'kiyaas!' he knew he had found what he was looking for. He saw row of students in red fighting suits and black belts going through punching and kicking drills in unison. He walked into the school with a smile of wonder on his face; all the students looked so strong and skilful. Kisho was confident that with hard work he could also be like them.

The instructor stopped giving commands when he saw the man in a white shirt and suspenders walking into his gym. He walked to him as his students continued to train in near perfect unison. Kisho stopped when he noticed the instructor standing in front of him.

Kisho gave the instructor a low and respectful bow before speaking. "Master, hello, I wish to train in this gym... with you."

The instructor smiled and folded his arms. "You want to train with us?" He said his voice filled with mirth. "No! It won't be possible."

Kisho looked at him in confusion. "But... but I have money, I can pay."

"Your money is useless here," the instructor said not trying to hide his disgust. "You are too weak to train with us."

"But... but i can work hard. I can learn to be stro..."

Kisho did not get the chance to complete his statement before the instructor kicked him hard in the gut as he shouted, "I said NO!"

Kisho fell back and slid a few inches on the floor. The gym was suddenly quiet as all the students looked at their instructor and the man on the floor, clutching his stomach. Kisho began to rise and was grabbed by the collar of his shirt by the instructor then dragged to the gym exit. The instructor roughly pushed him out and for the second time for the day Kisho fell forward spilling all of his possessions.

He could now hear the students, their kiyaas had been replaced by laughter and unkind words aimed at Kisho. He quickly tired to collect his things in an effort to escape the cruel students. When he picked up his briefcase it fell open, spilling out the paper work he had gotten earlier that day out on the ground. His suffering was being prolonged as the papers were blown around by a breeze. He was forced to chase after the important documents as the mocking laughter got louder.

"You see that!" The instructor said looking at Kisho as he chased after his papers. "This man wanted to study with us but we do not teach fools in this gym!" At that the gym's laughter picked up an octave driving Kisho more desperate to get out of the place. He was chasing a paper that stopped right at the feet of a boy. The boy picked up the paper and handed it to Kisho who thankfully accepted it. The newcomer decided to help Kisho collect the rest of his things.

"Have you come back Fai?" The instructor called out to the boy helping Kisho.

There was no immediate answer from the boy, Fai. All he had on was a frown of sadness and disappointment as he helped Kisho with his paperwork. He eventually got up from his kneeling position with a stack of documents in his hand. He faced the instructor and bowed respectably before answering, "No, I have not returned." Fai looked at the laughing students in more disappointment and added, "And I will never return, to you or martial arts." The boy looked around for Kisho but saw that he was rapidly walking away from the situation. He bowed again to the instructor before running after Kisho.

"You have grown weak Fai!" The Instructor shouted before he commanded his students back into the gym.

Fai caught up to Kisho. He was holding his things very close to his chest as if protecting them or perhaps he was using them as a shield to protect himself. "I apologise for how the Griffin gym treated you, sir." Fai said giving Kisho his paperwork back. Fai was naturally short than Kisho, being 13. His black hair fell over his face, just above his hazel eyes, effectively hiding them from most people. He never smiled, keeping his expression either neutral or sad. He looked like he had experienced something bad in his life, which prompted Kisho to wonder hwat such a young boy could have experienced to make him like that.

"I don't see why you're apologising; you're not the one who humiliated me!" Kisho said bitterly.

"Still." Fai said. "The Griffin school usually takes in students who are young, strong and show great potential." Fai said guessing what Kisho had wanted from the school. "They are not interested in building anyone up."

"Yes? Young, strong and showing great potential, three things that I am neither." Kisho said sounding even more depressed.

Fai stepped in front of the older man and expected to collide with him but to his surprise Kisho stopped. Most adults, especially ones in his state, would naturally ignore a younger person's movements until it was too late. "I advice you to stay away from martial arts. It only brings pain." The boy said revealing his hazel eyes to Kisho as he looked at the older man. "But I see you want to pursue it, no matter what I say. Although I don't know why, I can only hope it is for a good reason." The boy said, his face returning back to normal. "There's a school about an hour away from here..."

/

Kisho arrived at the place Fai had described. It was called the School of Fist. He stepped into the gym. The gym was smaller than the Griffin one and therefore had less students. Kisho waited until the instructor took note of him. The instructor commanded the students to continue with their training as he went to Kisho.

This instructor was in a white fighting outfit unlike the last gym and he was older than the instructor of the last gym too. His hair was silver and on his face were the standard prescription glasses with a maroon coloured oval frame. He was slightly taller than Kisho with a thin frame.

Kisho bowed, hesitantly but to his relief the instructor bowed back. "Can i help you?" The instructor asked.

"I... I..." Kisho was still rattled by the events that happened earlier. "I want to train. To learn to fight."

The instructor raised an eyebrow. Kisho was definetly the oldest person who has ever wanted to be in his dojo. "To beat up people?" The Instructor asked.

"No... No, to... to be able to defend myself." Kisho said trying to calm himself down, trying to convince himself that the instructor would not kick him in the gut.

"hmm.. i will accept you as my student if you wish, however, you will be my oldest and low ranking students. Knowing that are you still willing?"

Kisho smiled. "It's never too late to learn."

"Good. We will begin tomorrow. They call me Cong."

Kisho bowed with a smile on his face. He had succeeded.