Academy of Misbehavours

Chapter 2

The Late Morning

Hideki woke up but kept his eyes partly closed. He reached for his mobile phone to see what time it was; if it was early he would need to go downstairs into the kitchen and get a midnight snack or early morning snack, before his father woke him up for school. He reached out but was slightly worried when he did not feel the dressing table that was supposed to be beside his bed. His eyes shot open when he realised that his dressing table was missing! Or was it he who was missing from his dresser table?

He remembered that he was no longer home. When he opened his eyes he did not see the posters of his favourite musicians, he did not see his closet that was almost bursting with the finest clothes, He did not see his mobile phone which would soon have to be replaced with an upgraded version as his contract was about to end. Instead he was in a dorm room full of snoring, sleeping and occasionally gas passing boys of different ages. They slept in bunk beds that were organised into four rows. He remembered that his father had abandoned him to this place.

He sighed deeply to himself. He closed his eyes as he let his head sink deeper into the hard, thin pillow. Just as he began to close his eyes he heard a loud banging noise. Everyone began groaning as they jumped out of their beds and began making them. Hideki groaned and took his pillow and smothered his face with it, in an effort to drown out the sights and sounds around him. Someone patted him on his shoulder and he removed the pillow to see who it was. It was one of the boys. He was topless with an uncomfortably looking small dark blue Speedo with watermelons printed on it.

"If I were you, which thankfully I'm not, I would get up." The boy said. He had short black hair that looked messy but still good on him.

"What? Are you some kind of dorm room monitor?" Hideki asked, partly annoyed.

"Monitor? No, my name is Kadan!" Kadan said striking an impressive strong man pose, showing off his toned body to Hideki.

Hideki averted his eyes in an attempt to shield himself from what he was seeing. "Dude, cover up... please."

"Oh, don't be jealous! And like I said if I were you, which, again, thankfully I'm not, I would get up. If the real monitors come and they see that you haven't made your bed and your still asleep... you'll regret it."

Hideki turned his back to Kadan as he tried to fall back to sleep.

Kadan shrugged as he flapped his bed sheets over his bed. "I tried."

/

PANG! Hideki shot straight up when he heard the loud sound. He looked to the source and saw the same man he had seen when he was brought here. He had the same green camouflage jacket and pants and black boots. He had two golden symbols in each hand.

"Wakey wakey." He said.

"You again!"

"You can call me Mr. Jiang, Sir or Major Jiang!"

Hideki groaned, "Alright, Mr. Jiang."

"You are late. Everyone has already eaten breakfast."

Hideki looked around and noticed that the dorm room was empty except for himself and Major Jiang. "We have a saying here at the Academy: An early morning equals a better day. And there are consequences to having a late morning. You should go shower before the consequences become even more severe than what they already are."

Hideki swung his legs over the bed. "I don't even have clothes or know where one... washes himself."

"Did you not open the package I gave you yesterday?"

Hideki looked besides his bed. He was so angry that he just threw it on the floor. It was a box that had brown paper wrapped around it. He picked it up and tore the package open. Inside were folded clothes and a cap. They all had blue camouflage patterns on it except for a black t-shirt.

"Those are all the clothes you'll need. As for the shower it is that way." Major Jiang said pointing to the direction of the shower.

Hideki placed his uniform down and entered the shower room. He was disappointed when he saw no bath tubs. All he saw was the stalls that had overhanging shower caps. He got out of his vest and underwear and stepped into one of the stalls and opened the valve. As soon as the spraying water touched his skin he screamed a blood curdling scream. The water was cold! He desperately turned the valves of the shower stall. He turned them clockwise and anti-clockwise and the intensity and amount of the water sprayed changed but the temperature of the water itself did not. He stuck his head out of the shower stall and curved his back outward so that the least water could touch him.

"The water... The water is cold!" He shouted to Major Jiang who was standing at the entrance of the shower facility with his back turned.

"Yes! Remember, an early morning equals a better day!" He said slightly turning his head.

"Oh I get it. I want hot water; I have to wake up early for it." He said to himself. He tightly clenched his teeth as he readied himself to go back under the spray of cold water. He dove in to shower as quickly as possible.

After he was done showering, he picked up his new uniform from the floor and got getting dressed. He sighed heavily when he stood before his reflection in the uniform.

Major Jiang walked in, his heavy boots emphasising his every step. "Ah! Your done."

"Do you know what the difference between you and me is?" Hideki asked before turning to face him. "I don't make this look good. It's not my style."

"Yeah? Well you'll have to make it your style. Come on! The day has not even begun."

/

Hideki was being led outside. He saw kids, both girls and boys, with the same blue camouflage uniform. It felt like they were preparing for something, something big. The girls and boys were both carefully separated. Although it seemed like they had the freedom to interact, something kept them from doing so. Mr. Jiang eventually stopped behind a small house built in the property of The Academy. There were four boys already there, leaning against the wall. As soon as they got there, he placed Hideki against the wall along with the other boys.

"Hun Jin Yeng, Saun Sot, Hideki Kimoti and Fa Jinn! Why am I not surprised!" Major Jiang said.

Hideki's eyes went wide when from seemingly out of nowhere Major Jiang produced a stick rapped in red tape. Hideki pressed his back even more against the wall, instinctively retreating from the menacing stick. Major Jiang swung his stick in an upward motion which caused the air to whistle around it in a whoosh sound. Fa Jinn gasped in fear casuing Hideki to look at the shorter and chubbier boy. He was in the same uniform, however his cap had a longer brim than his or any other standard uniform cap. He seemed to be as old as him, the other two boys on the other hand looked older, 15 years old or so.

"Ah...say hello to The Discipliner, boys." Major Jiang said, introducing us to his stick like it was a living being. "Let's start with the least severe offences of the morning. Hideki Kimoto, you have ignored wake up time and have placed The Academy behind schedule..."

"What? Wait I..." Hideki was about to protest how his actions affects the whole academy.

"Speak only when spoken to!" Major Jiang swung his stick making it whoosh to emphasis his point. He sighed, "I will let it slip this once because you're new. Your punishment for missing wake up time happens to have already been administered by... life."

Hideki looked at Major Jiang questionably. "I don't understand." Hideki waited and saw a stern look on Jiang's face and added, "sir."

"You slept through breakfast and therefore you will receive no breakfast." Mr. Jiang informed him.

"Whaaa...!" Hideki was about to protest but stopped when he saw the look on Mr. Jiang's face. Hideki kept his mouth shut out of fear of punishment.

"Fa Jinn, let me guess. You ate an extra, unauthorised ration of breakfast."

"But sir," Fa Jin began to respectfully complain. "No one said I was not allowed to take an extra portion. Not even the madam who was serving said I could not."

"Hmm..." Major Jiang ran his finger along the length of The Discipliner. "You are also relatively new but this is not your first offence involving food, Fa Jinn." He kept quiet as if thinking on what he should do. "Fine, considering Hideki here did not receive his ration of breakfast and you took an extra ration, I think that evens things out. However," Mr. Jiang said his voice getting darker and leaning closely to the fat kid. "...if you ever, EVER do this again you will not get off so easy." He said bringing up the stick in between them. "Understand?"

Fa Jinn nodded furiously while involuntarily gulping. "Yes Sir."

"Good. Now Hun and Saun. You two are here for your usual crimes. Bullying and thievery. Yesterday, some boys reported that you were intimidating them."

"But, sir. They are lying." One of the older boys said.

"That's a possibility. So I have to take your word that you're both innocent of these accusations."

The boys looked at each other and simultaneously said yes. Hideki quietly looked on as the conversation unfolded. Both boys seemed to be the same age, almost the same height and had shaven heads.

"You see boys, your word is only as strong as your reputation and the both of you have a very bad reputation even compared to your other peers. So you will excuse me if I believe the accusation of a young weak boy over the denials of two older boys with a reputation of stealing and bullying. That being said, I think you're both guilty and will have to take our punishment."

Both boys sighed and held out their hands. Major Jiang shook his head and twirled his finger. Both boys sighed and turned around, extending their butts out. Major Jiang lifted The Discipliner up into the air and brought it down on one of the boy's protruding butts. There was a loud WHACK, he slowly withdrew the stick from the boy's quivering butt and raised it up again before he brought it down again with force: WHACK! At this point of the punishment the boy who was getting punished was vulnerable to flinching in anxious anticipation for the next painful strike. Major Jiang took his time, holding the stick up in the air until he brought it down to make contact. Hideki would sometimes flinch when the stick made contact. It was an uncomfortable punishment to watch.

The punishment was finally done. Hideki and Mr. Jiang's eyes met for a brief moment before Hideki averted his. He did not want to meet the man's eyes, just in case he mistakenly did something wrong and earn The Discipliner's attention. Major Jiang punished the other boy too after he was done with the first.

"Alright. That concludes the morning punishments. Do me a favour and make sure that neither of you are not part of the evening punishments." Major Jiang said. "Now, go and do your duties before The Walk begins."

They began to leave the area. Hideki was walking silently not sure what he was supposed to do. Fa Jinn caught up to him and walked beside him, "Cruel, isn't it?"

"Yes. Is that how they punish us for everything? With shots to the ass?" Hideki asked the fat kid.

"Huh? I was actually speaking about you not eating breakfast, that's cruel." Fa Jinn said. "As for The Discipliner, Major Jiang only uses it for the most severe crimes and problematic students. So you don't have to worry."

"Okay." Hideki said slowly walking faster.

Fa Jinn was struggling to keep up with him. "You shouldn't walk so fast. Save your energy for The Walk.

Hideki stopped on his tracks and swiveled around on his heels to face Fa Jinn. "The Walk?"

Fa Jinn nodded. "Yes. The Walk is a tough and grueling task that all of us have to undertake."

"How tough can something named The Walk be?" Hideki said jokingly but Fa Jinn did not laugh; he did not flinch. It seemed like his mind was attempting to comprehend the task that lay before him.

"Trust me, you'll know." Fa Jinn said seriously but he then smiled, "at least this time I have a walking partner!" He said happily offering his hand. "My name is Fa Jinn. People call me Jinn though."

Hideki smiled at the odd boy and took his hand. "My name is Hideki Kimoti." He was glad that he had already made a friend on his first day. However, what Jinn said worried him, how difficult was The Walk.