The Leftist Order

TWICE ENCOUNTER

As the tramp waits for any passerby that might took pity on him under the hot morning sun, he wipes the moist off from his forehead with his soot covered hands. From his right afar, a young woman who happened to bought something to eat together with two of her batch mates leaves the convenient store, which is a stones throw away from their school the Makati International Language School. The poor tramp who has not eaten since yesterday rushes to the three girls asking if they can give him some few extra coins. As he extended his filthy hands in front of them, the apathetic mean girls tried to ignore him by pretending not to hear nor see him and continued to gossip as they are trying to cross the street returning to their school. When the gullible looking middle aged- man pleaded again for the second time, the soulless, stone-hearted trio still played dumb. This infuriated him, prompting him to grab one of the girls by her arm and gave a very intimidating look to their faces. The girl got scared and tried to break away from the tramp. As she forcibly pulled her arm from the tight grip of the pissed tramp, his sharp thumbnail leaves a slightly deep scratch into her soft skin. Because of this, the girl gets furious and stared at him sharply. The three girls then caused a commotion by giving the tramp a violent reaction, "Look what you did? I told you we don't have anything. "cried the girl.

Her friend immediately backed her up by saying, "If you want money, you should get a job instead of draining others off of their charity."

The other friend also buckled an insensitive remark, giving a sullen look at the tramp's face, "Did you inhaled Rugby? Go find something to sell for you to earn money instead of buying dope."(Rugby is a popular brand of contact cement in the Philippines that is widely used by drug addicts as a cheaper alternative since methamphetamine is expensive.)

At that awkward moment, the tramp now finds himself surrounded by hot, piercing eyes of not only by the exasperated trio he offended but also from bystanders and onlookers who wanted to catch a glimpse of what is going on. When the tension around them gets more intense, the tramp felt overpowered and decided to just walk away. But before he turned away he glanced back and gave an irritating grin to the stern girls, showing his nasty yellowish teeth. When the man walked along the busy street, he began to laugh very hard like a deranged animal. As he was trembling with elation, the lust for blood slowly crept his perverse mind as he sticks his blood stained thumb in his tongue, gleefully licks off the any traces of blood that was embedded in his thumb nail. Sexually gratified at the taste of the woman's blood, he then pulled his right hand out from his pocket holding something. As he puts his hand in front of his face, he slowly stretched his fingers to reveal an I.D card, belonging to one of the girls in which he stealthily swiped. He then spelled each of the letters out as - Krizelle Legaspi whose name was written on it. Then, he again guffawed irritatingly that it echoed within, scaring the piss off some birds that seemingly enjoyed the shade within the dangling wires of electrical posts.

The president of MILS, Mr. Deakin was very eager to prepare all of the students for their upcoming roles as Careworkers and Relievers in Japan. To make sure it does, Mr. Deakin instructed all of his facilitators to also include Japanese Culture in their lesson plan. Added to that effect, all students and teachers must exercise "Aisatsu"(Japanese greetings) at all times, either inside the school's premises or at their dormitories doing their personal things. Teachers also had the authority to undergo their students into a strict policy that they must speak only in Japanese when asking permission to go to the lavatory or if they want to borrow something. With these intimidating rules that one should follow, the students are psychologically preparing themselves for their life outside the country.

As Yuri enters the school for the first time, she was surprised to see everyone making their Aisatsu whenever she sees them. She was very pleased to see Filipinos greeting her in her native tongue that gave an impression that this school was indeed relaxed and well organized. Moving forward to the reception desk, Yuri immediately greeted the receptionist. At first the receptionist was a bit shocked to see a woman so flawless; that she thought to herself that Yuri must had a good skin regiment. The receptionist, who cannot conceal her amazement, stands up and rubs her left cheek, “Good morning and welcome to Makati International Language School. You must be Ms. Yuri Shimabukuro? The new teacher." she greeted and showing her perfect white teeth.

“Yes I am. Wow. Your smile is really amazing. I really like your teeth." replied Yuri complementing the woman's pearly white smile.

Then, the flustered receptionist hides her pride by clasping her hands together, "The president is expecting you, please come this way" she told Yuri while gesturing her hand telling Yuri to follow her.

Then the two ascended the stairs. Meanwhile, inside batch ten's classroom, as the students leisurely waiting for their “Sensei” (teacher in Japanese), Mr. James Dela Torre, the student Krizelle Legaspi and her two best friends, Norma Jean Francisco and Bea Chua are having their usual chitchatting session on one end of the room. As they sat in their armchairs which is arranged in a circular row, Bea asked Norma if she is gone to the clinic to tend her scratch wound caused by their encounter with the crazy tramp, "The government should do something about those beggars, you know most of them are high on dope", added Bea as she scribbles something unto her notebook.

"Yeah, *Sigh* Poor me, the tramp's nail is very filthy. I do hope this wouldn’t become a scar", cried Norma as she stares at the gauze pad covering her wound, touching it with her fingers.

Krizzele then proceeded by changing the topic, "Hey guys, Have you ever wondered? Why Jay-sensei (Mr. Dela Torre) is always do surprise inspections on our dorm."

"He's just checking us if we do our homework. He also wants to make sure that no booze is smuggled inside the room. That is from what I know." defended Bea, she then looked at Krizzy and added, “Hey girl. Last night Jay-sensei is looking for you. He's asking where you had been last night."

Unconsciously twirling her hair as she listens, Krizelle gave Bea a naughty smile then answered, "I had gone to Don Bosco to pray. And you know, tried that new milk tea kiosk at WhaleMart's with Jake."

Upon hearing that, Bea and Norma moved their faces forward, giving Krizzele a malicious grin. As the two cannot conceal their sheer delight, Bea proceeded to tap Krizzele onto her shoulder while Norma pinched her by her cheek, so hard; Krizelle reacted and jokingly gave Norma a light spank on her back. Then Krizelle continues, "About Jay-sensei. Is it a coincidence that he always makes his inspection around the same day and time that we do our laundry? Well. I can feel something odd is with that guy. You know, there is a story that was circulating amongst our seniors from Batch 2 about him."

Bea and Norma looked at each other with their eyebrows meet. When their curiosity can’t get enough of them, they ordered Krizelle to lower his voice and share that vital piece of information with them. Krizelle then looked straight into their eyes and proceeds," Do you know Janna? My friend from high school, who was one of Jay-sensei's student at Batch 2. She told me that one night after she finished scrubbing her panties inside the C.R. she went to the rooftop to hang them dry. As you know there is no light bulb attached to the socket of the trellis in the rooftop. As Janna moves forward into the rooftop, from afar, he saw Jay-sensei sniffing one of those panties that was hanging there. And that’s not all; he slipped another one into his pocket. My friend was so shocked of what had just happened that she pretended not to saw everything and continues. She then makes Aistatsu with Jay-sensei which made the guy to almost jump and asked her what she was doing. I know Janna for a very long time. She is not the kind of person that tells stories she's not physically involved with."

Bea and Norma were shocked in disbelief. Then suddenly Norma remembers another incident that she immediately shares, "You know what girls. Maybe I should spill the beans too. Do you remember the time when Shane (one of their batch mates) had a problem with her Kanji tests? During our meal break, I forgot my purse and hurriedly go upstairs back to our room. Inside the “Kyoushitsu” (Classroom in Japanese) I saw Jay-sensei talking to Shane, giving her advice. Shane at that time was weeping and having thoughts about quitting the program. The situation was turning weird when he constantly squeezes Shane's arm and that was very, very odd. As a teacher it’s a natural thing that they should give a piece of thought that will guide us on the right track, right? But squeezing? Just like that? No way! That is very absurd. I hate to think that guy is a blank. You know."

When Krizzele was about to raise her reaction, their classmates hurriedly goes to their respective seats as Jay-sensei barges in and heads up towards the white board marker. It is common knowledge amongst all students of MILS that every start of the class, the teacher will assign different leaders to officiate the opening collective Aisatsu. The collective Aisatsu was done before the start of the class, before the ten minute and meal time break, and before the class ends. Every Monday morning the school administration also encourages the teachers to follow the Japanese style morning exercise routine video to be played before the class starts to perk up the minds of the students to become efficient in class. After the opening Aisatsu which was done by the student handpicked by Jay-sensei for that day, all of the students recites aloud the date, time and weather for the day in Japanese. Failure to comply or follow will lead the teacher to simply dictate them to repeat the process again, from the start and wouldn't be allowed to seat until all of them recite it perfectly. Since all of Jay-sensei's students dictated every word without fail, he asked them to sit down and called their names one by one in alphabetical order for attendance.

After the roll call Jay-sensei suddenly calls Krizelle's name and the girl immediately responded by saying "Hai"(yes in Japanese)

“Looks like you'd been in some really exciting place with someone last night. Right? Krizzy? You and Jake had this wonderful chemistry, don’t you think?" said Jay-sensei while giving Krizelle a very naughty smile.

Krizelle was a bit shocked, wondering how did he found out about them, “It’s nothing sensei. It’s just coincidental that I and Jake were praying at Don Bosco around the same time. We just got bumped at each other unexpectedly." replied Krizelle, trying to stop her classmates from teasing her. But her classmates did not believe her and began to make fun of her, roaring like crazy. Two rows away from Krizelle is where her soul mate Jake was sitting. The tall lad glanced at her which made her shied away. Jay-sensei then banged at the white board ordering the whole class to stop making noises. When they halted, Jay-sensei then changed the topic by asking Krizelle a question regarding their previous lesson- in which Krizelle gave the correct answer.

Outside Mr. Deakin's office the receptionist knocked and was given permission to proceed. Mr. Deakin arouse from his table as the receptionist leaves. Mr. Deakin properly introduced himself to Yuri, "Hello there Ms. Shimabukuro. I am Marcus Deakin. We've already met through phone a month ago. Welcome to MILS!"

Mr. Deakin then proceeded to shake hands with her, then, followed by a traditional Japanese introductory bow. Mr. Deakin then escorted Yuri to the faculty room where the teachers stayed. While walking, Yuri asked Mr. Deakin if there is a student at MILS with the name Juan Carlos Santos.

"I can't remember since there are many students here that belonged to different batches. Why?" replied Mr. Deakin who also became curious.

"Shachou-san (president-refering to Mr.Deakin). The truth is. I‘m part of the Facility for the elderly located in Fukui-ken, which is one of your benefactors that will eventually hire your students in the future. Santos-san is one of our candidates. Shachou-san? May I request to keep this as a secret to everyone including Santos-san?" pleaded Yuri in a dry smile.

While rubbing his trimmed beard, Mr. Deakin immediately sensed the idea that Yuri wanted to convey, “You have my word. Ms. Shimabukuro." then he smiled back at her as a sign of assurance.

Since the door of the faculty is swung open, Mr. Deakin knocked at the panel to get everyone's attention, "Good morning everybody. I hope everyone's good."

"Yes Kuyang! We are!", replied the teachers as the stood up.

“Starting today, this beautiful lady beside me will be part of our office as a Japanese Language Instructor. May I present to you, Ms. Yuri Shimabukuro from Okinawa, Japan."

The teachers welcomed Yuri by giving her a round of applause, "Hi everyone! I am Yuri Shimabukuro from Okinawa. I am very pleased to meet all of you. I will do all of my best, so please take care of me." told Yuri as she bows.

"Nice to meet you too, Ms. Shimabukuro." greeted the teachers and gave Yuri another round of applause.

Mr. Deakin then called on Ms. Rose Lejano, one of the teachers to come forth. As Rose-sensei approached, Mr. Deakin introduced her to Yuri and he added that she is the teacher that Yuri will be replacing. Rose-sensei, on the other hand is a fair-skinned woman with long curly hair that exceeds to the waist and a petite but slightly overweight built for the body. As Rose-sensei gave her a cheerful smile, Yuri immediately sensed a feel of ease from the young teacher that she gleefully shakes hands with her. Mr. Deakin then excused himself, telling that he had some business to attend as the teachers also went back to their posts. Rose-sensei then showed Yuri her working table. As Yuri sat on her table, opening one of its drawers to curiously peek, Rose-sensei places a record book onto her table, “Ms. Shimabukuro this is my class. The class that you will be handling after I’m gone."

Yuri then grabbed the book and browsed its contents. As Yuri turned each page of the book that contains the student's daily activity record and lesson plan, she then stumbled across a page that contains the names of the students. As she continues reading to familiarize herself, one name struck her, "Santos - Santos,Juan Carlos." whispered Yuri, as she looked at Rose-sensei's eyes.

Rose-sensei, on the other hand was a little surprised to see Yuri's eyes widened so she inquired is a mild tone," Why Shimabukuro-sensei? Is something the matter? Do you know one of my students?"

Yuri suddenly remembers the secret he told Mr. Deakin but since she is dying to know about him she concocted a question, "Rose-sensei. Can you tell me what kind of student Santos-san is?"

Upon hearing that, Rose-sensei became appalled but tried to hide it, “Well, he's typically okay."

Feeling discontented about Rose-sensei's vague answer, Yuri insisted another question to quench her curious mind, "What do you mean by that Rose-sensei?"

Rose then gave a heavy sigh and replied, “You will find out." Rose-sensei then added, “Lunch time will be soon. Where are you planning to eat? I had my lunchbox with me. Wanna join?"

“Wow! You cook your own lunch? Unfortunately, I don't have my Bento box with me so i will have lunch somewhere else. You can join me there if you like."

"Since most of the teachers here came from faraway places. The president arranged an apartment block for us. Some of us are having their foods at canteens around here but since I love cooking, I prepared most of my meals."

“Oh that's great. I also loved to cook. What kind of cuisine do you cook? Maybe I can taste your specialty some other time." said Yuri, as she smiles to her.

Rose-sensei then replied, " All kinds of Filipino food. But my favorite is Menudo-"

“What is Menudo?"

“Ahh, Menudo is a popular dish here in the Philippines. It is made of pork, potatoes, carrots, green peas, raisins, and some tomato sauce. It’s very good, I can guarantee." added Rose-sensei.

Before her travel to the Philippines, Yuri read from a travelling magazine that Filipinos loved to use cooking oils in most of their food. Since Japanese people are not fond of using too much oils to their food, Yuri also too. Thinking that the Menudo was prepared using too much oil plus the fact it had pork and liver, it leaves a disgusting impression to her, compelling her to try it. However, she tried to hide it, “Oh! That's great. I wanna try it some other time."

Rose-sensei immediately caught the person's real response, "Don't worry. I am not fond of too oily foods so I will only use less of it and of the healthiest kind. I also used the leanest part of the pork for the sauce to not become too greasy." assures Rose-sensei as she taps Yuri's shoulder. Yuri then nods as she agrees.

After Jay-sensei ordered the same student leader together with all of the students to perform the break time Aisatsu to commence lunch break, each of the students races towards the door to get to their favorite lunch spots outside school. When Jake was about to pass through Krizelle, he gave her a wink and catcalled her which made Krizelle to smile back at him but became flustered. In an instant, Krizelle's pink Motorolla Razor phone beeped which she immediately pulls out of her handbag and flipped. In it was a text message from Jake which reads, "W8 4 me at don bosco 6pm. i'll pick u up der. luv ya sweetie."

As Krizelle excitingly confirms the message, Bea from afar called at her because they had to get fast towards their favorite hanging spot since the canteen easily gets overcrowded in seconds which makes it difficult to get a table.

In a semi run down canteen just two streets away from the school, four of the teachers; Dianne-sensei, Mark-sensei, Joy-sensei, and Jean-sensei was munching with their lunches while having a conversation, “Joy-sensei, how was the N3 test last month? I'll do hope Kuyang will give you an increase for that. Ha ha!" Mark-sensei began "Unfortunately for me. When I was in Chiba, I have to work extra just to scrap some money to take the test. I failed eight times but thank god I got my N3 after the ninth."

"It wasn't easy. I almost failed if it wasn't because of the 2 minutes allotted time-." joked Joy-sensei as she points her fork towards them.

“Ha ha ha! Whatta smug! The truth is. For you, listening and reading comprehension almost gave you the answers since you are a Kanji genius." replied Dianne-sensei as she jokingly was about to spank Joy-sensei with her spoon," Speaking of which, Jay-sensei is the only N1 in the whole school, right?"

“Nah! Of course not. There is also Xy-sensei (Xyrelle Menandro), a former nurse in Japan. It is not very uncommon to know that he(Jay-sensei) only got the head teacher position because he was the witch's (Philomena) nephew. And everyone in the marketing (department) knows it.” added Jean-sensei, feeling a bit disgusted.

“About that obnoxious bulldog. All I know is that, he's a licensed engineer who worked in an automobile company in Tokyo, right?" inserted Mark-sensei, "But the thing is. Why a big company like that would drag him out all of a sudden? A talented guy like him is such a waste to discard with"

“Well I think, since he loved curvaceous woman so much that the CEO thinks he's a threat to him." interjected Jean-sensei in a sarcastic tone.

Then in a laughing manner, Joy-sensei revealed, “Oh s**t! Ha ha ha! Here we go again. I know someone from Bridgeway who works for Madame (Philomena) personally, confided to me that back in 1999, Jay-sensei, out of drunkenness, proposed indecently to a female colleague. Since all of his workmates are present at that time, the incident became an instant source of different speculations. It turns out that female intern was the daughter of the company's CEO. When the news reached him, he immediately asked Jay-sensei to resign from his post to avoid further embarrassment to the workplace. But Madame uses her influence to give him a very smooth slip. And now he was-"

“Terrorizing this run down institution. And quote and unquote. To give quality education to students who wished to work in Japan. Hahahahahaha!!! Quality my butt. He's just after smothering tits." says Jean-sensei, mimicking Jay-sensei's manner of talking while her hands gestures the shape of a woman's mamaries. Then the wholesome friends laughed it out loud.

Around the same time, Rose-sensei and Yuri finished their lunch and was heading back to school, “Shimabukuro-sensei. Tomorrow I’m going to introduce you to my class." instigated Rose-sensei

“Um! I'm so excited to meet all of them Rose-sensei. Rose-sensei, I was won-"

However from their side, the same tramp from the morning incident slowly reaches his blackened palms to them and pleads, "Good Madame. Do you have any extras for the hungry? Just perhaps?"

Yuri thinking of the Pancit Palabok (a local noodle based dish) she took out from the diner, immediately hands over the plastic bag to the poor man. Oddly, the tramp inspects the plastic bag and slowly opens the Styrofoam container. As the aroma of the food seeped into his nose, his mood suddenly changes and muttered, “Salt, salt, salt."

"You imbecile!!! This f@#k is salted!!!" shouted the now irate tramp. As the enraged tramp splats the food, spilling all its contents, he quickly reaches his hand to grab Yuri as a prelude to attack when suddenly, a male MILS student appeared in between them and pushes the raging tramp away. As the tramp sneered to his instant enemy, Rose-sensei, in a state of frenzy called onto their savior which indicated that she already knows him, "J.C.? SANTOS-SAN!!!!"

When the moment Yuri heard that the name of their savior as JC Santos, she immediately snaps out of the shock because of what happened and curiously laid her eyes on J.C's face. The tramp uses the opportunity to slip out and blends in through a large crowd of people that was walking on the other way around. Worried, Rose sensei approached JC and says, “Thanks Santos-san. Are you okay?" then she adds, "Hey, I almost forgot. Class isn't over yet. Have you forgotten something? You know a sensei is in front of you. What are you going to do?"

JC in an state of expressionless peer, looks at his teacher, slowly bows his head and replies in monotonous tone, “Konbanwa” (hello or good afternoon in Japanese)

“That's okay for now J.C but maybe next time, do it correctly. I've already taught you guys how to say Konbanwa correctly because if Mr. Deakin sees that you'd be in a more serious trouble. So better fix that attitude man." remarked Rose-sensei, “By the way JC. This is Shimabukuro-san you're new teacher starting next month. Tomorrow, she will be a sub-teacher to observe our class."

Yuri then approached JC and cheerfully introduced herself, "Hi JC. I'm Yuri Shimabukuro. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Even though JC gave her the proper Aisatsu to reciprocate Yuri's introduction in a dry manner, the moment Yuri laid her eyes on him, a sudden feel of intimidation surges her. JC appeared to be so apathetic and stolid that it made her a bit off. Her first encounter with the man who wrote one of the most meaningful and gripping poems she ever read were indeed saddening. She ever wondered why this man is as cold as ice. From a distance, Jay-sensei witnessed JC's improper Aisatsu with the two ladies and approaches them, "Hey. It's been a while since you’ve started and you didn't even mastered how to say it properly? No wonder I will let you do Aisatsu a thousand times just for you to remember it well."

He then glared to Rose-sensei and complained, "How is it that your students are not doing just a simple Aisatsu very well? You are very aware that your student's action will reflect on your evaluation as their facilitator, right? Oh! I almost forgot you already handed your resignation to Kuyang. Don't worry, I'll write you a good recommendation for your future application."

Jay-sensei then smirked at Rose-sensei that made her repulsed and looked away. Then, he turns his eyes back to JC and imperatively says, "Now. JC, do it again."

But JC neither move nor speak, he just stared at him giving this daunting look. Since he doesn't want to be defeated by just a mere student, Jay-sensei angrily commands J.C.to do Aisatsu a hundred times. As J.C. said Konbanwa and begins to bow, he instantaneously runs away and darted into the crowds sending Yuri and Rose-sensei to helpless giggle, “I’M NOT THROUGH WITH YOU JC!! YOU UNDERSTAND!!!" shouted Jay-sensei, as J.C. disappears.

As the lesson for the day was ended and the class was dismissed, Krizelle told her friends that she will not attend Yamamoto-sensei’s Singing Club session because she will have to go straight to the dormitory to fix herself a nice dress for her date with Jake at six. She also asks her friends to make an alibi for her to the Yamamoto-sensei, telling that she is not feeling well. As Krizelle buoyantly races to their dormitory room, she promptly stopped when she hears a heavy breathing coming from inside. When she nervously opened the door, she detected the sound emerges from the bathroom, “Hello? Is anyone there?" called Krizelle.

As she slowly approaches the half-opened door of the bathroom, the pounding of breath became louder and louder that made also her heart race. As she now bathed in cold sweat, Krizelle bravely continued to move the door wider with her trembling hand. Feeling that a possible armed burglar caved in, the moment she opened the door, an enormous swarm of flies attacked her. The flies divided into groups that targeted specific body parts; some enters all of her orifice, some circulated around her arms, others surrounded her hips, and the rest to her feet. The flies then dragged her further deep into the dark bathroom as she made terrified screams.

Being a teacher is not an easy task, which is why it made Jay-sensei physically weary as he walks down the street towards his own apartment. As he was near his place, he noticed a large box placed outside the gate of an abandoned warehouse. What caught his attention was that the box was almost brand new and was slightly browned because of the drizzle of rain that pelted in it and dried up the last night. He immediately peered inside it, and to his surprise a bloodstained jacket appeared. The soiled gray jacket attracted Jay-sensei because of the image of the tiger that was sewn at its back. As he inspected the hooded jacket and concluded that it was still okay and good to wear, he then decided to take it back home and wash it.