When hen his wristwatch struck twelve o'clock, Travis hastily sprinted into the open window and halted there like a spiderman. This scared and startled his students. Travis stopped for a second before turning his back on his astounded students. "Farewell, my beloved students! I will be absent the entire afternoon, and the guys who will be substituting for me will be arriving exactly at 1 p.m. Obey them appropriately, okay?" Travis began sprinting away from the classroom after saying goodbye to his pupils. The students were taken aback when Travis refused to let them speak for even a second. Nonetheless, the students were content. It was now because there was no teacher.
"Okay, so where were we again?"
After a second when Travis was gone, Monika grabbed tightly Shira's hands. "Okay, let's continue." She was mumbling while closing her eyes as if performing a ritual on Shira. Andrea, Sara, Opera, and Maurine, on their seats, thought Monika had completely lost her mind so Andrea laughed it out followed by Maurine. Shira, frozen in her seat, was just mesmerized by how Monika tried seriously so hard to make them believe her.
"Shira..." whispered Monika. And Shira gulped. The other girls surrounding them stopped making fun of Monika and they turned their eyes into serious ones, which the boys in the class rolled their eyes because of how dumb the girls in their class were.
Monika sniffled after a second, closing her eyes still. "You're a woman who keeps on eating but never gets fat. That's a good sign to be a scarecrow." Never did the girls laugh this hard that it made Shira shriek and kick Monika's leg. The boys didn't bother to listen to what Monika had said and just continued doing their business, which was to skim on Peter's porn magazines and Brent's console games.
Earlier in the morning, Travis had instructed them to take a nap since he had noticed how tired and drowsy his students' were. But instead of taking a rest as their teacher said, they didn't bother to waste any second playing with each other. The students took their time to play and chat, not to rest. But Travis, on his behalf, just left them be and wasn't in any bit annoyed.
While Andrea, Opera, and Sara laughed their butts off, Clara stepped in between them and asked with a grin on her face in full innocence, "Hey. Is that body-shaming? Or am I wrong?" She went to a squat position as she leaned her arms crossed on Monika's desk.
The females realized what was going on and stopped giggling. After that, the mood became unpleasant, and they avoided eye contact with Clara and Shira as they felt the awkwardness. Clara had no idea what had transpired as she had just questioned them. Clara was even more perplexed now that they hadn't said anything, and she rose up, shaking her head. She had just understood, based on their reactions, that what she had asked them was accurate.
***
Standing before the public park outside the school, Travis leaned against the solar streetlight with his Citroën 2CV car parked beside him, a front-wheel-drive economical family vehicle with an air-cooled engine. It's basically not a fancy car but the simplest vehicle he ever had.
"Mortal here," Travis spoke when Are the documents ready?"
The park was much livelier; kids were running around, playing it-and-tag, while their parents, primarily moms, sat on a side bench to keep an eye on them. There was also a single father strolling around the park's road verge with his newly born kid in a pram. Although the father appeared depressed, he was pleased to be with his daughter. Cotton candy, tempura, kwek-kwek, and lumpia shanghai street vendors were also relaxing beneath the tree, as people approached them to buy their wares. Because it was still midday, the scene was as bustling as it had always been, unlike at night still peaceful and fine.
A mendicant in his thirties, holding a cigarette, walked and sat a distance away from Travis upon glancing at him, to his car, to Travis again, and back and forth. His face was wrinkled, and he had a happy expression despite being homeless. On his shoulders was a worn and broken old brown coat, and he wore an ancient pair of boots that had been patched and cobbled countless times. The poor guy looked curious and seemed like he wanted to ask Travis a question regarding his appearance and his vehicle. However, when the tramp observed Travis on his phone, speaking to someone, he waited for Travis to conclude the conversation as though respecting him.
"Oh, yes sir," a man's voice on the phone replied to Travis, "The only thing we need now is a lawyer." When the mendicant locked his gaze on Travis, little he did know that Travis already knew what he was up to, although Travis never focused his attention on him, but on the phone. Right after leaving those words from the other line of the phone, Travis glanced at the beggar man sitting in a squat position away from him, and then he grinned without any hesitation. The mendicant was then confused.
"Don't worry about that. I have someone in mind." Travis went back to their conversation.
"Oh, if that's the case, we are now cleared, sir." The man he was speaking with exhaled a breath of relief.
"Be sure you've gathered all the necessary evidence, okay?" Travis scratched the back of his head. "I don't want this case to fail if ever, especially since they suspect my student. He's just a student who wants justice for his father. I want that to be clear, at least." He put his hand back in his pocket. "Make everything valid as soon as possible. I will meet you later at the headquarter."
The beggar then overheard Travis speaking the words "evidence" and "case". That must mean one thing. "This kid must be facing a trial in court or something." The mendicant shook off his head in disbelief after realizing Travis must be involved in such a crime. Afterward, he put the cigarette halfway into his mouth as if aggressive and he smoked.
"Understood, sir. But we've taken care of everything, right? We did make sure that they won't file a case against Zeus, right?"
"Yeah. Since money was the only thing they were chasing out, what we did was part of the plan." The man on the phone was completely relieved after hearing Travis' response. "If they'd file a case against my dear Zeus, then at least I have all the evidence I need to have the tables turned."
Once the talk was finished, Travis was the first to say goodbye followed by the man on the phone. The man on the other end of the line was the first to hang up, and Travis grinned as he looked down at the grass caressing his shoes. Keeping the phone in Travis' pocket, the beggar observed he was finished speaking with the individual on the phone and said, "You know, kid," which drew Travis' attention.
"No matter how you deeply planned it through, the richer one will always win in some ways. You know, lawyers nowadays are protecting the constitutional law, not the victim. I mean, they can't even justify that easily if who's the victim among who, and who's suspect among who. So be careful, kid." Squatting motionless, the mendicant felt the breeze gently hitting his face.
With a proud grin on his face, Travis approached the mendicant, slowly grabbing the cigarette from his lips. The unfortunate man was stunned and gave a: "Hey!" as he looked at Travis, dropping the cigarette on the ground and stamping it till the cigarette went out.
The beggar stood up. "You—!"
Travis cut him off by leaning down, retrieving a folded tissue from his shirt pocket, and reaching for the smoldering cigarette on the ground before rising. The beggar was too astonished after Travis kept it in his jeans pocket as if it were his.
"What are you—"
"Sir, my name is Travis Mortal," Travis said as he introduced himself, gently grasping the beggar's wrinkled, greasy, and dirt-covered hand. Travis seemed unconcerned by any of this and proceeded to place the beggar's backhand on his forehead, as though to pay respect to the wretched guy. Once again, the beggar was taken aback. He was so startled that his face became bright red with rage and he appeared to take a step backward.
"What you said was true, sir." Travis beamed. The beggar withdrew his hand from Travis' hold.
"Kid, you really creep me out."
Instead of replying to the mendicant's words, Travis grabbed something from his shirt pocket again, but this time, a small card with certain details about an address. He handed it to the poor man in front of him, and he unbelievably received it as well with open hands.
"What is this?" the poor man asked.
Smiling, Travis stated, "I invite you to heed to this address. It is where former lawyers can have a second chance to be lawyers again."
The mendicant stared at Travis before returning to the card to examine it more closely. He was mortified that he hadn't blurted out phrases that were intended to be spat out. A second opportunity to work as a lawyer? No way! The mendicant, no matter how hard he'd try to puzzle up things, he couldn't figure out how Travis knew this was what he needed — to be a lawyer again. However, he had long discerned that he'd desire to become anything else again, but not as a lawyer.
Before the poor man lifted his head to blurt out words to Travis, he realized that Travis was no longer in front of him, as was his vehicle — Travis had vanished. The man turned around to look for Travis but was unsuccessful. A woman walking her dog through the park crossed with the beggar and stared at him, perplexed. The beggar was still unable to locate Travis or his classic car. He couldn't detect any trace of him. Aside from that, the tiny card in his palm remained. It appeared like the call was intended for him. He was then torn between going for it and ignoring it.
***
"What the hell?!?" Lachlan exclaimed, barely striking his desk and rising from his office chair. He was placing his phone to his ear. "Are you kidding me, Travis?!"
On the couch, Akari was fixing her nails. However, upon hearing Lachlan's yell, she instantly sprang up and rushed after him to know what happened. She felt it was Travis who made Lachlan yell like that so might as well know what occurred by reaching her ear onto Lachlan's phone while the both were conversing. Akari was excited.
"Tee-hee. Congrats! You will be meeting my students today," Travis, on the other line, replied. "I called you and Akari because while I'm away, I will have you two guide my students they needed to prepare for tomorrow. Since tomorrow will be the day they will be back normally in school."
"What? Are they not normal?" Lachlan replied, frowning.
He kept pushing Akari away since she made him uncomfortable and annoyed. Nonetheless, Akari insisted on barging in to hear their talk. After a few seconds of trying, Lachlan gave up and let Akari overhear their discussion.
"The school isn't normal." While restraining the steering wheel, Travis replied, smiling still. "Then, I'm counting on you two. I know Akari's there, listening as well. Hi Akari."
"Hi, Master!!" Akari immediately replied. But since her voice was too loud, Lachlan's ear hardly rang and it made him bend down, shaking his head several times to make the ringing on his head vanish.
"Lower your voice," Travis warned Akari. And so, she then realized what she did, but still silently laughed at Lachlan, struggling. Although, it was fortunate that she presently obeyed Travis.
"Then, I'll have you handle with my girls, okay? Lachlan will then take care of my boys."
Akari heard Travis and then gave an: "Understood, Master!! I'm glad I heard your voice once again!"
"Well, I'm glad to hear you, too. Well then, I got to go now."
After Travis hanged up the call, Lachlan came back to his senses and glared at Akari, beaming while jumping her way back to the couch. "This is absurd! Clearly absurd!" Glancing at his phone, Lachlan still tightly held his ear.
"Well, if it's for Headman, I won't complain." Akari went back to fixing her nails once again.