Zero's POV
"Trim cut, just a zero on the back and sides, manong," I said to the barber because here I am, none other than in the barbershop, getting a haircut before heading to school.
While the barber was cutting my hair, three male students entered the barbershop. I noticed in the mirror that their uniforms were different from mine because theirs were red polo shirts with black slacks, while mine was a white polo and brown slacks.
The three students sat behind me on the long bench while they chatted. I was almost done with my haircut, and the barber excused himself to go to the restroom.
As I was brushing the loose hair from my neck with the large brush filled with powder, one of the students behind me looked at me and spoke.
"Looks like this monkey's haircut is done, bro," said the student in the middle with dyed yellow hair.
The three of them stood up and walked closer to me, clearly planning something while the barber was gone.
I discreetly grabbed the powder with my left hand, still holding the big brush in my right hand. Two stood to my left, and one was on my right, while I kept watching them in the mirror in front of me to see them without turning my head.
Sensing that something bad was about to happen, I gripped the powder and held the brush firmly.
"Hey, monkey, maybe you want to stan--" I didn't let the yellow-haired guy on my right finish his sentence. I shoved the wooden handle of the brush into his mouth and doused his eyes with powder.
"Ahmm!" yelled the guy with powder in his eyes, and his two companions on my left were shocked by what happened, which Zero noticed immediately.
I quickly kicked the one farthest to my left in the knee, causing him to fall and kneel in front of me. I slammed his head onto the floor covered with my loose hair.
I then threw the powder at their other companion, who seemed unsure of what to do in this situation, hitting him in one eye.
I quickly stood up, focusing on the yellow-haired guy who still had powder in his eyes and couldn’t see clearly.
I wound up and hit him with a left punch, landing it on his chin, causing his head and body to jerk upward.
I followed it up with a right punch to his gut, making him double over in pain and drop to his knees.
Then, I caught a glimpse behind me one of them had thrown the powder back at me that I had used earlier. I saw the two glaring at me angrily.
“You’ll pay for what you’ve done!” said the one I kneed earlier, now trembling as he struggled to stand while blood dripped from his nose.
I also noticed his companion standing, seemingly ready to fight me.
I quickly closed in on them, targeting the one on the right because I knew he wouldn't be able to react.
I landed a swift kick to his face with my left foot, causing him to fall effortlessly.
I began raining punches on his face until he lost consciousness, his lips and nose a bloody mess.
I glared at the last remaining guy, who was now terrified and sprinted out of the barbershop.
“Coward,” I muttered to myself as I saw how he ran off, abandoning his friends.
“Hey! Come back here!” yelled his yellow-haired friend, still clutching his stomach in pain and struggling to sit up while blood continued to drip from his nose.
I stood up from the guy I’d been punching and walked forward, fists clenched, glaring at the yellow-haired one, who looked utterly terrified.
“Don’t come any closer, please!” he shouted, on the verge of tears from the pain and clearly not wanting more.
“You were the ones who started this, and now you want me to stop and have mercy on you?!” I shouted back, my voice laced with anger and frustration.
I kicked him repeatedly in the face, hard, because his drugged-out face irritated me, until he finally lost consciousness.
“Enough of that!”
I heard a shout from behind me, and I turned my head toward it, seeing the barber, looking shocked by what had happened.
I stopped what I was doing and faced him, slowly explaining what had happened while he was gone.
The barber understood what I meant—that what I did was in self-defense, as they had planned to attack me while I was alone.
He let me leave, even offering a piece of advice, “Son, don’t let your emotions take control of you, because they’ll end up controlling you.”
From what manong said, I understood his point, because if he hadn’t shouted earlier, I might have ended up killing that punk who looked like a junkie.
As I walked, I noticed the glass wall to my left and saw my reflection, looking at the state I was in.
The haircut suited my thin hair and eyebrows, along with my slightly pointed nose and round eyes. Add to that my reddish lips and fair skin, despite being only 5'6" in height.
I continued walking for a few minutes toward my school.
Along the way, I noticed a lot of graffiti letters on the walls of every vacant house and lot I passed by.
I snapped back to reality when I realized I was already standing in front of the school where I would be starting as a 1st-year high school student. I stared at its name: [TAESAN HIGH SCHOOL]
To be continued...