
Originally Posted by
Vargouille
(Still no. It's second period. Also, for future reference, Amika won't be back to the school area for at least a few hours.)
The bell rung for the end of first period, and Roberto's mind filled in the words to the old tune. O Lord our God, be Thou our Guide, that by Thy help, no foot may slide. Every time he heard the bell, it brought back a wave of nostalgia. But now was not the time to be concerned on such matters of the past; the present was trouble enough. He put the gradebook for the period onto the desk, neatly into the upper right corner, and picked up the computer. He stood, carrying the computer under his arm, and waved goodbye to his class. A couple of students waved as well, saying "Goodbye, Galeano-sensei." He passed the other teacher stepping out of 2-A, and they greeted each other, wearing wide smiles. "What are you doing coming here so quickly, Roberto? Eager to see me?" the other teacher said jokingly, and Roberto laughed.
"Perhaps another day, but for now I want to just tell them that it's a free period. Good thing too, because I've got some work to do checking up on absent students."
"Amika, right? Or are there more students worrying you?" the teacher's face became more concerned now, his smile fading. Robert was quick to attempt to assuage him.
"It's fine, it's fine. I'm not really worried, I just want to nip it in the bud, or else I would be wondering all day."
"I guess you're right. I have to go to the Room now, some of us have classes to do, you lucky dog, you." Roberto laughed, and waved him on. Roberto stepped into the room, and smiled at everyone. He strode up to the board, and in large, neat characters, wrote the words "Free Period" on the board, then set the chalk back down. He turned back, and said to the class representative, "I've got to leave, so while I'm gone, you're in charge. Only call me if someone's on fire, dying, or dead." That was his joke with the class rep, albeit a bit morbid for a joke. It was all in the execution, though, and he always did it with a smile. He stopped at the teacher's room to drop off his computer, and then hurried to the student representative's room, which was on the second-floor so that it was more or less centralized within the school. As he turned the door, he was thankful that there was nobody within, and he took a look at the arrangement of the tables, in a U-shape, with the opening facing the door. The windows were opposite the door, and on the right side were rows of shelves filled almost to bursting with neatly labeled binders. To the left side was a small "kitchen area", with a sink, a rack for drying cups, an electric water boiler, and little boxes filled with little packets of tea, each labeled with a little tag that said what kind of tea it was. Roberto chose a cup, and chose an earl gray tea bag, dropping it into a mug that read "I ♡ MINNESOTA" in bold English letters. He didn't know where that place was, but it sounded lovely enough. He picked up the water boiler, and tipped it, filling the cup with hot water. He went to the U-shaped table, and choosing a seat that faced the shelves, sat down. It was not long after that Avalon entered, panting, apparently from the effort of getting to this place. He smiled, and said, "Good, good, you're here. There's tea if you would like some, mija."
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Frowning at "the new guy", Takeshi turned to Banchou. "Banchou, the reason why we're here... I'm sure you know why." Banchou nodded roughly, and leaned against the wall, folding his arms across his chest. After a moment of silence, he spoke.
"We're talking about what to do with the three new gangs." He pointed out a map on the table, and strode to it. He spoke three names, pointing at the rough locations of their centers. "Hachioji. Mukojima. Nagayama. These three gangs are pushing us out west, north, and south. Their men are s--- compared to ours, but they've got enough of it to tip the scales. Takeshi, what do you think?" Takeshi leaned over the map, his eyes tracing the colored dots that represented scuffles between the four schools. A penciled-in line sketched the rough borders of each of the gangs. Small tokens, coins, slips of paper from pachinko parlors, bottle caps, what have you, represented the fighting force of the gangs. It was lucky that the other three gangs hated each other as much as they hated Aokawa, or Aokawa would have lost a long time ago.
"Anything we do is risky, but we can't just sit here with our thumbs up our a---es. If we take small groups of men and send them to do guerrilla attacks, finding straggling groups of guys, taking them out, disappearing without being caught, we might be able to win. Provided, of course, they don't swarm up the first chance they get. We should be concerned with fighting Hachioji right now, they're the weakest, but a forty-seven meter tall giant, while smaller than a fifty meter tall one, is still pretty damn tall." Takeshi paused for a moment, looking at the map. "If we can spread rumors among the three that the other two are planning on ganging up on the third, we can get them to-" The door burst open, and one of the men came in, bleeding from his scalp. Banchou reacted immediately, shouting,
"What the hell happened!" The guard stumbled a bit, and replied,
"It's Hachioji, boss. They've sent a good eight guys here, and the other guard, that b------, turned on us. I locked the door behind us, but that won't stop them for long." Banchou's face was stormy, and he lowered his hands to be at his side, curled into fists. Takeshi smiled, excited.
"Only eight? Let me and Teo here take care of 'em, easy as pie." Banchou thought on this a moment, but that moment was brief.
"No, they've come for us, so let's go greet them. All of us." Banchou cracked his fist, and, just for a moment, smiled.
Takeshi knew from that one smile that this would be fun.