🚲-Yu-chi

“So, somebody called for a big strong man to do the job?” I cried out as I burst into the room.

Frankie shrieked and almost fell off his chair. Éclair was still tied against the chair opposite him, her bangs still hiding the anger in her eyes.

“Wah! Just in time, sia! You think you can make her talk?” asked Frankie.

There was sweat clinging onto his wavy brown hair. I couldn’t fault him for being terrified of supervising Éclair on his own. I just kept walking, pulled out a chair and sat right opposite her.

“Buyong le,” she whispered.

Did she just speak Mandarin? Did this blonde, clearly Ang Mor woman just mutter a phrase in non-accented, almost fluent Mandarin? I shook off that thought and decided that was how I was going to approach this.

“Dui bu qi. For tying you up. I couldn’t let you hurt Kenny or his friends. They’re the only ones I’ve got here. I couldn’t let you hurt me too because if I did, who else would fend for my family here?” I said.

I wanted to laugh at myself. No way I would consider Luqman and Mei Xing to be my friends. I doubt they felt the same too. We just met after all. Still, Kenny did treasure them.

“I’m sorry too. I really didn’t want to hurt them, but I had no choice,” said Éclair.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt but I don’t understand Chinese, leh. Can you translate for me at the end? Or at least give a breakdown, please?” Frankie begged.

I showed him my open palm instead. He drew his head back and pouted, clicking the tip of his pen all the way.

The door then creaked open, revealing Kumar. He walked in, his footsteps almost silent. Frankie put his finger over his lips too. Kumar nodded and sat beside me.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“They’re speaking in Mandarin. I have no idea what’s going on myself,” said Frankie.

“Are you doing this because you thought you had no choice? It’s okay. You can tell me. I’ve been there before. See these scars? I got them because I did something stupid, thinking that I had no other choice,” I said as I revealed to her my knuckles.

Then, I unbuttoned the top-most part of my shirt and revealed the scars lining the left side of my chest. Éclair finally looked up with her bloodshot eyes.

“I hid my powers after that. Every time I look at these scars, I remember how my powers came out, hurting the other guy even worse than I intended. We all do stupid things in the heat of the moment, especially when we think there’s no other way,” I said.

I could hear some gasping from Kumar and Frankie. I shut my eyes tight knowing that after all four of us stepped out of this room, they might reject me. Tell Luqman and Mei Xing about my scarred past. Find myself alone in this world with just Kenny again. It’s okay. I have him.

“He told me that nobody was allowed to know about my magic. That if others knew, my family would get hurt,” she said.

“Who is he?” I asked, thinking back to those religious cult leaders back home.

She shook her head, hiding her eyes from us again. I sighed, wondering what was a better way to approach this.

“Okay. I can’t force an answer out of you. But you know, Nora’s right. There’s always another way to go about things. I learnt it the hard way. Maybe you need to do the same too,” I said as I rose out from my chair.

Kumar and Frankie called me by my name as I pushed the door. The world was bathed in a brilliant orange from the setting sun. My heart felt a lot heavier than when I first entered that classroom. I just stopped by the doorway.

“What’s your verdict?” asked Frankie. “Personally, I think we should take her to Divyane. She committed one count of assault and three counts of unlawful usage of magic!”

I leant back against the frame. It was so weird to be the one having the reins for a change. To become Guan Gong.

“I say we have mercy on her.”

🐼-Albert

“I’m her classmate. We do the exact same subject combination. I’ll make sure she won’t try to do anything funny,” said Kenny.

I guess Mei hadn’t changed much from primary school. She swung her legs back and forth as she sat atop the desk. With her arms folded, she let out the biggest groan she could.

“I can’t believe we’re letting her off after she nearly killed us,” she said.

I leant against the wall, left foot pressing against it. I guess my shoeprint would become proof that I was here at one point, watching the consequences of all those years of hardship.

“We’re not letting her off, Mei. We’re merely gathering intelligence on her through Kumar and Kenny. If she dares to hurt any of them, she’ll have to answer to us, and we’ll take action,” said Sam.

Amidst all this arguing though, there was a really strange nagging feeling creeping up the nape of my neck. The hairs on my forearms were standing upright. It most definitely was not from the tension hanging in this cramped room. Neither was it from witnessing so much weird shit in one day.

There was rustling coming from beside me. I doubt it was Luqman since he wasn’t even moving his hands to control the potted plant standing there. The leaves still moved though, ready to go back to standing still.

“I hate to say this, but I agree with Sam. We need to show that we are the higher party in this conflict. We need Éclair to trust us if we’re going to get her to tell us the truth,” said Nora. “Whether or not I’ll forgive her is another question.”

She folded her arms and turned her gaze away from all of us.

Still, the lingering feeling that it wasn’t just us in this infirmary was making my heart pound faster more than our judgement on Éclair. I heard a bag unzipping itself. Minori seemed to have noticed it too because he shot straight up, searching all over the place for the source.

“Alb, is something wrong?” asked Mei.

Even Sam’s eyes started shifting all over the room. Should I feel relieved to know that I was not that sleep deprived yet?

“You guys feel it too, don’t you? That we’re not the only ones in this room. Do you feel it?” I asked.

Before we could even say anything though, the door opened from the outside. All of us turned to face the doorway. Éclair was still tied up, and flanking her sides were Kumar and Yu-chi. Frankie walked right in first. They propped Éclair down on the sofa.

“You guys made your decision already?” he asked.

“Well, what did you guys discuss?” asked Sam back.

Kumar and Yu-chi glanced at each other and pointed straight at Frankie. He grumbled a bit and looked at the ceiling with a desperate look, eyes wide and mouth hanging low. Nora had to suppress her laughter at the sight. He did look like a little kid after all.

“Well, I wanted to send her to Divyane for disciplinary action. Yu-chi and Kumar think that we need to figure out her situation first before going further. You guys?” he asked.

I guess it was our turn to choose our representative. Everybody’s fingers flew straight towards Sam. He pointed at himself with his thumb and gave a cocky smile. Yup. Definitely worthy of being a student leader from what I had seen of him today alone. Maybe this happening was a blessing in disguise.

“Since Kenny and Éclair are CG mates, we’ve decided that he’ll keep an eye on her during school. If she strays and attacks anyone, we’ll report to Frankie,” he said.

Kumar began to beam. He smiled at Éclair and brought his hands together. “So, you’re giving her a second chance?” he asked.

“Not a second chance. Probation,” said Nora, her voice cold.

Minori stared at Éclair. I knew that look a little bit too well. His droopy eyes for the first time in years looked firm. Yet, they were brimming with hope. He sat closer to Nora, probably to assure her that he would protect her.

“You try to hurt us or anybody else again, and we will inform Frankie. Have we made ourselves clear?” asked Sam.

She glanced up at all of us. Her eyes were fixated straight on Minori. They were brimming with tears. He knew too well.

“I know you’re better than this, Éclair. I really want to believe that. But after today, I don’t know anymore,” he said, his voice deepening.

But the nagging thought that there was somebody in the room with us, listening to our every conversation and prying into our ever move continued to live in my head.

🖍-Kenny

The moon was already hanging high in the sky by the time we concluded that little trial. Wah sia. Perhaps this would be one of the only times I would ever get to experience a courtroom setting.

The rusty chains of the swings that we sat on creaked. The sound of my feet bristling against the sand was calming. Finally! Some peace after a hectic day. All this while though, I could not help but look at Yu-chi. His eyes were fixated on the twilight sky. He just let his body weight and muscle mass move the swing for him.

“I can’t believe we’re subjecting her to the same punishment that they gave me,” he said in Mandarin. “Gan lah. She should be punished. At the same time, I know what it’s like to be in that position. It fucking sucks.”

I heaved a sigh. I knew everything that he had gone through. And he was right. What we were putting her through was pretty much the same thing that he had experienced.

“You never told me you had these powers,” I said.

“Well, if I never used them, you would have died, right?” he retorted.

I planted my feet on the ground and stopped swinging. I inched closer towards him and he buried his face in his hands.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I never wanted to reveal my powers to you because they made everything so much worse. That guy needed surgery because I turned my knuckles into metal when I punched him. It hit him so hard, he needed to get a nose job and facial reconstruction, which neither of us could pay for,” he said.

“I never said I hated them. If anything, I thought they were awesome! Nah. Screw that. You were awesome today. Choosing to give Éclair mercy. Defending people you just got to know. You’re amazing,” I said with a smile.

He looked at me with huge eyes. He gave some slow blinks before breaking into a smile himself.

“I don’t know if I’d be able to do what you did today. Any of it,” I said, thinking back to our first meeting during that faithful Math Olympiad.

“Maybe my time at boys’ home did help after all,” he joked to himself with an awkward chuckle.

The roaring engines of a passing bus broke the silence. Yu-chi planted his feet on the ground once more and began to swing again. I followed after him, competing to see who could go higher.

“You know, it’s weird, but today…I felt like I was home for the first time in weeks,” he said.

“What do you mean? You literally just came back from Kaohsiung three weeks ago!” I joked back.

He shook his head. He stopped swinging, drew himself back, and catapulted himself further. His usually floppy hair flew all over as he soared.

“When Mei spoke to me today, I don’t know why. Was it because she was using the same language I usually spoke back at home? I really felt at home. I wish I had spoken to her more,” he admitted.

“Well, guess what? You will. When you were interrogating Éclair, Mei and Luq said they wanted to hang out with you more. Come join us for studying lah! Or maybe we can crash 3Squirrels,” I joked.

He flung some sand at me with his sneakers. I kicked him back as we found ourselves laughing again.

“Better not leech off me, hor,” he warned with a grin.

While I did almost get killed today, learn that my best friend had magical powers and saw a tree grow before me in less than fifteen seconds, today was indeed magical.

☕️-Kumar

The streetlamps along Birdport Avenue began to flicker on, emitting a warm orange glow that still could not rival the brilliance of the setting sun. Throughout the bus ride from Bishan to Serangoon Gardens, Éclair was quiet. Well, it was understandable. I was assigned to be not just her bodyguard but her spy. Or maybe something much heavier was hanging on those narrow shoulders of hers.

Foreign domestic workers were out and about, walking their pet dogs or lulling their employer’s children’s backpacks behind. Oh shit! Today was my dog-walking duty day! Aiyah, let Janice scold me lor.

“Why did you push Sam to give me another chance?” she asked out of the blue.

I stopped walking and glanced at the clouds above us. She was right. I barely knew her and saw everything for myself. How she tried to off Nora and Kenny for knowing too much. How she threw a lightning bolt meant for Nora.

“To be honest, I don’t know if I did it for you or if I did it to keep up that image of Sam that I had in my mind,” I admitted.

Her steps became smaller as she clutched her backpack straps tighter than before.

“So, you do think of me as a bad person?” she asked.

Great. Now I’m the asshole. How was I going to salvage this? I slicked back my hair, running through a list of phrases that Jan told me was bound to piss off any woman. “That’s not what I meant! I do genuinely believe that you, everybody, deserves a second chance. And I know that something is troubling you deeply. It’s okay if you’re not ready to tell us. We understand,” I said. “And also because I know what’s it like to have everyone going against you.”

The trilling of bicycle bells and the buzzing of insects were the only sounds surrounding us. We faced each other, locking eyes for once.

“When I read your letters to your angel, I can tell you’re a genuinely nice person. You just make bad choices. All of us do. Even Sam. Me. I know you probably think that I’ve been sent on a mission to stalk you. Monitor you. But as your angel, I really want to look out for you too,” I said, almost wanting to facepalm at myself for giving away my identity.

She turned away from me, and we just continued walking. Maybe that came out wrong. Creepy? One thing is for sure, Jan would tease the shit out of me if I were to tell her what happened today.

“So, you consider me a friend?” she asked.

“Of course! I mean, we both love dancing. We stand out wherever we go. And we were angel-and-mortal for a while, weren’t we?” I said with a smile, confident of this answer at least.

We kept walking along the sidewalk past the semi-detached houses and landed properties. It was so weird to finally be in the settlement on the other side of the canal. Okay, this wasn’t Jalan Samarinda, but it did have a similar urban landscape.

We finally reached house number 24. A gate made of lacquered wooden planks stood before us. She tiptoed to reach the intercom.

Before she could press the button though, she turned to me again. Her eyes were glassy from tears. They dripped down from her heart-shaped face. Then came a smile.

“I promise. I’ll learn to make my own choices from now on,” she said.

She pressed the button. A Filipino accent came out from the speaker.

“Bianca, it’s me. I’m home,” she said.

The gate’s mechanisms were booming. They slid leftwards. Éclair waved goodbye at me before disappearing into her own private sphere.

I just stood there until I could no longer see her. When she was out of sight, I let out the biggest relieved sigh that I could, elated that this hectic and just really strange day was over.

On the other hand, I was reluctant to leave the vicinity. I only wanted her to be safe and if what she and Yu-chi said about a mysterious ‘him’ was correct, there was no way in hell I would allow him to even go near her.