Michael (for Kukki)
He was struck by surprise when, out of the blue, his friend gave him a great hug. Had she seen through his attempts to be cheerful? It was indeed a lot harder to be cheerful when his little brother was walking around mocking his every move and throwing criticism at him. He didn't like being criticized to begin with, but receiving criticism in a nasty way from his younger brother was a bit worse than receiving it from a student who had at least been nice to him. In fact, he liked how Clara was well-aware of his flaws - definitely much more than he was himself - but had faith in him anyways and believed he could improve. Not like his dad or Peter or now Jared too, who labelled everybody as a "lost cause".
Kukki's compliments made Michael beam with happiness and when she mentioned his hight, he laughed and pretty much forgot his previous worries. How did she even get the idea that he was tall? Or was she just trying to give him more compliments?
"I'm not tall, silly!" he exclaimed, still laughing. "Only in comparison to me, but that's 'cause you're a woman and you're Japanese. I'm smaller than any of my brothers…"
He stopped when he saw some kids running in their direction and waved, yelling: "Hiii!"
Alexis Brightfield (for Jaylon, Suta and Kukki)
Alexis's eyes lit up when Suta handed her a tub of clay. "Thank you so much!" she cried out happily and gave her a big hug. She then looked over at Jaylon, smiled back at him and read his note.
"Let's do it right now," she answered, and without waiting for a reply, she marched triumphantly back towards Kukki's classroom, hoping that she would still be there… and indeed, there she was, talking to Mr. Lee, who stopped and waved at them, cheerfully yelling: "Hiii!"
She gave him an army salute, then marched up to Kukki and asked: "Hey, Jaylon wanted to know if he could borrow some needles for his voodoo art. Have any handy?"
Headmaster Warren (for Victor)
"Come in," the headmaster replied. "I believe we haven't met yet? Are you here to introduce yourself or has there been trouble again regarding the students?"
At least this teacher was polite. The last thing he could use was another rebellious teacher. He could already imagine the Lee brothers and Miss Binn conspiring against him together.
Jared Lee (for Clara)
Jared was just about to go back inside when he heard Clara mumble something: "at least they never tried to kill you", or something of the sort. He huffed: had she misunderstood the whole reason he was saying this about his siblings?
"Hey, I wasn't trying to express self-pity or something!" he called out, hoping she could hear him. "I was merely explaining that I don't care a damn whether or not I am 'any kind of a brother' and that having siblings doesn't mean you help each other. I bet you're an only child talking like that…"
He stopped, suddenly realizing the fuller meaning of what Clara had just said. "Wait…" he muttered, then called at her again: "Did someone try to kill you then? Did your siblings try to kill you?" He didn't get why someone would actually try to kill Clara: that idea puzzled him, and it made him curious about her past.







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