Twoset Senpai

6. November: Recruitment II

"Yang senpai... um...I'm.. a bit worried if I may come across disrespectful towards you and the other senpais. I don't want to make that mistake again."

"..What? Why? And what the heck do you mean by again?"

"I... I got into trouble in junior high with some of the 2nd and 3rd years when I was in 1st year, so..."

Yang gave a shocked look.

"OMG, Chen.."

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Yang frowned. He looked genuinely pained by what Eddy had told him.

"Sh*t, Chen, ....I'm so sorry to hear that. What happened?"

"They said I was a ...cocky smart ass... All I did was answer their questions... I guess I just come across that way."

"F*ck.... Chen, look.. I mean, listen."

"...Yes?"

"I bet you weren't cocky. I bet you weren't a smart ass either. I'd say it's just that those dumb senpais couldn't stand you for not showing unconditional obedience towards them."

"To be honest, I thought so too."

"Chen, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but... were you ever fixed up by a senpai?"

Eddy shuffled uncomfortably.

"Yes. They said they needed to fix up my attitude towards seniors. It happened quite frequently."

Fixing up meant you were called to a secluded area of the school grounds by a bunch of senpais and then get beaten up. It wasn't acceptable behaviour but the school could not police it when the sufferers (the kohais) were too scared of retaliation should they ever dare to dob in a senpai.

"F*ck... Chen.. I'm really sorry to hear that. It's usually the stupid and ignorant ones that want to throw their weight around, that go around fixing up kohais. It's despicable. If there's anything I can't stand are those who abuse their power.. and these guys don't have any real power over anyone. Geez that so sucks. ...So what did you do?"

"Well, my friends told me to join a school sports club because the club senpais would offer protection. I didn't like the idea but I was sick of getting picked on all the time.  So I joined the track and field club."

"So.. you didn't really enjoy being in the club?"

"No, not at all. It was just a survival tactic. I mean the club senpais were okay.. but it still had a pretty toxic culture. I couldn't wait to quit as soon as I was in 3rd year junior when I no longer had any senpais that could pick on me. I just stayed till May to compete in the regionals because I qualified in the preliminaries the year before but I couldn't wait to retire after that."

"Geez...no wonder your heart wasn't in track and field when you started senior high. Um.. Chen, you probably didn't know nor may not even be interested but I'm originally from Hokkaido."

Eddy looked at Yang in surprise.

"Are you? No, I didn't know that. But I do find that fascinating. ...So.. can you ride a horse?"

Yang looked equally stunned, then smiled.

"Yes, Chen I can."

Eddy smiled back admiringly.

"Wow, that's so cool."

Yang grinned.

"Thanks. I've had many ask me how well I ski but you're the first one to ask me if I could ride horses. I suppose there aren't that many kids who grew up in Tokyo who can."