The Teacher's Brother

“Pssst. Sit here!” Higgy whispered as the new student passed by.

“Okay!” answered the tall blond. He then sat in the open desk next to Higgy’s. That worked out nicely, as Higgy didn’t feel like sacrificing his seat to hunt him down.

After unpacking his supplies, the new student turned to face Higgy. A cheery smile crossed his face. “Good morning. How are you?”

“I’m alright. You?”

“I’m excited! That’s why I got here so early.” The blond boy took out a couple rubber bands and two pencils. He glanced at Higgy again. “By the way, why are you here?”

“I have important work to do.” That was true, in a sense. He often helped his teacher prepare for class because he showed up first, but he wasn’t obligated to fulfill that role. His reasons for being early were slightly different. For one, he wanted to make sure no one took his seat in the front row. Secondly--

“Oh, Nik-Nak, you’re already here.” A tall, slender man entered the room, looking at the blond in surprise. “Good morning, Higgy.” he greeted the older boy.

Kenji Kezwick, known affectionately by his students as just Kenji, was Higgy’s second reason for showing up early every day. He always carried himself in a professional manner, but showed a level of honesty that Higgy admired and respected. Kenji would often admit that his experience as an idol outweighed his experience as a teacher and that sometimes he didn’t understand why he had to teach some of the material he did. Nevertheless, he strived his hardest to make sure each student properly understood the lessons. Being in his early 20’s, he was still young enough to remember what school was like for him. It made him easier to relate to as a student. What Higgy found to be most important was Kenji’s pride in his work. He displayed the same kind of dedication to his job that Higgy wanted to achieve. The words of his uncle echoed in his mind.

In order to be successful at anything you do, you have to love it with all your heart, and you’ve got to work for it!

Kenji did just that. All of these things led Higgy to regard Kenji as an older brother figure. He enjoyed talking to him in the morning before anyone else got the chance. Helping him around the classroom was less of a chore than a pleasure. So naturally, when Kenji’s younger brother enrolled in the talent agency, Higgy set out to get as close to him as possible.

“Since you’re here so early, Nicky,” he addressed his younger brother, “why don’t you let Higgy show you how to set up for class?” He then turned toward Higgy. “Is that okay with you?”

“Yeah.” He waved an arm in the direction of the door. “C’mon Nick, I’ll show you where we get the books. Kenji, which ones do we need today?”

Kenji flipped through his notebook. “Uhhh, get theeee… Ah, there we go.” He placed a hand on a specific page. “Get the history and math books, please. Remember, only bring a couple at a time. We don’t want a repeat of last week, do we?”

“I won’t let that happen again.” Carrying a stack of all of the books at once was admittedly not one of Higgy’s most successful ideas.

As Higgy left the classroom, Nicky meandered along beside him. His curly locks flopped whenever something caught his attention.

“How’s Kenji as a teacher?” Nicky asked.

“Good.” Higgy answered. “People sometimes complain about the homework, but they’re just being whiny.” Not that he didn’t complain every once in a while, he just never did it out loud.

“Oh! Nice, nice.” Nicky still smiled. In fact, since Nicky’s band moved in, Higgy couldn’t remember a time where he wasn’t smiling. He remembered being excited, but not that excited. “Those plants in his classroom, are they named?” the taller boy continued.

“Named? I don’t think so.” Higgy brushed his bang away from his face. “Why, does Kenji normally name his plants?”

“Sometimes.” Nicky replied. “Sometimes I do.”

“Oh.” Higgy stopped in front of the door. “This is the book closet.” 

He opened the door to reveal the same stack of books that greeted him every weekday. Divided up by subjects, there were twenty of each, which far exceeded the current number of students.

Higgy pointed at the yellow books. “Those are the history books, just grab seven of those and I’ll take the math books.”

“Just seven?”

“Oh, right.” Higgy realized that Nicky’s band would need more books. “That’s gonna end up being eleven, right?”

Nicky counted on his hands. “Yeah!” 

“We could still probably take this in one trip if we each carry one stack.”

“Okay!”

Nicky attempted to pick up eleven history books, but could only safely secure five. Higgy also struggles to pick up the same amount of math books.

“M-Make that two trips.” Higgy strained.

“Ah, those math books look heavy. Are you sure you don’t want me to carry some?”

“I’m fine.” Higgy lied, to himself and Nicky. He only opted to take the math books because he thought they’d make for good strength training. It’d also make him look cool in front of the new guy.

“Wait! What if we both carried some of each? That way, we’d be carrying almost the same amount of weight.”

Higgy almost refused, but he remembered the look on Kenji’s face when he found him underneath a mountain of textbooks last week.

“Good idea.”

The two set down their textbooks, and Higgy gave two of his in exchange for three of the history books. The stack still ended up being heavy for both of them, but manageable. With books in hand, they started back towards the classroom. On the way back, Higgy could swear that Nicky was...dancing? No music was playing at all for him to dance to. What an odd kid.

They entered the class while Kenji poured himself a cup of coffee.

“You drink coffee now?” Nicky asked, amused. “I remember the one time you got in trouble for that!”

“I’m an adult.” Kenji took another swig of coffee.

“Hi, An Adult, I’m Nicky!”

Kenji almost choked on his coffee. He then gave Nicky an expression of thorough disgust. The teacher shook his head. “I didn’t realize I’d be teaching Dad Jr...” he muttered under his breath. “Run along now, Nicholas, so I can enjoy the rest of my drink.”

“Okay!” 

Nicky stuck one foot out and swung it around until he faced the hallway. Higgy joined him as he began walking back to the book closet.

If Higgy planned on being friends with Nicky, he had to be honest. “Um, so… That was one of the worst jokes I’ve heard in my life.”

Nicky laughed. Higgy was kind of glad that he didn’t seem to care.

“You’re a pretty jolly guy, huh Nick?”

“Yep!” Nicky bobbed his head, as if listening to music.

“Why?”

“I don’t know, I just like a lot of things, so I guess I have a lot to be happy about.” He looked down at Higgy.

“Hmm. That’s weird, but kind of cool.” Higgy admitted. “So… You grew up with Kenji, right? You must know a lot about him.”

“Maybe, maybe not. He’s a lot older than I am, so he was usually out doing teenager things when I was little.” Nicky explained.

“I see… My older brother and sister were like that.” Higgy looked toward the ceiling. “My big bro was actually supposed to show up, but he got injured before Benji picked us up.”

“Oh no! What happened?”

Higgy scowled. “He hung out with a buncha losers and got hurt in a fight. He’s fine now, though. I wish he were here, but, it must be nice that you get to hang out with your brother.” Higgy changed the subject, softening his expression. “Kenji’s a cool guy.”

“Yeah!” Nicky smiled brighter somehow. “I’m looking forward to hanging out with him more!”

“Me too.” Higgy smiled a little bit. It faded quickly upon realizing that Nicky’s presence might interfere with his morning chat with Kenji. Nicky seemed like an okay guy right now, but what if he ended up being annoying? That’d be a pain.

“I can’t wait to hang out with you guys either!” Nicky declared. “Roller Breakers looks so cool on TV! I feel like we’re gonna be great friends.”

“Oh… Wow, thanks.” Higgy didn’t know what to make of that. On one hand, he was flattered, but on the other, they barely knew each other. How was Nicky so sure he’d get along with everyone? As he and Nicky picked up the next portion of books, he thought of something. Kenji could’ve told Nicky about what he and the others were like. It would make sense that Nicky knew something about each of them beforehand. That was the only way he could be so sure about becoming friends with the others.

Higgy had to know what Kenji told him. “So, Nicky. Does Kenji ever talk about his students?”

Nicky paused in the middle of dancing with his books. “Oh! Well, he hasn’t really been home a lot since he got the job, but he did say that he enjoyed teaching you guys.”

“Did he say anything about any student in particular? Any favorites?” Higgy didn’t want to blatantly ask about himself, but he figured asking about favorites should cover it.

“Not that I can think of…”

“Shoot!”

“Huh?”

“Nothing!”

Nicky looked up, as if he remembered something. “Wait, he did say there was one kid who helps him set up every morning.”

Higgy knew it was him. “What did he say about that guy?” His desperation came through more than he would’ve liked.

“Um…” Nicky grinned sheepishly. “I can’t really remember. But I’m sure he said he appreciated it!”

“Heh. He’s welcome.” Higgy flipped his bang, not even using his hands.

“Oh, that must be you!”

“It is.”

“Coooool! I got to meet the guy who helps out Kenji before class! I’d offer to shake your hand, but--” He nodded toward the books in his hands.

They both laugh. Higgy is proud to be the only one Kenji talked about, but that still makes Nicky’s earlier comment all the more confusing. He knows nothing about them and yet he wants to befriend everyone from Roller Breakers? Some members could be annoying at times, but overall, they were okay. Higgy wasn’t worried about them, but something still bothered him.

“Hey Nicky, have you ever met anyone you didn’t like?”

“Nope.”

“Not at all?”

“Never.”

“So you’re just friends with everyone?”

“Yeah!” Nicky beamed. “The whole world is my friend.”

Higgy couldn’t help but stare in bewilderment. Who was this guy? Did he not know how dangerous it was to think like that? He could end up with bad friends! He could end up with people who wanted to hurt him! 

“The whole world? You know there’s a lot of crooks and criminals, right?”

“Yeah… That’s true.” Nicky admitted. “But maybe if someone showed them kindness, they wouldn’t be that way. I don’t really know for sure, but I’d at least try to befriend everyone I meet.”

That proved it. Someone had to keep an eye on this guy. Higgy could imagine him walking headfirst into danger with that goofy grin on his face. Someone needed to stop that from happening. Kenji, while responsible, could only do so much with how busy he was all the time; he wouldn’t be able to keep his eyes on his younger brother. Nicky needed the guidance of someone smart and dependable, someone clever enough to see others’ true intentions when Nicky couldn’t. It was only fitting to have this person be the most trustworthy guy Higgy knew.

Himself.

While Nicky wasn’t as Kenji-like as Higgy had hoped, the older boy knew it would be wrong to leave the gentle giant to his own devices. 

“Hey, Nick?” Nicky turned toward the sound of Higgy’s voice. “I hope we become friends too.”

Nicky smiled at him. Little did he know, Higgy wasn’t saying this out of the same misplaced sense of trust the younger boy had. The dark-haired student hoped their friendship would last because he knew it would be easier to look after Nicky if they liked each other. With that, they head into the classroom and their future.