Back From the Apocalyptic Future

004 - Fix Your Manner

Arifin doesn’t answer him. But the dude keeps shouting at him so close to his left ear, forcing him to give an answer.

  

Arifin can only look down while giving an answer. “There’s no rule that prohibits me from having hair like this. After all, this is not bleaching. It’s natural.”

  

“Bullshit! No rule you said?” That man then averts his attention to the other new student. “All of you! Try repeating the first rule studying on this campus!”

  

All of those new students look confused, not knowing what rule that dude is asking. And so, that man named Ronald draws his face close to Arifin and yells at him.

  

“Your seniors are never wrong. And the second rule is, if you ever find your seniors wrong, go back to the first rule.”

  

He then also conveys it to the other new students, and tells them to repeat it. He even forces them to do push-ups together while repeating the same verse over and over.

  

Weirdly, those seniors deliberately leave Arifin alone. They don’t punish him at all, while all the other new students are being punished like soldiers.

  

“Look at them,” that fat dude whispers to Arifin. “This is what happens when you try to be a hero.”

  

The official ceremony has been abolished for quite some time. But the seniors still held a morning rally for the new students, just like soldiers.

  

And none of the campus officials bothers to stop them. Because they are all also seniors from this campus, including the professors and lecturers.

  

Five minutes before 8 am, they stop that "Polonco" activity. And just like what that fat man schemed, Arifin is shunned by the others as they leave that place.

  

“If you just keep your mouth shut, they wouldn’t do anything to us.”

  

“I have friends who are also seniors at the other faculty. He said this is just a stage. After this, they are going to approach us in a friendly manner and nicely like a family.”

  

“This is just a yearly ceremony to start our relationship with the seniors. They just tease us with their fake shouting and badmouthing.”

  

“You don’t have to act like a hero, if you are only doing it with a half-assed guts like that.”

  

Arifin stops walking while the others keep passing him. He feels so disappointed with their reactions.

  

“Fake? Stage?” he mumbles by holding his rage.

  

It attracts those new students’ attention. They stop and look behind toward Arifin with some curiosity.

  

“Look at her!” Arifin argues impatiently by averting their attention to Minda.

  

Minda herself has been distancing herself away from the other with so much shame. And now Arifin directs those people’s attention to her. However, it’s not sympathy Minda receives from them, but blaming.

  

“Cih! This is all started by her.”

  

“She better stop putting on too much make up next time. This is a campus, not a talent show.”

  

After that one contra argument, they just leave one by one. That girl named Minda just runs away to a different direction. It’s clear she no longer has any intention to attend the class.

  

Arifin can only look at her with a sympathetic face. When he averts his attention back to the others, he finds Andini still standing by looking at him.

  

“Andini?” Arifin mumbles.

  

But the girl’s face looks so flat. And in the next few seconds, she just turns away without saying anything.

  

It just so happens that that last one catches the attention of the few seniors who are following them, a bit away behind. Amongst them, there’s a guy with quite muscular body build named Andrew Kurniawan, who is also the son of the Mayor of Padang City.

  

So far, this man keeps acting composed and calm without joining his friends in bullying like he has no interest in it. But he is actually the leader who moves them.

  

However, he is now showing some interest to do something more to Arifin, simply because of what he just saw. He pulls one of his friends, and whispers something to him.

  

“Why don’t you cut his hair?”

  

Right after that, he keeps walking by himself, leaving the others to attend the class.

  

He passes Arifin once and takes a cold look at him as he passes. Arifin is a bit confused by it, until several dudes pull him from behind. They take Arifin to the back of the laboratory building, and then cut his hair together randomly and haphazardly.

  

As the closure, one of them plants his foot on Arifin’s stomach. And Arifin has no courage to fight them back.

  

“Now you have two options. Keep your hair 1 cm short, or, make it all black if you want to grow it more than 1 cm.”

  

They then leave while Arifin is still holding the pain in his belly. The last one of them, that fat guy Ronald, takes the chance to kick Arifin’s ass from behind before taking his leave.

  

“Natural my ass! There’s no place for a weeboo here, you get it!”

  

He hits Arifin once in the face before taking his leave.

  

Arifin’s struggle doesn’t end with this. Because of this incident, he is more than 10 minutes late. And of course, that lady lecturer won’t make it easy for him to attend her class.

  

“It’s already 08.17, and you still have no shame in attending my class? What’s your excuse?”

  

Arifin's appearance catches everyone’s attention. His clothes look dusty, and there’s a visible small cut on the corner of his lips.

  

And of course, the thing that catches their attention the most is his hair. But this lady lecturer is still asking for his excuse which only makes Arifin even more infuriated.

  

But he can only hold his rage by clenching his fists, and explains his situation and what he has just experienced before getting to the class.

  

“Some seniors held me. They even cut my hair, and…”

  

“That’s just your excuse!” that lady interrupts.

  

“But you were asking my excuse, hence I give you my excuse,” Arifin argues, but still trying to hold his voice. “I’ve been here since 7, but those seniors…”

  

“That’s enough! Just get in and find your seat.” She interrupts him again and ends the arguments.

  

It’s clear that this lady doesn’t have any interest in dealing with that bullying. And Arifin just tries to keep quiet about it and finds a seat.

  

That lady continues talking as she starts writing something on the board. “You should understand, your seniors only try to teach you some manners. Because they don’t want any new students showing that kind of arrogance in front of the elders.”

  

After she finishes writing the title for his current subject, she turns and shows her cold gaze at Arifin.

  

“In my time, no student dared to argue back against a lecturer. If your seniors held you back, it only means there was something in you that needed to be fixed.”

  

Somehow, this small argument has screwed this lady’s mood. She delivers her lecture with an arrogant voice, talking while holding her annoyance with so much emphasis in any sentence she delivers. And again, the other new students put the blame on Arifin for this terrible mood in class.

  

Until at some point, due to her losing her composure, this lady makes some silly mistakes. And it happens that only Arifin notices it, and intends to warn her before she embarass herself.

  

“Um, Mrs. Marie!” Arifin raises his hand. “Do all complex ions always have neutral charge?”

  

But this lady is already so pissed off, and she doesn’t pay any attention to Arifin’s question. She just turns at him with a mad face.

  

“Seems like there’s really something wrong in you that needs to be fixed. I’ve given you a chance to attend my class. You better not interrupt me during my lecture if you still want to be here.”