Care Expressed Through Structure

What was I going to say?

What could I really say?

I had to say something as their senpai in the dojo, but it was also complicated by who was involved.

It was not my place to comment on any personal decisions outside of the dojo, but when they were brought inside the dojo, and disrupted the other students in the dojo, that is when it became a problem.

I was not a senior in the dojo, but rather tasked in this situation because we were closer in age, so it would be coming more from a friend, as opposed to hierarchy. 

There was nuance here. 

They were making great progress in the dojo, a real talent for the movement and budo, and the fear was that if a senior had spoken to them, they would take it as a criticism and potentially leave the dojo.

So I was given the task to speak to them about it.

I put it off for a while, and a week or so later when one of the senior student asked what happened, I knew what that really meant. 

It needed to be dealt with before the next class.

I got there early before class so I could meet them by *chance* outside the dojo and we could talk. Maybe I would appeal to their feelings or do I start with how everybody likes them in the dojo.

It would have been better if I had been told how to say it.

I made some small talk and before they went upstairs to the dojo I was about to speak to them when my friend from the dojo suddenly pulled up in his car and rolled down the window. 

Both of you.

Get in.

It was the urgency of the statement had us jump in without question.

Once the window was rolled up, he turned to face both of us.

You need the hear the beats on this track.

We both listened to the song as he sung along, the volume made anything else impossible, and when the song was over, he looked the other student in the eye and asked if they got it or did he need to sing it again.

With both of us confused he told them he would just have to obviously come out just and say it.

That her boyfriend was an insensitive jerk to her and the dojo, and that the teacher’s patience had run out. That he was going to be kicked out of the dojo tonight and that it reflected on him, and not her. 

That he was immature and the two of them were going to break up anyway at some point, and that she had better not leave the dojo because of this, and that if she did that would be stupid given all the promise she had.

When she got out of the car and went inside the dojo my friend turned to me.

No, sensei didn’t put me up to telling her, I just overheard the conversation last week, and figured I’d step in as the bad boy of the dojo. 

You know everybody in the dojo thinks you don’t have any feelings or feel anything, so she wasn’t going to listen to you anyway. 

Thank me later for saving you.

Now I had to go tell the senior student that I didn’t speak to her, but the issue had been taken care of.