Chapter 2
“Well sir, you certainly do have all your papers in order…”
“So… Does that mean I’m hired?”
“Well, I…”
“Is it my resume?”
“No, no, it’s fine. Just that it’s a little, too good to be true. I mean, we never expected a replacement candidate just a few minutes after Satou-sensei left… And certainly not someone with qualifications like yours…”
“Is there a problem with that?”
“No, no, it’s perfectly fine… Well, I guess I have no reason to deny you this job, so, welcome to the crew!”
Gabriel simply smiled.
“Oh, and uh, Gabriel-sensei, your first lesson is about to begin soon, if you’d just follow me…”
“Oh, it’s okay, I know the way.”
“Oh, you do?” asked Headmaster Tanaka, rather taken aback.
Gabriel just smiled reassuringly and made his way down the corridor.
“Foreigners… They’re strange bunch,” sighed the Headmaster, shaking his head.
“I heard they’re replacing Satou-sensei!”
“Well, I heard there’s going to be a new transfer student!”
“What?!”
“No kidding? A girl or a guy?”
“Ha, that’s the best part. I heard it’s a girl!”
“Woohoo! I hope she’s hot!”
“Well, you won’t believe what I heard…”
“I didn’t know there was a transfer student, did you?” asked Rowan as he and Hiroki strolled into class.
“Nope.”
“I sense an impending swarm of desperate schoolboys.”
“You know, this time you could actually pretend to be interested. People are going to start thinking you’re gay…”
“Good morning class! Return to your seats now. Or else.”
“Hey! It’s the new Philosophy teacher!”
“Is that an iPod Nano?”
“Woah, I wish I had one of those!”
“Well, class, I think an introduction is in order. Two actually. Yoake-san? Can you please come in?”
“I knew her name was beautiful!”
“You’d have said that whatever her name was wouldn’t you…”
“This, class, is Yoake-san. She’s the transfer student. Now for some ground rules. Whatever you do, if you think I won’t like it, either don’t do it, or do it discreetly. But I must warn you that my observational skills are rather sharp.”
Gabriel looked pointedly at two boys at the far left corner, who sheepishly hid a rather suspicious looking comic book.
“That’s all. Today being my first lesson with you all, it will be a free period. I will simply observe and perhaps get to know the class better in the process.”
Sitting at the teacher’s table, Gabriel simply put on his iPod earphones and relaxed.
The class was rather stunned for a moment, but it did not take long for them to realize he was serious, and immediately the class exploded into a flurry of conversation.
“Yoake-san, would you like to sit next to me? I have an empty seat right here!”
“Um, okay.”
Rowan couldn’t help but notice she was directly in front of him, but tried to avoid conversation, but to no avail.
“Hello, you’re a foreigner right? You can just call me Dawn,” she said.
“Uh, yeah. Okay,” replied Rowan rather lamely, earning him an elbow to the ribs from Hiroki.
“He’s Rowan, and I’m Hiroki. He’s a little anti-social,” said Hiroki teasingly.
“Shut up, Hiroki. Or I’ll make you.”
“Did I mention he has violent tendencies?”
“Hiroki… I’m not kidding.”
“Alright, you two have a good chat okay? I want to play bridge with the others,” said Hiroki, winking as he left.
Rowan just groaned.
It was going to be one really long period.
