Author's note? Oh gosh it has been so long since I've attempted any sort of fanfiction. Let us hope I am not too rusty. I've had the idea of an ouran story for a while now and only recently have I had the motivation to start it. I'm a second year design student and university at the minute is.. intense XD. So updates will not be every day (for example this is being posted at 2am after a week on and off working at). However I do hope you all enjoy this as much as I have enjoyed writing it! :)
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Sometimes Ouran Academy didn't seem real to her at all, in fact it seemed as though it were an epic chronicle series, divided into so many sub genres that it was almost impossible to account for all of them, it made everything seem like a perfect utopia. However she had been there long enough for all the illustrated illusions of the esteemed academy to lose their colour. Once the hyped up novelty wore off, everything became real, it was repetitive, like a sonnet of sorts.
Mishima Jun, in her own unbiased opinion; was quite ordinary, at least for the standards of the pampered Ouran students. For example she did not have a personal attendant to see to her hair and make up every morning. (Her father did not raise her to be spoiled, nor to take advantage of those who would work hard at honest labouring jobs), having poor eyesight she wore thick famed glasses, one of the few girls in the school to openly wear them. Any who did have poor eye sight would either wear contacts, or push their parents into getting them laser eye surgery (below the legal age, Jun would never ask her father to do such a thing.. not to mention the idea of having a laser hitting your eyes for over an hour.. the very thought always caused a shudder to run down her spine).
But as unimpressive as her appearance was (to herself at least), her grades more than made up for it. She was in class 2A, however due to her family's status she should rightfully be in the 2B class. Yet it was through her hard work, determination and sheer skill she was bumped up to the 2A class and would remain there as long as her grades continued to be outstanding.
Which, for the moment they were.
Her grades were the only thing that made her feel special, even in the esteemed Ouran she was an outcast. Her mother was American, her father Japanese. She was born and raised here in Japan, however was always labelled as a 'Yankee' by her peers and even by some business partners of her father. And yet when she had once accompanied her father on a business trip to the United States, the sons and daughters of her fathers' partners were very wary around her, she was too 'strange' she talked funny, didn't understand some of their games and there was a hanging language barrier between them, needless to say she no longer accompanied her father on his business trips.
There was only one place that Jun felt like she belonged, and that was in her books.
From Roald Dahl to Stephen King and from sci-fi to historical; she collected them all, for in books the outcasts and underdogs were her, they faced the trials, they suffered and they were pushed to their limits. But they always overcame, they always grew and they always gave her an encouraging message.
'You are not alone'
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The hallways always seemed to be singing.
She thought to herself as she adjusted her bag, walking to her first class. Every corridor seemed to have a different song, it wasn't as direct as playing Beethovens' 'Symphony No 3' through the hundreds of speakers that occupied the campus, however it was still there, it was a melody of sorts, a song of the season. The season was fall! The harvest, the festivals, and the simple but symbolic falling of the leaves.
Her footsteps slowed as that last thought looped itself in her mind, that was right, the falling of the leaves. The class' English teacher Ms. Arishima was retiring, well retired yesterday had been her last day. A small fond smile spread itself on Jun's face, she liked Arishima Sensei, she was kind, encouraging, and very charismatic. Suoh san was one of her favourite students, it was Suoh san who suggested that they do something to 'commemorate the life of one of the finest, no THE finest educationalist that Ouran had ever seen!'. The class had all agreed to it, and everyone pitched in to get Arishima sensei a small token of their appreciation. The plan had only been set the day before her retirement, (The day it was announced). So it was only natural they could not get her the full gratitude package she deserved.
But still, Jun reasoned, picking up her pace once more. 2 weeks in Hawaii USA isn't a bad way to start retirement.
Once arriving in the classroom Jun noticed that their new teacher was not yet present, hummed softly to herself 'perhaps we haven't been appointed a new sensei yet, maybe today we will get a substitute..' she thought quietly to herself before taking her usual seat in the back of the class. From here she felt safe, far away from any stares she was free to observe the happenings of the room. She liked to assess the students and their actions, not in a disturbing sense! She just liked to come up with possible plots, imagining them to be characters in an elaborate story.
Jun took her time pulling out her books and stationary, glancing over some students, a small smile crossed her features as Suoh san bounced in his seat, making wild assumptions on what their new instructor would be like and having many students hanging on his every word. No doubt he was the naive protagonist. Shaking her head slightly her eyes moved over to Ootori san who was as usual jotting down notes, she often wondered to herself if he too enjoyed writing stories. But something told her that his notes were for more... calculating purposes.
She found it hard to place an appropriate character type for Ootori.. he wasn't as outwardly chivalrous as Suoh san, he liked to keep his cool and was overall quite hard to get a read on. However Jun reasoned that if he was friends with Suoh then he must be a good person. For the moment she had him labelled as the foil.
All polite chatter in the class came to a sudden halt as the door burst open with such force that it crashed loudly against the wall. All of the students jumped in their seats, a few letting out not so silent shrieks.
An older man walked into the room, a man whose appearance was unlike any staff members of the academy. His greying hair was messy, wrestled back into an attempt at a ponytail but obviously met with resistance, instead of wearing a bespoke suit with a notched lapel he wore a white shirt with upturned sleeves, an opened waistcoat and.. slacks..
Some students recovered from the shock quicker than others, sending looks that varied between mutiny and sheer terror. Jun herself was perplexed but also bore a sense of... familiarity, the man was a blurred picture in her mind, she recognised him.. but from where?
He took his time approaching the teacher's desk before tossing down his briefcase, it landed with a 'thunk' which once again caused most of the students to flinch. He slowly turned to face them, his glasses shining under the lights, he wasn't smiling, his hands were in his pockets with his thumbs sticking out, his shoulders squared. There was 20 seconds of tense silence before he broke it "My name is Jinzai Ei, and I'll be taking over this class. Some of you may know me, some may not. Whichever the case I will tell you right now flattery will get you nowhere in my class, and if any of you think this is going to be an easy class you've got another thing coming' he sniffed before turning to write his name on the board, giving the students the opportunity to silently gape at one another.
Was this a joke? An elaborate prank? Perhaps they were being recorded for a tv show!
Jun for her part was in a stunned silence, Junzai Ei.. the author of the critically acclaimed horror series 'The Wishing Well' he was here... he was going to be teaching literature... a slow wide smile began to spread across her face. This is incredible, can this really be happening? A professional who will give them genuine lessons and by the sounds of things make it a challenge! Oh this is going to be fantastic!
'This is going to be horrible!', "is he for real? He's got to be kidding", "just wait until my father hears about this!". The whispers grew louder as the students looked to one another for some kind of support, Jinzai sensei however cocked his head back to glare at them, "If you're QUITE finished" he barked in an unimpressed tone, forcing every student into a stunned silence, having never been addressed in such a manner.
"your previous sensei forwarded me your so called 'records' and I have to say, as lax as her expectations were, you will all be working tenfold to pass my class". An uneasy silence followed "your first assignment starts now, you are all going to go to the library, pick any novel by Stephen King, return here within 15 minutes and for next week write an informative evaluation on the book, both on your own 'thoughts' if you have any and also at least ten different themes the book possesses" Plopping down on the chair he lifted his feet to rest on the desk whilst the students simply stared with expressions of horrified shock. "For every minute any student is late the whole class gets an extra hour of homework".
Within the next ten seconds the room was completely vacated.
Ouran had four Libraries, Jun had discovered them in her first week. She also discovered that none of the students seemed to be aware of the true purpose of the library, none of them were used for studying, they were loud, crowded and often quite intimidating.
As she walked down the hallway she heard random snippets of conversation
"just who does that guy think he is! I thought this school didn't employ 'riff raff!'."
"does anyone know where the library is?"
"How are we supposed to find one book in that place?"
She shook her head feeling a migraine coming on, honestly.. This school was one of the most prestigious in all of Japan, but the students were so closed off, they were bred to perfection, heirs, heiresses, born to lead, to marry but never introduced to the simple and meaningful things of life. And to be honest, most of them didn't even want to try.
"Just think about it Kyoya! A Stephen King Theme! Wouldn't it be enthralling?!" Jun paused mid step as Suoh sans voice came from behind her, she had to fight a twitching smile at his words for surely he was not talking about that host club he and Ootori run together. "Perhaps it would be better for you to actually iread/i a Stephen King novel before committing to making it a theme" came Ootori's surprisingly patient reply. Jun held back a giggle as Suoh then went into a ramble about how he didn't need to read the novel to know it would make a fantastic theme for their 'lovely princesses'.
Oh how Suoh would be in for an amusing surprise.
Having owning all of Stephen King's novels at home, Jun had already decided on revisiting the Dark Tower series. She quickly checked out one of the library's copies all the while being watched by the rest of the students on how the library process actually worked. However feeling their stares on her made Jun's stomach churn uneasily, her hands trembled slightly as she accepted the book and hurried back to class.
She suffered from a mild case of glossophobia (speaking in public) and it stretched far enough to interacting with a large crowd of people. However she felt much more at ease after vacating the library, sighing to herself she glanced down at the book in her hands. It had clearly never been opened, in fact she could faintly smell the unique aroma of 'new book'.
She was the first student back to class, heading straight to her own desk in the back of the class, she glanced up at Jinzai sensei, however he was playing with a stapler and several sheets of paper. Not even looking up as the students slowly came back to the room, some looking impressed with themselves, others as if they had discovered a new world they did not know existed, some were looking at the books (even reading the first few pages). Jun herself was already immersed in the first chapter. For her the rest of the class seemed to fly by.
The bell rang and the students hurriedly packed their bags very eager to get out of the classroom and away from their new sensei "Just a moment!" he called, holding up a finger and running his hand through a list "Mishima Jun stay behind". Jun reddened as several students sniggered unkindly to themselves, Jinzai sensei however arched an unimpressed brow, sparing glances to several faces "well clearly I have said something amusing" he stated, waiting to be brought into the 'loop'.
Jun rose a trembling hand into the air, her face as red as a cherry and eyes firmly focused on her desk "p-please... i... it's pron.. p.. pronounced June..." she squeaked in a quaking tone, a prolonged silence followed "like... like the month" she murmured, lowering her hand and feeling her toes curling. 'please look away, please leave. Leave please PLEASE'
"Well Jun, please remain behind, the rest of you. Dont you have another teacher to pester?" he scowled as the students slowly began to disperse, muttering angrily to themselves, one going so far as to declare this teacher will be fired before the day is out and there will certainly be no Hawaiian holiday for him.
A few added notes
1. I'm going to try and follow the Japanese tradition of stating the last name first, so Jun's name is Jun Mishima, and Sensei is Ei Jinzai
2. For those who are wondering Jun is a boys name, hense the sniggers from the other students when Jinzai asked for Jun to remain behind, her name is spelled Jun but pronounced June. We will learn more about this later on.
2. We don't get to see our beloved boys until the next chapter, the first few chapters are really just to give us a peek into Jun and what kind of person she is.