"So please tell me Demino-san. Why are you applying as a teacher here at Mahora?", asked a wisened old dean.
"No big deal really. I just need the money.", the old dean's unbelievably long eyebrows knit together in disapprobation at the younger man's response.
"Hmm... You're educational attainment is definitely nothing to scoff at, I must say. Multiple degrees in Chemical Engineering, BS Biology, Mechanical Engineering with applied mechatronics and even another degree in Foreign Studies.", Noted the dean. "But", he began as he took off his glasses to get a better view of his interviewee. "You lack both a license in engineering and a license to be a teacher. Under your current conditions, I cannot hire you.".
"Most people wouldn't", sighed the young man sitting across the large oaken desk.
The dean looked at the boy with a critical eye. The man before him was no older than 21 in his record but his record was something most men would take another decade or so to accomplish. His resume had a black spot since he was home schooled for his primary and secondary school years. His entrance exams into the various universities listed didn't give him the highest spot but he was somewhere up there. His continued DL record was also taken into account which impressed the old man. Work ethic was impeccable as it said in the many professor's recommendations. Devoted and professional, that was how this young man was marked by his various mentors. It matched well with the sharp brown suit the man wore along with his maroon shirt and white tie. His hair was a bit rebellious in its spiky length that boosted his height about 3 inches even if it was slightly leaning over. His golden irises were smart and observant, the dean was already sure that this man was sizing him up even if his countenance showed nothing but boredom. The old man layed down the record back on his desk and folded his hands together.
"So do I get the job?", asked the man in irritation.
The dean thought it over. The way this man spoke was slightly different than his image of a devoted and professional worker, it was then a small click came up in his mind. Maybe this man had already gone through this process many times? What if he was really bored of this process? Most people would break down in their manners as he did but he sensed in this boy an alertness that all other similar applicants didn't. Even among the more eager ones, none compared to the feeling this man gave off. It was intimidating to think of it like that, but interesting as well.
"Well?", the spiky haired applicant leaned forward with a gleam in his eyes that was blurred between annoyance and urgency.
The dean leaned back once more and plopped a thick dossier and said, "Within that are the school rules, application to the teacher's dorms, your classes' syllabus and other tidbits you may need.". The young man gave him a wary raise of an eyebrow which the dean seemed to heartily approve without showing. "You're hired", the old man explained.
The young man was not convinced and asked, "Under what conditions?".
'Sharp', the dean thought with a smile. "Nothing much", the much elder man said lightly. "It is just that your lack of a license will be a hindrance so I'll pull some strings and get you a private examination.", all this was said with both parties coming to a stand still.
The silence broken when the applicant nodded with a question, "When will the test take place?".
"It will be held next month. There will be no problems I take it?", the old man smiled, still hidden under his long beard.
"None whatsoever", the applicant stood up and gave a bow. The irritated look on the man's face changed into a pleased and friendly smile, "It will be a pleasure working with you."
"I feel the same Demino-san", the dean nodded. "Welcome to Mahora"
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A young man felt out of place as he stood before a large white-washed building. Large windows gleamed intimidatingly at him against the high noon sun as he hiked his luggage higher to get a better grip. "Might as well get this over with.", the young man entered the building with his bags.
The entrance hall was a bit large. the whole inside looked like a traditional japanese house rather than a modern dorm like hinted outside. The burdened man struggled through his bags for a piece of paper in his pocket which contained key bits of information that he decided to keep handy. "let's see, so my shoe locker is...", the young man peered at the numbers of the shoe shelves lining the walls. He noticed a vacant one saddled between a shelf which contained a pair of white dress shoes on the right, most probably a man's, and another on the left that held a pair of casual high heels and an alternate pair of sandals which were clearly for feminine use. he approached the vacant one in the middle and confirmed it to be his.
The young man took off his shoes and placed them in the spot beside the assigned pair of dorm shoes. He sat down on the elevated floor to put them on. He heard voices and the sound of foot steps that came along with them. The new-comer quickly finished up and stood to meet with the people turning the corner. It was a pair of older people. One of them was a man in a white suit, he looked cool as could be even when surprised by the new face. Beside him was a blonde woman, she had a pair of glasses on but her most striking feature would be her chest.
"Oh! who might you be?", the woman asked sweetly.
"Me?", the young man pointed at himself questioningly.
The older man in white grinned good-naturedly, "Ofcourse, there's no one else after all."
The young man couldn't help but smile a bit. "I'm a new teacher here. Demino Hellsin, I handle Science classes.", the young man introduced himself with a small bow.
"I see, the new guy.", the elder man rubbed the short fuzz under his chin. "The name's Takamichi Takahata, call me Takamichi.", the man held out his hand in a friendly gesture which seemed to fit Demino's image of him quite well.
Demino turned to the bespectacled woman who in turn introduced herself. "Shizuna Minamoto", she shook his hand.
"I might mess up every now and then so please look after me", Demino bowed rather politely to the two.
Shizuna smiled kindly, "Don't worry, you'll get used to everything eventually.".
"I hope that won't take long.", Demino laughed out.
Takamichi suddenly had an idea. "Hey, me and Shizuna were about to go out to get some lunch. Would you care to join us? We wouldn't mind giving you a short tour of the campus. Right Shizuna-san?", Takamichi asked his colleague.
Both men turned to the female teacher who replied, "We'd be glad to."
"Sounds great. ", Demino nodded. "Just let me find my room and drop off my bags then."
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Thirty minutes later and the three of them were sitting at the Chao Bao Zi. It surprised Demino that a student ran her own restaurant, mobile be it as it may, but still a restaurant. The waitresses were also students, all of who'm the new teacher found eccentric, especially the one named Ku Fei.
"I can't believe that we live right next to each other.", Takamichi gave a hearty laugh.
Demino laughed a bit as well saying, "I guess it's rather fortunate for me. Now it won't take me much to find my room."
"Don't be rely on him too much Demino-kun", Shizuna warned. "He usually stays out late for more than just a couple of drinks.", she laughed to herself.
Takamichi feined hurt as he said, "No I don't.". She gave him a testing gaze and he caved, "Okay, so maybe I do", he laughed a bit more.
Demino smiled lightly at the company as he ate his order of noodles and side dishes of chicken feet and dumplings.
"I'm pretty surprised that your shoe-locker is between mine and Takamichi's", noted Shizuna off-handedly.
"It kind of feels like we were fated to meet. ", Takamichi joked with a straight face.
"I know the feeling.", Demino answered distractedly as he cleaned out his bowl. Something had been bothering him since he'd seen those girls' faces.
"Something bothering you?", Takamichi asked the troubled looking young man.
"It's nothing", Demino assured. He finished any remnants of his meal and tea cup as he stood up with a content look on his face, "Shall we get going?".
The campus' size was a bit much for Demino but he took everything in quite well with their slow pace. By the time the little tour ended, the new comer had made a mental map of the school grounds. from said, mental map, he had taken note of at least 17 alternate routes that could have been taken to shorten their travel distance. The three had to split up before the clock struck 4 o'clock though. There was a meeting between the teachers at that time, so Takamichi and Shizuna had to leave.
"Sorry Demino-kun, but we have to leave now. Can you make it back on your own?", Shizuna asked the younger man with worry reminiscent of an elder sister.
Demino nodded, "Yeah no problem"
Takamichi lit a cigarette and took a drag before saying, "This is library island, the teacher's dorms are a ways off. Still, there should be other students here who know where it is. Just ask them if you're not sure."
"I will.", Demino nodded. 'Man, they're like my parents.', the young man thought with irritation as he watched the two walk away. He turned to the large structure behind him which was called library island. He entered through the ancient looking doors which fit perfectly with the structure's design. "The architect had good taste.", Demino commented as he entered the huge central hall. It was a lot bigger on the inside than the outside.
The young teacher walked through the aisles and couldn't help but smile to himself. The smile was unlike the smiles he showed to everyone else. Those were just social pretenses, this one was something that really just came from his heart. Books were something he was fond of, they taught him things may he have liked them or not. Good books or bad books, he had read them all. Most of his reading material was composed of references and factual publications. Novels he read were far and few in between but he did find distractions in them.
The young teacher chose a slim volume which was solely devoted to summarizing the theory on various medical applications of cryotechnology. He sat down on a long table and sighed in content as he opened the book for a peaceful read.
He was on his 83rd page out of the 100 in the book when an annoyed female voice told him to leave. Demino checked his watch and saw it was almost half past 5 o'clock and confirmed it when the outside was darkening with the coming night.
"You have to go now. Please return the book to its proper place before you leave or you may also check it out at the counter. The library is locking up for the night.", the girl said flatly.
Demino faced the speaker who turned out to be a girl with indigo hair in two large braids. She was wearing a uniform with the familiar crest of the Mahora. "Are you a student at Mahora?", Demino asked the young girl.
She looked at him suspiciously and nodded, "Yes, I am."
Demino looked around and asked another question, "May I talk to the teacher in charge of this place?".
The girl gave him an odd look which was a mix of curiousity, incredulity and plain exasperation. "There's no teacher assigned here. Library island is under the responsibility of the Library Exploration Group. I'm today's assigned monitor."
Demino looked away from her with most of his interest still in finishing the book. Normal people would take much shorter a time than he did in reading a book with only a hundred pages in length, but he had a habit of comparing and reevaluating facts in the books with ones he knew which eats up a lot of time. It would've been a waste to check it out since he only had thirteen pages left to finish and he wasn't assigned a library card yet either. He didn't want to leave it here for another day as well. The young teacher stood up so suddenly that it surprised the girl. He raised the book and asked, "Can you give me five minutes?"
The girl in charge was taken aback by this man. He was taller than her by a lot, she didn't even reach his shoulders. It didn't intimidate her at the least as she gave him a firm, "No.".
"Okay, just three will be enough", Demino sat back down, now on his 94th page.
"Don't mess with me!", the girl screamed hysterically in sudden anger.
Demino held a finger to her lips without looking at her and said quietly, "This is a library, please speak with a smaller voice."
The girl blushed indignantly from the unwanted contact and slapped his hand away. She gathered her wits that were scattered by anger and said firmly, "Leave now before I call the teachers".
The young man closed the book with one hand and stood up again but with more finesse this time. "I'm leaving", he told her.
"What?", the petite girl exclaimed surprise.
Demino brought a finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet which further infuriated the girl. He walked away to replace the book in its shelf as a small angry librarian girl was trailing in his wake. After depositing his book in its place amongst the shelves, the young man exited the library. He walked out the library doors and stretched out the stiffness in his limbs from sitting too long. Right behind him came the library girl who locked the doors with her keys and began to to berate him.
"Just who do you think you are!", the indigo-haired girl directed at the young man. He opened his mouth to reply but she cut him off by saying, "Even if you are a university student. You don't have the right to just disregard rules like library curfew or make fun of an officially instated officer. Library island can be a dangerous place. If you don't listen to the people in charge, bad things could happen to you, and no that wasn't a threat. It was a warning to stupid people like you who think they're all that and won't listen to any one else. like my grandfather once said-..."
Demino just blocked her off there. She was the type of person who badgers others with ethical non-sense. He could tell by the way she acted earlier. The best way to deal with them was to keep them from getting started. He wasn't quite succesful though as proven by the philosophical harangue he was receiving. He was going to be here all night. Might as well think about where to live while staying on as a teacher, he didn't like those teacher's dorms. Not one bit.
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"So how did you two find him?", the old dean asked his two guests who sat across his desk.
"Well behaved as you told us, Dean Konoemon", Takamichi smiled that good-natured smile he always had on his face.
"As analytical and calculative as you said as well. I wouldn't be surprised if he already knew that we were assigned there to watch him.", Shizuna reported as well.
"I see, then he'll be fine with this arrangement then.", Konoemon stood from his seat to observe the dusky campus from the large observatory window behind his seat.
"You may say so principal but this might not be such a good idea.", Takamichi frowned at the thought of the arrangement.
"I must agree as well.", Shizuna added. "It might not only fail, but that young man might break as well if we were to subject him to this plan.", Shizuna expressed her concerns.
"You don 't have to harbor such worries. That Hellsin fellow is different from everyone else I've encountered up till now.", the dean assured them. "Besides, you've seen how he is yourselves.", the old man's beard lifted as a sign of a smile.
"We have", Takamichi nodded as he took out a smoke and placed it in his mouth, taking care not to light it as it was not allowed. "but for a mundane to handle that class. Isn't that a bit much?". Shizuna saw how concerned Takamichi was, the man was always calm and cool on the outside but whenever he takes out his smoke in non-smoking areas meant something was definitely wrong.
Dean Konoemon looked at the white-suited man and said, "They may be magically endowed young women but they still deserve a solid education, both magical and mundane. Most teacher's they've been assigned to have been soft on them, a bit too much sometimes. This teacher whom you fear inadequate because he is a mundane, he may be the only one who can take hold of that class in a way that no one has."
The old man watched for any sign of protest from the two, seeing none, he dismissed them. "Demino Hellsin, I have high expectations of you."
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DISCLAIMER: I don't own Negima.