Chapter Three

The Man with the Gopher Teeth

When Yuna first saw her homeroom teacher and his hideous gopher teeth, she knew immediately that she was in for a very long year.

"Well, what do we have here?" He said, bending forward to meet her eyes just a few inches away from her face. "More city trash thrown out to the garbage dump of Inaba." He snorted and jammed his hands in his pockets as he stood back upright. No matter what Yuna did, she couldn't help but stare at his mouth. A giant set of misplaced teeth jutted out from behind his nonexistent lips. He just looked so... goofy. His gray hair was combed to the side and cut just past his ears. His eyes were shaped like deformed eggs, with tiny black pupils that ominously reminded her of Igor. His blue striped suit and yellow tie might have looked professional, if he wasn't slouched over and glaring at her like a disrespectful teenager.

If this was one of the main teachers of the school, she didn't want to meet the rest.

"I like to think of myself as a respectful lady." She said as she smoothed down her coat absentmindedly, grateful that her father had gotten permission for her to wear it. The checkered black and gray skirt and white button-up shirt was just too tight and boring. The skirt barely made it halfway down her thighs, and Yuna wondered if her mom had ordered a smaller size just to spite her. She could almost hear her saying "the smaller size shows off your beautiful figure, Yuna!" Maybe that was why this man thought she was some loose city kid.

He snorted again. "Your parents couldn't take care of you, so they sent you out here. You must have caused a lot of problems back at home to make them that desperate."

Actually, she was quite a good student. Much more calm and studious than most. But Yuna kept her mouth shut, not wanting to further agitate the man that looked like he already wanted to strangle her. "My name is Mr. Mooroka." He said. "And I will be your homeroom teacher for this year. And don't be trying any funny business under my watch. None of the guys here will have any interest in city-trash like you."

When did the guys come into this? She just wanted to find the right classroom not Prince Charming. Heck, if she had been making some kind of "things to do in Inaba" list, trying to charm an unknown high school boy wasn't even in the top twenty. "I'm just here to graduate." She said, trying to sound as respectful as possible.

"Well I'm watching you, Narukami!" He snapped. "Now let's go before I get impatient."

I feel like you already are. She thought with a quiet sigh as he scuttled out of the room. She followed him, gripping the straps of her backpack like a lifeline.

The walk down the hall was almost as awkward as the initial meeting. All the students were already in their classrooms, chatting behind closed doors as their professors made their way over. She had to watch in horror when Mr. Morooka stopped in front of a door to chew out a class for talking too loudly, leaving her to hide around the corner in embarrassment. Eventually, he stopped in front of a door marked "2-2". "This is it." He muttered before kicking it open in the most undignified way possible. The students inside went silent as he sauntered up to the desk and slammed his briefcase down. "Alright shut your traps!" He shouted. Ironically, a few of the students rolled their eyes and started up their conversations again.

"I'm Kinshiro Morooka, your homeroom teacher from this day forward." His eyes narrowed as he glared down the students. A few shifted awkwardly, muttering words Yuna couldn't hear. "First things first! Just because it's spring doesn't mean you can swoon over each other like love struck baboons."

This guy has a serious obsession with halting nonexistent relationships. Yuna thought, eyes wandering over the room. Most of the students looked disinterested. A few were even staring off into to space like they were in their own little world. If any of them were "love struck baboons" they were doing a terrible job of showing it. "As long as I'm around, you students will be as pure as the driven snow."

Yuna couldn't help but snort, which caused him to turn his fierce glare directly at her. She cleared her expression immediately. "The city girl thinks she's so cool." He grunted. "I wouldn't even waste time introducing you if it wasn't part of my job." Mr. Morooka turned back to the class and waved at Yuna as if dismissing a servant. "This sad sack has been thrown out of the big city and dropped off here in the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage."

She clenched her fists around the straps of her backpack, trying to keep her face calm despite the annoyance welling inside of her. What right did this deadbeat teacher have to sit here insulting her on the first day? If she wasn't trying to make a good impression, or graduate with a clean record, she would have slapped his silly gopher teeth clean out of his mouth.

"She's just as much of a loser here as she was there." He continued. "So, don't try to get to know her. In many ways, she's worse than all of you."

"Who are you calling a loser?"

The words spilled out before Yuna could stop them, but all she felt was a small twinge of confidence. The students gasped. Mr. Morooka blinked, surprised that she had answered at all, before regaining his composure and snarling at her. "Look here, girl." He snapped back. "My bad side is not the side you want to be on."

"You put me there before you even met me." She said, flipping her hand through her hair as she turned away from him. "I am merely defending myself."

The veins on his forehead bulged like a teaspoon sized bag trying to hold a cup of water. She couldn't remember ever angering someone this much, but she had never had a problem defending herself. At her old school, she had respected all her teachers, and was fine with staying quiet in class. But gopher man had done nothing to earn her respect, and she had no doubt they weren't going to get along no matter what she did. "Alright, you're on my bad student list, effective immediately. Now introduce yourself before I decide to kick you out of this classroom."

She sighed and waved at the students. "Hello." She said, suddenly losing all the confidence she had gained from confronting Mr. Morooka. "My name is Yuna Narukami. I hope we can get to know each other this year."

"Now listen up!" Mr. Morooka said cutting her off. "This town is miles away from your big city of perverts, in more ways than one."

Here we go again. She thought.

"You better not think of getting involved with the boys here, let alone using them for your own selfish gains."

There's those boys again. She severely doubted that any of the boys sitting before her would be interested in being involved with her even if she wanted to. This guy was seriously off his rocker. "But what do I know?" He said, his voice laced with sarcasm. Yuna refrained from answering. "It's not like the old days. Even here, you kids grow up so fast. Every time I turn my back, you're fooling around on those phones, checking your "life journals" and your "my places"."

A boy in the third row cleared his throat, cutting Mr. Morooka off from what probably would have been the most thrilling speech of the year. "Excuse me!" He said. "Is it okay if the transfer student sits here?" He pointed to the empty seat beside him, the only one in the room. Yuna threw him a grateful look. The boy nodded, smiling at Yuna as if he knew what she was going through.

"Yeah sure." Mr. Morooka said, suddenly disinterested in his own lecture. "You hear that? Your seat's over there. Now go sit down already!"

She moved without another glance. "This is going to be an interesting year." She muttered as she slid into her seat.

"He's the worse huh." The brown-haired boy was leaning closer now, whispering to her with a small smile on his face. Like Yuna, he wasn't following the school's dress code either. In fact, his green workout jacket with a thick yellow stripe down the middle much more extreme than her conservative black coat. He even had three, multi-colored buttons pinned the right side of his chest over the thick light green stripe that spread out like a "V" on the upper half. His short brown hair was cropped above his ears with bangs that covered his entire forehead. "Rotten luck for you to get stuck in this class. We just have to hang in there for a year." His smile widened as he winked and turned his attention back to the front.

"Shut your traps!" Mr. Morooka said. "I'm taking roll, and I expect you to respond in an orderly manner!"

Yep. Yuna thought. This year is going to be great. Making friends everywhere I go.

"That's all for today. Normal lectures will start tomorrow."

The class came to life immediately. Students hopped out of their seats as Yuna stretched. If she wasn't so tired from trying to stay awake, she might have cheered. "It's over!" She thought. "Only a million more days to go."

"Attention all teachers."

The classroom went silent again as the announcement system came on. "Please report immediately to the Faculty Office for a brief staff meeting. All students must return to their classrooms and are not to leave the school until further notice."

Her arms dropped back to her lap and she sighed. Well that's… unfortunate. She really just wanted to go home and rest. After the move and that creepy dream didn't want to hang around the school more than she already had to.

"Don't go anywhere unless you hear otherwise!" Mr. Morooka snapped, walking out of the classroom as he muttered something under his breath.

The moment the door slammed shut the students began talking again. "We have to spend a whole year with that." A girl next to her said. "He's seriously getting on my nerves…"

"At least you're not the transfer student getting stuck in King Moron's class on your first day here."
King Moron… the title was fitting. Yuna gave a couple silent points for originality.

Police sirens echoed from outside. The entire class turned toward the window in surprise, but the fog was too thick to see outside. "Sounds close." The green jacketed boy behind her muttered. "I hope everything's okay."

Yuna watched as he stood up, taking a step forward to speak to the boy sitting in front of him. "How much longer is this going to take?" He placed his hands on his sides and sighed.

The black-haired boy shrugged. "Who knows?"

"I wonder if I could sneak out before King Moron gets back."

"Then you'd just get in trouble."

The brunette shrugged. "Oh, so did you try what I told you about the other day? You know… that thing on rainy nights?"

The second boy shook his head. "No, sorry."
"That's all right. I just heard a guy in the class next door yell something like "My soul mate is Yamano, the announcer!"

Yamano? Yuna recognized that name. "Wasn't that the lady on the news?"

"You've heard about her?"

She hadn't even noticed she had spoken aloud, but the two boys were staring at her now. She felt her face heat up. "She was on the news last night, I think."

"Yeah it's a big deal here." The brunette rolled his eyes. "In a small town like this, the paparazzi will take a swing at anything that they can reach. A scandal like this is going to be beaten to death until some new show dog comes along."

The announcement system sputtered back to life. "Attention all students. There has been an incident inside the school district. Police officers have been dispatched around the school zone. Please stay calm and contact your parents or guardians as soon as possible and quickly leave the school grounds. Do not disturb the police officers. Head directly home!"

Yuna stood slowly. "Police officers?" She dropped her books into her backpack. Maybe Dojima is around.

"Hey!" The two boys had moved in front of her. The brown-haired one was still grinning at her like he had won the lottery. "You going home alone? Why not come with us? If something's really going on out there, it would be safer in a group don't you think?"

The friendly conversation was a nice change from grumpy, gopher face. After meeting him, Yuna had been worried all small-town people were like that. "I almost forgot!" The boy snapped his fingers as a light bulb turned on in his brain. "I'm Chao Satonaka. I sit next to you." As if she had already forgotten in the last five minutes they were apart. "Nice to meet you." He glanced at his friend. "This is Yuuki Amagi."
Yuuki jumped, clearly lost in thought. "It's a pleasure." he said, bowing. He was a lot taller than Yuna, with hair as long as hers, though his was tied back into a pony tail that reminded her of a samurai. He was wearing a long red sweater with fancy, long white shirt underneath. His shoulders were broader and his arms more muscular than his friend, though the shorter one looked to have a lot more energy. "I'm sorry, this is so sudden."
Chao scoffed. "Come on Yuuki don't get all formal. Now you're making me look bad." He slapped his friend's arm playfully.

Yuki smiled. "Sorry, Chao."

His friend shrugged. "So, Narukami-San..."

"You can just call me Yuna." She said. "I don't mind. We are classmates after all"

"Okay then, Yuna! I just wanted to ask you a few things! I don't get to talk to city folk very often."

Yuna hoped that wasn't the only reason he wanted to talk. "I'll see what I can do."

A shy voice caught their attention. "Hello… Mr. Satonaka…"

A new girl was in front of them now, arms crossed with a DVD case pressed against her chest. Her brown hair reached just past her shoulders with bangs pulled off to both sides to frame her face. Her uniform skirt was about the same length as Yuna's, but her button up shirt was covered by a bright red jacket that had been zipped up just past her belly button. A pair of bright blue headphones hung around her neck, with the cord tucked into the pocket of her jacket. The elastic on the bottom stopped just above her hips, where the ends of the shirt spilled out. Her big brown eyes were glued to the ground "This movie was so great." She said, bouncing side to side as clear nervousness seeped into her voice. "The way they moved was just so amazing to see." She held out the DVD, face flushed. "Thanks for letting me borrow it."

"Is something wrong, Yasuko?" Chao took the DVD as the Yasuko bleakly took a step back and bowed her head, throwing her hands up in surrender.

"Please forgive me it was an accident. I'll replace it after my next paycheck. Thanks, bye!" She dashed out of the room. The door slammed behind her. Chao stood there for a moment, confused.

"What was that?" Yuna said.

He opened the case and his eyes bulged. "It's cracked!" He shouted. "That little…"

"I'm sure it was an accident." Yuuki said.

"An accident? This thing is practically broken in half!" Seeing the rage of the boy made Yuna realize why the culprit had taken off in such a rush. "My Trial of the Dragon is ruined!"

"I'm sure she'll replace it." Yuuki said.

"Don't take her side." Chao snapped, before sighing. "Let's just go home." He smiled at Yuna, and she wondered if the boy's mood swings were common. He opened the door and bowed in a dramatic fashion. "Ladies first!"

Yuna laughed. "If you insist."

It didn't take very long to get outside, especially since most of the students had taken off the moment the announcement had cleared them to leave. "So why did you move here?" Chao said as they reached the gate.

"My parents were asked to go on a yearlong business trip." She said, "Nothing crazy, they just couldn't take me with them." Well, officially they couldn't take her with them, but Yuna knew they could have figured out a way to take her if they had wanted to. "So, they sent me out here to stay with my Uncle while they're gone."

"Oh, so you came here because of your parent's job? I thought it was something much more serious." He laughed, and Yuna wondered what he could have possibly been thinking.

"Hey, Yuuki?"

A soft voice caught their attention as a blushing girl took a step away from the gate. Her hands were clasped behind her back and her black hair was tied back in a messy bun with various hairs sticking straight up out of the rubber band. Her gray eyes looked almost soulless as she stared Yuuki down. "You want to come with me?"

Yuuki blinked. "What?"

The girl's teeth clenched in annoyance. "I said, do you want to come with me? For dinner or something?

"Who's that girl?" A boy behind them whispered. "She has a lot of guts to ask Yuuki out like that. Doesn't she know how difficult are the Amagi challenge is?"

The Amagi challenge? Yuna thought. What does that mean?

"Why would I…?" Yuuki looked incredibly confused. She felt kind of sorry for guy.

"Are you coming or not?" The girl snapped.

"No…" Yuuki said. "I'm not going."
"Fine then!" The girl stormed off, leaving the three to stare at each other in confusion.

"What did she want?" Yuuki said.

"You didn't know?" Chao scoffed. "She was asking you on a date."

"Really?"

"You're impossible." Chao shrugged. "To be fair though, she was a little creepy. I mean calling you Yuuki without even introducing herself." Chao shuddered. "I've never seen her before either… Was she from another school or something?"

First crazy teachers with an obsession over relationships and now a creepy girl trying to get a date with a guy she's never met? Yuna was starting to think that this town couldn't get any stranger. "Let's just go." Yuuki said in embarrassment.

"Sure thing!" Chao said, grinning. "You have to get home soon anyway, right?

Yuuki nodded, and Chao turned to Yuna. "Yuuki's family runs the Amagi Inn." He explained. "It's an amazing place with a hot springs, awesome food, and fantastic customer service. It's one of the biggest tourist spots in Inaba, and it brings a lot of visitors that we wouldn't get otherwise. Yuuki's training to take over."

"It's nothing serious." Yuuki said.

"It's only the best thing in Inaba." Chao rolled his eyes. "Stop being so modest. Anyway, I've got some more questions for Yuna!"

"Oh boy." She said. "I can't wait."

"Chao." Yuuki said. "Look over there." He pointed down the street. An organized pile of police cars blocked the road. Dozens of housewives and students had piled up outside, trying their best to peer at the crime scene. Six police officers stood in front of them, trying to direct everyone away, with little success. "Do you think that's what those sirens were for?"

"I wonder what's going on." Chao said. "Come on let's go take a look." He grabbed Yuuki's arm, dragging the boy with little protest as Yuna followed.

"That poor high school student had to see that." A woman said as they got closer.

"If he hadn't left school early, he wouldn't have." Another replied.

"But still. A body hanging from a antenna like that…"

A body? Yuna thought. What happened?

"Someone died?" Chao said. "No way."

"No wonder they wanted us to go home." Yuuki said.

"Yuna?" A familiar voice said. "What are you doing here?" Dojima stepped out from behind the blockade, jacket thrown over his shoulder just like the time she had met him. "I told the principal to make sure that you guys didn't come over here." He sighed.

"You know this guy?" Chao asked.

"I'm Dojima, her guardian."

"This is Chao and Yuuki." Yuna said. "Some new friends from school."

He shook Chao's hand. "I hope that you guys get along with her. Its hard moving out here suddenly, and now all this is going on."

"What happened?" Yuna asked.

"There's not much I can say right now." Dojima said. "Though I'm sure it'll be all over the news tonight." Suddenly, a black-haired woman sprinted by them, hand covering her mouth. When she reached the other side of the street she threw up. Yuna cringed and looked away. Dojima gritted his teeth. "Adachi! How long are you going to act like a newcomer? You want to earn respect here you need to stop acting like such a girl!"

The woman wiped her mouth and looked back sheepishly. "Sorry. I wasn't expecting that."

Dojima sighed. "Go wash up. We're going to go look around for clues." The woman nodded. Yuna thought she looked tired. Her eyes were drooping as if he hadn't gotten any sleep in weeks. She wore a tight suit that seemed more fit for a guy, with high heels that added about four inches to her height. "Go!" Dojima barked. The woman took off as Dojima turned back to Yuna. " That's Tohru Adachi." He said. "My new partner from central. She's smart and does her job but... sometimes I wonder if she's in the wrong business." He sighed. "Just go home and get some rest. Can you boys make sure she finds her way back?"

"I can." Chao said. "Yuuki, you have to get to the Inn, right?"

"Yeah." He glanced at her with an apologetic look. "Sorry."

"It's alright." She said. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Hopefully." He nodded and waved as he turned away. "See you later, Chao. Stay safe."

"You too!" Chao said. "Let's go, Yuna. I really don't want to stay out here too long."

"My home is over that way." They walked away in silence, leaving the crime scene behind.