CH 4: Welcome to Duel Academia- The New Professor Jounouchi
Jounouchi,
Guess what! Dr. Hopkins made me a cowriter on his book! I'll send you a Japanese copy when we finish it. We're going to collaborate by email, since he is in California right now. He's almost halfway done, so I'll help on the remaining bit and help him edit it before it's sent off to the publisher. Well, he'll do most of the editing, since you know my English isn't the best. Also, I've started picking up on Spanish. Well, it's mostly names for our tools and some food names. Leche is milk! I mixed it up with lechuga (lettuce), which got me odd looks Saturday when I ordered a glass of it. Luckily, Rebecca is pretty fluent and helps me out. She also wants to hit you because of you asking if she still introduces me with "cute nicknames". I still can't believe you asked that! I think she's so mad because Paulo, one of the helpers here who is fluent in Japanese, heard me read that paragraph to her out loud. He's the one from Brazil. Between you and me, I think she really likes him. But please don't say anything to her.
Peru is amazing! It's so great being able to visit the ruins here without worrying about evil forces. We went to Lima over the weekend, it was really exciting. That's where I accidentally ordered the glass of lettuce. We had to get more supplies and also we went sight-seeing. I took a lot of pictures that I'll mail to you as soon as I get them developed, along with info about the things in the photos. What's your new mailing address with the Duel Academia?
It's still so strange that you're going to be working at Kaiba's duel school. Not the strangest thing, but maybe top ten. Never mind about being in the top ten, too many strange things have happened to us. It's still strange though, especially since you made a point to everyone when we were graduating that you were not going to be a duelist. But I'm still glad that you were able to find a job working with kids. I know how much you like it. That was so nice of Mokuba to offer that to you. Also, tell him I said hi and I hope he's doing well. You'll have to tell me all about your first week at the Academia. I'm really curious about how Kaiba's Academia is. There's nothing much about the inner workings anywhere that I've seen. Rebecca said that it was strange that there was next to no information anywhere on the web. You'll also have to tell me about your coworkers. Rebecca thinks they'll all be older than you but I think they'll be about the same age. You said students arrive Saturday and classes start on Monday, right? Well, you should use the rest of this week to get situated. I know you'll do fine.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Yugi
PS: Bakura said Honda had a new girlfriend! What do you think about her? I never met the last one but neither you nor Bakura liked her, so hopefully this one is nicer.
PPS: Anzu and I are both going to come back around the end of December since that's a big deal here in the West and she has half a month off and I'm going to have a break right around that time. I think this will be better than the February meet up, since you won't be able to be there if we did come at that time. Anzu will figure out details as we get closer. You know how she's good at planning. Also, I've learned a new way to play dominoes and when I come back you will have to play it!
PPPS: How is your dad doing?
Jounouchi smiled as he read the email from Yugi. Even after being apart for almost ten years, he still considered Yugi to be his closest friend. Though they only got to see each other one or two times a year, they still emailed each other twice a week. It worked out well for them because of the difference in time zones. He closed down the computer he was on in his new bedroom. He would reply when he could tell Yugi more about Duel Academia.
He didn't really know much about it yet. He had gotten here two days ago so that he could get situated before anyone else got here. Mokuba and he had walked around the large campus. Mokuba had jotted down things on a clipboard as he walked, and now there were small changes going on around the island, including repainting the Osiris and Ra dorms and fixing any damage that was found at the dorms or main building.
Jounouchi had finished his "training" then, which just consisted of safety practices and signing waivers. He also found out the class he would teach. Well, teach was a strong word in this case. He would be over the newly created Field Duel class, where he just mostly supervised the students as they dueled each other and as long as they participated they would get credit of some sort. Some days they would break down into groups in the class and talk about each other's strategies. That would also be where he would have to get them to fill out the surveys that Mokuba had given him about the classes, the teachers, and the living environment. Jounouchi wondered how those would work because if he was given surveys like that in school, he would just have halfheartedly filled them out.
He would also be the head of the Osiris Red Dorm, which Jounouchi was probably the most worried about. Being responsible for a group of kids at all times was a scary thought. The dorm itself was a small building that housed about twenty people. Inside, there had been posters taped haphazardly on the walls, paint and furniture damage, and what appeared to be a shrine to Seto Kaiba in someone's window sill. All the items left in the rooms were collected and put in boxes corresponding to the room numbers and placed in Jounouchi's room, to be picked up later by their owners. The rooms now all had a fresh coat of pain and new curtains. All in all, the Osiris Dorm was looking a lot nicer now than when he had first arrived. Mokuba was pleased with them, it seemed. He had given Jounouchi the explicit instructions to not let the dorm get in bad shape again, which Jounouchi happily agreed to. After all, he would be living here too over the next year.
Jounouchi lived on the bottom floor of the dorm, where the old dorm head used to live. Jounouchi found it weird to be living where a dead guy lived, even though he was assured that the guy didn't die there. Jounouchi didn't think he would have been able to stay in the room if the guy had died in it. He was much too terrified of ghosts to even consider it. It may have been a little silly since all he went through when he was in high school plus the fact that he was friends with Atem who was, for all intents and purposes, a ghost. A bittersweet emotion filled him, as always when he thought of his friend who was no longer with him.
He changed his mind to more pleasant topics, like how his sister was going to mail him a copy of the picture from her latest ultrasound. Now that situation is probably one of the strangest things ever. Malik and Shizuka, he still didn't understand it. Apparently, Malik had studied abroad in Japan from the university he attended in Egypt, and happened upon Shizuka at a coffee shop on campus. Next thing Jounouchi knew, Shizuka was declaring that she and Malik were engaged at Mom's birthday dinner and Jounouchi was left sitting there, not quite sure what had happened. His friends were just as shocked, even Anzu. Hiroto had jokingly said "I'm not good enough to date your sister but the guy who tried to kill you is?" when they had a group meet up in America the next week before the opening night of the senior play Anzu would be in.
Well, in all honesty, he didn't talk about girls and preferred types with Malik. And a guy who had raunchy conversations about how hot certain girls were was not someone he wanted dating his sister. And he wasn't her type anyways. When he brought that point up, Honda had begun to smart back "Yeah, both your types are blondes with major issues and –ghhh." He would have probably continued, but thankfully Anzu elbowed him hard in the ribs.
He continued to muse over the thought for a few minutes until he heard two very distinct voices. Not that the voice itself was odd, but the two voices had very distinct accents. Both were European, but Jounouchi couldn't place the languages. They were talking a little too quietly for Jounouchi to hear what they were saying with their accents.
Figuring they may be repairmen, he pops out of his new room and calls to them. "Oi, are you guys lost?" A tall blond man and a short balding man were standing side by side, inspecting the Osiris Dorm's touch ups. They both jumped when Jounouchi called to them, one with a shout of "Mama mia!" and turned quickly to him and approached.
"Who are you?" The very short man asked him accusingly. Their outfits told him they were teachers.
"I could say the same to you!" Jounouchi responded. He was hired in; don't accuse him like he's a random guy off the streets!
"Mama mia! You're Katsuya Jounouchi!" The other one exclaimed in realization.
"The one and only!" Jounouchi responded, puffing up with pride.
"What's a duelist as… revered as you doing here at duel academy?" The short one answered.
"Didn't you get the memo? I'm the head of this Osiris Red Dorm now!" Jounouchi popped back as he turned to the building and gestured at it. Because of that, he didn't see the looks of horror that crossed one of his new coworker's face. How was he supposed to get rid of the dorm if it had a famous duelist as its head?
END CH 4
Thank you for reading! Sorry about the slow update I moved and started classes these past two weeks. And I hope I made it obvious who these two characters are!
