Redemption's Side
Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and all its characters © Akira Toriyama, BIRD STUDIO/SHUEISHA, TOEI Animation. Licensed by FUNimation Production, Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Disclaimer 2: All fictional character © Eileen Ayling Setiawan (author) and any aliases she assumes (H-san, Hina-chan, etc…)
Author's Note: This takes place after the first part of Masshiro na Yuki: Pure White Snow, my fanfiction about Kinoko, the female Saiya-jin. It's a filler of sorts.
Author's Note 2: This was inspired by vege-chan from deviantArt. Go visit her!!
Author's Note 3: REALLY LONG CHAPTER! o.o;; Sorry guys…
HIS SIDE
Chapter Ten: One Day at Orange Star High
The Tally System: At the end of this chapter, will be a stroke under Cell's name, or really, his alias. This is how I am going to keep track of Cell's good deeds!
Cell walked to the classroom, Jaena already in her smaller form, sitting on his shoulder. She gave him directions to the classroom, telling him to go left and right. When they had finally reached the classroom, she had said in a shrill voice to "STOP". Her voice was still ringing in his ears as he entered the room without knocking.
The class and teachers alike stared at him. He stood in the doorway for some time before the teacher asked:
"Yes?"
Cell silently walked to him, handing him a note from the office that Jaena had gotten earlier and given to him just prior to leaving the cafeteria.
"Ah, Mr. Jinzouningen. Yes, I was expecting you. Welcome to Class 3-A. Please, take a seat," the teacher motioned around. Cell turned his head slowly, his pink eyes piercing into the classroom before a familiar voice broke his thoughts.
"Hey, Jinzouningen-san!"
Cell looked up seeing Goten pointing at a seat below him. Trunks sat next to him, looking distracted.
"Ah, there we go!" said the teacher happily. "Thankyou Mr. Son."
Cell sighed under his breath, walking up towards the area. In his ascent up the stairs, a person to the side put his foot out. Cell, unaware of said foot, tripped face first. The class roared with laughter. Cell stood up, growling and turning to face the person who did it. He smirked back, motioning to the teacher, who looked clueless to the injustice Cell just faced.
"I'll kill you later," Cell whispered, continuing to walk up the stairs.
The teenager and his friends feigned fear, all chorusing their "oohs" as Cell took a seat, placing his bag on the table as he leaned forward onto it.
"Mr. Seru Jinzouningen," started the teacher. "Is here as a third person. He will be observing the class, as he is just settling in."
"What, too dumb to be in A?" asked a student, causing the others to laugh.
Cell shot the student a glare, eyes falling on a student wearing the school's sports jacket. He realised the other one was wearing something similar.
"Now, now," began the mathematics teacher. "Be calm." The students went quiet as he began the lesson. Cell looked to the board.
Easy… he thought, resting his head on his bag. He then felt a jab to his ribs. Cell turned, seeing a girl next to him.
"Hey," whispered Aisu. "We keep running into each other, huh?" she asked, smiling.
"Yeah, coincidence?" whispered Trunks from above.
Aisu looked up. "Ha ha, funny," she replied, sarcasm dripping in her voice, yet a playful smile on her face.
"Guys," whispered Goten, motioning to the front.
"Mr. Briefs, Miss. Sakagoshima," began the teacher, giving them a warning look.
"Gomen sensei," said Trunks and Aisu in unison.
The teacher nodded, turning back to his work. Several minutes passed, with the class writing down equations from the board. Cell felt another poke in the ribs. He turned, seeing Aisu passing him a note from under the table. Cell grabbed it, more on impulse then anything else, and read:
"Where'd you go after the tournament?" read the note.
Cell sighed, writing a reply more to amuse himself in doing something than anything else.
"Home," he replied.
Aisu read the reply and smiled.
"Even in writing you're not very talkative," read the next note.
"There's really nothing to say," he replied.
"True, but you still need to tell me nine facts," read the note after that.
Cell's eyes opened wider as he remembered that. Nine facts about himself. Not that he had much to say.
"You too," he replied.
"So true, maybe we can catch up some time," read the next note.
"If I even get into the school," he replied.
"Don't worry, you will. It's not too hard… except for this subject."
"I actually think this subject was the easiest."
"Serious? No way. I suck at maths. It's the bane of my existence."
"Well then, you need to get a better understanding, don't you?"
"Probably, or a bigger brain."
"I don't even think that's possible."
"I wish it were. Do you know how much better life would be if I could tap into that unknown hemisphere of my brain?"
"Shouldn't you be concentrating? THIS is why you're not doing so well."
"Right… sorry. I'll talk to you out of class."
Cell sat back, watching the front and occasionally looking at her work. He watched as she spent almost 15 minutes trying to figure out one equation. He gave himself an amused smile. She was right: she did suck.
"Welcome to English, or as I like to call it, English Literature!" came the teacher, signalling to the room. "In English we'll be reading from such authors as Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, George Orwell and playwrights like Shakespeare!"
"She does this every lesson," explained Goten to Cell.
Cell looked to Goten, wondering what gave him the right to talk to him.
"Heh, you should've seen her during Valentine's Day," retorted Trunks.
Goten laughed. "Yeah, that was funny. She came in wearing Juliet-type clothing, quoting from the "greatest romance of all time", Romeo and Juliet."
"Didn't they die?" asked Cell, hearing that Shakespeare play somewhere before.
"That's what we thought, but she said that their love "knew no boundary"," explained Goten, shrugging.
Cell looked to the teacher, who now sat on the table, legs crossed as she held a book in her hands.
"Samuel Taylor Coleridge?" asked Cell.
"Yeah, we're learning poetry, and it just so happened that our teacher likes horror stories and romantic tragedies," explained Trunks, putting his bag on the floor as he started taking out his English material.
"Not to mention," added Goten. "Romance in general."
"That's why she can't find anyone," whined Aisu, coming in and sitting below them on the next step down from the seminar-type seating. "She's so nice though!"
"She's weird Aichan, it's as simple as that," said Trunks, flipping his poetry book open.
Aisu stood on her chair and whacked him with her book. Then she tilted it back, seeing the page number.
"We're still on "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?" asked Aisu, staring sceptically.
"It's a pretty long poem," nodded Goten.
Aisu sighed, sitting down cross-legged on the seminar seats and waiting. Cell sat next to her. He then noticed this seating was the exact seating from before in the other classroom. As the class settled down, the teacher started reading the poem out to the class, explaining the "techniques" ("I told you!" said Jaena in a matter-of-factly voice) and meanings that Coleridge was trying to get across. Cell read over Aisu's shoulder, only really vaguely interested. Aisu, sensing Cell's eyes on her back, sat back and offered him the book. Cell stared sidelong at Aisu, who smiled in return. Sighing, Cell grabbed the other side of the book so that the one book was shared between the two.
Why the HELL am I here? he asked, staring as the teacher read and Aisu jotted down notes on the book.
As the teacher was explaining how the rains descending from Heaven were a sign of God's releasing of the man's curse, Cell felt something wanting to release as it descended down his inguinal area. A confused and uncomfortable look crossed his face as he started fidgeting around. Aisu, with her hand on the other side of the book, looked at him strangely.
"Are you okay?" she whispered.
"Fine," he answered quickly, biting his lower lip. He sighed, trying to remain calm, yet the pressure continued to build, as well as a feeling he had to release something and quickly.
The human side of him was screaming for something… anything… to get this sensation away. Cell swallowed hard, looking at the poem and trying to get his mind off. However, looking at the poem, his attention was drawn to the words "water, water, everywhere". As if a curse itself had set itself upon him, his mind kept repeating those words, causing a greater urge to release something. Unable to take it anymore, Cell stood up, letting go of the book, and jumped up on the table, running all the way down it, much to the surprise and chagrin of the rest of the class, and out the door.
In the hallway, Cell ran left and right, his mind screaming as the urge to release whatever was in there out. He clenched his legs together, the urge only managing to grow stronger.
"What's wrong?" asked an urgent Jaena in Cell's ear.
"I need to do something…" he snapped, speed-walking down the hall as he tried to find… something.
"What do you mean?" asked Jaena, turning panicked at the expression on Cell's face.
"I don't know. I just… I feel like… I NEED TO EXPEL SOMETHING!" he yelled.
"You need to pee?" asked Jaena, a sceptical look on his face.
"To what?" asked Cell, his voice sounding slightly desperate.
"To pee… to urinate… to relieve yourself… to go take a leek… to sit on the John…"
"Okay, okay, okay, okay!" yelled Cell. "What do I do?" Cell didn't even realise he was asking for help. He was much too desperate to care.
"Go to the bathroom," explained Jaena. "Go forward…"
Cell did as he was told, Jaena directing him to the closest bathroom. He was practically running by this point, the urge to go heading to breaking point. As Cell entered the bathroom, he looked around from left to right, then looked to his shoulder.
"Now what?" he asked.
"Okay!" began Jaena. "Turn to face the urinal and loosen your belt."
"What?" snapped Cell.
"Do you want to wet yourself?" she asked, staring incredulously at Cell.
Cell sighed in frustration, facing the white porcelain urinal and unbuckling his belt quickly.
"Okay, now, unbutton the first button and undo your zipper."
Cell, despite thinking how humiliating this was, did just that, now subconsciously jumping from foot to foot.
"Hurry it up," he snapped to Jaena.
"Alright, alright, calm down," she responded. "Now, uhm… pull down your pants."
"What?" he snapped.
"Hey, I'm new at this!" she retorted angrily.
Cell grabbed the sides of his pants about to do just that when Jaena yelled:
"WAIT! No, not your pants. You gotta pull your… uhm…"
Cell looked at Jaena, growing impatient.
"My what?" he snapped, his rhythm of jumping from foot-to-foot growing quicker.
"Your ding-dong," she ended slowly, looking sidelong.
"My what?" he asked again, looking flustered.
"You know your…" Jaena thought about it for some time. "Do you know basic human anatomy?" she asked suddenly.
"What does this have to do with –"
"Yes or no!" she interrupted.
"Yes!" he answered, looking at Jaena with a mixed expression of desperation, agitation and incredulity.
"Then pull out your penis!" she yelled.
The room went silent for some time as Cell and Jaena stared at one another. He then did just as Jaena told him to, leaning his left arm on the wall above the urinal.
"Okay, now all you have to do is –"
Jaena's explanation was interrupted as the sound of trickling liquid could be heard around the toilets. It seemed Jaena did not have to even explain what needed to be done as Cell leaned his head on his arm, a subconscious sigh of relief expelling from his mouth.
"We gotta work on your aim…" mumbled Jaena.
Cell looked to her, and then looked down, face contorting to one of panic.
"Hey! Don't let go of it!" yelled Jaena, flitting about Cell's head.
After washing his hands, Cell walked out of the toilet, sighing. Jaena sat on his shoulder, sighing also.
"Okay, that was… interesting," she commented.
Cell glared but didn't say anything. As he walked up he saw a cleaner walking down. Cell stopped as the cleaner passed, seeing the cleaner enter the toilet.
"Oh great," groaned Cell, turning and walking away, just as he heard the cleaner inside yell:
"Oh my GOD!!"
Cell entered the classroom, sitting down next to Aisu.
"Are you alright?" asked Aisu.
"Yeah," agreed Goten, looking down. "You ran outta here like there was a fire in the school."
Cell remained silent, avoiding their questions. Lucky for him, the English teacher came up to them, causing Aisu and Goten to sit up straight once again.
"Mr. Jinzouningen? Have you relieved yourself?" asked the teacher.
Or maybe that was unlucky for him. Cell felt himself go red under her stare, despite desperately trying not to. He could hear the class giggle at his humiliation.
"Yes…" he answered quietly.
"Good. I'll let you off this time, but you need to ask before rushing off like that, okay?" said the teacher.
Cell nodded.
"Now," began the teacher, turning and walking down the stairs. "In "The Raven"…"
"We're onto Poe," explained Aisu at the confused look on Cell's face.
He looked to her, then down at the book in her hand. Sure enough, the poem read "The Raven", with the name "Edgar Allen Poe" underneath in smaller writing. Aisu shrugged.
"Horror and tragedy," she explained.
"And romance," added both Trunks and Goten in unison, causing Aisu to give a little smile as Cell looked out the window, an expression of irritation on his face.
After two periods of excruciating English, it was lunch, recess having just ended as Cell had walked out from doing his entrance exams. During lunch, it was then how Cell had discovered the organization of the school. Looking down at Aisu's timetable, he saw the schedules of the students.
Apparently, it was rollcall, or homeroom, in the morning, followed by two periods of class. The students were then given a break for recess and then there were three periods of classes, followed by lunch. After lunch, there were two more periods, followed by either the end of school or club activities.
"Club activities?" he read out loud, looking at Aisu's timetable.
Aisu nodded. "Mm-hmm," she added. "I'm in the Kickers Club."
"Kickers?" questioned Cell.
"Kick-boxing," explained Trunks.
"Uh-huh," agreed Goten between mouthfuls of food. "Aisu's one of the "sempai" there."
"There're sempai in kickboxing?" asked Trunks, looking strangely at him.
Goten shrugged swallowing. "Maybe, it is a style of defence."
Aisu laughed, shaking her head, then turned to Cell. "How 'bout you? Are you joining any Clubs?"
"Why? Is there a point?" asked Cell.
The three shrugged.
"Gives you something to do in the afternoon," answered Trunks.
"Yeah, 'aside from homework," added Goten, making a disgusted look on his face at the mention of the dreaded "H" word.
"Ack! Maths!" agreed Aisu, throwing her head back and an expression of feigned pain on her face.
Cell looked to all three strangely.
"Well?" asked Trunks. "Any ideas?"
"I don't even know if I'm getting into this school," answered Cell.
"Well, if Goten here can get in here, then you can," said Trunks, jabbing a thumb in the direction of his best friend.
Goten glared. "That was uncalled for," he answered, crossing his arms as Trunks and Aisu laughed.
Like father, like son… thought Cell, rolling his eyes.
"Okay, fine," said Aisu, breaking Cell's train of thought. "Tell us when you can. If you want to know what Clubs are in the high school, go to the school office. There're pamphlets with information."
Cell made a small sound of acknowledgement, looking elsewhere. Meanwhile, the other three started talking amongst themselves, eating lunch as they did. Cell looked out to the city, wondering when the city had been built. It certainly wasn't here when he existed. But… the place was strangely familiar…
"Remember that small town from before?" came Jaena's voice in his ear. He gazed sidelong at her, an image of the backwash town appearing in his mind. He had sucked most, if not all, the residents in that place. "Well," began Jaena. "This is it."
Cell took some time to register what she had said. His face then contorted into one of sheer shock.
"What?!" he yelled.
The three turned to him, all surprised. Cell looked to them, a large sweat drop appearing on the back of his head. He swallowed hard, quickly turning away from them and trying to ignore their stares. After a while, after exchanging looks, they turned away, talking once again. Cell sighed inwardly, leaning his head on his hands, which consequently was leaning on his knees as he crossed his legs.
This was that backwash town. That puny, pathetic town? What had happened?
"Satan had saved the world," came Jaena's voice, his irritation level increasing.
Satan. That bastard.
"Hey Seru!" interrupted Trunks' voice, causing the green-haired teenager to turn around. "We've been calling you for a while. Are you alright?"
Cell looked to him, his expression holding a hint of worry, then looked to the other two, who held similar expressions. He then looked back to Trunks.
"Yeah, whatever…" he mumbled looking away again.
"Well, since you're okay," said Trunks, becoming sardonic. "What classes do you have next?"
"Classes?" asked Cell.
"Yeah, there are two more periods of school left," explained Goten.
"They're our electives," added Aisu.
Cell went silent. He had hoped, well at least a part of him hoped, that he was in the same classes as all three of them. But… they were electives?
"I…"
"Checkthebackpocketofyourpants!!" said Jaena's voice hurriedly in his ear.
"… need to check first," ended Cell, turning away from them and standing up. He checked the back pocket of his school pants, feeling a piece of paper in there. He realised she must have slipped in there during that hug in the hallway. Taking it out, he opened the folded paper, reading. On top, it read "Rough Copy – Seru Jinzouningen". He then looked down at the timetable, seeing the first two periods were, indeed, P.E. as Jaena had stated, although the boxes were crossed out with red pen. The three periods after that were Mathematics, followed by two periods of English. It was now lunch. He looked down at the two periods after lunch, seeing two different subjects:
Chemistry… he read mentally. Being a biologically engineered life form (prior to being Human), Cell knew a thing or two about chemistry. He then looked down at the other subject, eyebrow going up in confusion. Before he himself could question the subject, the paper was snatched from his grip with an exclamation of:
"Yoink!"
"Hey!" retaliated Cell, trying to grab the paper but finding it quickly drawn back, Goten holding it up to his face as he read. Cell growled under his breath.
"Ah Chemistry!" exclaimed Goten, grinning. "Me and Trunks-kun do Chemistry!"
"That would be Trunks-kun and I, Goten," corrected Aisu.
"Nah, you don't do Chem Aisu. You hate Chem."
Aisu sighed, shaking her head. Meanwhile, Trunks, looking over Goten's shoulder, looked to the other subject. He then stared at Cell sceptically.
"Home Economics?" questioned Trunks slowly.
All three looked to him.
"Do you know what Home Ec is?" asked Goten, realising it was in the timetable. To Goten, Cell, or really Seru, did not look like the "cooking type".
Cell feigned thinking, finger scratching his chin as he hummed.
"No," he then said abruptly, staring at them blankly.
"Really? But these are electives. You pick them," explained Trunks, Goten nodding.
"I didn't pick them," he answered candidly.
"Oh," answered Goten after much silence. "Well, Home Ec is…"
"… Cooking and cleaning and shit," ended Trunks.
"There's no cleaning in Home Ec, stupid!" snapped Aisu, smacking Trunks' arm.
"Ow, hey, watch it!" retorted Trunks.
Goten chuckled. "Aisu does Home Ec," he informed Cell, Cell looking to her sceptically.
"You guys couldn't cook if your life depended on it," she then retorted, crossing her arms.
"I can cook!" responded Goten, looking pouty.
"Suuuure Goten-kun," said Aisu sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "The last time you cooked something, you were seeing dwarves dancing around you."
Cell looked on incredulously, yet beginning to feel slightly amused.
"No!" countered Goten. His eyes then shifted away as he mumbled: "They were elves…"
Under his breath and with head turned away, Cell chuckled quietly.
The last two periods came and went uneventfully. In Chemistry, Cell was partnered up with a teenager who people deemed the "class clown". His antics weren't particularly funny to Cell… or friendly. He wasn't very intelligent too.
During their practical, they were supposed to work out the chemical properties of different unnamed chemicals, where the teacher allowed them to use their textbooks and information. Easy enough, according to the teacher and half the class. Cell's lab partner, however, decided to make things difficult as he continually whined about having to pair up with the "Freakazoid", whom Cell believed was a reference to himself. He then stated that Cell was not to touch any of the practical material, because he would only "ruin the experiment". Shrugging, Cell had finished his theoretical work (he knew all answers even before the experiment had started) and sat back, amused and quite enjoying himself as the teenager made mistakes at every point in the experiment.
After the teacher had called that they had 30 more minutes left, Cell took it upon himself to fix the experiment, finishing it in 25 minutes and allowing his lab partner to record the results. Jaena had then told him that he had done a good deed, rewarding him one down.
Feh, I only did it to show him how incompetent he was, thought Cell, hitching his bag as he walked out.
As he did, he heard both Trunks and Goten wish him farewell and good luck in Home Economics. Turning around slowly, he saw them waving, other classmates sniggering.
It seemed there was more to rag about in relation to this new kid.
In Home Economics, Cell entered the classroom, finding himself in a room full of mostly girls with some male students here and there. They all wore white aprons and bandanas, each already behind a specific desk that had both cooking equipment and room to do the theoretical work. He stared, looking around the room, seeing all eyes on him. He spotted a familiar face, Aisu waving at him from a far corner. His inspection was interrupted, however, as two hands were placed on his shoulders, causing Cell to give a small yell in surprise as he whirled around, coming face-to-face with a woman, her greying hair tied back in a long ponytail and a similar white bandana over it.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Jinzouningen!" she said genially, smiling just as warmly. "I've been expecting you!"
She led him to the front of the class, where she turned him to face it, much like when he had entered.
"Class 3-A!" she began, clapping Cell's shoulders. "This is your new classmate, Seru Jinzouningen! And what a strong lad y'are!" she commented, clapping his shoulders again.
Some students smirked, namely those who had laughed at him earlier in English and Maths.
"Now, I will be assigning Seru-san with…" she looked around the class, her eyes falling on a student with blonde hair. "… You Miss Hoshikawa."
"What?" she responded. "But, sensei," she argued. "Have I not been one of the top members of your class? He'll only corrupt me!"
"Nonsense," responded the teacher, pushing Cell towards her. "He'll learn a lot from a model student like you! You could even put it on your college application!"
The student seemed to consider this, then nodded. As Cell looked closely at her, he realised she was the same girl from the bus.
Oh great, I'm with Mary Sue, he thought, crossing his arms and leaning on the desk as the teacher prepped the class for that day's practical.
He turned his head, seeing Aisu glancing at him. As their eyes met, she shrugged, a wry smile on her face. She then motioned to her partner, Cell seeing a girl with black, wavy hair, pale skin and a thick layer of eyeliner on her face. He then took a sweeping look around the room, seeing that all the students in this room ranged from popular to not-so-popular. It seemed Home Economics was the subject that "brought people together".
"Okay, are we ready?" asked the teacher.
"Hai!" responded the class in unison.
"Whatever…" mumbled Cell; turning to face the kitchen area he was assigned.
She was already doing everything, completely ignoring Cell. He merely allowed her to do everything. She had been doing it for most of the year. It was only fair. As if reading his thoughts, she whirled on him and snapped:
"If you aren't going to help!" she yelled, that Valley Girl accent clearly apparent. "I'm not going to make you!"
Cell stared at her sceptically.
"Who said I wanted to help you?" he asked, face still expressionless.
She opened her mouth as if to answer, then shut it again, speechless. Cell shrugged, picking up his sheet of paper, and reading as she let out a frustrated sigh and whirled around, once again starting to cook.
"It said two cups, not three," he corrected, smirking as she glared at him.
Maybe this was going to be more fun than he originally thought.
By the end of class, the teenager, with Cell every now and then correcting her every little mistake, had made the cake assigned to them at the beginning of class. Every one tasted the cakes, taking slices of each other's and talking. The cake Cell's group had made, or really the girl had made, was strawberry short cake. While the classmates tasted the cake, commenting on its goodness, Aisu talked with Cell.
"You really pissed her off, didn't you?" asked Aisu, staring at the girl with slight concern.
"She was being hostile. I was merely retaliating with similar hostility."
"Her boyfriend is the quarterback of the Orange Star team. She has friends from every single sports team… I mean… she's one of the most popular girls in school. Not even I'm mean to her, and she's been bullying me since the beginning of middle school."
"I was repaying her debt in kind."
"Karma? Yeah, but you need to leave that alone. Karma works in mysterious and sneaky ways."
Cell scoffed. "Then maybe I was sent here," he said sarcastically.
Aisu shrugged. "Maybe."
Cell stared at her sceptically. "You believe in that crap?" he asked.
"It's not crap, karma can happen. For example, I help a lot of people, and my life is going great! It's the way of the world. As the saying goes: no good deed goes undone!"
As Cell was about to reply, they both heard a disgusted scoff behind them. They both turned, seeing a group of girls, Cell's partner in the lead, staring at them with amused and slightly aghast looks on their faces.
"Oh my God, don't tell me Nurse Matilda's two-timing!" exclaimed a girl with short brown hair. (1)
"Ah, yeah, look at her and the Momma's Boy!" said another.
Aisu merely smiled in their direction, Cell glaring.
"How's about I give you a new ass hole?" asked Cell, that chilling smile on his face as he looked directly at his new cooking partner.
The girls turned a slight shade of pale at the look he bore into them. They then swallowed hard, mumbled their excuses to leave, and left Aisu and Cell alone. Aisu blinked blankly at the girls then turned to look at Cell, whose smile was already gone from his face.
"Hm…" she hummed as Cell turned to look at her.
Seru Jinzouningen / Cell Tally System:
I (whoo-hoo!)
(1) "Nurse Matilda" is a book about a nanny who helps the rowdiest of children. "Nanny McPhee" is an adaptation to this popular children's book.