A/N: Well, hello, everyone! The next chapter of Gakutalia is here, right now! So, I got a prize today at school. It was for Classical Civilisations, so Ancient Rome and Germania would be proud of me! Greece probably would as well, but since he's pretty relaxed about his mother's history, there's probably wouldn't be that much of a difference.
I can't directly reply to guest reviewers, so I'll answer the question here: "Will there be ships in Gakutalia?"
I don't want to give anything away, so instead I'll talk a little about the structure of the Gakutalia universe! It's a little ambitious, but this probably won't be the only Gakutalia thing I write! I'll split it into terms: first term, second term, third term, summer break. That's the plan, at least. As for the question, will there be ships? Well, the first term does NOT have a theme of romance, and romance isn't a major theme of Gakutalia. I believe I put it down as friendship/drama? Anyway, romance will not be a theme introduced until the SECOND term, which includes February, the month of Valentines! In others, they MAY be ships, but not necessarily the ships you're all thinking of, and most definitely not until the second term.
All in all, Gakutalia is a story of friendship mainly between the Allies, and the overarching themes focus on how they deal with certain problems, be they personal or universal, and if they can deal with such problems.
I hope this has answered the question without giving anything/too much away! Without further ado, here is the next chapter of Gakutalia!
K.H.
He sat in his manga club once more. For some strange reason, Fel had opted to come along, and was idly doodling beside him rather than actually performing any impressive feat of work like he usually could.
"I'm sorry, but, who is this guy?" Yong Soo asked impatiently, gesturing to Fel.
"My name's Feliciano Vargas," Fel suddenly said, snapping back into the real world, it seemed. "I'm Kiku's friend. It's really very nice to meet you."
Yong Soo blinked, a little thrown, but accepted the answer and didn't reply. Kiku sighed and stretched his paper out. He'd chosen to an do A3 piece, a figure performing an impressive kick towards the viewer, whilst holding a pair of nun-chucks in their hands. He needed a better view of the piece.
The door opened and Ludwig peered in. Kiku and Fel hadn't actually seen as much of him as before during this last week or so. There had been no explanation, but then, neither of them had exactly asked either, so there was no fault on anyone's behalf.
"Oh, hey, Kiku, may I have a word?" Ludwig asked.
"Sure thing," Kiku stood and set his drawing aside. "Just keep what you're doing. Fel can watch over you and probably help you if you need anything."
That last part was directed to his class, who bobbed their heads up and down. He walked across the classroom and stepped outside with Ludwig, closing the door behind him and taking a few paces away to avoid nosy students listening in on their conversation.
"What's wrong?" he asked. "Has something happened?"
"No, no, nothing like that," Ludwig said. "I was just wondering, you're very good at drawing, aren't you, Kiku?"
"Yes, but so is Fel," Kiku frowned.
"I know, but Fel isn't exactly focused," Ludwig explained. "I was wondering if you would like to design a new poster for the Talent Show?"
"The Talent Show?" Kiku blinked. "How come?"
"I've decided to organise it," Ludwig said. "I got in contact with the current admin, and they were too flustered to keep their positions. I'm directing the Talent Show. I wanted to start by roping in some acts, and the current poster is piss poor. I want a better one, and I know you can make that for me."
Kiku considered. "I'm sure I can do that."
Ludwig blinked and frowned, before shrugging and accepting his vague answer.
"I will do my best," Kiku nodded. "Do I have a deadline?"
Ludwig nodded. "Before half term."
Kiku nodded. "So, three weeks. I think I can do that. However, I do not want to put my school work behind, so I may end up giving it in close to the deadline."
Ludwig shrugged. "That's not a problem to me. How about we do a progress check in a week or two?"
Kiku nodded. "Are you going back to organisation and maintenance?"
"Yes," Ludwig said. "There's still a lot that needs to be done, and I only have eight weeks to set it up. I've ordered lighting, but they told me they could only have it delivered until after half term. It's a problem, but I'll have to deal with it."
Kiku nodded again, and watched as Ludwig turned and left the corridor, taking the staircase down. Kiku returned to the room, and sat down to continue his drawing, whilst Fel slept at the desk.
A.J.
"We're shit," Alfred lowered his guitar and glanced grimly around the room. "The only one that's remotely good is Ivan, and that's because his sister taught him those killer moves."
Ivan rolled his eyes and tapped lightly on a cymbal.
"I didn't think we were that bad," Yao replied. "Just unpractised. It's been a couple of weeks."
"Where the Hell is Roderich?" Alfred asked, glancing around the music room.
Usually, the musical genius never left the room, and he sometimes had to wonder whether it was because his love and affection for music had morphed into a psychological obsession, or if there was a hidden room somewhere that led to a second house of his where he could sleep, eat, wash and be ready to play music whenever.
"I'm sure he'll be here soon," Francis said.
He was seated at a little desk where Ms Lore sometimes sat to grade practice theory exams her students handed in. In front of him were timetables where the four of them would meet. Ivan and Yao were often free, but Miss Ronan had put in place the Math tutoring sessions. There was some part of him that was just relieved to have the band together.
After this week, they had just seven weeks until the Talent Show.
"He said he'd help us," Alfred moaned. "But I feel like I've made no improvement."
"I have," Yao said smugly. "I can now fluently do a C major scale over two octaves."
"And I can put a beat to it," Ivan added.
"Yeah, that's great and all, but how many judges will a scale with a beat impress?" Alfred sighed. "If it was a bunch of Year Sevens, then they'd get pity points. We're too old to be considered embarrassingly cute."
"I bet girls still think I'm cute," Yao said. "Speaking of which, when did you start getting action, Francis?"
Francis sat up, wide eyed and glanced over at them.
"Yeah, actually, I wanna know," Ivan paused in the light tapping he'd been doing on the cymbals.
"It's no one in this school, if that's what you want to know," Francis said.
"Where did you meet her?" Yao pressed. "Have there been more girls?"
Francis glanced over. "She was a summer fling in the holiday of Year Eleven. And there has been another, but she was a little older."
"Dude, you got an older woman?" Alfred looked at his friend with new eyes. "That's pretty neat."
"Yes, but I don't think she'd remember me," Francis admitted sadly. "And I don't remember her that well… Drink can have a lot of negative influence."
The three of them nodded until someone cleared their throat. The four of them glanced to the door where Roderich stood, looking irritated.
"Lovely story – really pulled my heartstrings," his lip curled in disdain. "However, I don't see much practice going on?"
"That's not fair," Yao complained. "We've been here for at least ten minutes playing the odd tune and whatever whilst you've been doing whatever the fuck you were doing. Speaking of which, where were you? I was getting bored."
"It seems, Yao, you've forgotten the main rule here," Roderich scowled. "I teach, you listen. When did I ever say talking back was your responsibility or right? Remember that you came here for my help, rather than me asking you to do the Talent Show. If you want to improve, you have to listen."
"That didn't explain where you were, though, da?" Ivan frowned, and flinched when Roderich glowered at him.
"Actually, I just finished my lunch," he said importantly. "And I happen to be a slow walker."
"Well, you can say-"
"Play me Schumann's Kinderszenen, Opus Fifteen," Roderich ordered him.
Yao's face fell. "Um… shoe child what?"
The superiority returned in Roderich's purple eyes. "I suppose you ought to start listening, then, right?"
Silently, Alfred watched Yao prepare himself for further onslaught from the Austrian musician.
"I actually wanted to work on something with you three today," Roderich's tone of voice changed suddenly, and he lifted a violin in his hands. "I want to work on beats and timing. I hope you all have some understanding of the C major scale by now?"
Yao looked smug. "I can play it in two octaves fluently."
"That's good for a beginner," Roderich commented. "However, as the pianist, you act as the body in between the guitar and the drums. People tend to say they hear the piano, therefore, you must stick to the beat of the drums, and lead the guitar. Let's hope your playing matches to that."
Alfred watched a crestfallen expression fill his friend's face and felt a stab of sympathy towards the other boy as he balanced the guitar in his hands.
"Are you all ready?" Roderich lifted the bow to the violin strings. "Follow me carefully, Ivan. Yao, you want two notes per beat. Alfred, I want you to play four. I repeat, are you all ready?"
The four of them nodded.
"Then we'll start," he lowered the bow on the instrument and began to play.
L.B.
It was drawing near to six thirty by the time Ludwig deemed it fine to call it a day. He had established a team of four working beneath him, and believed that his team were competent in what they did. They were the best when it came to construction, and as they were setting up the stage and preparing props and lights and seating for the audience, Ludwig thought they were the most suitable students in his year for this position.
Tino Vainamoinen, Berwald Oxenstierna, Matthias Kohler and Lukas Bondevik were a reclusive group that seldom spoke to people other than one another.
He was in charge of the group, but he'd set Tino onto statistics. Out of the four of them, he could trust Tino to get things right, and the amount of money they'd be spending would be to his liking. He had been put in charge of organising the type of decorations he wanted to be included, and so far, Ludwig liked what he'd been shown in the catalogue. Tino was good at budget browsing, but also managing to muster some attractively cheap items. He was a nice guy with a gentle attitude, and was very understanding that Ludwig only had so much time, so was being aware of when ordered items would arrive.
Matthias's job was a little similar. He looked into manufacturing the pieces. He insisted DIY was far better than buying premade furniture. Carefully, he would look in a DIY catalogue for building the entire stage. Whilst it would be time consuming, he was also aware of where to find cheap furniture. Once more, with the budget in mind, Matthias was able to locate seating for the audience, for the judges, the stage itself, the curtain pole above, as well as all the screws and bolts that would be needed to construct everything he was getting. He was a loud spoken chap, and whilst that would usually get on Ludwig's nerves, there was something about Matthias that was charmingly funny – you couldn't hate him.
Berwald was in charge of actually putting the pieces together. Ludwig could see why Matthias and Tino had instantly opted him for the job. He was extremely big, standing a little taller even than Ludwig himself. He was a master when it came to putting things together, which was why he was the appointed master of building. He was extremely quiet, but extremely efficient. Once set on a task by Tino, Berwald wouldn't stop. He finished everything in good timing, but had so far been a little idle since nothing had arrived.
Finally, there was Lukas. In Ludwig's opinion, the way he spoke gave the impression of a monotonous acceptance to do as told. So far, Ludwig found that, if given instructions to do something, he would do it and far exceed the limit. For example, Ludwig wanted some textiles materials for Tino to assess as decoration, and told Lukas to get it. Lukas returned with much more fabric than necessary, but enough to say that they wouldn't be running out any time soon. He was a useful asset to the team.
Ludwig was just grateful to have a team at all. He'd arrived to see the situation and had found the previous administrators lounging around lamenting their lack of materials. They had been swiftly usurped, and Ludwig had sent them all packing to their classes. They'd been using this as an excuse to skip class, for which Ludwig found unacceptable.
"Well done, guys," Ludwig said. "I think we can say we're done for the day."
"Progress is looking good," Tino beamed. "I can't wait to see the finished result."
"Neither," Berwald said.
Ludwig anticipated that moment as well. He envisioned greatness in this setup, even if it was just for a school Talent Show.
A/N: The Talent Show is in order! Some new names here, but those will be mentioned below. I hope everyone's enjoying Gakutalia, and feel free to review/leave a comment! I love hearing what people say; there are always interesting and valid opinions across this site! Also, I'm not abject to constructive criticism, if anyone wants to provide that! Anything said I will consider and see if it can be implemented! So, please review if you'd like to! It's wonderful to hear from those reading this! Until next time!
Yong Soo Im: Korea
Roderich Edelstein: Austria
Tino Vainamoinen: Finland
Berwald Oxenstierna: Sweden
Matthias Kohler: Denmark
Lukas Bondevik: Norway