Adventures of Young Tezuka Kunimitsu
Chapter 28 : First day of Elementary School
Kunimitsu tugged the collar of his buttoned up shirt. It was first day of Kunimitsu's new school.
Kunimitsu had to bid farewell to his kindergarten classmates before the Spring break. They had a graduation ceremony and Kunimitsu had to wear a long blue robe and square cardboard hat. He even had to make a speech that his teacher wrote and his Mama helped him to memorise.
When it was over, everyone said goodbye to their favourite friends and told each other which new schools they were going to. Kyouya and many other students were going to other schools. Mika-chan and two other students were going to the same school as him.
In a few short weeks, he was in Year 1, Class 1-1 of Seiharu Daiichi Elementary School. He had new uniforms. White short sleeved shirt with knee-length dark blue shorts. The school crest and his name sewn on the left pocket. Matching dark blue blazer to go on top of everything. He had new white shoes and socks too.
Mama said he was growing so fast, he outgrew everything overnight. She said it with that teasing smile while Kunimitsu watched her sew coloured labels and ironed school patches on his new clothes. He even had a new school bag that Mama had to sew his name on. So that Kunimitsu would know that it was his and remember. He did not remember he had a new school bag though. He was too busy watching Mama sew. He climbed into her lap so he could get a closer look. The needle poke in and out. The thread followed the needle, going round and round. He thought sewing was a clever idea. It was only a thin thread, but it holds two pieces together stronger than glue. And the thread made a pattern on the two pieces too.
On Orientation Day, Mama held his left hand as they walked a new route to Kunimitsu's new school. Papa held his new school bag on one hand. He held Kunimitsu's right hand in the other. Sometimes, Kunimitsu swung himself between them and let them carry him a few steps. There were other little boys and girls too, walking with their Mama and Papa. They were all First Years. The older children walked with their friends or even by themselves.
When they arrived at the school, Kunimitsu lined up to take pictures at the school gate. Then, they were ushered into school hall by a line of Year 6 students. It was a much larger school than Kunimitsu's kindergarten. The students were much bigger too. Some were almost as tall as his Mama. He held his parents' hands tightly.
Inside the school hall, the children were separated from their parents and sent to the front seats. He held on firmly and didn't want to let go. Mama knelt down and patted his back soothingly.
"It's okay," she said. "Papa and I will sit right there, on the front row for the parents. You can see us if you turn your head."
Kunimitsu looked back and forth across the open expanse between his seat and his parents. It was filled with chaotic jumble of adults and older students. The corner of his mouth turned downwards. He did not like the idea at all.
'He needs warm up time,' Mama mouthed quietly at Papa. She was all too familiar with Kunimitsu's idiosyncrasies, including his need to for time to observe and familiarise with new environment before he was ready to participate in it. She turned to Kunimitsu and said loudly, "Now, Papa will go sit on the parents' side. We will stay here and watch Papa go to his seat. See, Papa is a big brave boy."
When Papa seated himself, he waved wildly to Kunimitsu. Only, it made Kunimitsu want to go to Papa instead of the other side.
"It's Kunimitsu's turn. Now, brave Kunimitsu will go to his seat."
Kunimitsu shook his head. He did not see why he should sit away from his parents when they were going to be in the same room anyway.
Next to them, another child started crying. "Mika!" they heard a frustrated mother exclaimed.
"Mika-chan. Tamaguchi-san." Mama turned around and greeted the new comers. "Kunimitsu, look Mika-chan is here. I'm sure Mika-chan would like a strong brave boy like Kunimitsu to sit with her,"
Kunimitsu looked at Mika-chan a moment, from her teary eyes and timid face. He was reluctant to go away from his Mama and sit with strangers. He understood Mika-chan feelings. But if Mika-chan had a friend to go with her, she might not be so anxious.
"Let's sit together," he said. He held out his hand for Mika-chan to hold. And they both walked obediently to their places.
"Thank you, Tezuka-san!" said Mika-chan's mother with obvious relief.
"I should thank you, Tamaguchi-san. Little boys just need the right kind of motivations."
There were speeches. From the principal to the Year-1 head teacher to the Year-6 Student Council President. Then, there were roll calls. Each name was called one by one. When Kunimitsu's name came up, he stood up and walked to the front. A 6th Year girl also came forward and pinned his name badge on his shirt.
"Hello, Tezuka-kun," she said.
"Yanagi-san!" said Kunimitsu surprised.
"Welcome to Seiharu Daiichi. I will be your mentor for this year." She winked mischievously at Kunimitsu. "I have to swap three cleaning assignments to get you. Come, it's time for the school tour."
Yanagi Reiko led Kunimitsu out of the big hall.
"Yanagi-san's brother?" asked Kunimitsu, craning his head around to look for Renji.
Reiko laughed. "He doesn't want to go to a school with no tennis club and be the tensai Reiko's cute otouto-chan. So, you, lucky boy, are my new otouto-chan."
"Yanagi-san play tennis too."
"Yes, but I can play tennis outside school. This school has the best Maths program and best Maths Club. I'm going to be on the National Olympiad Maths team this year."
She showed him the track fields, basketball courts, baseball diamond and swimming pool. Then, they went indoors and picked a shoe shelf space. Yanagi pasted a sticker with his name on it to mark his spot while he changed from outdoor to indoor shoes. They went to the cafeteria, restrooms, teachers' room, library, music room, art room, labs and indoor gym. Finally, she brought him to his classroom. His Papa and Mama were all ready there, waiting for him at the back. Mika-chan was also there.
Yanagi-san stuck another sticker on a cubby space at the back of the room. She declared it his territory. Then, she patted him on the head and left him to his parents and teacher.
Kunimitsu peered into his cubby. Papa had put his bag inside. But there were other things in it too. Mama helped him take them out. He examined the bright yellow helmet, plastic whistle and a box of stationery.
When all the students had arrived, the homeroom teacher introduced himself and called the class to order. He went through each item that the children got in their cubby holes. He showed them how to wear their helmets and told them to wear it when walking to and from school. Whistle to call for help if they got into trouble. There were pencils and erasers and how to use sharpeners. There were even water-colours, palette, brushes and the more familiar colour pencils.
He toyed with his calligraphy set, made up of brush, inkpot, inkwell and notebook with special rice paper. He had seen Ojiisan used them, only they were bigger and more elaborate versions. Ojiisan even used rolled up scrolls of paper, not a notebook like Kunimitsu's. Instead of a bottle of ink, Ojiisan used a block of black ink stick that he rubbed over and over on his inkstone. But Kunimitsu liked his small child-sized things. It meant he was old enough for another Ojiisan activity.
Finally, one of the parents helped carry a box while the teacher went around the room to distribute a stack of textbooks for the year. Mama went through the books and class schedules with Kunimitsu together to help him understand which books he would need for which days of the week. Then, they were done and sent outside for traffic safety lessons.
There were traffic policemen outside, in their smart blue uniforms and big white motorcycles. There were road crossing and traffic safety demonstrations, with zebra crossing, portable traffic lights and crossing guards for the children to take part and practise.
After all the serious safety business had been taken care of, the children were released for fun and play. Some started games of tag, soccer and basketball. There were even supervised archery with miniature bow and arrows.
Unlike most children, Kunimitsu stood at the side, watching the others dispersed into all directions. Suddenly, he felt himself grabbed from behind and lifted. Instinct kicked in as he readjusted his weight, grabbed the hand under his arm and turned sharply.
A large blue shape flipped and landed at his feet. Behind him, a voice laughed and hands clapped. "Told you so. You can't catch a Tezuka unawares."
"Ikeda-san!" Kunimitsu was surprised to find a police officer lying at his feet. "Saitou-san." He addressed the other police officer who spoke.
"Hello, Kunimitsu," said Saitou. "You still remember us."
"Sorry for surprising you," apologised Ikeda.
Kunimitsu nodded. "Saitou-san and Ikeda-san missed practice for ... for ... since last summer." Indeed, Kunimitsu had noticed that there were twenty missing students in his judo class in the police dojo. Ojiisan said there would be more new students coming in soon.
"Yes," said Ikeda. "We are real police officers now. No more trainees." Ikeda showed off his new shiny badge.
"Hey, aren't we the lucky ones. We get assigned to Kunimitsu's district," said Saitou, roughing Kunimitsu's hair.
Ikeda cupped his hand over Kunimitsu's ear and whispered, "If Ojiisan-sensei decides to take a walk, just give us a warning call at the station. We'll make sure the koban is clean and neat and ready for a surprise visit."
"Kunimitsu?" Mama and Papa were walking towards Kunimitsu and the two officers.
Both men immediately snapped to attention. They bowed in tandem as Kunimitsu's parents reached them.
"Tezuka-san." Saitou recognised Kunimitsu's Mama, who had accompanied him to Ojiisan's office building a few times.
"We were Tezuka-sensei's students," Ikeda added after they introduced themselves.
Both of them looked anxiously at Papa, wondering if he was anything like Ojiisan. Papa was still wearing his serious working Papa face. The one that looked like he could see right through anyone and read all their little secrets. Ikeda was very conscious of his less than pristine uniform after that short tumble on the ground.
Papa let them squirm a little before he winked and broke into a big smile. "Hello, Kunimitsu's friends." He shook their hands warmly.
"If it's all right with you, sir," said Saitou sheepishly, "we would like to give Kunimitsu a ride on the motorcycle."
"Just around the parking lot," added Ikeda.
"Hmm ...," said Papa, looking side long at Mama. Mama gave him an almost invisible nod. "With one condition." He whipped out his camera. "You have to take pictures with him!"
Saitou whooped!
"Don't throw me again, Kunimitsu," said Ikeda. He hoisted Kunimitsu onto his bike.
Saitou plopped a peaked police hat over Kunimitsu's head. The traffic police crest was blinding silver in the morning sun.
Papa took many pictures. "All right, everyone. Give me your best Ojiisan-sensei stare! Wow! I feel like I'm about to be eaten alive."
Mama lightly smacked Papa on the arm for making fun of Ojiisan.
In a few short minutes, Kunimitsu was paraded around the open space. He was seated high on the front, turning the switches on and off. Siren whined, lights flashed. By the first round, Kunimitsu had figured what most switches do: high-beam, low-beam, blinking signal lights, tail-lights, brake lights, hazard lights, red-blue emergency lights, and even the little whirling red-alert light mounted on the antenna at the back. By the second round, he had figured the combination to turn on the most gaudy light show and the loudest siren.
When Ikeda handed him back to his parents, there was a long line of excited children waiting to be taken on rides.
Papa laughed and patted the two young officers. "Kids!" he remarked to Mama in amusement. Kunimitsu knew he wasn't referring to the little 7-year-old kind of kids.
The next day, a 6th Year student and a PE teacher paid him a visit. They gave him a form to fill in and a sheaf of papers to give his parents. From that week, every Tuesday afternoon, Kunimitsu attended Judo Club as their youngest regular member.
Sorry for the late late late update. RL decided to crash everything in a short month and a half. House-hunting, moving, parental visit/inspection, exam, work project delays and last minute rush. Next one will probably be at least two weeks from now.
AYoTK has crossed the 100th Review. **Throws confetti** And looks like there's another post-National PoT OVA in the works. Something about Wimbledon.
Have problems uploading chapter file today. So, if you have the same problem, try using your existing document in Document Manager. Clear the text in the Edit/Preview. Copy and paste your new chapter.
celtic27fionn : Thank you for your reviews. Glad you enjoyed the stories.
Aoe chan : Congrats on snagging the 100th! *\o/* Thank you so much. I put a lot of effort to get the facts right and Tezuka in-character. So it's nice hear it from my readers. Yes, poor Ayana. She's the perfect parent, so she's less likely to mess up with entertaining result. We will see more of her again in the next stage of Tezuka development.
Shanu, an1me05 : Thanks.
Amarie-Chil : Yeah, poor Kuniharu is an alien Tezuka. Grandpa is such a serious educator, isn't he? :D Kid-logic are fun and mind-boggling. Hehe! Baby Tezuka probably don't even care about the presents. He had more fun playing with the wrapping paper and boxes. ;)
littlemissrosy : Thank you. I actually started because I missed studying for Developmental Psych. Manual to Tezuka's character? *blushes* I'm happy to hear it sounds realistic and good read. Please let me know if I made a mistake. I don't have anyone to proof-read, so sometimes, I missed a few of them.
Faoiltierna : Tezuka-papa would probably sleep late every day without his walking alarm clock. I could plan and prep your party, as long as you don't invite me to it. I'm an even bigger recluse than Tezuka. :D
