Hey everybody! I'm back with another chapter! Thanks for reading and enjoy the story!
Lunch was amazing, we went to a place with really good Soba and I was very happy to find out that it was a few blocks from Fukurodani Academy, so I could come again if I wanted. Our next stop was a drive by of Fukurodani High School to meet a few of my teachers who spoke English.
She parked in a lot down the street and we headed around the school's front entrance. A woman was there to greet us, "Hello, you must be Valeria, I am Ms. Sato I will be your modern Japanese teacher. It is very nice to meet you."
Her english was perfect, "Thank you," I bowed me head. It was a cultural quirk that Kenma had warned me about, "I look forward to learning from you. If I may ask, ma'am, where did you learn to speak English?"
"I attended a few semesters abroad in England and one in America, so I took the opportunity to get better at English."
"Wow!" I got a bit starry-eyed, "That's exactly what I'm doing here in Japan!"
"That's wonderful," she smiled, "I look forward to teaching someone who has a passion for the language. Follow me inside and I will introduce you to some of the other teachers and faculty."
I followed her into the building along with Ms. Andrews who gave me a thumbs up and said, "Great first impression! See, you have nothing to be nervous about, everyone will be nice to you."
"You're right!" I told her, even though I was still very nervous. Not everyone was going to be this nice, I just had to brace myself for whoever wasn't going to be nice. I could survive it if I had this many other good people around me!
We stopped on the way to faculty office and Ms. Sato showed me which locker would be mine and we changed shoes before entering the school. Another quirk Kenma had warned me about after he walked me through every little detail of his usual school days and I said that wasn't something we did in America.
Mr. Nakamura the gym teacher could only speak to me in Japanese, but managed to remember how to say he wouldn't go easy on me in English. I reassured him I would work my butt off in his class.
Mr. Yamamoto was the english teacher so having another person who could fluently speak english around was reassuring. He was very nice and even asked if I would consider helping some of the younger students who were having a rough time with the class for extra credit. I was definitely on board, it sounded fun and like a good way to meet more people.
Ms. Kimura was a very nice older woman. She couldn't speak English, just like Mr. Nakamura, but she was very friendly to me. She said if I ever needed help with catching up in history class she was always available.
It continued like this with all of my teachers and then I met the final boss. My homeroom teacher.
"Hello, I am Mr. Mori, I'm the homeroom teacher for Class 2 of the second years and I'm also a physics teacher." he was a younger guy, very nice sounding and soft spoken. He spoke Japanese as well, not English, but to be honest, I wasn't expecting any teachers to speak English at all. He almost reminded me of Kenma, except he was a bit less monotone. "If you need anything, do not hesitate to ask. If I'm not in your classroom, I'll be here in the faculty room. Do you want me to show you were the classroom is?"
"Yes, that would be great thank you!" I bowed me head and followed Mr. Mori out of the room. I turned to shut the door as we left and I bowed to all my teachers, "I look forward to learning from you. Thank you for having me here at your school!" I closed the door before I could see their reaction and set off after Mr. Mori and Ms. Andrews.
The classroom was on the third floor of the building. There would be 34 other kids in my class and I would be taking the last desk they could squeeze in the room.
"Do you have any sight or hearing issues? I can ask some of the kids to shuffle their seats if you'll have an issue."
"No, sir, I'll be fine. Thank you for your consideration, though."
"Great! I can assign you a buddy if you would like as well. They can help you find places or help you know what's going on if you get lost."
"I don't want to put anyone out. I think I will be okay, but I'll be sure to ask for help if I need it."
"Okay, feel free to change your mind at any time." he put a notebook down on the desk at the front of the room, "Is there anywhere else on campus you would like to see?"
"Umm... This is kind of an odd request, but can I see the boy's volleyball gym? A friend of mine plays volleyball for another school in the area and introduced me over the phone to the captain, Keiji Akaashi. Akaashi got permission for me to join the boy's volleyball club as a temporary manager while I'm here."
"Did someone say volleyball?" A man poked his head in the door. He had gray spikey hair and sort of crazy eyes.
"Bokuto! What are you doing here?" Mr. Mori asked and walked over to shake his hand, "How is college?"
"Great! They let me play volleyball a lot!" he got a dreamy look in his eyes, "I came to visit the teachers but this is an interesting development. I'm Kotaro Bokuto. I was the captain of the boy's volleyball team last year. Akaashi is my successor."
"Wow! It's nice to meet you. I'm Valeria Jacobi. I'm an exchange student from America. You played volleyball with Akaashi, so you must know Kenma too right? Kozume Kenma?"
"Of course I know Kenma! Wait, how do you know Kenma?"he seemed like a confused bird who'd flown into a clear glass window.
"I met Kenma online in a gaming chat room. He let me practice my Japanese with him before I came here for the program."
"No way! Kenma hates people! He's like a freaky two toned cat!" he seemed shocked.
"Bokuto!" I heard someone yell as the lunged through the door and cracked him over the head with a magazine, "How many times do I have to tell you to be respectful and not scream at people!"
"You're yelling too, Akaashi." Bokuto replied acting all rejected.
"Wait, Akaashi like Keiji Akaashi?" I asked.
"Yes, and you are?" he took one look at me and he seemed to realize, "You must be Ria, nice to meet you in person."
"Akaashi!" I was so excited to speak to someone I was at least a bit familiar with after being completely alone all day. I hugged him tight around the waist and he tensed. I let go almost immediately. "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry! I just went full blown American on you." I tried to laugh it off.
"Trust me kid, I don't think he minded too much." Bokuto motioned to Akaashi and he seemed very flustered but not angry, until he registered what Bokuto said.
"Bokuto, you-" he seemed to stop himself before swearing. He collected himself and turned around to walk out the door, "You want to see where we play volleyball right? Follow me."