Welcome to the 5th chapter of this fanfic. If you have any problems with this chapter or any of the other ones, just lemme know with a review and I'll try my best to improve upon it. Anyways, here is the next chapter! (P.S. sorry for being so late on delivering a new chapter, been a bit busy with some school stuff. Consider this as my christmas present to you dear readers!) (P.S.S. sorry if there isn't as much action as you'd like, I want to make sure that the metaverse stuff isn't just ham fisted in the fic, and that the real world gets its shine in the spotlight. So for all good intentions, I hope you can bear with me on this)
Chapter 5, the truth should've set you free:
At one of the booth's of cafe leblanc, the doctor would be sitting right beside Akira kurusu, there was indefinitely an awkward silence between them as Akira didn't expect to be questioned about how he gained a criminal record again. Though thankfully Sojiro would just continue washing the dishes, ignoring the two's conversation as he wasn't one to eavesdrop.
The doctor would then try to break the awkward silence, saying to Akira "now, I just want to know why you were given a criminal record, I know it was for assault. But I can tell just by looking at you that you're not a bad guy, and believe me... I know bad guys."
Akira would scoff at the doctor's remark, this guy was so strange, what was his deal? he would then respond to the doctor with "How do you know? you've only met me yesterday, and you act like I'm just a good person." The doctor was quick to respond, answering Akira saying "It's the eyes, those can tell a whole story if you pay attention. and when I look into yours, I see kindness, honesty and yet there is also frustration and sadness. Akira, you don't have to worry, I'm not the bad guy here. All I want to know is your side of the story."
The doctor's remarks that you can tell who they are just by the eyes, it was ridiculous. There was "The eyes are the windows to the soul", and then there was this. "And who would believe that? Come on, tell me, whats your deal?" Akira said, his patience wearing thin. The doctor would simply say to Akira "If you don't believe me, look at my eyes. What do you see in them?" Akira would then laugh a bit, this was so stupid but he decided to humor the idea, smirking as he decided.
Akira would look at the eyes of the doctor, not expecting anything at all. But... then Akira would understand what the doctor meant, his smirk fading as he looked at the doctors eyes. Of course, it wasn't like he had some new power that allowed him to see who people were just by their eyes. But it felt like he was looking into the eyes of an old wanderer, someone who had thousands of stories to tell from their journies. He could feel that the doctor had really felt loss, the pain of losing a loved one. He felt anger and hatred, and darkness too. But there was a light in that darkness, a feeling of hope in those old, old eyes.
After akira finished with that, the doctor asked Akira "Do you understand what I mean now?" Akira would nod. the doctor would then say to Akira "Good. Now that you understand, I'd like to hear what happened that made you have that record." Akira would only feel confused, why would he want to hear his story? it's not like it would do anything good, some people already think he's just some criminal, with the exception of his friend Ryuji. Akira would ask the doctor "Why do you want to know? it's not like it'll help." The doctor answered him with "Something smelled fishy. when we first met and when we were in the castle, I didn't think you were violent. Sure you defended yourself but, there was no aggresion. and when we exited the castle, you seemed fine to me... that's not someone who has a criminal record for assault. So I'm asking you out of the need for the truth, as I always prefer the truth over an easy lie. So please tell me Akira, what happened?"
Akira would hesitate for a moment, He didn't know how to feel about all of this. But even so, it seemed that Akira could tell the doctor what happened. Akira would tell the doctor about why he got arrested for assault back at his hometown, from how he was trying to stop someone from being sexually harrased, to not even fighting the person who was doing the crime in the first place and how the victim was forced to make a false accusation against Akira. Akira was glad that he was able to tell his side of the story, though he didn't think he would be talking about with someone he doesn't even know. But it was nice to know that someone wanted to hear the truth instead of just believing he was a criminal outright.
As the doctor listened to Akira's side of the story, he would become frustrated, but he was more sad to hear this event had happened in the first place more than anything. After Akira was finished, the Doctor would say to Akira "I can't imagine what it was like for you… you have my deepest sympathies."
Akira could tell that the Doctor was genuine, and it took him a moment to think about why he told him this, but he thought that it probably didn't matter. He would then say to the Doctor "well, the past is the past, we have to focus on the future right? We can't change what has already happened."
The Doctor would smirk a bit, knowing that Akira's remark wasn't entirely true. The doctor would then say to Akira "well, thank you for letting me listen to your side of the story. If there's anything you need, just ask. You can always trust me!" The doctor would then look at his watch, realizing that he really needed to get back to his TARDIS, he would say to the Akira "I've got to get back home, I hope to see you again soon. Oh and, be careful of that other world we went to… I'm gonna need to see it again soon." Akira would nod to the Doctor, acknowledging and understanding his curiosity, though Akira did go there with Ryuji again and a lot of things had happened since then. The Doctor would then leave Leblanc, finally going back to his TARDIS to gather his thoughts and rest a bit and check if there was anything wrong with the TARDIS.
A couple hours later
The doctor would be back in his TARDIS, for a while he was just checking up on it, making sure that it wasn't damaged too badly when they were both taken to this universe. Strangely enough, there was no damage at all to the TARDIS, there weren't any damaging marks on the outside of the TARDIS, and neither were the engines or any of its systems harmed… it was so strange.
What exactly brought him here? He had guessed that it had to be this L person that sent him the note, but it didn't really give him much to go on. No matter, there were other things that were important right now.
For starters, there was a knock on his door. Actually, a couple of knocks. The Doctor would be surprised that he was getting a visit, especially at this time of night. He would use the TARDIS's camera system and check what was outside the door, thankfully enough the visitor seemed human. It seemed to be a girl, high schooler in her senior year probably.
She had brown hair, in the style of a bob cut with blunt bangs and wore a French-maid styled headband. while she seemed to wear a patterned skirt that looked like it was from Shujin academy, with a long-sleeved white turtleneck shirt underneath a black button-up vest with a halter strap around the back of her neck.
The doctor decided that he probably should check to see what the girl was up to, as he had nothing better to do and everything seemed fine. And so he would go over to the door of the TARDIS and open it enough to pop his head out to see the girl, which startled the girl a bit, as she was probably not expecting someone to be here. He would then proceed to ask her "who're you? And what are you doing here at this time of night?"
The girl would straighten up her posture to what it originally was, and would proceed to say to the doctor "I would ask the same of you, I'm a student of the school nearby, shujin. Aren't you the new teacher there? the doctor was it?" It was kind've all she heard about, hearing the doctor's unique methods of teaching compared to the other teachers. But it wasn't her place to judge others' teaching methods, it seemed to be working well anyway so what harm is there.
The doctor would then say to her "that's right, I am. What's your name?" The girl would proceed to respond saying "makoto niijima." The doctor would smile a bit, he would exit the TARDIS and close the door fast enough so that she couldn't see inside, as he couldn't have someone discovering who he was just yet as that could cause some problems. He would then say to her "well it's a pleasure to meet you Makoto, that's a really nice name. How come you're here though? Did you forget something at school?" Makoto would answer "I was actually just taking a walk. what's with the police box, and why were you in there?"
The doctor would be quick on answering her, saying simply "I… live in it." The doctor couldn't make something up at the moment, though he probably shouldn't have said that of all things. Makoto wasn't expecting such an answer so quickly, less so that this man that was a teacher at the school was living in it. This really befuddled her, why would someone live in that, surely no one sane would live in it. She would proceed to ask the Doctor "you're kidding right? In that?" "no, I'm not kidding, it's actually pretty nice." The Doctor said, trying not to sound weird, but doing so in the process.
Makoto would be silent with a face of confusion, and in the next moment she would be even more suspicious of the Doctor, proceeding to say to him in a bit more of a prying tone while her posture changed to one of someone investigating something suspicious "just what exactly are you trying to pull Doctor? You can't be comfortable in that right?" she would then try to pull open the doors of the TARDIS to enter, of course, unaware of what it actually is. She would then be stopped by the Doctor, moving in front of the handles of the doors to make sure she couldn't pull the door open to enter, saying to her "really, there's no need to be so suspicious. I promise!" He was absolutely lying.
Everything about the doctor was becoming more suspicious to her, with thoughts coming about like "why is he so protective of the box?" and "who is he really? No way he's just called the doctor, there's gotta be more to him." but for now, to try and not aggravate him, she decided to leave it alone and back up saying "ok, ok, fine. It doesn't matter, I've gotta go home anyways. I've gotta be there by…" she would look at her phone to check the time, having a bit of a worried face "Oh jeez, I gotta get home quickly, Sis is gonna kill me!"
and so she would proceed to quickly jog back home, and make sure that she got there on time. After she left, the doctor would sigh in relief as he leant against the TARDIS, saying to himself "Well, she's definitely curious, I'll give her that. It kind've reminds me of someone I know." The TARDIS would then hum a bit to the doctor, with him saying to her "Really? Hmm, I thought it would be someone else." He would then proceed to go back into his TARDIS, going to his room and taking a rest for the night and preparing for tomorrow.
The next day
The doctor would be wandering the halls of the school, shujin. he was finished marking the students homework for the day and thought that he should just explore for a bit to get himself acquainted with the layout of the building. Kamoshida and the other teachers came to the Doctors class while he was marking his students' homework. He had invited the doctor to join their team in the volleyball rally, but he had no interest and politely refused to join them. Kamoshida seemed to be disappointed, simply saying "well it's your loss, I don't see why you wouldn't join me though." The teachers then left with Kamoshida, presumably to the volleyball rally.
Time went by as the doctor explored the school, though he did think that it looked a bit bland in some parts, it had its own little charms and had a really nice aesthetic. Though that wasn't the reason why he was exploring the halls, really he was looking for both Akira and Ryuji. The volleyball rally was still going on, he wanted to find those boys before they did anything else. Before that though he bumped into a student by accident, he would dust himself off a bit and would say to the girl "shoot, sorry about that, you ok?"
The student wasn't affected when they bumped into each other much, with her just dusting herself off as well, saying to the doctor "Yeah, I'm fine, it's alright." the student had worn a school tracksuit, probably from the rally and they attended it. She had blond hair and blue eyes, she really stood out as a student to him. Though he would recognize her from one of his classes, and she sat near Akira too, which made him say "Hey, aren't you from one of my classes? Sorry if that sounded weird, still a bit new here as a teacher."
The blond student would respond to the doctor saying "It's alright, and yeah, I think I'm in your class. Your ways of teaching definitely makes it the most creative in the whole school. My name is Ann by the way, Ann takamaki." The doctor would nod to her, saying "pleasure to meet you Ann, how's the rally?" Ann would seem to have an indifferent look when she was asked about the rally, only saying "I didn't really pay attention, it's always the same anyway so I decided to do something else."
The doctor would understand, saying to her "I know the feeling, I know how it can get really boring. Hopefully things change, I'm sure they will." Ann would nod in acknowledgement, hoping in her mind that the doctor was right. She would then say to the Doctor "well, it was nice seeing you, I have to go find my friend. Bye!" she would then walk on to find her friend, with the doctor waving her goodbye, she seemed really nice from the doctors perspective. Though when she left, he would hear students whispering with each other, he wondered what they were whispering about but… it couldn't have been good.
The doctor would then just resume his search for Akira and Ryuji, finding them in an area in the courtyard of the school. They seemed to have been talking to each other, with him eavesdropping on them as he heard from Ryuji "Let's look for the face's we saw at the castle. All the members of the team should be here today." The castle, from that other dimension the group went to. So they must've gone to that other dimension again, it must've been when they disapeared out of no where.
The doctor thought that it would be best to help these guys, but of course he had to know what was even going on in the first place. And so he would go over to the 2, saying to them in a bit of a more cheerful tone "Hey guys! How've you been?" The two of them would look to see the doctor, a bit surprised to see him there, Ryuji would be the first of the two to respond to the doctor saying
"O-oh, uhhhh, I'm good. W-we were just-" Akira would interrupt Ryuji, not wanting him to just make up some crappy excuse and said to the doctor "we'll explain later, but we're looking for people that have been abused in the school by the gym teacher Kamoshida, and we want to get evidence to have him taken down." Ryuji's eyes widened as Akira told the doctor what was going on, he would immediately turn both him and Akira away from the doctor and whisper to Akira "are you crazy?! What if he'll rat us out to kamoshida!" Akira would say to Ryuji on the same voice level as him "well first of all, he went to the same place we did, remember? And somehow he was alive on his own, especially with those shadows, so maybe he could help us in that world. Second of all, he doesn't seem like the type of person to just tattle on us to Kamoshida, I don't know why but… there's something about him that tells me he's trustworthy."
Ryuji seemed unsure about Akira's thought process on this, with him asking Akira "are you sure about this?" Akira would nod, assuring Ryuji saying "I'm positive." Ryuji wasn't sure, but he felt like he could trust Akira's judgment. They would then both turn back to the doctor, seeing the doctor smiling as he just watched them decide if they should trust him. Ryuji would then say to the doctor "alright, I guess you're with us on this. Let's get to the student in class D, I think he's also in one of your classes, Teach." The doctor's smile grew brighter, saying to them "Alright, lets get some evidence!" The trio would then exit the area of the courtyard they were in, heading to the class where the abused student would be. When they arrived, they would see the student, his head wrapped in bandages and his left eye bandaged too.
The trio would try to get answers from him, asking about the injuries and if Kamoshida was abusing him. Though sadly, their attempts were in vain and so they left the class. Ryuji would state in a tone that had annoyance in it "That injury of his ain't normal! And he still won't fess up… Crap. If we keep goin' at this pace, the ball game's gonna end…" The doctor would be thinking for a moment, wondering what the group should do to try and get answers and evidence faster. When he got an idea about what they could do, he was just about to say it, but apparently Akira had the same idea too. Which led to the both of them saying "Why don't we split up?" The doctor would have a cheeky smile as he looked and pointed to Akira and said "Exactly, Good thinking Akira!"
Ryuji would just shrug with a bit of a smirk and said "that's probably the fastest we can get, considering there's three of us. I'll show you the student's we're going to be asking, and we'll take one each." Ryuji would then pull out his phone and show the doctor the student he would be going after. The student the doctor got would be looking for was in the classroom building, probably near 3-C. Meanwhile Ryuji and Akira dealt with the other students. When the doctor headed to the floor he was supposed to be on, he found the student who wasn't in the best of shape definitely, with a bandaged left leg and a covered right eye… Anyone could see that this was abuse. This can't be from just volleyball practice, if this Kamoshida really was abusing his students, why would he do such cruel things to them?
After approaching the student, he would ask them about how he got the injuries, of course he would make up an excuse about practices being tough for nationals and the doctor could completely see through the lie. But the doctor didn't mind him lying, he wanted to truly help others and he could see why he would lie. Being abused by such an authority figure like Kamoshida, it could make you feel powerless, like you couldn't do anything at all. The doctor tried to comfort the student, trying to assure him that if anything bad was happening to him, he would make sure that everything would be alright. But even then, the student was polite to the Doctor, thanking them for their concern but assuring him that everything was fine. The doctor frowned of course, but he didn't want to make him uncomfortable any further, and so he gave him a polite nod and left.
After doing so, he would see Akira nearby, with Akira looking like he was a bit disappointed in his findings. The doctor would go over to Akira, asking him "No luck on your end?" Akira would say to the doctor "I think I have something but, how about you? Did you get any evidence?" The doctor replied "nothing, sadly." Akira would be disappointed, not at the doctor of course, but with how the students were just defending Kamoshida. In the next moment, the bell would ring and it was announced that the matches for volleyball had ended and everyone should go home for the day. The doctor would be surprised at how much time had passed, but he wouldn't mind, it was better than just waiting…and waiting… and waiting until you get infinitely bored.
Akira would then get a text, from what the doctor would assume it had to be from Ryuji. It wouldn't be long, with Akira saying to the doctor "Ryuji said that we should meet up in the courtyard, let's go." The doctor nodded, following Akira as they headed to the courtyard.
A few moments later
As the doctor and Akira arrive at the same place they were before in the courtyard, they would realize that they were probably the first ones here. And so they would wait for Ryuji, who shouldn't be too long now. That was until someone else had arrived… it was Ann takamaki, she would be surprised to see the two of them together, saying "Doctor? How come you're here with Akira?" The two would look behind them to see Ann, the doctor would smile and say "Hello Ann, don't worry about what we're doing. We're just waiting for a friend is all." Akira would nod along with the doctor, as it was actually true.
Ann would then continue with what she was going to say, saying "ooookay, well first off: what's going on Akira? You being late the other day was a total lie, and then that strange rumor about you too. And then there's you, doctor, how come you're helping him?" Finally after a while, Ryuji would arrive where the group was. But instead of just a disappointed look, it soured into a very annoyed face when he saw Ann takamaki questioning the two. He would interrupt the conversation, saying to Ann "Whaddya want with them?" This made Ann look behind her to see Ryuji.
"Right back at you, you're not even in our class. And I don't think the doctor's your teacher either." Ryuji would struggle to come up with something, but eventually answered Ann saying "... We just happened to get to know each other." Ann would seem a bit more suspicious, just straight up asking Ryuji saying "What're you planning on doing to Kamoshida?" The doctor would just listen to the two's conversation, it was like they were bickering at each other, and the doctor had been in conversations like this before many times. But he shouldn't try to compare conversations from before to now, he just wanted to help these guys, and actually do what's right.
In the conversation with Ryuj and Ann, Ann would be saying "Anyway, people are already talking about you and Akira. I don't know what you're trying to pull, but no one's going to help you." And instead of an annoyed face, she would switch to one of genuine concern saying "I'm warning you, just in case. That's all." She would then walk away from the group, leaving the trio be. Ryuji would just be annoyed, saying aloud "Why's she gotta be so aggressive all the time?" The doctor would have to retort to Ryuji, saying "to be fair, you were pretty rude." Ryuji was about to say something, but just sighed and left it alone, knowing the doctor was probably right.
Akira would ask a question about how Ann and him know each other, which the doctor was surprised he didn't ask about it. Ryuji would answer, and apparently the two went to middle school together. But of course, Ryuji dismissed it as that wasn't what they were here about. Ryuji would say he wasn't lucky with his findings, he first asked the doctor, which of course he responded saying he had no luck either. When Ryuji asked for Akira's findings, he apparently had a name that might've had some significance… Mishima. Ryuji and the doctor's curiosity piqued, with Akira explaining how this mishima and the student who said his name were getting special coaching, though they tried to tell Akira off before he could dig deeper.
Ryuji would think about it, saying aloud " 'special coaching' huh?" After thinking more on it for a bit, he would then say "True. I always see the guy covered in bruises. Let's go talk to him before he leaves then." the doctor would agree, following Akira and Ryuji to find Mishima.
A moment later
As the trio arrive at the entrance of the school, they would see a bruised up black haired student walking towards the doors, Ryuji would immediately go to him and the doctor suspected that this was Mishima. He would follow suit, wanting to help the guys stop the abuse of students. "Hey, got a second?" Mishima would look back to see the three come up to him, with him saying in a curious tone "Sakamoto? Akira and… the doctor too?!" The doctor would say to the bruised up student "Mishima right? Is it okay if we talk with you? There's something important we'd like to discuss." The doctor would then have a face of sincere worry, asking Mishima "are you being abused by Kamoshida?" Mishima would then become a bit more tense, immediately responding to the doctor saying "A-Absolutely not! Mr. Kamoshida would never do such things."
The doctor felt like there had to be more than this, The doctor felt that he needed to dig deeper. And so, he would say to Mishima "Mishima, there's no reason for you to have to hide an abuser. I can only imagine what he had done to you, the pain you've gone through. No one should ever feel that pain. I can help you, but I need you to trust me. Can you do that for me?" Mishima would look troubled, cautiously looking around. Was he looking for a way out? Or was he looking to see if Kamoshida was around? Mishima would then look like he was about to say something to the doctor, only for Kamoshida to come around the corner to the group. Kamoshida would then ask "What's going on here?" The group would turn around to where they heard the voice, seeing Kamoshida.
The doctor would then walk up to the gym teacher, saying to Kamoshida "I could ask you the same thing. Kamoshida, I've been hearing some very… unsavory things about you to say the least. And I think you know what I'm talking about, care to explain?" Kamoshida would have a look of feigned ignorance, saying to the doctor "Oh? I don't think I've heard of these rumors. Did you hear them from Sakakmoto? He's not exactly the most trustworthy of students." The doctor could hear the spite in his tone when talking about ryuji, clearly these two had a very bad history together. The doctor would then say to kamoshida "How so? Other than looking a bit unruly, I don't see anything untrustworthy about him." Kamoshida's face would remain neutral as he said to the doctor in a bit of a malicious tone "It's best not to get into matters that you have no knowledge of, I advise you to tread carefully. It'd be a shame really, losing a teacher so early, you seem really helpful to these students." Kamoshida would then look to Akira and Ryuji saying "And you two should stay outta trouble, but I think that might be unlikely with your behavior." Kamoshida really was a bully, someone that shouldn't even be at this school in the first place.
Of course though, the doctor remained unintimidated by Kamoshida, standing his ground and saying to Kamoshida "Just a warning sir: I'm not one easily intimidated by threats. If what I'm hearing is actually true… you'll be seeing more of me soon." Kamoshida just chuckled at the doctor's gutsy reaction, he would then turn around ready to go back to whatever he was doing. Only looking back to Mishima saying "Mishima, come to practice, you'll need to work on that crappy form of yours. You understand?" Mishima would look more downtrodden, responding to the gym teacher with a compliant "y-yes sir." Kamoshida would grin a bit, walking to the place where presumably Kamoshida would have Mishima "practice".
The doctor would be absolutely gobsmacked with Kamoshida. They let people like that teach in this school?! It must be awful for these students to learn with a teacher like that. He would look back at the group to see the angered face of Ryuji, with Ryuji saying "that asshole… He's gonna pay for this!" Mishima would just sigh in a depressed tone, saying to Ryuji "...there's no point." The doctor would be worried, asking Mishima "what do you mean by that?" Mishima would just say to the doctor "It's exactly what it sounds like. Getting evidence that he's abusing us… it's meaningless. Everybody knows… the principal, our parents… They all know, and they all keep quiet about it." This… this was something the doctor didn't expect. The principle being quiet about this abuse, that was one thing. But the parents?! The people that care for their children and send them to these schools? This was just awful to the doctor.
Ryuji would be in disbelief too, saying aloud "This has to be a joke…" The doctor would go over to Mishima, saying to him "Mishima, I'm sure we can help in some way. There's always a way." Mishima weakly smiled, saying to the doctor "I appreciate your efforts doctor, but I don't think it's possible." Mishima would then walk to the "practice" that Kamoshida wanted him to do, accepting his fate.
The doctor then turned back to Ryuji and Akira, the two student's looking more frustrated after this encounter. The doctor would then say to the boys with a very serious look on his face "I believe you about Kamoshida. I only assumed what he was like when I first met him, and with a second glance… he needs to be stopped. I can help you, but like I asked before, I need to know more about the situation. That includes information from both this world and the other one we visited." Ryuji and Akira looked at each other for a moment, nodding to each other in affirmation of what they needed to do. With Ryuji telling the doctor "Meet us in the courtyard spot we were at before in a couple of minutes, we just need to get ready." The doctor smirked, saying to the students in a bit of a brighter and calmer tone "Got it. See you soon!" The doctor then walked off to the meeting spot. Akira and Ryuji… they definitely need help on this, and he's ready to give it
So now that the Doctor is both fairly acquainted with Akira and Ryuji, he's also more familiar with Kamoshida unfortunately. But more will come, as the trio will get into more trouble as time goes on. Tune in next time on… Doctor who: beneath the mask of the raggedy doctor!