This is just a silly chapter I thought up out of the blue. No yaoi again.
Surprised?
Subaru in America
Chapter 9
Subaru sat in ESL utterly exhausted. He went to bed at around four and woke up and six the next morning. Everyone knows a teenager need at least six hours of sleep in order to be fully functional in the morning, not to mention look fully functional. Not only did Subaru still have the various bruises from two nights ago, but now he had a sleepy, groggy expression on his face.
"I graded your quizzes from yesterday," Miss Winters informed the class with a smile. "I'm so proud of everyone. You're all progressing nicely." She began to pass out the papers.
Subaru smiled. He knew he got almost all the questions right on that extremely easy quiz and he was glad he'd have some happy news today; it might be the only happy news today. He had to wonder if Alicia was alright and if he could talk to her. After all, she was probably very downhearted about her grandfather.
"Very nice, Subaru," Miss Winters said as she gave Subaru his paper, face down. "Especially for your first quiz in ESL."
"Thank you," Subaru replied, smiling. When she walked away, he turned over his paper, expecting an excellent mark. Instead, he found his paper saturated with red ink and a giant 'F' in the upper-right hand corner. His face went totally pale. How could he have received such a lousy mark? His English wasn't that bad and he had been confident he had gotten something better.
"What did you get for number seven?" Maria, who was still sitting next to him, asked.
Subaru slumped in his chair with shame. "Pen, but I got in wrong," he mumbled.
"That's very interesting," she replied. "Everyone in the class got 'pen' for number seven, yet only thirteen of the twenty-one of us got it marked wrong."
Subaru cocked an eyebrow, suddenly curious. "Really?"
The girl nodded. "And everyone failed, too."
Subaru found this very interesting. Miss Winters had told him he had done a good job, yet he failed, which definitely wasn't a good job. Plus, everyone in the class couldn't possibly have failed. Subaru told this to Seishiro after school.
"Really?" Seishiro questioned, though not entirely interested.
"Don't you find it strange?" Subaru asked. "Here, look at the quiz." He handed the paper to Seishiro, who read it with raised eyebrows.
"You should have gotten an 86, which is a 'B'," Seishiro stated. "I think I'll have a talk with this teacher."
"Right now?" Subaru asked.
Seishiro nodded. "No better time then the present. Let's go."
Seishiro entered Miss Winter's room alone. He felt it best to confront her alone because she might think he was using Subaru to soften her.
"Miss Winters?" Seishiro asked, seeing a kind-looking woman busily grading papers at her desk with a red pen.
"Yes?" she said, looking up from her work to give Seishiro a smile.
"Hello," he greeted politely, extending a hand for her to shake it, "I'm Seishiro, the new biology teacher."
"Ah, yes," she said, standing and shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm glad they've gotten a new biology teacher. That old one was…" she shook her head, remembering that teachers shouldn't talk about other teachers behind their back, "…never mind."
Seishiro smiled. "Thank you."
"What could I do for you?" Miss Winters asked with a charming smile.
The man cleared his throat. "One of my students is concerned about your grading, let's say, style." He showed her the test. "Now, I know English isn't my first language, but some of the questions you marked wrong are actually correct."
She took to test from his hand and read each question and answer, following along with her pen. "No," she replied, though politely, "all the ones I marked wrong are wrong. I'm sorry, but couldn't you point out something specifically."
Before Seishiro could do that, Miss Winters hiccuped, dropping her pen to the ground. She excused herself as Seishiro bent over to pick it up. While it was in his hand, he paused for a moment, examined the pen, and then handed it back to her.
"Do you always use that pen?" he asked.
She nodded. "You might say it's my lucky pen," she said with a smile.
Seishiro grinned as well, then glanced at his watch. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said, snatching the test back, "but I must be leaving now. Thank you for your time."
With a puzzled expression, she replied, "Um, no problem."
Seishiro quickly exited the classroom.
Subaru was waiting patiently in the hall. When Seishiro was out of the classroom, Subaru went up to him and asked, "Well? What did she say?"
Seishiro didn't say anything as they walked down the hall, outside, and into his car. Also, they drove home in silence, which made Subaru anxious as to what his teacher had said. However, he did not inquire what it was again, for Seishiro seemed deep in thought. When they arrived home, Seishiro finally responded.
"It's the pen," he said nonchalantly, placing his briefcase in the den.
"The pen?" Subaru questioned. "You mean the red pen? How could that be?"
"You know very well that it is easy for almost anyone to put curses on simple objects," Seishiro stated. "Someone must have put a curse on Miss Winters' pen."
Subaru found this hard to believe, but Seishiro wouldn't lie. However, as he thought of it further, he realized it was possible. The only thing was knowing whom the cursor was- specifically if it was Miss Winters- and why they did it. Subaru expressed his concern to Seishiro.
"It is very curious why someone would curse a pen to grade so harshly," Seishiro said, thinking deeply. "But that doesn't really matter. You just have to get that pen and exorcise it"
Subaru sighed. "That should be easy enough," he stated. "I've never exorcised a pen though."
Seishiro laughed. "The great Thirteenth Head of the Sumeragi Clan has been reduced to exorcising writing utensils."
Blushing with shame, Subaru replied, "How humiliating."
The next day was all planned out. First, he would go up to Miss Winters' desk, take the pen when she wasn't looking, and replace it with a similar one. Then, after class, he'd go into one of the boys' bathrooms, exorcise the pen, dispose of it just in case, and go to his next class. It was plain and simple, easy and quick. He couldn't have asked for a simpler job.
"Miss Winters?" Subaru asked, walking up to her desk.
She smiled broadly. "Yes, Subaru?"
He saw the red pen situated firmly in her hand.
"Could you write something on the board for me, please?" he asked.
"Sure," she responded, standing from her desk, pen still in hand.
"Um," he said, thinking of something quickly while wishing she'd put the pen down, "how do you spell 'random'?"
She quickly wrote the word on the board with her right hand, the pen in her left. "Here you are," she said, pointing to the word. "Just sound it out. Ran-dom."
"Thank you," Subaru mumbled, going back to his seat.
Subaru noticed that when she taught her lesson, the pen sat quietly and innocently on the desk while she wrote various things on the chalkboard. If Subaru could think of a reason to go to her desk and snatch the pen…He suddenly noticed the box of tissues on the desk. He got up, the decoy in hand, and walked to the desk. No one paid any attention to him, so he grabbed a tissue, pretending to blow his nose. Quickly, he snatched the pen, placed it in his pocket, and replaced it on the desk with the decoy. He hurried back to his desk, congratulating himself on successfully completing objective one of his job.
While Miss Winters was lecturing, Subaru examined the pen. It looked normal, just like any other pen. However, he felt a strange aura around it, something evil, but nonetheless weak. He knew it would be an easy exorcism and he was content with that.
The bell soon rang and Subaru bolted out of the classroom to the nearest boys' room, where it would be easier to do an exorcism because of the privacy. There was no one there, so he went ahead and started. He chanted a few incantations softly. Suddenly, the pen started shaking, slightly at first, then violently. Subaru stared as the pen practically jumped from its position on the bathroom floor. He tried to grab it, but it quickly bounced away, hit the wall, and broke. Sighing, Subaru picked up the pieces and started to position them for the exorcism. But before he could do that, mist emitted from the pen and created a formation.
"Do your homework, study for your test, you're a failure," the formation said.
Quickly, Subaru chanted a few spells, but the apparition was now shouting.
"You should have studied! This is so horrible, I can't grade this!" it cried.
A few boys rushed into the bathroom to see what all the noise was about. They stared in disbelief at the specter scolding them.
"Get to class! Get to class!" it roared, waving a finger at them. The boys scurried out, screaming.
Subaru tried to yell the spells above the specters booming voice, but it was no use. It started pacing back and forth, explaining the importance of studying and doing homework.
How am I going to do this? Subaru wondered. It won't quiet down. His only hope was that it didn't go out into the halls.
Well, it did. Shouting and lecturing, it floated right out the door and into the hall where a good portion of the student body was passing to the next class. Subaru rushed out there too and watched as many people ran and screamed, frightened of the menacing ghost.
"Calm down!" Subaru could hear Hokuto's voice over everyone else's. She ran into Subaru, who was still trying to chant the spell. "What is going on?"
"That ghost came out of my teacher's pen!" Subaru shouted, though he was barely audible. Hokuto gave him a questionable look and he replied, "Don't ask!" He ran after the spirit, who was making its way to the cafeteria.
"This place is disgusting!" it shouted at no one. "Students shouldn't eat, they should study!"
Subaru tried to yell the spell again, but Hokuto butted in and did it for him. Just as quickly as it had appeared, the spirit dissolved in mid-air, being sent to the other side peacefully. However, the halls weren't as quiet as the now permanently deceased ghost. Students ran wildly around, telling everyone in sight what they had seen, screaming and shouting.
"Oh, great," Hokuto said. "Now what do we do?"
Before this could be answered, the fire alarm went off and everyone rushed to the nearest exit, pushing and shoving whomever was in their way. Somehow, Subaru and Hokuto managed to make it out without being trampled by panicked students. They stood outside on the grass, waiting for instructions, though most people were running around like madmen, raving about a ghost.
Suddenly, the principal came in sight with a megaphone. "Attention all students and faculty," he said with the megaphone on its highest volume. Many people settled down. "Despite rumors, there was no ghost in the halls. It was simply a broken water pipe and a prank that created your so-called 'apparition'. You are all acting like children and should know better. Please return to your classes immediately and resume normal classroom activities. Thank you." He turned off the megaphone and went back inside.
To be continued…
Subaru in America
Chapter 9
Subaru sat in ESL utterly exhausted. He went to bed at around four and woke up and six the next morning. Everyone knows a teenager need at least six hours of sleep in order to be fully functional in the morning, not to mention look fully functional. Not only did Subaru still have the various bruises from two nights ago, but now he had a sleepy, groggy expression on his face.
"I graded your quizzes from yesterday," Miss Winters informed the class with a smile. "I'm so proud of everyone. You're all progressing nicely." She began to pass out the papers.
Subaru smiled. He knew he got almost all the questions right on that extremely easy quiz and he was glad he'd have some happy news today; it might be the only happy news today. He had to wonder if Alicia was alright and if he could talk to her. After all, she was probably very downhearted about her grandfather.
"Very nice, Subaru," Miss Winters said as she gave Subaru his paper, face down. "Especially for your first quiz in ESL."
"Thank you," Subaru replied, smiling. When she walked away, he turned over his paper, expecting an excellent mark. Instead, he found his paper saturated with red ink and a giant 'F' in the upper-right hand corner. His face went totally pale. How could he have received such a lousy mark? His English wasn't that bad and he had been confident he had gotten something better.
"What did you get for number seven?" Maria, who was still sitting next to him, asked.
Subaru slumped in his chair with shame. "Pen, but I got in wrong," he mumbled.
"That's very interesting," she replied. "Everyone in the class got 'pen' for number seven, yet only thirteen of the twenty-one of us got it marked wrong."
Subaru cocked an eyebrow, suddenly curious. "Really?"
The girl nodded. "And everyone failed, too."
Subaru found this very interesting. Miss Winters had told him he had done a good job, yet he failed, which definitely wasn't a good job. Plus, everyone in the class couldn't possibly have failed. Subaru told this to Seishiro after school.
"Really?" Seishiro questioned, though not entirely interested.
"Don't you find it strange?" Subaru asked. "Here, look at the quiz." He handed the paper to Seishiro, who read it with raised eyebrows.
"You should have gotten an 86, which is a 'B'," Seishiro stated. "I think I'll have a talk with this teacher."
"Right now?" Subaru asked.
Seishiro nodded. "No better time then the present. Let's go."
Seishiro entered Miss Winter's room alone. He felt it best to confront her alone because she might think he was using Subaru to soften her.
"Miss Winters?" Seishiro asked, seeing a kind-looking woman busily grading papers at her desk with a red pen.
"Yes?" she said, looking up from her work to give Seishiro a smile.
"Hello," he greeted politely, extending a hand for her to shake it, "I'm Seishiro, the new biology teacher."
"Ah, yes," she said, standing and shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm glad they've gotten a new biology teacher. That old one was…" she shook her head, remembering that teachers shouldn't talk about other teachers behind their back, "…never mind."
Seishiro smiled. "Thank you."
"What could I do for you?" Miss Winters asked with a charming smile.
The man cleared his throat. "One of my students is concerned about your grading, let's say, style." He showed her the test. "Now, I know English isn't my first language, but some of the questions you marked wrong are actually correct."
She took to test from his hand and read each question and answer, following along with her pen. "No," she replied, though politely, "all the ones I marked wrong are wrong. I'm sorry, but couldn't you point out something specifically."
Before Seishiro could do that, Miss Winters hiccuped, dropping her pen to the ground. She excused herself as Seishiro bent over to pick it up. While it was in his hand, he paused for a moment, examined the pen, and then handed it back to her.
"Do you always use that pen?" he asked.
She nodded. "You might say it's my lucky pen," she said with a smile.
Seishiro grinned as well, then glanced at his watch. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said, snatching the test back, "but I must be leaving now. Thank you for your time."
With a puzzled expression, she replied, "Um, no problem."
Seishiro quickly exited the classroom.
Subaru was waiting patiently in the hall. When Seishiro was out of the classroom, Subaru went up to him and asked, "Well? What did she say?"
Seishiro didn't say anything as they walked down the hall, outside, and into his car. Also, they drove home in silence, which made Subaru anxious as to what his teacher had said. However, he did not inquire what it was again, for Seishiro seemed deep in thought. When they arrived home, Seishiro finally responded.
"It's the pen," he said nonchalantly, placing his briefcase in the den.
"The pen?" Subaru questioned. "You mean the red pen? How could that be?"
"You know very well that it is easy for almost anyone to put curses on simple objects," Seishiro stated. "Someone must have put a curse on Miss Winters' pen."
Subaru found this hard to believe, but Seishiro wouldn't lie. However, as he thought of it further, he realized it was possible. The only thing was knowing whom the cursor was- specifically if it was Miss Winters- and why they did it. Subaru expressed his concern to Seishiro.
"It is very curious why someone would curse a pen to grade so harshly," Seishiro said, thinking deeply. "But that doesn't really matter. You just have to get that pen and exorcise it"
Subaru sighed. "That should be easy enough," he stated. "I've never exorcised a pen though."
Seishiro laughed. "The great Thirteenth Head of the Sumeragi Clan has been reduced to exorcising writing utensils."
Blushing with shame, Subaru replied, "How humiliating."
The next day was all planned out. First, he would go up to Miss Winters' desk, take the pen when she wasn't looking, and replace it with a similar one. Then, after class, he'd go into one of the boys' bathrooms, exorcise the pen, dispose of it just in case, and go to his next class. It was plain and simple, easy and quick. He couldn't have asked for a simpler job.
"Miss Winters?" Subaru asked, walking up to her desk.
She smiled broadly. "Yes, Subaru?"
He saw the red pen situated firmly in her hand.
"Could you write something on the board for me, please?" he asked.
"Sure," she responded, standing from her desk, pen still in hand.
"Um," he said, thinking of something quickly while wishing she'd put the pen down, "how do you spell 'random'?"
She quickly wrote the word on the board with her right hand, the pen in her left. "Here you are," she said, pointing to the word. "Just sound it out. Ran-dom."
"Thank you," Subaru mumbled, going back to his seat.
Subaru noticed that when she taught her lesson, the pen sat quietly and innocently on the desk while she wrote various things on the chalkboard. If Subaru could think of a reason to go to her desk and snatch the pen…He suddenly noticed the box of tissues on the desk. He got up, the decoy in hand, and walked to the desk. No one paid any attention to him, so he grabbed a tissue, pretending to blow his nose. Quickly, he snatched the pen, placed it in his pocket, and replaced it on the desk with the decoy. He hurried back to his desk, congratulating himself on successfully completing objective one of his job.
While Miss Winters was lecturing, Subaru examined the pen. It looked normal, just like any other pen. However, he felt a strange aura around it, something evil, but nonetheless weak. He knew it would be an easy exorcism and he was content with that.
The bell soon rang and Subaru bolted out of the classroom to the nearest boys' room, where it would be easier to do an exorcism because of the privacy. There was no one there, so he went ahead and started. He chanted a few incantations softly. Suddenly, the pen started shaking, slightly at first, then violently. Subaru stared as the pen practically jumped from its position on the bathroom floor. He tried to grab it, but it quickly bounced away, hit the wall, and broke. Sighing, Subaru picked up the pieces and started to position them for the exorcism. But before he could do that, mist emitted from the pen and created a formation.
"Do your homework, study for your test, you're a failure," the formation said.
Quickly, Subaru chanted a few spells, but the apparition was now shouting.
"You should have studied! This is so horrible, I can't grade this!" it cried.
A few boys rushed into the bathroom to see what all the noise was about. They stared in disbelief at the specter scolding them.
"Get to class! Get to class!" it roared, waving a finger at them. The boys scurried out, screaming.
Subaru tried to yell the spells above the specters booming voice, but it was no use. It started pacing back and forth, explaining the importance of studying and doing homework.
How am I going to do this? Subaru wondered. It won't quiet down. His only hope was that it didn't go out into the halls.
Well, it did. Shouting and lecturing, it floated right out the door and into the hall where a good portion of the student body was passing to the next class. Subaru rushed out there too and watched as many people ran and screamed, frightened of the menacing ghost.
"Calm down!" Subaru could hear Hokuto's voice over everyone else's. She ran into Subaru, who was still trying to chant the spell. "What is going on?"
"That ghost came out of my teacher's pen!" Subaru shouted, though he was barely audible. Hokuto gave him a questionable look and he replied, "Don't ask!" He ran after the spirit, who was making its way to the cafeteria.
"This place is disgusting!" it shouted at no one. "Students shouldn't eat, they should study!"
Subaru tried to yell the spell again, but Hokuto butted in and did it for him. Just as quickly as it had appeared, the spirit dissolved in mid-air, being sent to the other side peacefully. However, the halls weren't as quiet as the now permanently deceased ghost. Students ran wildly around, telling everyone in sight what they had seen, screaming and shouting.
"Oh, great," Hokuto said. "Now what do we do?"
Before this could be answered, the fire alarm went off and everyone rushed to the nearest exit, pushing and shoving whomever was in their way. Somehow, Subaru and Hokuto managed to make it out without being trampled by panicked students. They stood outside on the grass, waiting for instructions, though most people were running around like madmen, raving about a ghost.
Suddenly, the principal came in sight with a megaphone. "Attention all students and faculty," he said with the megaphone on its highest volume. Many people settled down. "Despite rumors, there was no ghost in the halls. It was simply a broken water pipe and a prank that created your so-called 'apparition'. You are all acting like children and should know better. Please return to your classes immediately and resume normal classroom activities. Thank you." He turned off the megaphone and went back inside.
To be continued…