-In Which There Are New Students And The "Curse" Pays A Visit-
It had taken only fifteen minutes to get Onizuka dressed and into his classroom- somewhat of an achievement, considering his refusal to believe that the school year had indeed started. But gotten him there they had, and Class Four was beginning to resemble an actual homeroom, if one ignored the conspicuous bungee cords and bottle rockets stowed against the line of windows.
"Okay, roll… who wants to call roll for me?" Eikichi rubbed his eyes and yawned, holding up the paper. "Free lunch for whoever does, I got the worst hangover…"
"Onizuka-sensei…" The voice was sugary-sweet, beautiful eyes slitted in distinct warning. "You can't even buy shampoo, so no one is going to fall for that. Besides… you have new students. Wouldn't you like to meet them?"
With a start of surprise, Eikichi just stared dumbly at Urumi before looking at the class roster again. "New kids?" he repeated, reading it more carefully. Why would Sakurai give him more kids to handle? He loved Class Four and all, they were a fun bunch of brats for their age, but more…? Crap. More kids to break into the Famed Onizuka Teaching Method. "Jesus… All right, come up here if yer new an' introduce yourself. Y'know, name, age, favorite color, turn-ons, whatever gets ya goin'."
There was a restrained titter amongst the middle rows, Kunio and crew laughing out loud in the front. Eikichi grinned, tossing the class roster aimlessly onto the pile of administrative papers that had already begun to pile up. Hell, this year was gonna be fun. Even that tight-ass Miyabi had cooled her jets… they could really kick back and have a good time. If the four new kids didn't decide to be a problem, that was. But he could iron them out in a few days, there were only four of them. After all, he was Great Teacher Onizuka! There was no problem he couldn't foil! He was magnificent! He was a-
"Dumbass! You listening or what? You wanted them to introduce themselves, didn't you?"
Eikichi glowered at Kunio. Spoil his mental pep talk. "Yeah, yeah. Go on."
Somewhere in the middle of his self-congratulations, the four students had dutifully assembled before the blackboard. Eikichi sat comfortably in his desk chair, leaning back against the wall, and took a good, defining look. A girl- a girl with long dark hair and gorgeous brown eyes, a bright smile and perfect coral lips- he pinched his leg in self-retribution and moved on. Even if they were juniors now, fifteen and sixteen years old- he could have a sixteen-year-old when he was forty- shut up, brain! He was a teacher. Yeah, a teacher.
"My name is Higurashi Kagome, and I'm sixteen years old." The same girl introduced herself with a trace of embarrassment. "I'm transferring in because of too many absences at my other school… the vice-principal said I could catch up in no time, though." That pretty smile broke through again, and she performed some sort of half-bow, half-curtsey that pulled off an almost perfect mix of respectful and cute. "I'm looking forward to meeting you all."
"Well, it's certainly nice to meet you, Higurashi." Eikichi smiled in what he dearly hoped was not a lecherous fashion, and then surveyed the classroom. "You go ahead and sit… oh, right there with Hitomi. Wave, Hitomi!" The quiet girl obliged. "You have any problems, you go right ahead and ask your Onizuka-sensei! My time is your time."
"As long as you're a hot girl," Kunio stage-whispered. There were a few laughs, and Higurashi blushed prettily as she sat with Hitomi.
She certainly wasn't going to be a problem. Eikichi marked the girl present and accounted for on his wrinkled roll sheet, grinning like an idiot all the while. Of course, had it been a year or so ago, he would right that instant be plotting terrible, un-teacher-like things. Like late-night study sessions… demonstrations of the sociological impact of falling for your extremely hot teacher… But not now. He was beyond that. Of course he was beyond that.
"Onizuka-sensei… you're drooling."
"Crap." Eikichi swiped his sleeve over his chin and waved his other hand impatiently. "Okay, next, next. Don't have all day, y'know."
"Kurosaki Hisoka." The voice was dry, almost emotionless- enough to make Eikichi glance up in surprise. The boy was thin, willowy, and blond, green eyes cast to the floor in apparent boredom. It was the kind of 'I have no use for your idiotic world' expression he was used to seeing glittering from behind Kikuchi's glasses. "It's a pleasure."
"All right, Kurosaki…" Eikichi eyed him for a moment, discomfited. "Sit over there with Kunio, he doesn't bite." Much. That kid needed to seriously loosen up…
Kurosaki picked his way gingerly towards the desk, and Eikichi sighed. Two down, two to go. Hopefully they would both be pretty, agreeable girls. With a measure of hope, he peered up from the paper-
And lost hold on it completely, staring in dumb shock at that two faces that presented themselves. Two faces- both with the same black hair, the same wide green eyes, the same… Jesus, the same face.
"I'm Sumeragi Hokuto," one chirped brightly, stepping forward. "This is my baby brother, Subaru." She chuckled, with a knowing smile. "Yes, before you ask, we're twins. It's nice to meet you all."
"Nice to meet you," Sumeragi Subaru echoed, bowing swiftly, his pale cheeks flushed with shyness.
"Twins, huh…?" Eikichi stared a moment more, then shook his head and waved an arm. "You two can sit back there with Miyabi…just remember, I'm gonna mix you up like all Hell."
"You can figure, if one of us is talking, it's me." The girl- Hokuto- smiled cheekily at him and flounced back to her assigned seat, dragging her hapless brother with her.
The class was silent for a few seconds, then conversation welled up again. Eikichi ignored the kids, flipping through the papers that had been left on his desk. A letter about the new carport for administrative vehicles… a notification from the school store that iced coffee had gone up in price, with the proceeds going to the purchase of a new vending machine in the faculty lounge… Piddly stuff, nothing important.:
"Onizuka-sensei? Can I see you for a moment?"
Eikichi glanced up at the sweet female voice, then broke out into a grin. "Hey, Naoko! Anytime, you just say the word, you know that." He bounced up from his rusted chair, then cast a glance over his shoulder at the class. "Do your own crap 'till I get back. You know the drill." Closing the door behind him, he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. School Nurse Moritaka Naoko… a friend from the beginning.
"I just came by to tell you this…" Naoko handed him a manila folder. "One of your new students, Kurosaki, I think his name is… It's his medical file, his guardian dropped it off this morning."
"What's wrong with him?" Eikichi flipped open the folder, eyeing the seemingly-archaic scribble on the charts inside. He had never understood doctors… why couldn't they just write things out simply, instead of all the fancy kanji everywhere… he had no use for kanji, never had.
"From what I read, no specific disease. The poor thing is just sickly, I suppose… His guardian just wanted me to warn you he has a habit of fainting." Naoko shrugged, casting a distressed glance into the window of his classroom. "He can't handle extreme temperatures or overcrowding."
"What'm I supposed t' do if he keels over?" Eikichi scratched at the back of his head. "Send him to you?"
"No… Apparently, your new coworker down the hall has some experience with his condition." Naoko peered down the hallway, then pointed. "See, there? Three doors down, next to the water fountain. That's Tsuzuki Asato's room. Get hold of him. He told the principal that he had a sister with the same condition, and he can watch over the kid if things get too bad for him."
"O-oh." He craned his neck, studying the door. A new teacher in Social Studies…? Things got more and more interesting by the minute around this place.
"Well, just had to drop by and give you that." Naoko winked, then patted his arm. "By the way, you wanna go for dinner after school? A bunch of us are going, breaking in the new kids. Azusa asked me to ask you."
"Hell, sure!" Eikichi clapped her on the shoulder with a grin. "Both lovely ladies going, who could pass it up? See you then!"
What a day, what a day. The grin was wide over his face as he turned to open the door. Pretty new girls in his class… free dinner after school… this was gonna be great. It was the kind of day when nothing could go wrong.
The moment Onizuka Eikichi opened the door to his classroom, all that joy went straight to Hell.
With a resounding crack, the panel of windows exploded.
"Shit-!" Eikichi tore into the room, skidding over shards of glass. "Nobody move, for God's sake! Sit still!" Just what he needed. The glass had blown in, not out- and he was on the fourth floor- what the Hell had just happened?!
The room was silent but for the tinkle of glass breaking beneath his heel and the quiet whimpering of the students. Eikichi surveyed the room, his heart pounding in his throat. "Urumi?" he asked quietly, hands quivering.
"It wasn't me." Even the blond looked shaken, a tiny trickle of blood staining her cheek.
"Okay. Is-" he winced, "is anybody hurt?"
A few hands went up, meekly.
"Is anybody mortally wounded?"
No hands.
He let the breath escape from his lungs with a whoosh of relief. "Okay-" The genial, doofy Onizuka-sensei had vanished as surely as he had never existed, a grim and hard demeanor taking his darkening face. "Everybody get up, real carefully. Watch where you step, and go out in the hallway. Kunio-" The blond was shaken, but unscathed. "Go get the nurse. She just left, so she shouldn't be too far. The rest of you, if you're bleeding, put your shirt or pants or skirt to it, keep pressure on the cut. I'm gonna go check on the other classes."
For once- possibly the only time he could remember- the class obeyed him without a single question. He waited long enough to make sure the kids all made it safely into the hallway, then took off at a flat run for the closest room that was occupied during homeroom- not that he knew, but he checked through the doors for people.
The first he happened to come to was the door Naoko had pointed out to him not five minutes ago, the new teacher- oh, crap, what was his name? He threw open the door anyway, barging into the quiet classroom with danger in his aura and desperation in his eyes.
"What is it?" The man in the fore of the room turned to him, eyebrows raised in questioning. "Can I help you?"
Eikichi was silent for a moment, catching his breath and staring at the intact windows across the room. Untouched. Was it only his room, just Class Four? Who would attack his class? For God's sake, it was his class that attacked people!
"What's wrong?" His voice had become much more serious. "You seem disturbed."
"Hell, yeah, I'm disturbed! The windows in my room just exploded!" Eikichi burst out, finally finding his voice again. "Didn't you hear anything in here?"
"Your windows exploded?" A shock of worry and confusion flashed through the teacher's strangely-colored eyes, the chalk that had been in his hands falling to snap on the tiled floor. "Is everyone all right? Has the principal been notified?"
"I sent someone for the nurse-" Eikichi turned on his heel, ready to head back to his class. His students. Someone had attacked his students, and they were going to pay. He didn't care who the Hell they were, he was going to make them pay-
"Wait!" The insistence in the man's voice stopped him, and he glanced hurriedly over his shoulder. There was a bizarre urgency in those strange eyes. "Are you Onizuka-sensei?"
"Yeah, I am." Eikichi blinked at him, confused.
He nodded, as though confirming a suspicion. "I'm coming with you," he said firmly. "Class, sit tight for a few minutes." He pushed Eikichi through the doorframe and followed closely behind, pulling the door closed behind them.
"What the Hell are you-" Eikichi stumbled, then set off at a brisk pace, trying to catch up with the other man, who was already striding down the hallway. "What are you doin'? What if something happens to your class, man?"
"Nothing will," he said firmly, then offered a hand as they closed the short distance to the herd of juniors on the floor. "I'm Tsuzuki Asato. It's good to finally meet you."
"…Thanks?"
So much for a simple year, anyway.
It had taken only fifteen minutes to get Onizuka dressed and into his classroom- somewhat of an achievement, considering his refusal to believe that the school year had indeed started. But gotten him there they had, and Class Four was beginning to resemble an actual homeroom, if one ignored the conspicuous bungee cords and bottle rockets stowed against the line of windows.
"Okay, roll… who wants to call roll for me?" Eikichi rubbed his eyes and yawned, holding up the paper. "Free lunch for whoever does, I got the worst hangover…"
"Onizuka-sensei…" The voice was sugary-sweet, beautiful eyes slitted in distinct warning. "You can't even buy shampoo, so no one is going to fall for that. Besides… you have new students. Wouldn't you like to meet them?"
With a start of surprise, Eikichi just stared dumbly at Urumi before looking at the class roster again. "New kids?" he repeated, reading it more carefully. Why would Sakurai give him more kids to handle? He loved Class Four and all, they were a fun bunch of brats for their age, but more…? Crap. More kids to break into the Famed Onizuka Teaching Method. "Jesus… All right, come up here if yer new an' introduce yourself. Y'know, name, age, favorite color, turn-ons, whatever gets ya goin'."
There was a restrained titter amongst the middle rows, Kunio and crew laughing out loud in the front. Eikichi grinned, tossing the class roster aimlessly onto the pile of administrative papers that had already begun to pile up. Hell, this year was gonna be fun. Even that tight-ass Miyabi had cooled her jets… they could really kick back and have a good time. If the four new kids didn't decide to be a problem, that was. But he could iron them out in a few days, there were only four of them. After all, he was Great Teacher Onizuka! There was no problem he couldn't foil! He was magnificent! He was a-
"Dumbass! You listening or what? You wanted them to introduce themselves, didn't you?"
Eikichi glowered at Kunio. Spoil his mental pep talk. "Yeah, yeah. Go on."
Somewhere in the middle of his self-congratulations, the four students had dutifully assembled before the blackboard. Eikichi sat comfortably in his desk chair, leaning back against the wall, and took a good, defining look. A girl- a girl with long dark hair and gorgeous brown eyes, a bright smile and perfect coral lips- he pinched his leg in self-retribution and moved on. Even if they were juniors now, fifteen and sixteen years old- he could have a sixteen-year-old when he was forty- shut up, brain! He was a teacher. Yeah, a teacher.
"My name is Higurashi Kagome, and I'm sixteen years old." The same girl introduced herself with a trace of embarrassment. "I'm transferring in because of too many absences at my other school… the vice-principal said I could catch up in no time, though." That pretty smile broke through again, and she performed some sort of half-bow, half-curtsey that pulled off an almost perfect mix of respectful and cute. "I'm looking forward to meeting you all."
"Well, it's certainly nice to meet you, Higurashi." Eikichi smiled in what he dearly hoped was not a lecherous fashion, and then surveyed the classroom. "You go ahead and sit… oh, right there with Hitomi. Wave, Hitomi!" The quiet girl obliged. "You have any problems, you go right ahead and ask your Onizuka-sensei! My time is your time."
"As long as you're a hot girl," Kunio stage-whispered. There were a few laughs, and Higurashi blushed prettily as she sat with Hitomi.
She certainly wasn't going to be a problem. Eikichi marked the girl present and accounted for on his wrinkled roll sheet, grinning like an idiot all the while. Of course, had it been a year or so ago, he would right that instant be plotting terrible, un-teacher-like things. Like late-night study sessions… demonstrations of the sociological impact of falling for your extremely hot teacher… But not now. He was beyond that. Of course he was beyond that.
"Onizuka-sensei… you're drooling."
"Crap." Eikichi swiped his sleeve over his chin and waved his other hand impatiently. "Okay, next, next. Don't have all day, y'know."
"Kurosaki Hisoka." The voice was dry, almost emotionless- enough to make Eikichi glance up in surprise. The boy was thin, willowy, and blond, green eyes cast to the floor in apparent boredom. It was the kind of 'I have no use for your idiotic world' expression he was used to seeing glittering from behind Kikuchi's glasses. "It's a pleasure."
"All right, Kurosaki…" Eikichi eyed him for a moment, discomfited. "Sit over there with Kunio, he doesn't bite." Much. That kid needed to seriously loosen up…
Kurosaki picked his way gingerly towards the desk, and Eikichi sighed. Two down, two to go. Hopefully they would both be pretty, agreeable girls. With a measure of hope, he peered up from the paper-
And lost hold on it completely, staring in dumb shock at that two faces that presented themselves. Two faces- both with the same black hair, the same wide green eyes, the same… Jesus, the same face.
"I'm Sumeragi Hokuto," one chirped brightly, stepping forward. "This is my baby brother, Subaru." She chuckled, with a knowing smile. "Yes, before you ask, we're twins. It's nice to meet you all."
"Nice to meet you," Sumeragi Subaru echoed, bowing swiftly, his pale cheeks flushed with shyness.
"Twins, huh…?" Eikichi stared a moment more, then shook his head and waved an arm. "You two can sit back there with Miyabi…just remember, I'm gonna mix you up like all Hell."
"You can figure, if one of us is talking, it's me." The girl- Hokuto- smiled cheekily at him and flounced back to her assigned seat, dragging her hapless brother with her.
The class was silent for a few seconds, then conversation welled up again. Eikichi ignored the kids, flipping through the papers that had been left on his desk. A letter about the new carport for administrative vehicles… a notification from the school store that iced coffee had gone up in price, with the proceeds going to the purchase of a new vending machine in the faculty lounge… Piddly stuff, nothing important.:
"Onizuka-sensei? Can I see you for a moment?"
Eikichi glanced up at the sweet female voice, then broke out into a grin. "Hey, Naoko! Anytime, you just say the word, you know that." He bounced up from his rusted chair, then cast a glance over his shoulder at the class. "Do your own crap 'till I get back. You know the drill." Closing the door behind him, he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. School Nurse Moritaka Naoko… a friend from the beginning.
"I just came by to tell you this…" Naoko handed him a manila folder. "One of your new students, Kurosaki, I think his name is… It's his medical file, his guardian dropped it off this morning."
"What's wrong with him?" Eikichi flipped open the folder, eyeing the seemingly-archaic scribble on the charts inside. He had never understood doctors… why couldn't they just write things out simply, instead of all the fancy kanji everywhere… he had no use for kanji, never had.
"From what I read, no specific disease. The poor thing is just sickly, I suppose… His guardian just wanted me to warn you he has a habit of fainting." Naoko shrugged, casting a distressed glance into the window of his classroom. "He can't handle extreme temperatures or overcrowding."
"What'm I supposed t' do if he keels over?" Eikichi scratched at the back of his head. "Send him to you?"
"No… Apparently, your new coworker down the hall has some experience with his condition." Naoko peered down the hallway, then pointed. "See, there? Three doors down, next to the water fountain. That's Tsuzuki Asato's room. Get hold of him. He told the principal that he had a sister with the same condition, and he can watch over the kid if things get too bad for him."
"O-oh." He craned his neck, studying the door. A new teacher in Social Studies…? Things got more and more interesting by the minute around this place.
"Well, just had to drop by and give you that." Naoko winked, then patted his arm. "By the way, you wanna go for dinner after school? A bunch of us are going, breaking in the new kids. Azusa asked me to ask you."
"Hell, sure!" Eikichi clapped her on the shoulder with a grin. "Both lovely ladies going, who could pass it up? See you then!"
What a day, what a day. The grin was wide over his face as he turned to open the door. Pretty new girls in his class… free dinner after school… this was gonna be great. It was the kind of day when nothing could go wrong.
The moment Onizuka Eikichi opened the door to his classroom, all that joy went straight to Hell.
With a resounding crack, the panel of windows exploded.
"Shit-!" Eikichi tore into the room, skidding over shards of glass. "Nobody move, for God's sake! Sit still!" Just what he needed. The glass had blown in, not out- and he was on the fourth floor- what the Hell had just happened?!
The room was silent but for the tinkle of glass breaking beneath his heel and the quiet whimpering of the students. Eikichi surveyed the room, his heart pounding in his throat. "Urumi?" he asked quietly, hands quivering.
"It wasn't me." Even the blond looked shaken, a tiny trickle of blood staining her cheek.
"Okay. Is-" he winced, "is anybody hurt?"
A few hands went up, meekly.
"Is anybody mortally wounded?"
No hands.
He let the breath escape from his lungs with a whoosh of relief. "Okay-" The genial, doofy Onizuka-sensei had vanished as surely as he had never existed, a grim and hard demeanor taking his darkening face. "Everybody get up, real carefully. Watch where you step, and go out in the hallway. Kunio-" The blond was shaken, but unscathed. "Go get the nurse. She just left, so she shouldn't be too far. The rest of you, if you're bleeding, put your shirt or pants or skirt to it, keep pressure on the cut. I'm gonna go check on the other classes."
For once- possibly the only time he could remember- the class obeyed him without a single question. He waited long enough to make sure the kids all made it safely into the hallway, then took off at a flat run for the closest room that was occupied during homeroom- not that he knew, but he checked through the doors for people.
The first he happened to come to was the door Naoko had pointed out to him not five minutes ago, the new teacher- oh, crap, what was his name? He threw open the door anyway, barging into the quiet classroom with danger in his aura and desperation in his eyes.
"What is it?" The man in the fore of the room turned to him, eyebrows raised in questioning. "Can I help you?"
Eikichi was silent for a moment, catching his breath and staring at the intact windows across the room. Untouched. Was it only his room, just Class Four? Who would attack his class? For God's sake, it was his class that attacked people!
"What's wrong?" His voice had become much more serious. "You seem disturbed."
"Hell, yeah, I'm disturbed! The windows in my room just exploded!" Eikichi burst out, finally finding his voice again. "Didn't you hear anything in here?"
"Your windows exploded?" A shock of worry and confusion flashed through the teacher's strangely-colored eyes, the chalk that had been in his hands falling to snap on the tiled floor. "Is everyone all right? Has the principal been notified?"
"I sent someone for the nurse-" Eikichi turned on his heel, ready to head back to his class. His students. Someone had attacked his students, and they were going to pay. He didn't care who the Hell they were, he was going to make them pay-
"Wait!" The insistence in the man's voice stopped him, and he glanced hurriedly over his shoulder. There was a bizarre urgency in those strange eyes. "Are you Onizuka-sensei?"
"Yeah, I am." Eikichi blinked at him, confused.
He nodded, as though confirming a suspicion. "I'm coming with you," he said firmly. "Class, sit tight for a few minutes." He pushed Eikichi through the doorframe and followed closely behind, pulling the door closed behind them.
"What the Hell are you-" Eikichi stumbled, then set off at a brisk pace, trying to catch up with the other man, who was already striding down the hallway. "What are you doin'? What if something happens to your class, man?"
"Nothing will," he said firmly, then offered a hand as they closed the short distance to the herd of juniors on the floor. "I'm Tsuzuki Asato. It's good to finally meet you."
"…Thanks?"
So much for a simple year, anyway.