"speech"
'thoughts'
POV of a character
TENZAI
Chapter 3
Teachers Know Better
"What are you doing here?? Why are you here?"
Helping himself in the refrigerator, Onizuka answered his student.
"That's such nice welcome, Kikuchi. You're asking why I'm here? I'm your Social Studies teacher, that's why."
Kikuchi approached him, the drowsiness left from his sleep suddenly replaced with curiosity.
"That's such a nice answer, Onizuka-sensei."
The said teacher went to the dining table and placed the food he got, lots of them, on top. He sat comfortably on one chair and rested his arms on the back of the other two chairs beside him.
"Well, Kikuchi. We're here to supervise you on your first day."
Kikuchi followed him again, sitting on the other side, with a box of cornflakes and a bowl of milk in his hands.
"We? What do you mean we?"
Onizuka sipped some from his cup of.. What's that? Hot chocolate.
"I'm with Fuyutsuki-sensei."
"Oh, I see. Why were you the ones sent on our first day? Why wasn't it the principal instead?" Kikuchi said, all the while putting some cornflakes in the bowl.
"The principal will go on the last day of your trip." Onizuka said as-a-matter-of-factly.
Kikuchi looked him straight in the eye and said, "And?"
His dense teacher looked at him with dim-witted eyes.
"What do you mean, And??"
"That's the only reason? You could have gone with Nao-sensei.. Better yet, Uchiyamada-sensei could have gone instead of you. I don't believe that's the only reason." Kikuchi said, taking a spoonful of his breakfast.
Onizuka grinned at him and said,
"You're really a smart kid, Kikuchi. I do have other reasons for going here."
Kikuchi focused his attention on his sensei again and asked,
"So what are the other reasons?"
The great teacher laughed a bit nervously before leaning closer to him and whispering,
"It's a way of spending time with Fuyutsuki-sensei, you know."
Kikuchi leaned on the back of his chair and said,
"Figures. I knew it.. You're chancing on her."
"Of course. A smart kid should know that you shouldn't let any opportunity that comes in your way just leave without you grabbing it."
The 'smart kid' fanned his hand in a yeah-right,-whatever! motion,
"Yeah, yeah. So where's Fuyutsuki-sensei?"
Onizuka sat up straight now.
"She's with Kanzaki. I think they took a morning jog around the beach, or something."
Kikuchi nodded an okay and continued on his breakfast.
There was a moment of silence before Onizuka spoke again.
"So, how are things going?"
His student looked at him skeptically and replied,
"What do you mean 'How are things going?' You know perfectly that this is just the first day of the project."
Eikichi looked at him with evil, accusing eyes.
"Don't play innocent on me, Kikuchi. You should know what I'm talking about."
"Honestly, I don't. So shut the crap and say what you mean."
Kikuchi said.
The teacher sighed and said,
"This is the first day of your experiment but this is not the first day of your stay here."
Kikuchi snorted and said,
"That's obvious, you know."
Onizuka hit the table with clenched fists and suddenly turned serious.
"I'm not yet through here. So, has anything happened yet between.. You know.. You and Kanzaki? Huh?"
The 'accused' almost blew what he was drinking and coughed a bit before replying.
"Between us?? You're really a perv, Onizuka! Why would something that happened between us be of interest to your perverted mind? We're here for an experiment, right?!"
The 'accuser' rolled his eyes and said,
"I told you. You shouldn't let an opportunity pass by. You're given this once-in-a-blue-moon chance of being with a girl so why don't you grab it?!?"
Kikuchi just couldn't believe what Onizuka was talking about.
"Kanzaki, of all people?!!"
The latter replied,
"Yeah. Kanzaki The genius you're always with. Everybody knows you two are like both sides of the same coin.. Well, except maybe for you two."
'This is getting weirder and weirder' Kikuchi thought.
"What??!" He retorted.
Onizuka sighed at his student's bafflement and continued his sermon.
"Oh, c'mon Kikuchi! You know that you two can understand each other most because your both.. Well.. intelligent!!"
Kikuchi was thinking as his sensei told him stuff.
'Yeah, so?'
"And you know what? She softens up a bit when she's with you! And vice versa. You're amicable with each other when you're not with others!"
'Am I not amicable with others? Maybe her, but not me. It's the people who don't talk to me much 'coz they think I'm too smart for them.' Kikuchi thought.
"Plus!" Onizuka paused a bit and made his student look at him.
"Her looks are not bad, either! She even fooled me of being a nineteen-year-old with her adequate body, flowing blonde hair and mature eyes!! Say I'm wrong if I am but she's a beautiful young lady."
Onizuka looked at his student, his eyes a bit wide and waiting for an answer.
Kikuchi stoop up and gathered his utensils, disappointing Onizuka and said,
"Whatever..!"
Onizuka said, "I'll take that as a yes.." and laughed a triumphant laugh.
Meanwhile..
"Let's take a break, Kanzaki. You know.. Older people get tired more easily than youth like you."
Kanzaki looked at her teacher and nodded.
"Oh.. okay."
They stopped by a bench in front of the ocean and each gulped a well-deserved bottle of water.
They sat there for a while, gazing into the oceans and resting their minds and bodies.
After a while, Fuyutsuki-sensei spoke.
"Are you okay, Kanzaki?"
The said student shook her head a bit and turned her attention to her teacher.
"I'm perfectly fine, sensei. What made you ask?"
"I was just thinking.." She began. "When I was your age, I would immediately decline being with a guy who's not my relative under the same roof even just for a day away from all the others. And you... You'll have to spend nights with Kikuchi – and you are.. confident."
Kanzaki laughed a bit.
"Well, sensei.. First of all, it's okay with me since we are under the supervision of two adults. Second, we have our own rooms and we're mature enough not to do anything inappropriate at all. Third, Kikuchi is a friend of mine and I trust him.."
Fuyutsuki looked at her in a way a teacher would at her student.
"Yeah.. But at your age, you can easily be taken by the intensity of situations and you'll never realize what mistakes you can do once you've done it."
The student smiled at her teacher and said,
"Exactly. I agreed to be with him and only him because we both have one principle: Brains first before emotions. It could have been more dangerous if it was some other guy. And besides, we're just friends. Nothing more, nothing less."
The teacher trusted her one of her top students and smiled, too.
"Well, I guess you can have it your way, then."
Kanzaki looked at the waters again and said,
"Don't worry, sensei. We won't do anything foolish. We'll concentrate on the experiment. That's what we came here for, anyway."
Fuyutsuki looked at her watch and shrieked a little and bolted up from her seat.
"We have to go!! Your first job is starting in an hour!"
Kanzaki laughed at her teacher's reaction and stood up.
They began their journey back to the house.
While they were walking, Azusa suddenly giggled. Kanzaki looked at her in disbelief.
"Huh?" came out of her lips.
The teacher looked at her and stopped giggling.
"Oh, I'm sorry.. I must've looked crazy."
Kanzaki said,
"You're like a schoolgirl who's just seen her crush, sensei. What were you giggling for?"
The teacher looked at her, eyes smiling, and said,
"I know it's weird but.. I just thought..."
Kanzaki looked at her, waiting.
"It's just that.. You and Kikuchi-kun actually look good together."
Kanzaki's eyes widened a bit at her teacher's comment and shouted,
"What??!"
Fuyutsuki stopped walking, making Kanzaki stop, too.
"It's true.. I mean, I even see you together most of the time. Even if you're with the rest of the gang, you two always work in sync."
Kanzaki sighed at her teacher's continual childishness and said,
"We only work together since we are au fait with each other. Sometimes our team-up is even deadly."
Azusa replied,
"Exactly. He's the only one who can comprehend your thoughts and you're the only who can comprehend his. That's why you're perfect for each other!"
"Huh? Just a while ago you were afraid of us living under one roof and now......"
Kanzaki stopped and raised her brow.
"Oh well.. Same charges repel, you know."
The teacher just thought, 'But I mean it!'
Seeing that Fuyutsuki is not going to talk about it more, Kanzaki continued walking to the house.
Soon after, the teacher followed.
When they were about to enter, Kanzaki stopped first, puching Fuyutsuki-sensei to a halt, too.
"What is it, Kanzaki?" She asked.
Now it's Kanzaki's turn to act like a schoolgirl, fiddling with her fingers.
"Thanks, I guess."
Azusa was dumbfounded at first but she asked,
"For what? For my comment about you and Kikuchi?"
Kanzaki snapped up and shook her head violently.
"No, no! Not that!"
"Well then, for what?"
"I just wanted to thank you because you're still acting so nice around me even if you're one of the teachers I've embarrassed in class." Kanzaki said.
Azusa smiled and gave her student a quick hug and whispered to her ear,
"You're starting to soften up, Kanzaki.. That's a good thing."
Then she opened the door, revealing a distressed Onizuka and Kikuchi.
Onizuka approached them first.
"What took you so long, Fuyutsuki? We should be starting by now. We don't have all day, you know."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Onizuka. Just a second okay? We're just gonna get dressed."
Azusa said, pulling Kanzaki with her up the stairs.
After a while, the two emerged, clean and feeling fresh once again.
"So, are we ready?" Kikuchi began.
"H-Hai." Kanzaki nodded and walked to him to the table.
"We're going to work here?"
Onizuka told her, "Yes, Kanzaki. Because today is just for planning."
Fuyutsuki got some stuff from her bag and showed it to them.
She handed them some papers with scribbles, drawing and diagrams on them.
"I believe you have read the proposals for this project so we won't study them anymore."
Onizuka blurted in,
"Yeah. We're gonna go to the main thing right away."
With that, they started discussing about the device to be used and the schemes to be executed.
After about an hour or two, they finished.
"That's it?" Kanzaki said.
"Yeah, that's it." Onizuka said.
"It's pretty simple since all you have to do is test the effectivity of the device for echolocation." Fuyutsuki said.
"Then it won't take us long. It's an easy job." Kikuchi said.
"I think even Murai and the others can do it." Kanzaki said.
Fuyutsuki-sensei walked back to the couch and picked up her things.
"I guess we should be going, Onizuka-sensei."
Onizuka nodded and picked up his things, too.
"You're right. I think I have done two of my goals. I'll have to work on the third."
Kikuchi raised his brow and said,
"There are three??? I thought there are only two of them."
"Well, you can guess the third. Ciao!" Onizuka said, waving his hand as he walked away, with a bemused Azusa trailing behind him.
When they got out, Kanzaki spoke up.
"What was that about??"
"Nothing, nothing.." Kikuchi said as he ran up to his bedroom.