Hanako woke up in Agil's guest bedroom to somebody knocking on the door, "Time to get up Hana, you've got enough time to get ready but don't dawdle. I'm not going to have you late on your first day back to school." Agil's voice is slightly muffled through the door.
Hanako groaned and tried her best to hide into her pillow. She remembers falling asleep on the couch last night so Agil must have carried her to bed at some point. Tiredness pulls at her mind, ugh what she wouldn't give to simply go back to sleep, "Can't I just skip?" she calls out to him grumpily.
Agil's fading laughter is a very clear no. with a tired groan she rolls out of bed and starts getting ready. She goes over to the overnight bag she packed and pulled out her dreaded school uniform, simply glaring at it for a while. A few weeks ago Silica had texted her a picture of the school uniform for the SAO survivors and Hanako is very jealous. Silica's uniform is so cute; a pretty blue with a cute red bow and their skirts are plenty long. Compared to Kunugigaoka's uniforms which are a boring beige with a dumb black tie, and a short skirt. Let's just say that Hana is not very happy with it. If she's being forced to go to a school she doesn't want to go to her dad could have at least picked one with a cute uniform. Deciding to be a bit rebellious she puts on the uniform to the bare minimum she's able to. A vindictive smirk appears on her face as she takes in her reflection in the mirror, oh yeah game on.
A few minutes later Hana comes out of the room, her hair still a complete and snarled mess. Her hair now falls slightly passed her shoulders. It's the longest she's allowed herself to keep it since she was eight. It felt weird, but a good weird. She had honestly forgotten what it felt like to have all of her hair in a single ponytail or even braids. She finds that she actually likes how she looks with long hair and she lightly wonders just how long she'll be able to grow it before it starts to annoy her. She had taken one look at the mass of snarls her hair was and had decided that she needs food in her before she even begins to attempt to tame it. Long hair may look nice, but short hair is definitely easier to take care of.
Agil looked up as he heard her coming down the hallway. An almost pained expression appears on his face as he takes in the appearance of the kid he's started thinking of as a daughter. Agil is originally from America, having moved to Japan to marry his wonderful wife. There are some Japanese traditions and normal ways of life that he will never get used to. School uniforms being one of them, why force people to wear specific outfits? Especially if it makes some of the kids uncomfortable. Hanako is clearly uncomfortable in her uniform, he can tell by the way she's unconsciously pulling at the hem of her skirt as if willing it to grow longer.
"Is that how you're planning to go to school?" he asks, knowing she doesn't want any pity about her situation. Her hair isn't brushed yet or put in the usual messy bun she's taken to wearing it in. She's technically wearing the uniform, just not nicely. He wonders if her teacher will allow her to keep the uniform as she currently has it on, or will they make her fix it? The jacket is simply tied around her waist and her tie is so loose he's surprised it's not falling apart. She'll easily be able to slip the tie off over her head. She's wearing black tights under her skirt as she's been complaining ever since her uniforms came in that the skirt was way too short. Hana is one of those girls that prefer pants over skirts, not that he blames her. But the school doesn't allow crossdressing so she's unfortunately stuck with the skirt. That's another thing he doesn't get, how is wearing pants crossdressing?
Hanako gives him a tired yet spiteful grin, "Well, I do plan on brushing my hair before I leave, but I require sustenance before I expend any more energy. Feed me Agil." She collapses into his kitchen chair and sent him a pitiful look, puppy dog eyes and all.
Agil booms out a laugh and places a plate of pancakes down in front of her. He knows he did something good when Hana's eyes light up at the sugary breakfast.
"Pancakes?" she exclaims happily.
"Figured you deserve a special breakfast today. Eat up, brush your hair, and then get your butt in my car. I'm driving you to school before I head to the bar."
Nearly half an hour later they pull up in front of the school. Dread and anxiety fill her as she sees all the kids flooding into the school. God, she doesn't want to be here.
Agil lets out a low whistle as he parks in the school's drop-off zone. He has seen pictures of the place from the brochure that Hanako had all but thrown at him at the bar a while ago. And while he knew that this is a higher-class school, but damn, seeing it in person is impressive. This school is massive.
"Not a bad place to go to school at least." He tries to placate her.
Hanako lets out a bitter snort, "Well, yeah, it's a nice building, but it's not where my class is going to be. I'm not that lucky, pretty sure fate has something against me at this point."
Agil frowned, "What do you mean, this is your school right?" he had read the brochure that she had thrown at him, eager to know about the school that her father thinks is so good he's forcing his daughter to be at an extreme disadvantage. Overall it does seem like a really nice school. There had been notes about class 3-E having some restrictions placed on them, to foster a quicker learning process apparently. But he hadn't read anything about 3-E not being on campus. He had planned on doing more research online, but things kept coming up and he hadn't gotten the chance. He has a sinking feeling that that had been a terrible mistake. The hard look the kid sends him only cemented the fact.
"You never looked past the shiny brochure, did you? Classes A through D uses that building and all of the amenities that come with it. E-Class, however, which is my class is forced to use a different building. Our building is separated from the rest so we don't bother the good studious children. We're pretty much just examples, do poorly enough children and you'll end up in E-Class so you better keep your grades up." Hana lazily points to the mountain behind the school, "Somewhere near the top of that is a completely run-down building. That will be my schoolroom for the rest of my middle school career. Every day will begin and end with a long-ass hike up and down a mountain. Yay me. At least it'll help me get my stamina back up quicker."
"Seriously? That is screwed up." Agil frowned in the direction of the mountain, slight anger for his friend building in him. He had thought Hanako had been exaggerating in all of the complainings she's been doing because she had really wanted to go to the school set up for the SAO survivors. That she was bitter about being separated from her friends and brother. The more he is actually learning about this school, however, the less he likes it as well. Hell, he wouldn't have wanted to go to this school either.
"Yup, that's Kanugigaoka for you. Bright and shiny on the outside, rotten on the inside. Not unlike the man who runs it." Hana drawls out. She falls silent without exiting the car. Maybe if she lingers long enough Agil will take pity on her and whisk her away while she's still free.
"Who is that." Agil gets her attention while gesturing to a figure standing at the gate, obviously staring that them intensely.
Hanako follows his gaze and a groan escapes her, "Speak of the devil and he'll appear. That would be the principle. Oh god, just shoot me now. It would be less painful."
Agil sends her an incredulous look, "Have you seriously gotten into trouble before school's even started?"
"No!" Hanako defends herself before a thoughtful look appears on her face, "But… that's not a terrible idea. Ti's not probable with how much my dad is probably paying him, but maybe he'll have a rare moment of humanity and take pity on me to expel me. Dad won't be able to do anything if I get expelled." Movement catches her eye and she lets out a groan and tries to shrink down in her seat to hide. Principle Asano is approaching their car, "Oh great, he saw that I saw him."
Hanako glances up as she hears Agil roll down the window and she glares at him. Traitor.
Principle Asano leans down and gives one of his famous fake smiles, "Ishii-chan, will you be joining us today? I was beginning to believe you might have been having thoughts of skipping." His tone is nice and friendly, teasing even, but Hanako knows the man well enough that she can easily hear the veiled threat.
She feels herself pale slightly, "Of course not, Sir." She blurts out quickly, praying that Agil stays silent about what they had just been talking about. As much as she wants to find a way to get out of this school she also doesn't want to get on Asano-san's bad side.
"Hmm, well that is reassuring Ishii-chan. Come along with me if you will, there are some things we must discuss before you make your way up to class." Asano tells her. He briefly turns his attention to Agil, "Thank you for making sure she makes it here safely." He then turns his attention back onto Hanako, "Better hurry Ishii-chan, if you don't want to be late for your first day of class." He turns and starts walking back towards the school without another word, expecting her to follow. His 'sincere' smile for Agil's sake switched back to blank instantly.
Agil catches a brief glimpse of the man's now blank face and finds that something about the man makes him uneasy. Agil's a big man and he does not scare easily, "I don't like him." He finds himself saying without meaning to.
A startled laugh escapes Hanako, "That just means that you have a very good sense of character. The man's a demon." Seeing Agil's troubled look she is quick to reassure him, "Don't worry about it, he's not going to be any trouble to me specifically. In his own weird way, he's on my side. He's… acquaintances with my father and has been since I've been little. He's an old demon I know how to deal with." Doesn't mean he's not still terrifying though she thinks to herself. With a sigh she grabs her bag and reaches for the door handle, "I'll see you later Agil, thanks for the ride."
"Hey, Berzerker. Klien's picking you up after school. No arguments. You live too far away to walk home and it's still too risky for you to take public transportation."
Hanako pouts at him. She wants to argue, to say she can take care of herself, but she knows that he's right. There are still hardcore reporters and angry family members of the SAO players who didn't make it that still want to talk(or yell) at her. Honestly, like she had any part of the scheme behind SAO. If she did why would she had played the game as well? She's a victim too! Not that anybody seems to recognize that fact. The family members want to blame her while the reporters want to tear her apart to get a good story. She takes a deep breath to calm herself and decides to shelf that whole thing for another time. However, "I thought I told you guys not to call me that." Berzerker. Ugh, it's such an ugly nickname.
"Yeah, that ain't going anywhere. You're stuck with that one. Now, get out and go to school. Good luck kiddo and do your best. At least try to enjoy yourself."
Hanako gave him a small nod before getting out of the car and started jogging after the principal to catch up with him. She had no idea what this sudden meeting is about and that worries her a bit. She also doesn't really want to think about how Asano-san knew what vehicle she'd be showing up in. For now, she'll just ignore his creepy stalkerish ways and simply go along with it. There really is no fighting the principle anyway, so why waste energy? She fidgets slightly with the scrunchie on her wrist as she falls into step behind him, finally catching up. She had decided to attempt to keep her hair down today, but if it starts bothering her she won't hesitate to throw it up in a messy bun.
She decides to try and check all of her bases before they arrive at the office. So, she digs into her bag and pulls out her phone. She had checked all of her messages last night and there hadn't been anything from him then, but maybe he had sent her something this morning and she had missed it? She almost always keeps her phone on vibrate so it doesn't bother her, so maybe she had just missed an alert. There is a hoard of messages from her SAO friends wishing her luck on her first day, which makes her feel good. Having friends is nice. There is also a message from Kirito asking her if she was going to meet up with him later at Asuna's hospital. She quickly answers an affirmative, putting away a mental note to tell her guard where she plans on going after Klien drops her off at home. She needs to keep her two guards in the loop at all times. The hospital is close enough to her house that they don't mind her walking there by herself, as long as she lets them know first. She moves on to the other texts she missed coming in on the drive here. Hazama is asking when she was going to get there or if she needs help finding the classroom. Yoshida had also sent a text asking if she'd be okay making it up the mountain by herself or if she'll need help. Even with how much physical therapy, and other activities she's been doing to get back to how she had been two years ago, there are still moments when all of her energy leaves her or she suddenly gets dizzy. She's getting better, those moments are getting further and further between, but she's still not fully recovered from her two-year coma. She answers the both of them that she has a meeting before school to attend and that she'll be there after she's done with it, and that she'll be fine getting there. Again, friends are amazing things to have.
With no more un-read texts showing up she switches over to her emails. She does her best to keep on top of her emails because that is usually how her father contacts her if he needs her to know something or do something. Like she's one of his underlings and not his daughter. Asano usually communicates through emails as well, though he does occasionally text. She hadn't even looked at her phone this morning until now, wanting to focus her energy on not freaking out about school, so maybe she had missed an email from him this morning? No. There are only a few junk emails that she deletes easily enough.
She bites her lip in worry as she tucks her phone away. She had joked with Agil in the car, but now she's actually questioning it. Has she somehow gotten in trouble with the principal before school has even officially started? Did she forget to hand in the practice packets that he had given her to work on? No, she had definitely finished all of them. They probably weren't all correct, but she had finished them. She clearly remembers giving the whole pile to Gakushu the last time he had come over and she knows that he wouldn't have forgotten to give them to his father. She unconsciously starts picking at her nails in stress as she follows the intimidating man into the building.
The side look she gets from Asano-san quickly makes her stop fidgeting, however. She does her best to center herself and hide her stress, bringing her heiress mask to the front. Fidgeting is a sign of weakness, and everyone knows how much Asano-san hates weakness. Hanako follows him closely all of the way to his office, doing her best to ignore the looks she's getting from the kids in the halls. She doesn't know if the looks are for her following the principal or her boldness in how she's wearing the uniform in front of said principal. She's honestly surprised that Asano-san hasn't commented yet about how she's wearing it. But, he knows how much she dislikes the uniform, so maybe this is one of his rare humanity moments in that he's allowing her to wear it how she pleases. Which is annoying as she's mainly wearing it like this to upset the man. But, oh well.
Asano-san opens up the door to his office, ushering her inside. There is already a worried-looking woman in there and curiosity burns at Hanako. Who is she? Hanako comes to a stop next to the mystery lady, keeping her heiress mask up and present. Asano-san breezes past them both to take his seat at his desk. Hanako side-eyes the lady, trying to figure out who she might be. She definitely isn't a government worker. There had been brief discussions about putting an additional guard on her at school as chatter about her mom surfacing had been heard. The government really wanted to get their hands on her mom as she is the only living person who knows about the specifics of the whole SAO ordeal. There is also a chance she might know why 300 people still haven't woken up after the game has ended. With how obsessed her mom is about her, not as her daughter but as an object she thinks she owns, there is a very good chance that her mom will eventually come to try and get her. That is the only reason she still has government official guards assigned to her instead of just bodyguards hired by her father. She had thought that the whole school guard idea had gotten shot down though, to her relief and Gov Man's chargen. She has a hard enough time making friends normally, she doesn't need to be the weird girl that has a bodyguard. She just really wants to be a normal kid here. Not an SAO survivor, not a rich heiress, not Kenji Ishii's daughter. Just Hanako. Thankfully she only has to take a single glance at the lady to know that she isn't a government official. The way that she holds herself is all wrong, too timid. There is also the T-shirt she's wearing under her business skirt suit-jacket. That is definitely not professional wear. It's funny and kinda cute, but definetly not something that would she would be allowed to wear during work hours if she was part of the government.
Asano-san gives a weary look at the T-shirt, which made Hanako like it more, before seemingly ignoring it, "I have called you both here to discuss a certain topic. Hanako Ishii this is your new teacher, Yukimura-sensei. I will be giving your full file to her so she'll know of your special circumstance." He did just that as he pulled a file out of his desk and held it out to her supposed teacher, "Read that as quickly as possible Yukimura-san, that file is not leaving this room."
Aguri glanced at her young student before nodding seriously and flipping it open to read. What is so special about this student that this meeting is necessary? That the principle is going out of his way to discuss a specific student? The girl doesn't seem like a trouble student. The kid is doing her best to hold herself together and seem calm and collected, but her eyes give away her nervousness. Aguri had received a list of her students this year and the reasons they have come to be in her class at the end of the last school year, she had it memorized by now. Most of them were for poor grades. There were a few odd cases like Akabane, who she won't see until a few weeks in due to suspension, and Isogai who had gotten caught having a part-time job. Ishii-chan was listed under poor grades like the majority of her class, though she had not been registered as a student of Kunugigaoka previously. It is very rare for people to transfer into Kunugigaoka, and even rarer that they get transferred straight into E-Class. Usually, they only take in the extremely bright students as transfer students. With one last look at the nervous girl, she started reading the file.
Hanako diligently fought the urge to fidget as the principal's gaze pinned onto her. The silence stretched on for a bit too long, "Um… Sir?"
He laid his hand on top of what she recognized as her test packets. Ones that he has probably graded himself showing how little progress she's made since his last test packets, excluding math, "I have high expectations for you Ishii-chan. Even with my son tutoring you, you are still well over a year behind. I expect you to be caught up by the end of this school year and attend A-Class in your high school career. My son will continue tutoring you two times a week, I'm afraid that is all his schedule will allow. While I do not intend to have your teacher give you special treatment during class, after-school study sessions will be put into effect. Not every day, but a few days a week will be required."
Hanako frowned and glanced at her new teacher who looked as surprised as herself about the study sessions she was being forced into. So, Yukimura-sensei hadn't known about her or these study sessions. Hanako almost feels sorry for her, "Ah… um right, Sir." She answers the principal slowly. Honestly, just how much is her father paying him for him to put so much effort into her? Sure, the man's known her since she was a kid and she's friends with his son, but there is no way that he'd put this much effort into her if her father isn't paying him a lot of money.
Aguri's mind is reeling. This poor girl is an SAO survivor, which means she's missed two years of schooling. Aguri knows for a fact that they've made a school for all people who needed to catch up on schooling, from elementary to high school. So… why in the world is this girl here in this school? One of the, if not the, most competitive schools in the country. Stress builds up in Aguri when she learns that she's going to have to find time to do extra tutoring after school. While normally she would love to spend the extra time with her students that need help, recently doesn't exactly work the best. How is she going to explain this to Yanagisawa that she'll be later to work a few days a week now? He's already threatening to make her quit teaching already. She'll also have less time to talk to Mr. Reaper, which she finds makes her a little sad. It's been almost a year since he was brought in, maybe she could get him something? But, for now, she needs to focus on her student who has a lot of catching up to do and needs her help.
"Of course, that won't be a problem." Aguri lies with a smile, "We can figure out how to best align our schedules later. We'll get you caught up in no time. I just know it." Aguri tells her enthusiastically.
Hanako sends her an unbelieving look, "Doubtful, but I'll try." It isn't like she doesn't want to catch up in her schooling, it's just that it is a lot of work and concepts and dates to work through. Yukimura-sensei gives her a big smile in response and slight confusion fills Hanako. This lady really isn't somebody she thought Asano-san would hire. She actually seems nice.
Aguri hands the girl's file back to the principal, "Well, we should probably get going. It won't be good for the teacher to be late on the first day. Let's be off, shall we Ishii-chan?"
"Yeah, sure," Hanako murmured. She bows politely to Asano-san before following after her teacher silently. Yukimura-sensei, she learns quickly, is very much a chatterbox. She talks about seemingly random things nearly all the way up the mountain. As the building comes into view she actually asks something that Hanako needs to answer to.
"Do you have a few minutes after class today to figure out how we want to do the tutoring sessions Ishii-chan?" Yukimura-sensei asks.
Hanako frowns slightly, "Can you please address me as Hanako. I am really not fond of my family name. I do have somebody picking me up after school today, but I can text him to let him know I'll be a bit late."
Aguri gives her student a slightly worried look that disappears quickly, "Sure, no problem Hanako-chan. I'll try not to keep you long after classes." She makes sure to give her student a friendly smile as she comes to a stop. At Hanako-chan's confused look she quickly explains, "I'll let you go on ahead. No need to have you show up with the teacher on the first day. I'll give you a few minutes to talk with your friends before coming in."
Surprise filters through Hana, "Thanks." She mutters out before making her way into the building. Sure, she's had teachers try and suck up to her before once they learn who her father is, but she's never had a teacher be outright nice to her like this before. It's weird. Hanako takes in the building around her as she walks down the hall. It really is an old building, she's already not looking forward to either winter nor summer. This building definitely doesn't have good temperature control. She's always been the type to get cold easily, but since her game coma, she gets cold so much easier. The doctor had told her that it was normal and that once she got her weight back up to normal her temperature control should even out more. She also doesn't enjoy sweating to death in the warmer months.
Hanako comes to a stop in front of her classroom door, anxiety flooding her mind. She can hear her classmates talking excitedly to each other on the other side. the last time she was at school, she didn't exactly have a good time. School used to be a lonely and stressful experience. Most of her classmates ignored her once they saw the cold exterior that she usually puts on, the only ones that attempted to talk to her were people wanting to be 'friends' with the rich girl so they could get things. She had to keep her grades perfect to appease her father, and Asano-san so she could continue hanging out with Gakushu. Gakushu went to a separate elementary school than she did though, so she didn't even have him to fall back on during the day. By the time they were supposed to go to the same school, her mother trapped her in a death game. Hanako shakes her head to clear her mind, no she has friends now. Friends that don't care who she is or who her parents are. Friends that she doesn't have to keep at arm's length to hide her home life with her mother. Friends who are waiting for her just on the other side of the door. Open the damn door, Hana!
She takes a deep breath, slightly hides behind her ice queen persona, and slides open the door. A full room of people turns to see who opened the door and Hana feels herself freeze. She just hopes that it isn't noticeable. There are far too many gazes on her. She's probably the last one to show up thanks to the principal's last-minute meeting.
Hazama, her amazing friend, saves her, "Hana, finally. I was getting ready to send Terasaka out to find you."
"I'm not your damn dog," Terasaka growls out, though Hana can tell there is no real bite behind the words. Yoshida and Muramatsu chuckle at each other.
"Hey, guys," Hana answers quietly with a calm smile that hides the anxiety-filled ocean underneath. She quickly makes her way over to them. Doing her best to ignore the curious stares around her. Pretty much everyone in this room when to the same school together last year. Maybe not in the same classes, but they all most likely went to Kanugigoaka. They're all probably wondering how a new girl got put straight into E-Class. Plus, Hazama had explained to her that her group is viewed as the delinquents of the class so that probably isn't helping with her initial image. How she chose to wear her uniform is further proof to them that she's trouble. Everybody is probably thinking she's nothing but a problem student. Great.
"Hey look Hana, you're seat is right next to Terasaka's. Now, if anyone gives you trouble you can easily just duck behind him." Muramatsu halfway jokes at her.
Hana feels a smirk pull at her lips, "Ah, yes, guard dog Terasaka." She pats him on the head twice, "Good boy." It's become somewhat of a joke in their group about Terasaka being their guard dog. Yoshida had slipped up one day calling her their group's adopted kitten. She knew he hadn't meant to call her that out loud with the slightly panicked look that appeared on his face. She didn't mind though. Kitten is a much better nickname than Berzerker. Hanako had joked back that if she is the kitten then Terasaka is the group's guard dog. The rest of the group had latched onto it instantly and had not let it go.
Hanako sat down at the desk Muramatsu had said is hers and did her best to hide the fact that her hand is shaking slightly. From the concerned look Hazama is sending her she doesn't quite cover it. Hanako is doing her best to get used to getting close and touching people without panicking internally. It's so ingrained in her to avoid physical interaction with others that it's really hard to keep herself from panicking. SAO had definitely helped her in that aspect at least. Clinging to Kirito and Agil, hugs from Asuna and Klien. In the real world, however, keeping her distance from people equals safety. Before SAO, the only person she willingly initiated contact with was Gakashu. Since then her pool of people has grown. Gakushu, Kirito, Agil, Klien, Hazama, and Yoshida. She's mostly if not completely comfortable around all of them and her touch-starved self will regularly hang off of them if she's able to. People outside of that group though make her want to keep at least a polite distance between her and them. Initiating contact with people she's not comfortable with is extremely hard, but she's doing her best to get herself out of that mindset. So she does little things, like the head pats she gave Terasaka. Her nerves usually get the best of her though and end up with her shaking in repressed anxiety. With wanting to get past that she continues to push herself out of her comfort zone, like the head pats. She's even worse with people touching her, especially if she doesn't notice the incoming touch beforehand. Her new friend group has seemed to catch onto that and do their best to help her with that by vocalizing their touches beforehand, which she does appreciate. And people say Terasaka and his group don't care about others. They notice a lot more than people give them credit for.
Thankfully most of the class went back to their own conversations, ignoring them once again. There are a few lingering curious gazes, most noticeable is a girl with long blonde hair, but Hana does her best to ignore it.
"Hey, do you guys want to come over to my place after Saturday's half-day? Father is hosting a party at his work Friday night, which means all of the leftovers get brought back to my place by his receptionist. Father seems to think that is providing enough to be a competent father. However, too much food comes back and there is no way I can eat it all by myself." Hana asks them with an eye roll.
Muramatsu's eyes light up, "Oh, I'm in! High-class food for free? No way am I missing out on that."
"How are we all going to get there?" Yoshida asks, his way of saying he'll come.
"I can ask Agil to give us a ride in his van," Hana answers easily. Agil's bar sometimes caters for events, not too often but enough for him to invest in a van.
"Cool, I'm game. Perhaps I can place a curse on the Tool's room." Hazama grins creepily.
"Guess I'll come, I've got nothin' else to do and I won't say no to free food." Terasaka answers.
"Awesome." Hanako grins happily. She loves having her friends over, it's something she's never been able to do before.
Before anyone could say anything Yukimura-sensei enters the room. A large smile on her face, "Welcome to your last year of middle school everyone. I'll be your teacher, Yukimura-sensei. Let's all do your best, okay!?"
The blonde girl that had been staring at her earlier raises her hand, "Yukimura-sensei, what's up with your shirt?" a large grin is on her face, showing that she doesn't mean it meanly.
Aguri pouts slightly, "My shirt is cute." She defends her shirt and laughter fills the room.
The day passes quicker than Hana was expecting it to. She texted Klien at lunch to let him know that she'll be a bit late and he answered her with a thumbs up. Agil, the absolute teddy bear angel he is, made her up a bento for her lunch and snuck it into her bag replacing the store-bought one she had gotten the day before. Some of her favorites from the bar were in it and it had been delicious. While the day hadn't been horrible, classes were really hard. Hanako understood practically nothing that was being taught. Ironically history (her worst subject) had been the easiest to follow since she didn't really need any prior knowledge to know what was being taught. Maths wasn't too bad either, there had been some things she hadn't understood, but she had been able to follow some of them. Everything else, however, went way over her head. She took dedicated notes, but she isn't sure how much help they are going to be. She knew that she is behind everyone and that is going to be hard, but sitting through classes that may have well been taught in a foreign language really struck just how hard this is going to be.
The school day had ended a few minutes ago and Hanako is taking her time to pack up her things. There are a few people asking the teacher questions so she isn't in a huge hurry. She had let her friend group know they didn't have to wait for her today, but that she'd walk down with them tomorrow for sure.
It took a few more minutes before everyone finally cleared out and it is just Hanako and Yukimura-sensei. Aguri gives her student a patient smile, "Well, let's head into the teacher's office and figure out what we're going to do shall we?"
Hanako nods and follows after her teacher. Aguri sits at the table she's chosen as her own, not that she'll be sharing the room with any other teachers (E-Class only deserves a single teacher according to the principal), and gestures for Hanako to take a seat next to her. She digs into her desk and pulls out her personal schedule.
"Okay, let's start with the days that you can't do after school," Aguri says.
Hanako fidgets with her hair tie on her wrist for a moment, "I can't do Tuesdays or Thursdays, those are the days that Gakushu's coming over to help me study. I would also prefer not to do Saturdays or Sundays if possible."
"That won't be a problem, I'm busy on the weekends myself," Aguri reassures her student before looking a the remaining days to see which days would be best to choose. With how behind Hanako is, it would be best to do all three days, but she's not sure that Yanagisawa will let her. It will be hard enough to convince him to allow the two days, "Let's start with Mondays and Wednesdays then. I don't want to overwhelm you right off the bat. Later on, if four days of studying isn't enough we can add in Fridays as well. How does that sound?"
"I can make that work, will we be doing the study sessions here then?"
"Um… there is somewhere I need to be right after that is a bit too far from here for that to work. Plus, a different location might help with better learning. I'll look into it and maybe I can find a nice cafe that is closer, don't worry I'll pay for the food and drinks."
A thoughtful look appears on Hanako's face. Maybe, just maybe… she pulls up the address on her phone and holds it up for her teacher to see, "Is this location close enough to where you'd need to be?"
Aguri looks at the address and does some mental math. A thoughtful hum escapes her trying to think if the place is close enough that she'll be able to get to the lab to do the after experiment run-down, "That place should work, what is it?"
Hanako bites her lip before answering, "My friend owns a bar, but it's not shady or anything. It's a really nice and clean bar and Agil is super nice. He may look intimidating with his size and everything, but he's a huge teddy bear. I knew I wasn't going to be able to visit as much when school started, but if we do the study sessions there it won't be a problem."
Aguri frowned slightly, "I don't know if I'm comfortable taking one of my students to a bar Hanako-chan."
"You wouldn't be taking me there, you'd be meeting me there, there's a difference. Plus, I go there anyway. How about on Wednesday we try it out and if you don't like it after that we can find somewhere else. Please?"
Aguri did her best to avoid looking at what she is assuming were her student's puppy dog eyes but failed in the end, "Okay, fine." She really hopes that she doesn't regret this, or that the principal finds out about it.
