aldojuhansifa: Preach

Gintoki had hoped that the new kid syndrome would make the whole school affair a bit easier. He was gravely mistaken.

He now sat at an empty table to eat lunch, his lunch box filled with rice rested on his lap, a single plum rested on top. So much for letting a 7-year-old prepare his lunch.

When in doubt, do a flashback

The homeroom teacher went on and on about the upcoming field trip that Friday. From what the teacher mentioned, they were going to attend a popular kendo show where they mixed comedy and the ancient art of kendo. None of them expected much since every school in the Beika region had been invited, including the elementary schools, meaning the comedy show would be pretty vanilla. Since homeroom went on for longer than expected, math class started as soon as the teacher walked in, leaving no time for the students to socialize.

Gintoki had expected high school to be hard (it tends to be when instead of getting an education you fight in a major war), but this was too much for him. Immediately after walking in, the teacher had asked him to go up to the board and solve a problem.

"It shouldn't be too hard, I'm sure you saw this last year," She had said, mocking him (not really, that's just how he felt it), as the embarrassed teenager struggled to figure out what to do.

The only algebraic material he was any good at was addition and subtraction. Especially subtraction. He had gotten really good at it after years of losing at pachinko. As much of an idiot as Zura was, he knew some math, he even tried to teach the troops during the Joi war but no one paid much attention to him. Now he wishes he had.

Gintoki felt a big, obscure cloud of dark energy forming behind him. Were his "classmates" making fun of him? How dare they! Don't they see he's the new kid? Why are none of the hot chicks running to talk to him dammit!

No one cared, in fact, it was all in his imagination.

After embarrassingly standing at the front of the class for seemingly an eternity and a half, the teacher finally decided to return him to his seat. As he made his way back he heard some slight snickers from his new classmates.

'How embarrassing!' Was the only thing on his mind as he tuned out the teacher's voice, 'I bet they all think I'm an idiot now. This sort of thing only happens to the class loser, why is this happening to me, the former White Demon?!"

These thoughts plagued his mind all the way to the end of period. If math class wasn't embarrassing enough, the next class in the curriculum was chemistry, something he had never heard of before.

The perm-headed teen expected the worst outcome, like being asked to perform an alchemy circle, but luckily for him, the chemistry teacher was absent that day and they had a free study period. Gintoki learned the wonders of cyanide from his textbook after looking up ways to possibly murder anyone who mocked him after the math fiasco.

As the silver-haired man tried to avoid looking at anyone in the eyes, he heard a tiny female voice whispering behind him, trying to get his attention, "Psst, Sakata-kun, heeeey. Sakata-kun."

'Just ignore her, I bet she just wants to bully you, but you won't let her, no sir. I wasn't forced to come here to get bullied by teens,' Gintoki thought, still hung up on the embarrassing moment, 'There's no way anyone could've done that, it had way too many Xs and Ys. Not my fault Y wants to be isolated from its ex-'

"DON'T IGNORE ME YOU JERK," The voice shouted moments before he was forced out of his seat by a kick directed to his back. When he looked up, everyone was staring at an enraged girl. She had short, light brown hair with a hairband at the top to keep it from getting in her face.

"OI, WHAT WAS THAT FOR YOU- YOU WITCH?" The teen wanted to scream something less family-friendly at her but decided against it since everyone was looking at their direction.

Before the conflict could go any further, another teacher walked in, signaling the start of the next period. Gintoki was somewhat pleased that it was time for history class, something he was a bit more familiar with.

"Alright class, can anyone tell me the name of the Shinsengumi's vice-commander?" The teacher looked around the room, hoping that someone would raise their hand. When no one did, he sighed and turned to a certain silver mop, "Why don't you answer that one, Gintoki-kun?"

'Damned teacher, what's it with these people and terrorizing the new kid? At least I know this question, what's that bastard's name?' Gintoki frantically searched through his memory and felt proud when he finally came up with the answer, "Toshiro Hijikata."

The teacher stood silent for a moment before replying, "Close, it's actually Toshizo Hijikata. Very close tho, I'm impressed."

Although the teacher resumed teaching, Gintoki just stared ahead, dumbfounded. Was Toshiro not his actual name? Did he actually go through the pain of remembering that government dog's name just to get it wrong? Oh well, not like he cared much about him anyway.

"Alright class, why don't we try a harder question? It's Runaway... what?" The teacher once more stood in the middle of the class, waiting for a hand that'll never come, "Gintoki, since you were so close last time, why don't you answer this one as well?"

'Aren't there any teacher's pet in this class? I'm glad Zura is always bragging about that stupid title,' Irritated, he answered, "Runaway Kotaro."

The teacher stared at him for a moment before responding, "No. It was Runaway Kogoro. Moving on, he was known for..."

The teacher proceeded to once again teach while Gintoki was left alone in his thoughts, 'Did that gorilla plagiarize from real history? I do remember a drunk Zura complaining about hate mail saying he was the reason kids failed their exams. I didn't think he was being serious.'

Before he knew it, people were already grouping up to have lunch together, and as it is the fate of every new kid, he was left alone. 'It's fine, not like I need those bullies as friends anyway,' He desperately tried to convince himself.

He sighed as he opened the lunchbox the sugar-stealing brat gave him that morning. He hoped it contained some premium sweets to make up for the inconvenience of having to go more than 48 hours without any sugar content, but once again sighed after looking at the box.

So much for high school being "fun".

Sonoko quickly walked towards her childhood friend, seemingly excited about something, "Nee, nee, Ran, what did you think of my front kick during chemistry? I think I'm ready to become the new Karte ace!"

Said girl made a worried expression when asked about the "front kick" her friend made during chemistry, that had caused quite an uproar, "That wasn't a front kick, to begin with, and that wasn't very nice from you Sonoko."

"Well, he deserved it for being a jerk and ignoring me."

"Who was being a jerk?" An upset voice called out behind them, the new kid was sitting alone, eating his rice on the verge of tears. It was clear that his first day hadn't gone very well and Ran felt for the guy, although it happened a long time ago she remembers being called an outsider.

"Sakata-kun, I'm sorry my friend did that to you. She's the real jerk," She turned to her friend and with a glare plastered on her face she muttered, "Apologize."

"Why me? He was the one being a jer-" She couldn't finish her sentence because her friend's glare intensified, making her fear that the karate ace would demonstrate a real front kick, "Fine. Sorry for being a jerk to you. If it makes you feel better, Kid-sama is the only one who could ignore me like that and get away with it."

Gintoki narrowed his eyes as the girl made a dreamy expression while daydreaming about her idol, "Kid-sama? Who's that?"

"You don't know who he is?!" She exclaimed as she broke away from her fantasies, "I'll give you a pass since you're new here. He's the best escape artist, he's always eluding the police with clever magic tricks up his sleeve. No way they'll catch him ever."

"Huh? Really?" Asked the uninterested teen as he finished the last of his undercooked rice, "What's so great about a Lupin wannabe anyway?"

"WHY YOU-" Before the Kaito Kid otaku could start her rant, the bell rang, cutting her off, "Ah, I didn't eat anything."

School had ended without any other complications. The silver-haired teen seemed more relaxed during his gym, Japanese literature, and English classes, which surprised everyone. Now, Sonoko and Ran were walking back home, talking about the happenings of that day.

"Who does he think he is, seriously, Kid-sama has beaten Lupin once and he will beat him again," The infuriated fangirl demanded, the conversation still fresh in her mind.

Her best friend was walking beside her, a bit uncomfortable about the girl's rant, "Y-yeah."

"Anyway Ran, what do you think about him, hmm?" The light brown-haired girl said with a mischievous smile creeping into her face, "He does have some muscles, or are you still hung up on that mystery otaku?"

"Stop Sonoko," She complained as a somber expression showed in her face, "I'm sure he'll come back..."

The other girl only stared at her, saddened by the way her friend still missed her crush. The walked the rest of the way in a comfortable silence.

Some Gintoki at school material. Sorry if this chapter was boring, I didn't know how to include much comedy since school's out and it pains me to think about the good old pre-corona days ;_; Btw, is everyone alright? Just trying to check in because of all the weird business going on with 2020.

The next chapter is gonna be used to set up the first murder mystery! Wish me luck!

Any comments, questions, or concerns?