Chapter 8: Mother of All Gym Classes
"Excuse me... Teacher, sir?..." One of the delinquents huffed as he approached Raspberyl's father after 50 more push-ups "It's been 4 hours... *gasp* can we... *gasp* go yet?"
"Now I KNOW you didn't just ask to leave my gym class! You'll leave when I TELL YOU TO LEAVE! Run 666 more laps around the gym; MOVE IT, LAZY!" Raspberyl's Father barked, and the student began to drag his feet around the gym at a slightly faster pace than the average walking speed.
More whining erupted from the tired class, which was meant with less listening and more ordering from Raspberyl's Father, the temporary gym teacher while Mr. Boarpig was... out sick.
"COME ON CLASS, YOU CAN'T GET STRONGER WITHOUT A LITTLE SWEAT!" One of the delinquents called out happily as he was doing his required 1,000 jumping jacks for the ninth time; he alone seemed to enjoy all of the workouts that were essentially void of purpose but for torture that Raspberyl's Father forced them to do under the guise of 're-education', though it was more for his own enjoyment- this out-of-place bahavior caught Raspberyl's Father's attention.
"YOU!" Raspberyl's Father yelled out to the one, singular happy delinquent, he froze where he was and stood at attention, his hands at his waist. The delinquent was something close to a normal soldier- if that soldier just took a shower of sweat rather than water- but his hair was brown. Other than his smile and curiously high level in comparison to the other delinquents, he was otherwise unimpressive.
"Yes, teacher sir?" The delinquent said happily as he stood at attention for Raspberyl's Father. Raspberyl's Father didn't enjoy being called 'Teacher' or 'Teacher sir', so after pacing in front of the energetic delinquent for a few minutes, he had a devilishly evil idea.
"Don't call me 'teacher', you will refer to me as 'Mr. Father'." Raspberyl's Father barked in the student's face.
"Mr... Father, teacher sir?" The delinquent asked curiously, wiping the sweat off of his forehead.
"WHAT DID I JUST SAY? What's your name, brat?" Raspberyl's Father demanded, acting furious but he was quite enjoying abusing his authority as substitute teacher.
"Bo Tie, Mr. Father sir!" The delinquent barked like a dog following his master's orders, his eagerness to follow was only met with contempt.
"And are you enjoying my class, Bo Tie?" Raspberyl's Father said with as much spite in saying 'Bo Tie' as he could manage.
"I am Mr. Father, sir! The brutal difficulty and tedium of repeating the same exercises for hours is very enj-"
"You are dismissed." Raspberyl's father waved him off casually, returning to ordering the delinquents who finished thier exercises.
"I'm... I'm what, Mr. Father sir?" Bo Tie asked, not fully believing that he had just heard that quite right.
"DISMISSED! THAT MEANS GET OUT OF MY CLASSROOM!" Raspberyl's Father yelled right into Bo Tie's face- he could swear Bo Tie was about to cry right then and there.
Bo Tie whimpered and ran to the doors, muttering something about starting his own workout club that made this look like a day at the beach, but Raspberyl's Father didn't really listen to any of it- he still had a class to torture, one student didn't make much difference; besides, forcing Bo Tie to leave when he was enjoying himself did much more damage to him than letting him stay.
"Are you sure we're on time, my lady? It seems class has already started."
You've gotta be kidding me, they're here? NOW? Of all the worst... ugh... I need a quick escape plan!
"Ladies! Welcome to gym class-" Raspberyl's Father greeted Raspberyl, Kyoko, and Asuka as they entered the gymnasium; quickly he remembered the delinquents he was supposed to be punishing. "HEY! THE REST OF YOU CAN GO! You three stay, of course." Raspberyl's Father bellowed as loudly as he could so his students could hear him over their own loud, exhausted breathing. Some of them cheered, most just crawled out as quickly as their exhausted bodies could manage, which wasn't very fast at all.
"Father? You're the teacher?" Raspberyl asked, quite shocked and unprepared- and based on the condition for the students that were just leaving, she was also quite afraid.
"I am what I want to be, and damn all those that try and stop me- today I'm substitute gym teacher and ironically you three seem to be my only students this class." Raspberyl's Father said, surveying the otherwise empty gym.
"So what shall we do, teacher sir?" Asuka asked simply.
Ugh... that again... Whatever, I guess I can live with it...
"Well with so small a class, I figured this calls for... special procedure." Raspberyl's Father began- he awaited a response, and the girls all waited patiently for him to continue; after a minute of awkward silence, he did continue. "We shall do nothing, so get comfortable, because as the teacher I'm ordering you three to sit here with me and do nothing." Raspberyl's Father sat on the gym floor, and the girls all unquestioningly followed his orders.
"We're just going to sit here for an hour?" Kyoko finally asked after about 5 minutes of silence, she was given no answer to her question, only a reprimand.
"I am your teacher, if you have a question for me, you must raise your hand and wait for me to call on you- I think being in Mao's class made you girls quite... honor-student." Raspberyl's Father said evilly, with a dark grin on his face. Asuka and Raspberyl glared at Kyoko, distressed, Kyoko raised her hand to ask the same question, but Raspberyl's Father just waved her off- he didn't need to hear it again.
"I suppose I am your teacher... like I just said before; so, you two-" Raspberyl's Father motioned to Kyoko and Asuka, both focused their attention to their temporary teacher. "I still don't know your names." Raspberyl's Father smiled, it was obvious what he was implying.
Both of them told him their names simultaneously, then again one at a time since he couldn't hear their names the first time.
"Asuka and Kyoko, got it- now since I know first-hand that both of you are quite fit and have no need to be in this class, you are both dismissed." Raspberyl's Father said casually, waving them off as if they were flies.
"We... we have to leave? Leaving just you two alone..? For an hour?" Asuka asked nervously- obviously still not fully trusting Raspberyl's Father.
"Yes to all three of those questions- and as your teacher, you have to obey me or both your records as delinquents will come to a tragic end, starting with-"
Both of them fled the gym, literally faster than one could say 'detention'.
"And now we are all alone, for an hour." Raspberyl's Father smiled, though it was hard to tell why- anticipation, joy, sadistic enjoyment- it was quite impossible to tell which.
"You planned this, didn't you?" Raspberyl asked simply, she was neither happy nor scared, she was quite apathetic to this whole situation.
"I didn't plan for you to be here in my class, so I suppose the answer would be no; which reminds me, why are you here anyways and not helping Mao out with opening his heart? Certainly he could use your help, it's been about 3 weeks since he started and he's made so little progress so far-"
"Mao is sick today- or he's just too lazy to come to school so he used a sick day as an excuse not to come- the point being that today was a day for me to go to my classes, and now would normally be gym class-"
"I've wondered something since before I've gotten here, Raspberyl, if you'll humor your father and his concerns." Raspberyl's Father interrupted- it was obvious where Raspberyl was going, and nothing was really to be gained for either of them for her to continue.
"And what have you been wondering, oh great and mighty demon lord?" Raspberyl said somewhat spitefully- if he didn't refer to her as his daughter, she wouldn't call him father; a fair trade.
"I left you here so you could learn to become the greatest demon ever- great enough to put me to shame, hopefully- and yet you seem to be fighting the system by doing acts of charity, why is that? Why are you a delinquent? Have you been a delinquent since I left you here?" Raspberyl's Father said with a deadly serious expression- there was no dodging or shadowboxing now- it was just straight-up 'answer my question' attitude, Raspberyl followed this mood.
"I don't want to be the same as everyone else, I want to be me! I'm not gonna be the same little, innocent schoolgirl burning her textbooks in a campfire like half of this school- the female half, obviously." Raspberyl explained equally seriously.
"That's exactly what I was hoping you would say." Raspberyl's Father smiled, breaking the serious mood that was established not 25 seconds ago.
"W- what?" Raspberyl asked, quite shocked that her demonic father would approve of her less than demonic behavior, but he did.
"Everything that demons are is temptation to... break equilibrium, I suppose you could call it- fighting the system that so many worked so hard to put in place is exactly what demons are for. This 'school for demons' is an entirely backwards notion altogether- one cannot teach someone to break the rules, because in learning to do so, they are following the rules the whole time! It's quite paradoxical, but in doing good acts like no other demon would, you are becoming the greatest demon this school will ever see! That is, assuming the recent delinquent outbreak doesn't totally reverse what I just said and return things to normal." Raspberyl's Father explained, he lost Raspberyl after the first sentence and a half; but then he said those fatal words, those 8 words that made her stick to him in a way more painful and tenacious than if he was tangled in 50 feet of barbed wire.
"Your mother would be so proud of you!"
Oh, damn it... I hope the universe impodes now...
The universe didn't implode at that statement, but it did seem to freeze in its tracks- all else was silent once he spoke those words. Even before he took his last shallow inhaling gasp as his body's natural reaction, Raspberyl's Father had already realized his mistake, but already an eternity too late- he spoke the forbidden word to Raspberyl: 'Mother'. Raspberyl had never met her mother- frankly, she didn't even think she had a mother at all for the first few centuries of her life; her father never spoke of her to Raspberyl, or indeed at all since her birth- or her mother's death, which ever happened last.
"What about mother?"
The seriousness was returning, but about a thousand-fold thicker and heavier than before- the sheer gravity of deadly determination echoed from Raspberyl, slowly choking the air around the two of them- lesser beings would have died if they approached them in this state.
"I feared this topic would come up sometime in this visit; and so here it is, and I am quite less than prepared for it." Raspberyl's Father said with a defeated smile on his face- this clearly wasn't going to be an easy conversation for either of them.
"Please, enlighten me- father." Raspberyl said, her completely straight face not twitching even a little bit as he spoke.
Oh DAMN! Ineedawayout, Ineedawayout, Ineedawayout, Ineedawayoutofthis, Ineedawayoutofthis, I NEED A WAY OUT OF THIS!
"Look! There's a dragon right behind you!" Raspberyl's Father tried in a desperate attempt to divert Raspberyl's attention, needless to say, it failed quite miserably.
"LIAR! QUIT STALLING AND TELL ME ABOUT MY MOTHER!" Raspberyl cried furiously, grabbing her father's shirt, tears falling down her face like so many little raindrops to the floor.
"Don't ask these questions that you know I can't answer, Raspberyl- It was meant to stay hidden!" Raspberyl's Father said, turning away quickly but he was unable to shake Raspberyl's grip- though only for lack of trying.
"But why? I need to know... why can't you tell me? At least tell me why you can't tell me!" Raspberyl weeped, burying her face in her father's gym pants; only a demon with heart as black as coal could've turned such a sight down- thus, enter the demon Raspberyl's Father.
"Since you show no signs of giving this up, then I'll just leave- exercise on your own." Raspberyl's Father said as he popped a cigarette in his mouth and disappeared into a cloud of smoke, leaving naught but dust in Raspberyl's hands and a tear in her heart.
A flood was slowly brewing in the gym, more tears fell from Raspberyl's face and splashed into tiny droplets on the floor as they slowly collected into a small puddle, just like any thoughts of repairing her relationship with her father, though the result of the bits and pieces joining together was a much, much more terrifying amalgamation than a simple puddle.
"FATHEEEEEEEEER!" Raspberyl cried as loud as she could manage, she received no answer.
"DON'T DO THIS... COME BACK, PLEASE!" Raspberyl cried somehow louder than before, her voice distinctly becoming darker and colder as her tears slowly began to dry up- the puddle on the floor of her collected sorrow warped from clear water to a swirling ink-black vortex, tainted by her new found hate.
"DoN'T lEavE ME ALonE AgAIn, FaTheR!" A voice that was no longer Raspberyl screamed in tearful fury, a vortex of black energy swirled about, polluting the air in the gym to blackness- and then, nothing- just in the matter of a millisecond- all was as it was before, Raspberyl sat alone on the gym floor, with nothing to show for evidence as to what had just ocurred save for a solitary black puddle on the floor in the center of the gym.
"What... what happened..?" Raspberyl asked whatever would listen- again, no one answered.
Raspberyl missed the rest of her classes that day, leaving Kyoko and Asuka to wonder what had ocurred in the gym between the two of them- clearly it was nothing good.
"Ugh... this pain... WHAT IS THIS PAIN!" Raspberyl's Father yelled, clutching his chest.
My heart... it feels so heavy... so.. damn PAINFUL!... Urgh... it's like someone replaced my blood with solid, unflowing lead! Why does it hurt so much? Is this... pain... is it guilt?
No... I can't... something's wrong... Something deeper than simple guilt... DAMN IT HURTS! I need to get to the bottom of this before it kills me!
Someone entered the small office that moment, but in his monumental pain, Raspberyl's Father took no notice until he spoke.
"Guidance Counselor, sir, I was just coming with the new list of delinquents and I heard you-"
"Mr. Redshirt! Where is the Heart Bank?" Raspberyl's Father demanded, quickly spinning around to face his visitor, clutching his chest with one hand and Mr. Redshirt's shoulder with the other; Mr. Redshirt was stunned into silence, so Raspberyl's Father asked again- "WHERE IS THE GOD-DAMNED HEART BANK?"
"It's... the entrance is in the main square, near the entrance of the academy on the right side, if you're facing the exit-"
"I'll find it, now leave your report and get out!" Raspberyl's Father stormed out before Mr. Redshirt could do anything, his destination was clear- he was in no mood for weakness now, especially not from himself; he was going to solve his heart problems with his own two hands, even if he had to tear his own heart apart in the process.
Delinquents springing up like insects, Seniors waltzing around the school causing trouble for me, an unknown jackass trying to poison me, and even my own daughter asking questions that I can't answer- IS ANYONE BUT THAT BUMBLING IDIOT MR. STUPID-SHIRT STILL ON MY SIDE!