Next Monday, in their Haiku class, they had to write Haiku poems and share one to the class. Keiji loved that subject; he loved to write many hilarious poems. A Haiku poem contains three lines; the first line must have five syllables. The second line must have seven syllables and the third line must have five syllables again. Keiji was always the first to share his poems with the class. While they were working on their poem, the door swung opened. Keiji quickly turned and was the first to see Principal Takeda walk into the room.
Uh-oh, he thought. I hope he's not here to see me!
Along with Principal Takeda, there came a student who was very strange looking. He was sort of like an emo-punkish looking kid because it looked like he had a dark side.
"Hello class, we have a new student joining us today and he will be in this class," began Principal Takeda. "His name is Hanzo Hattori. He barely moved here from Japan so please be kind to him."
"Okay," answered the class. Then the principal took off, which left Hanzo standing in front of the class.
"Well, hello and welcome to the class, Hanzo!" greeted Mrs. Okuni. Then she took out the seating chart and looked through it. "Just give me a second and I will find you a seat. Oh, you can sit next to Masamune. Masamune, will you please raise your hand?" Masamune chewed gum and sat down on his desk lazily. He raised his hand. "Right over there, Hanzo," pointed Mrs. Okuni.
"He sure is quiet," whispered Yukimura. "He hasn't even said a word yet."
"Yeah..," agreed Kiyomasa. "How strange."
Keiji looked at the new kid. Damn, he must be a one of those punk rock guys, he thought to himself. He turned to Toshiie and Motochika and said, "Well, looks like you two aren't the only punk rocks around here anymore." They shrugged their shoulders.
Instead of just writing regular Haiku poems, Mrs. Okuni wanted the class to write a Haiku poem about themselves as a way to introduce themselves to Hanzo. Everyone had fifteen minutes to write their poem. After they did so, Mrs. Okuni decided to do popcorn on sharing their poem. She went first.
"Hello, how are you? My name is Mrs. Okuni. I am the teacher," she said, smiling, and then throwing a ball to Keiji.
Keiji smiled very big and cleared his throat. "Sup, I am Keiji. I love to prank everyone. I will prank you too." After he went, he threw the ball to Yukimura.
Yukimura smiled handsomely. "I'm Yukimura. I am the most handsome one. I like attention." He threw the ball to Mitsunari.
"I'm Mitsunari. I take thing seriously. Do not mess with me," Mitsunari said, throwing the ball to Kiyomasa.
"I'm Kiyomasa. Welcome to our Haiku class. You will have some fun," Kiyomasa said. Then he threw the ball to Sakon.
"I'm Sakon Shima; the valedictorian. I am number one," said Sakon, throwing the ball to Kanetsugu.
"Hello there, fella. My name is Kanetsugu. I shall bring you light," Kanetsugu said, as everyone started laughing. He didn't understand why it was so funny. Hanzo gave him a confused look. Then Kanetsugu threw the ball to Masanori.
"I'm Masanori. We can be really good friends. Hope your day goes well," said Masanori, throwing the ball to Kunoichi.
She caught it, made a show-off face, and said, "I'm Kunoichi. I bet I'm faster than you. I'd like to race you." Hanzo formed a half-smile and chuckled.
Yukimura gasped and whispered, "He finally makes a sound," but it was loud enough for the whole class to hear. Keiji laughed at Yukimura, because Yukimura sucked at lying and whenever he whispered something, everyone could hear him. Then Kunoichi threw the ball to Oichi.
"I am Oichi, girlfriend of Nagamasa. Welcome to this class," she said, smiling. She threw the ball to Magoichi.
"Hey, what's up, Hanzo? My name is Magoichi. We can be buddies," he said, as he threw the ball to Toshiie.
Toshiie laughed before he read. "I am Toshiie. I had a dream, I was King. I woke up, still King." Everyone laughed at his poem, especially Keiji, even though it was not that funny. He continued laughing, annoying the crap out of Mitsunari, since he sat right in front of him. Then, from behind, Mitsunari poked Keiji on the shoulder with his sharpened art pencil, as Keiji gave out a loud shriek, while laughing.
"Be quiet, damn!" Mitsunari shouted, as Keiji kept laughing. It hurt him for a few seconds and then the pain went away. Finally, Keiji stopped laughing. Toshiie threw the ball to Motochika.
"I'm Motochika. I like to play the guitar. So, are you a punk?" he said, smiling, and throwing the ball to Goemon. Hanzo remained quiet.
"They call me a thief," began Goemon, as the whole class began laughing. He 'shhhhed' them. "But my name is Goemon. I will steal from you!" The class laughed again.
"Goemon, that is not very nice of you," commented Mrs. Okuni. "And since the bell is about to ring, give the ball to Hanzo." Goemon threw the ball to him.
He caught it and looked down. "My name is Hanzo….I can make you disappear….Into the shadows…"
The class looked at each other. They laughed and laughed, especially Keiji again. The bell rang and because Keiji thought Hanzo was a cool guy, he was about to ask Hanzo if he wanted to hang out with them for a couple of days until he made some new friends, but when he turned to Hanzo, he was already gone. He thought, how strange!
Afterschool, Keiji's group of friends started to walk to a park nearby to play soccer, except Kanetsugu. He had to work that day. Keiji and his friends are supposed to meet up with Musashi and his friends.
"Man, it sucks that Kanetsugu can't join us," said Yukimura, watching Kanetsugu drive off to work. He had a silver Lamborghini. His parents bought it for him a couple weeks before school started.
"I know, right?" said Kiyomasa, fixing his shirt. "He should just quit his job. He already has everything. He even gets allowances from his parents too."
"He should," said Masanori. "He's like one of the richest kids in school."
"I know!" stormed Keiji, barely realizing that Kanetsugu did have everything. Then he remembered that Kaihime was a rich girl and had everything she wanted too. "What I don't understand is that if he already has everything, why does he keep working for more? And also, Kaihime is hella rich too! Have you guys seen her room?"
"Um, no," they replied. Keiji explained to them that Kaihime's room had four doors which connected to four different rooms. One of the connected rooms was a whole room filled with clothes. One of the other rooms was filled with shoes, belts, and accessories. Another one was a bathroom, and the last one was a room with a giant flat screen t.v. with a stuffed fridge. It even had a couch, a computer, and a laptop too.
"How that conceited bitch is such a rich girl. Just because she's from Beverly Hills, she thinks she's all that," Keiji said, laughing his ass off, as his friends did the same. While walking, they decided to stop by Food4Less. As Keiji walked, he saw Lunchables. He remembered his mom used to buy him those when he was small. "Oh my gosh! My mom used to buy me these!" he shouted, picking one up.
Mitsunari turned and said, "So?"
Keiji laughed. "So I think I will buy one. I remember I use to always try to win but I never do," he said.
Masanori laughed too. "I know! That thing is such a lie!"
After they finished buying their desired snacks, they continued walking and reached the park in no time. They sat on a picnic table waiting for Musashi and his friends. Keiji closed his eyes and prayed, putting his hands together in front of himself. He mouthed words, as his friends laughed at him. Mitsunari called him stupid.
Keiji ripped open the Lunchables box and-BOOM! His eyes couldn't believe what he just saw! He had won! Happiness ran through his body! He jumped up and screamed. "I won! I won!"
Yukimura jumped up too. "Where! Where! I want to see!"
Keiji quickly showed the box to him and looked at it a second time. Then he realized that he actually didn't win.
"No you didn't!" shouted Yukimura, laughing. As soon as Yukimura said that, Keiji bursted out laughing too.
"Oh mother! For a second there, I thought I actually won! Hahahah!" he said, falling to the floor. He could've sworn it said that he won, but it actually didn't. They enjoyed their laugh until Musashi and his friends arrived.
Keiji, Sakon, Mitsunari, Kiyomasa, Yukimura, and Masanori were finally getting warmed up for their game. They were jogging from cone to cone. Musashi, Toshiie, Motochika, and Magoichi were stretching. They did sit-ups, push-ups, and jogged in place. Then they all came together.
"Masanori," began Mitsunari, "Get your ass to Musashi's team." Everyone looked at him, thinking how rude he was. "What are you all lookin' at?"
"Damn, that's hella mean," said Kiyomasa. "Why do you always want to go against Masanori?"
"Man! Why do I always have to be on the other team?" Masanori said to Mitsunari.
"Cuz you're annoying," Mitsunari replied.
"What did I, ever do, to you?" Masanori said, moving his head and smiling at the same time. He knew he could be annoying, but he acted like he didn't do anything because it was fun acting like that.
"You freaken spied on me!" Mitsunari replied, dogging him.
"When?" he responded. Mitsunari looked at him fiercely as he began to explain the time when Masanori spied on him. Keiji smiled, remembering when Masanori spied on Mitsunari.
*FLASHBACK*
It was late at night, around 12:45 am, after Mitsunari and his parents had just finished watching Ju On 2 (The Japanese Version of The Grudge) for the first time. It scared Mitsunari a lot, especially when his parents left upstairs to go sleep. Mitsunari's room was downstairs. He left his lights turned on, and turned to his closet, realizing that it looked similar to the closet from the movie.
It doesn't exist, he told himself. She's only fake.
He laid on his bed, closed his eyes, and tried to sleep. All of a sudden, air swooshed through his window, as he flinched and hid under his covers. He shut his eyes tight for thirty seconds.
What the hell am I doing, he thought to himself. It's just the air.
He slowly poked his head out of the blanket. There was nothing so he got up, walked to the window, and closed it. He started walking back to his bed, but he felt like someone was watching him. He quickly turned his head back to the window. It was pitch black outside. For some reason, he was very scared, although there was nothing outside the window. Then he decided to close the blinds.
There, he thought. I will definitely be safe.
He walked back to his bed and laid down again. He closed his eyes and somehow, he pictured the grudge lady coming out of his closet. He gasped and opened his eyes. He quickly turned to his closet. Slowly, he got up and started walking towards the closet without realizing it.
Don't be in there! Don't be in there! He told himself.
When he got half way, he was just too scared to take another step. Before he knew it, he quickly grabbed a teddy bear on the floor and hugged it real tight. He was trembling as he kept thinking about the grudge lady.
"I want my…Mommy," he whispered, as tears formed in his eyes. He wanted to make a run upstairs to his parent's room, but then he pictured the little boy Toshio waiting for him by the stairs. He got even more paranoid.
Stuck standing in the middle of his room, he shut his eyes tightly and continued hugging the teddy bear. All of a sudden, he pictured his teddy bear turning into the grudge.
"Ahh," he screamed, throwing the teddy bear, as it flew into the closet. He stood still, not knowing what to do now. Then he remembered that his closet had been shut the entire time. He concluded that the grudge lady opened his closet and was trying to get out.
Oh F*ck! She's here! In my room! He shouted in his mind.
He started to run but then he heard something kick his closet. He stopped running.
You know what? He thought.
"I am not a baby!" he shouted. "I am not a chicken either! I am Mitsunari, the brave and fearless man!" As soon as he said that, he picked up his fan from his Martial Arts class and held it up high like a warrior. "Come out, wherever you are!"
Then he heard a laughter; one that he had heard many times before. Suddenly, Masanori popped out from the closet and cracked up onto the floor….
*PRESENT*
"And you freaken told everyone about it when I told you not to!" Mitsunari shouted. "Did you know how much I wanted to kick your ass for scaring the hell out of me?"
Masanori laughed and laughed. "Well, I couldn't help it. It was too funny!" he replied, as Mitsunari started walking to him to karate chop him. Masanori began to run so Mitsunari chased him.
The whole time when Mitsunari told the story from his point of view, everyone else sat down on a picnic table, eating popcorn out of nowhere. They didn't even know how they got the popcorn in the first place, and because of that, Keiji laughed and laughed. Then he remembered that Yukimura had bought it from Food4Less.
"Wow," laughed Sakon, watching Mitsunari chase Masanori. "Look at them go!" The rest also laughed too.
After Mitsunari chased Masanori, they played soccer. Keiji was the one that ended up being on Musashi's team. When Keiji had the ball, he farted every time someone tried to take the ball from him. He thought it was very funny and in the end, his team won 5 to 3.