The Mask Shatters
Chapter 2
"They must not know, however… This must be my secret."
Arthur could only stare at the man, who sat menacingly at his desk. A desk that truly seemed out of place with the surroundings they both found themselves in. Arthur took a step back, bumping into the wall directly behind him. He gasped and jumped forward, not understanding that he was in no danger.
The man sat up in his seat and clasped his hands together, watching Arthur with a never dying expression of giddy eagerness. An eagerness that looked very sadistic and unwelcoming. He never closed his mouth, and his teeth were barred at all times throughout the moments Arthur and the man exchanged glances in the unprecedented staredown.
But eventually Arthur lowered his posture when he came to the realization that if he was in any danger, he would've been harmed by now.
Arthur stepped forward, gulping as he moved, and spoke up. He tried to sound stalwart, but his voice betrayed him..
"Er…. Wh-who are you?" He spoke in English, eliciting a delighted chuckle from the man.
"You may speak to me in your mother tongue, or you may speak to me in the tongue of the rising sun. It makes no difference to me. Whatever is easiest for you." His voice was deep, menacing, and sinister. "It is a pleasure, nonetheless, to meet you."
"It is?" Arthur asked, again in English. "Is… is this a dream? I don't remember coming here… Wait! More importantly, who are you?!"
The man chuckled and leaned forward onto his elbows, lowering a hand to the desk and tapping away with his fingers. The small thuds echoed in the silence of the room, and served Arthur's discomfort even more.
"This." The man said, motioning to his blue surroundings. "Is my Velvet Room. I am it's proprietor. My name is Igor." He said. He took a breath, not even waiting for Arthur to catch up before adding "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. This room is a room that only those bound by a contract may enter." He said, as if it was common knowledge. Arthur's eyes widened, unsure of what the ramifications of all that meant.
"This room is a reflection of your heart." Igor said, watching Arthur for any movement. Arthur didn't move, nor did it even look like he was breathing. He was simply confused, dumbfounded, and most importantly:
Frightened.
"Hrmmm." Igor hummed. "To put it simply: The state of your heart is reflected upon this room. To think a morgue is what you envision… You must truly be dead inside."
"A morgue?" Arthur echoed, and suddenly he started looking around. The walls, the autopsy tables, the tool cabinets. Blue, yet mysterious at the same time. His eyes did not deceive him, it was indeed a morgue. The presence of the tables and the tubes for corpses did not lie. "This… This doesn't make any sense… This has to be a dream… This has to be…." Arthur started murmuring, his breathing quicking. As he beheld the room around him, he couldn't help but notice something felt off about himself as well. He felt a tightness around his hands and neck, and so he glanced down at his hands. To his great surprise, he found he was donning thin white gloves.
"What the?!" He gasped, looking at the sudden change. He noticed his arms were clad in black sleeves and he forced himself to inspect the rest of his body.
A buttoned up black coat with a white undershirt coupled with black slacks and, finally, shiny pointed black shoes.
Arthur stared, with wide eyes and massive confusion, at what he wore, and then thought of what Igor said only moments ago.
"Just like a corpse in a morgue… right…?" Arthur asked him, not taking his eyes off of the outfit he had donned in his sleep. Igor chuckled.
"My, you are perceptive…"
"Then what does it mean?" Arthur asked, turning about and looking at the weird man named Igor. "I'm not one to pay merit to dreams, but I've been having a lot of bad ones lately. What does this one mean?" He asked quickly, unsure if he should be worried or not. This one was the most real one he's had, and he knows as much. It frightened him to no end.
"Whether this is all a dream, or in fact a reality only you can understand and perceive, is a conclusion you'll need to come to on your own, at your own discretion.." Igor said, waving off the questions Arthur was throwing at him. "But I summoned you here for a reason, and I will get that across before you soon depart…"
Arthur slowly lowered his arms and looked at him, unsure of the meaning behind his words. He had concluded this was a dream, and none of it would hold any real merit.
But it still frightened him how real this dream seemed, looked, and felt.
He could actually feel the fabric of his outfit.
The frigid air burning cold onto his lips.
The fear-inducing stare of the man who called himself "Igor".
"To put it simply, dear visitor, for there is no need to understand it all at this moment in time..." Igor started, ignoring the obvious disbelief in Arthur's eyes. He leaned forward and rested his chin on his clasped hands, watching Arthur's every movement, and studied him for every emotion he expressed. "You are bound to a horrible fate. A fate that cannot be overcome in your current state."
Arthur looked at him, not understanding what he meant, but listened anyways for he had no real choice in the matter. Igor knew this well, and continued on with his words.
"But… that does not mean you cannot overcome it in time. Fate is not absolute. She can be cheated, and the thread she weaves can instead be woven by your own hands. You just need to grasp it." He said, sounding as if there were some form of malice in his words. But with the way he has been speaking, Arthur concluded that it is not malice, but instead simply the natural tone of his voice. He relaxed a little with that knowledge. "You must achieve salvation. Salvation against fate. Only by doing so, can you weave your own destiny away from what awaits you in the coming future."
Igor paused, and watched Arthur further as he took in what Igor said. At first, Arthur just looked at him. His gaze lingered, and then it was broken as he gazed around the blue hued room. The blue tables, the blue tool cabinets, the blue walls. Then Arthur gazed down at what he was wearing, and he suddenly couldn't help but snicker.
Igor raised a brow at this, but allowed the laughter to sprout and grow.
Arthur snickered on, and it quickly developed into a belly laugh as he came to his own realization.
The realization that should've dawned on him at the very beginning.
He snorted and chuckled for moments further before calming down, wiping a tear away from his eyes as he addressed the dream man.
"OK. OK. This is a funny dream alright. Scared me at first, but I think this dream is better than the alternatives I could've been facing." Arthur chuckled, having a seat on the table he woke on. Igor only watched, and listened to the disbelief pouring from Arthur's mouth. "But this is an interesting prospect… Let's say, for a moment, that I do face a terrible fate in the future. That this dream really holds merit even though, lets face it, dreams do not. There is no scientific evidence to support that dreams can predict futures… But let's say they do for a moment…"
Igor listened further and waited as Arthur paused. Arthur was waiting for a response. One that never came. He took it as his cue to continue.
"How does this "salvation" prevent my supposed fate?" He asked. "Furthermore, how can I achieve this concept you speak of?"
Igor's unsettling smile didn't change. It's as if someone cut his lips off, and forever forced him to adopt this smile. But he did nothing more. Only smile. Watching Arthur as Arthur watched him.
"You do not need to understand it, nor believe in it, for now. You have plenty of time. But remember my words well: Fate is cruel. As your status stands, you cannot change what lays in wait for you. Only by treading the path to salvation can you stand up against Fate, and take into your own hands your destiny."
Arthur nodded, chuckling at the prospect of "rebelling against fate". He thought it was a silly concept, and that only something that fantastical would exist in a dream. Arthur was content to believe in his science, and leave these dreams no merit. He looked up at Igor from his chortles and just shook his head.
"What an odd dream…" He mumbled, smiling all the while. However he much preferred silly dreams over what he's been having as of late.
"The night wanes, and soon you will awaken. We will meet again, sometime soon, when I deem you ready for the first step." Igor said, waving a hand at him in dismissal. He said no more, had no reason to say more. He simply watched as Arthur began to feel a deep drowsiness set in.
He swayed in his spot, eyes lowering in sudden exhaustion, and he rose his hands to his view only to see blurry white gloved palms shaking.. He tried to stand, but the sudden exhaustion overtook him. He stumbled to the floor, falling to his knees with a heavy huff.
He tried to look up at Igor, but Igor offered no assistance. Only watching in what looked like amusement.
Moments later, his sight became nothing but darkness.
His eyes opened, and the dark of the room greeted him.
Nothing but the darkness that initially greeted him when he first was introduced to his room.
He groaned, and shuffled under the covers. He did not want to get up, and instead just laid there. Eyes open, breathing shallow.
His thoughts did not exist for a moment. He was quiet, both physically and mentally, for the first time in a long, long time.
A blessing it was, and he smiled internally beneath the mask of indifference he held outwardly.
But why did he act indifferent even now?
No one was around to see him.
That was, until the door opened. Light shined into the room, and for a moment all remained still. Arthur recoiled in place, rolling over on his side to avoid the glare of the lamps and ceiling lights. He huffed, and closed his eyes.
"Now, now, Arthur. I know this is probably the first time in a while you've had a peaceful night's rest….. Buuuuuuuut….. You gotta get up, kid." A familiar voice called from the doorway.
Arthur mumbled something incomprehensive and rolled to face the familiar voice. He knew who it was, but for some reason he needed confirmation.
The lights flicked on in his room, and Arthur got what he wanted.
It was indeed Himura.
"So yesterday was real, huh…. Not some fever dream…" Arthur realized. "It was too good to be true, but here I am…"
Arthur's internal smile sprouted into the physical world, and Himura smiled in turn.
"Eh. Is it time already?" Arthur's groggy voice called to Himura, and Himura nodded.
"I called the school already and confirmed our appointment with the principal. It's late notice, you getting here, but he said there are reasons behind it all. I don't know what that means but that's what he said." Himura shook his head, backing out of the room. "Your uniform's in the laundry. Get yourself dressed, we'll get you a backpack or a duffle bag later." He said as he walked from the room, leaving Arthur sat up in bed, groggy yet happy at the same time.
He threw the sheets off himself and leaned off the bed, only to be greeted once again by Himura's distant voice.
"Hey! You a coffee guy?" He called out.
Arthur responded with "Yeah!"
"Alright well get your as-errr…. Get out here! I made a full pot!" He responded, pausing mid sentence to stop himself from saying something Arthur really wouldn't have minded him saying. He shook his head and got out of bed to ready himself for the day.
After making his bed and grabbing his clothes from the laundry he donned himself in the uniform of his school. He couldn't help but look at himself in a mirror and cringe at what the uniform looked like. Plaid pants and a black, button up shirt along with red buttons and the symbol of the school on the left breast.
He couldn't help but wince at the uniform, so much so that it almost made him think the uniforms back in America were actually good looking.
He buttoned his sleeves, looking over each one for a button he may have missed. But then it dawned on him that he was indeed forgetting something important. He was a senior back in the United States schooling system, therefore he would be - what the Japanese call - a third year here. At the school he was attending, he was told on the forms that he would have to wear a pin to denote his grade.
He looked around for the pin, unsure of where he had left it. He remembered he had taken it off before putting the uniform on and couldn't figure out where he had set it. He checked the bathroom floor, the countertop, the back of the toilet, but he couldn't find it at all.
Then he looked at the mirror, and a small annoyed blush burned onto his cheeks.
It was on his collar the whole time. He had never actually taken it off.
As he readied himself further, he could hear his guardian calling him from the living room.
"Arthur! Arthur hurry up, the coffee's gettin' cold!"
Arthur looked at himself one last time in the mirror and shook his head. The uniform looked so stupid, especially on him. But he had no choice. He knew he had to make a good first impression on the staff, especially the principal.
With one last disgusted look, he turned the lights off and exited the bathroom just in time to see Himura walk up with a coffee mug.
"You were taking so long I thought I'd bring it to you. Gulp it down fast." He told him, handing him the lukewarm mug. He wasn't kidding when he said the coffee was getting cold. "If you don't, we're gonna run late. Finish that and we'll head to the car."
Arthur looked at the contents of the mug and swished it around, taking a good whiff of the aroma as he checked it out. It smelled decent, and lukewarm coffee was OK to him, but he sullenly wished it was fresh. Nothing beats fresh coffee.
He wanted to ask Himura how long ago it was made, but he relented. He figured it didn't really matter, he'd be leaving in a few minutes regardless so he took a sip and watched as Himura moved to grab his keys from the coffee table. As he picked over the number of keys on it, he grunted and looked back to Arthur, who was still standing still where Himura had left him, coffee mug in hand.
An inquisitive stare was on his face, and Himura said "By the way, the school you're attending? I figured out its name…"
Arthur continued to watch him, and in the end wasn't surprised at all to hear the name despite its slight familiarity.
"It's Shujin. Shujin Academy."
They finally arrived outside Shujin, with Himura looking over his phone at some GPS map. When they stopped at the bottom of a set of stairs leading up to a gate, Himura looked sharply between the building and his phone. He was trying to confirm this was the place.
Arthur just looked past him at the sign directly in front of them before cutting his eyes back at Himura.
The sign itself said "Shujin Academy".
Arthur chose to stay silent, not wanting to look a smartalec to his guardian.
Himura himself gave a silent huff and put the phone away, nodding in confirmation as he looked over the empty street and up the quiet set of stairs. Nobody was around, and it seemed class was in session.
"This looks to be the place." Himura said, crossing his arms. "Looks quaint…" He commented.
"Yeah…" Arthur agreed, stepping forward towards the stairs. He placed a foot at the bottom step and looked up, beholding the windowed building in his view. He paused and looked back at Himura, a question ringing in his mind. "Umm… Where are we, exactly?"
"Aoyama-Itchome. Station's right down the road…. Er, that reminds me. You'll be taking the train starting tomorrow. I can't be driving you back and forth everyday, I had to call in a day off just for this." Himura admitted, finding a place by Arthur's side as they looked up at the academy. A couple people walked by the glass doors, but Arthur couldn't see if they were students or faculty. Probably faculty, considering they were the only people he's seen so far. "My place of work? They don't like us doing that." Himura added.
"Right." Arthur said.
Himura cut his eyes to Arthur briefly before ascending the stairs, beckoning Arthur to follow. "Come on, let's go introduce ourselves to the principal. He's expecting you."
"Yes, I suppose he is." Arthur echoed Himura, following him up the steps. "Didn't he approve my exchange personally?"
"To my knowledge. To my knowledge." Himura answered, looking around to see if he could spot anyone. "Class's definitely in session. Dammi- Errr...Well… Dang It. We're late."
Arthur chuckled but did nothing more. They were right in front of the doors when Himura stopped him.
"Hey, before we go in…" Himura stopped Arthur with a flat hand. "You have money, correct?" He asked.
Arthur, knowing his parents didn't supply him with anything he could exchange, shook his head almost immediately. Himura's eyes widened "Your parents didn't even give you American money for exchange?" Himura asked, shocked. Arthur just looked at him, shrugging. It wasn't anything unusual to him. "Kid…."
"Let's just go meet the principal." Arthur stopped him, walking by Himura as he stood there, dumbfounded with the revelation.
"Arthur!" He called out to the teen. With a hand on the glass door, Arthur turned around to face Himura. He fully expected him to say something about his parents, but instead the man pulled out his wallet and handed him two two-thousand yen banknotes. "Here. I can spare some pocket change. Just keep in mind two thousand yen isn't a lot like two thousand dollars are in America. Get yourself some lunch, and maybe stop at the underground mall and pick up a bag or something. Got it?" He told him.
Arthur looked at the banknotes, and thanked Himura before pocketing the money.
They had entered the school and it was quiet. Almost eerily so for a school. But as it stood, class was in session. They matched the silence of the school so as to not disturb the teachers. The desk at the front pointed them towards the principal's office and even called him upon their check in to alert him of their arrival.
When they arrived at the principal's office, Arthur couldn't help but feel a bit shaken standing outside his door. Himura noticed the sudden hesitation and nudged him forward with a calm smile. "Come on, kid."
They opened the door, and inside were two men. One sitting at a desk at the other end in front of a window and surrounded by bookshelves and papers, the other standing by him. The one sat at the desk was a rather large, rather obese man with fat overflowing past his shirt collar - It almost looked like the shirt was constricting him - with a shiny bald head and mustard yellow coat, a white undershirt, and a red bowtie.
The other man was a much slimmer, much older gentleman with white hair, a blue checkered jacket concealing a black undershirt, large rimmed glasses, and jeans with black boots. It seemed as if he were talking with the obese man before they had entered, as if they had caught them midconversation. The older man coughed into his hand, and said "Speak of the devil."
The obese man sighed and bade them to enter. Arthur and Himura fully entered the room, with the latter shutting the door behind them.
"An hour late on your first day…? How unbecoming." The obese man said, lowering his head into his clasped hands. Himura chuckled.
"Apologies, principal. Traffic was, how do you put it? Er…. Unbecoming." Himura stated, crossing his arms and smiling as the two men looked at them.
"That's not how you use that word." Arthur said, taking a step forward and bowing to the principal. "I humbly apologize for being late. I know this all is on short notice."
The principal smiled. "So they do teach manners over in the west. How quaint." He said. "Arthur Frederick Williams, correct? Let me be the first to welcome you to Shujin Academy, if not Tokyo and Japan itself."
Arthur rose up and thanked the man for his welcome.
The man looked at him for a moment before gesturing to himself. "I am Principal Kobayakawa. Not sure if you knew that already, though."
The older man then stepped forward and placed a hand on his heart. He looked very annoyed.
"And I am your homeroom teacher, Mr. Sakutaro. I would say it's a pleasure, but you're entering at a rather…. Difficult time." He said, crossing his arms and leaning on the principal's desk. "Not to mention being an hour late… Do you know how difficult it is for a teacher to leave his classroom alone at a time like this? Who knows what those kids are up to now…"
"Sakutaro-sensei, it is a pleasure to meet you too." Arthur bowed in his direction, but rolled his eyes when they could no longer be seen. He could already tell he wasn't going to like Sakutaro. "I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused…"
"I suppose it can't be helped." Sakutaro waved him off.
"Yes, there were many difficulties with your paperwork as well as the bureaucracy of getting your transfer set up not to mention the difficulty of getting your parents on the phone. You may have been late by an hour, but technically you've been late nearly a quarter of a year. There were faults on both ends."
"O-of course." Arthur agreed, donning a mask of subjugation instead of defending himself. If he had said anything otherwise, it would no doubt hurt him in the long run.
"Well, Williams-kun, I'm sure you're just eager to get to class, so we'll get this done with as quickly as possible." The principal said, placing a small stack of papers on the desk in front of them "I'm sure Mr. Sakutaro wants to get back to his class as well. Here, firstly Williams, sign this paper. This is your agreement to uphold the rules of this school, don the uniform at all times while class is in session, and other small agreements to both the student body and the faculty. Failure to uphold any of these could mean your immediate expulsion. We do not play around here at Shujin Academy."
"Especially with what's been going on…" Sakutaro mumbled under his breath, but Arthur heard it nonetheless. He gulped, and silently signed the paper presented to him.
"As for the rest, these go to your guardian, Arinori-san. Please sign them in here, in front of me… Now, Williams-kun…" The principal reached into his desk and pulled out a small card with Arthur's picture on it. "This is your student ID. Keep this on you at all times. You are living in Shibuya, correct? This doesn't just signal you as a student here, it'll also allow you to transfer and ride the trains between Shibuya and Aoyama-Itchome freely. Don't lose it. If you do, you're gonna have to pay for a new one. Understood?"
Arthur took it and bowed. "Understood."
"Good." The principal said. "Mr. Sakutaro will show you to your class. Please follow him. I expect good things, Williams-kun. Your conduct at your American school as well as your fluency in Japanese, knowledge of Japanese history, and your perceived eagerness to learn more made you an excellent choice for this school."
"Thank you." Arthur said with a small smile. Himura smiled too before stepping forward towards the desk. Mr. Sakutaro stepped past Arthur, beckoning him to follow.
"Good luck, kid." Himura told Arthur. He then picked up a nearby pen and looked over the papers he had to sign. "OK, so where do I sign?"
The walk to class was a silent one. The teacher didn't say much, but did keep glancing back at Arthur to make sure he was still there. Arthur always met his eye when he looked back, and the teacher would huff before turning to face his own direction. Arthur's gleeful smile faded fast with this hostility. After a few sets of stairs, they arrived on the first floor. It wasn't long before they arrived at the doors to Classroom 1-C.
Looking through the door's window, Arthur could see all the students inside. Most were chatting amongst themselves, playing little games like tiny paper football or on little hand held devices. Amongst everyone ignoring their school obligations, there was one student who sat off in a corner desk, reading what looked like a study guide of some sorts.
Arthur didn't have enough time to get a good look at her, as his teacher suddenly piped up behind him.
"Get a good enough view?" He asked Arthur, breaking Arthur from his gaze into the classroom. "This is my classroom. See what you've done to it?" The teacher sternly remarked. "Without the teacher, there is no order. So think about that next time you pull me out of my damn classroom."
Arthur just looked at him, blinked, and apologized with a bow.
"I….I'm sorry, sensei…"
There was nothing more he could really do, even with his aversion to the rude behavior this teacher was exhibiting.
"Hmph. At least you have the stones to apologize." The teacher admitted. He looked at Arthur a moment longer before shaking his head. Arthur had maintained his bow. "Come on, get up. Let's get to it." Sakutaro sighed, opening the door to the classroom. Suddenly everyone went silent. The games ended, and everyone had looked up from what they were holding or reading.
Even the student in the corner had looked up from her study guide, looking for who had just entered the room..
"Just like in America." Arthur couldn't help but notice everyone's behavior.
Arthur just looked at everyone, even after Mr. Sakutaro had entered the room. He turned and looked at Arthur and beckoned him further. "They're not gonna bite. C'mon."
Arthur closed the door behind him and followed the teacher to the front of the room.
"I must look like a goddamn idiot, not even a bookbag…"
Mr. Sakutaro looked to everyone for questions. But everyone was quiet. Anyone who had their phones out had quickly hidden them, the paper football was gone, the ipads and switches were gone. The only things that remained were books and guides. But no one had a question. Either everyone knew what was going on, or Mr. Sakutaro had a tight grip on the class whenever he was around.
The teacher suddenly started coughing, a loud fractious fit that Arthur recoiled from. It was out of the blue, and even a few students flinched. But when the teacher had calmed down he just looked at Arthur and shook his head before addressing the class.
"Since he's not gonna do it…" He announced outloud, inciting a few snickers from the students. "I'm sure there's only one other person in the class who actually knows who this is, so for those of - the rest of you - who don't know:" He gestured to Arthur with both hands. "This is the American foreign exchange student, Arthur Frederick Williams. He's going to be joining our class from here forward, and for those of you wondering, he's late into the year because of some difficulty with his paperwork and the transfer."
Arthur looked over the class, and most of the students wore the same uniform. It was to be expected, but one student - the student in the corner - didn't. Instead, she wore a black vest with a white turtleneck under it. The only thing she wore that looked remotely Shujin was the plaid skirt she wore over black pantyhose with boots that rose up to her ankles. She even had a french-braided headband in her hair, which was brown and was styled in a distinct bob cut.
Arthur blinked. He wasn't sure if he's ever seen a bob cut before.
She was watching him closely, as was everyone else. So closely that he in fact felt a little unnerved by her. Moreso since her eyes were an odd color from everyone else. They were the color of a frightening red.
"...In fact, if it wasn't for his principal back in America, he probably would've started this year as a lowly first year… That's how difficult everything managed to be." The teacher added, shrugging off Arthur's silence. He looked at the American and told him "Say something to the class please. I'm sure they're just dying to know who you are."
Arthur looked between him and the class and asked "What do I say?"
"Tell them who you are, where you came from, and if someone asks a question answer it. But for God's sake don't take too long. I got a class to run." Sakutaro quietly answered, doing his best to avoid the class from hearing him.
"R-right." Arthur stepped forward, crossing his arms and looking between random students in the room. "Er, he already told you my name…. I… come from Washington state. For those of you who don't know, that's the state on the top left corner of the map, right under Canada. I lived right outside Seattle actually. Roosevelt High School was where I went prior to coming here.."
The class began murmuring, giving him pause as voices piped up from around the classroom. He couldn't even finish his sentence.
"His Japanese is pretty good…"
"Never heard of Washington…"
"Is Washington a state? Isn't that their capital?"
"I thought their capital wasn't a state, but actually a city?"
"Didn't even know he was coming…" Was among the few things heard. Nonetheless, undaunted, he continued on with his introduction to himself when the teacher quieted everyone down.
"I'm probably a complete alien to you all, but I don't bite. I can speak both English and Japanese with incredible fluency. If you have any questions, feel free to ask."
"Say something in English!" Someone shouted from across the room. Everything started snickering, and Arthur looked for the source. He couldn't find it. What he did find was a sheepish feeling as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Er, OK…" Arthur spoke in Japanese. He then coughed into his fist and said, in perfect English "Something in English."
The class started laughing, all except for the student in the corner.
"Oh my God, he actually did it!"
"Uh, what did he say?"
"I'm not good with English, but I think he said something about English.."
"How boring…"
Arthur smiled and bowed, the teacher just looked at him and scowled for his pandering to the jokes.
"Say something else!" Someone else had shouted. "English please!"
Arthur rose and chuckled, thinking of something he could say from his native language. After a few moments he thought of just the thing.
"Err…. Peter.. Piper… picked a…. Peck of pickled peppers?" Arthur said almost without stumbling.
The class started laughing again, the majority finding much enjoyment in their new English speaking classmate. Most of them, while they were taking English classes, didn't fully understand what he was saying. One student in the class knew though, and she simply shook her head at his jokes. Arthur noticed this, but chose not to comment or even engage. He was proving himself a welcome addition the rest of the class and that's all he needed.
That's all he really cared about at this moment.
"Alright, alright, that's enough. Last thing we need is another jokester…" Sakutaro commented. "If that's all, go ahead and have a seat… Err… What seat is open?"
Mr. Sakutaro looked around the room for an open seat. There was only one, in the middle row, four seats towards the back. Beside a male student with really short black hair and braces. Sakutaro smiled and pointed that seat out.
"Over there, that'll be your seat, understood?"
"Understood. Thank you Sakutaro-sensei…"
"Enough with that "sensei" bullcrap. Just call me Mr. Sakutaro, that's fine enough for me. Now go have a seat."
Arthur frowned at the maintained hostility, but complied nonetheless. He passed the students, all of them watching him and snickering at both his words from earlier and his interaction with the teacher. The student with braces was smiling as he watched him approach but did nothing else.
When he took a seat, he looked around, and it seemed everyone had stopped paying him any mind. The teacher was back in control of the room in its entirety.
"Now, I'm sorry all for that…. Distraction… But let's get back on track before class ends, yes?" He announced, pulling up a textbook from his desk. "We left off on…"
Arthur sighed. The beginning of his school year had finally, truly, begun.
"Oh, and can someone share their textbooks with Williams today? Thank you very much."
Post-Chapter Author's Note
Proof read and edited by a friend named Frozen Foe on my Discord server.