[OPEN] The First Day of Class

Chiharu slides the paper airplane into her book and uses it to mark her page as she puts the closed book down on to her desk before grabbing her notebook and pencil.

and don't interrupt me while I'm speaking,

I look over to the paper airplane. It seems like a pretty likely candidate for what might interrupt him while he's speaking. I might regret throwing it if I wasn't interested to see where the little plane might adventure from where it was now.
Oh.
Said "little airplane" has been flattened and will never adventure anywhere again. This is more saddening a realization than it probably should be. However, my frown fades as I return my attention to Tachibana.

After reading Itsuki's note that had been thrown back, the teacher came barging in telling everybody to quiet down. This class seems very lively, aside from the girl who's always reading her book.  She seemed very reserved.  He thought that he should just try talking to Itsuki after class was over, and with that pulled out his notebook and started copying down what the teacher was writing down.  He'd wanted to make a good first impression; after he thought about it, he didn't even know his teachers name.  He just knew the number of the room he'd been assigned to.  Oh well; he guessed he'd just have to introduce himself to him after class.

For the next twenty minutes, Takeshi quickly narrates the very basics of the science lesson he was supposed to teach. Occassionally, he takes his phone out of his pocket and checks the display before moving on with the explanation. It's obvious to everyone that his mind is elsewhere. 'And that's more or less it' he finishes off and puts the marker back in his briefcase. 'As promised, you're free to do as you wish now. Just please don't leave the room until the bell rings so that you don't disturb the other classes' he says before heading outside without even saying a proper goodbye to the class.

<So we have a little more than half an hour left>
She looks around as the room begins to animate yet again.
<Half an hour of this...>
*sigh*
She proceeds to stack her books and make sure all of her stuff is ready to go before turning in her desk, leaning her head against the wall, and closing her eyes.
<I'll wait a little while, maybe 5 minutes, for Tachibana to be clear of the halls and then leave. Where would I go? I'd have to come back for the next class. Whatever I decide, it'll be better than here>

After Haru finishes taking down the notes, she wonders why the teacher was acting that way. From the way that he came here barely prepared, gave quick and basic explanations, and kept checking the display on his phone, possibly looking at the time, and left the class on such a short notice, she could tell that he was in a hurry and had to be somewhere. And from the way he was disorganized and lacking hygene. "It couldn't be a meeting. Maybe he has a date or something?" she thought, then she remembered that he told everyone to stay quiet. Of course, that's just paying your superiors basic respect, but he seemed like he had some sort of headache or something. "Could he be dealing drugs?", she thought. "Don't be ridiculous. Quit jumping to conclusions."

"Well that seemed rushed." he mumbled to himself.

<I wonder if the teachers here are always informal like that. I don't think that's it though, maybe he just had an important meeting or something. Then again, I guess a 20 minute period is a nice way to start out at my new school. I should write back to Itsuki>

Sanzo wrote on the piece of paper "Hey, I didn't realize if you saw me back then. I was just trying to be friendly." He started to right a bit smaller "Does the teacher always leave early like this?" He tossed the note back over toward Itsuki, and then glimpsed around the room. The girl who had been reading earlier didn't look pleased at all.

Maki wasn't particularly amused by the teacher's so-called 'lecture'. Really, she thought he was pathetic - regardless of what his excuse was, he couldn't afford himself to waste the students' time like this. Then again, it wasn't like she was really being taught anything useful during science class anyway, so she didn't particularly care. The girl leaned back in her chair, wondering what to do with her newly discovered spare time. Everyone appeared to be talking among themselves, so perhaps she could find someone to alleviate her boredom as well. Maki's elongated pupils carefully scanned around the room, looking for an appropriate conversational partner. Chiharu was always an acceptable substitute, but the main course was most definitely Haru. That girl still held a lot of secrets, and Maki certainly enjoyed peeling the layers of a person's soul one by one until she exposed its dirt-covered core.

The girl shifted her body towards Haru slightly before smiling at her. "Don't worry, most classes aren't as pointless as this one!" she giggled. "You're Haru, right? I'm Maki! Nice to meet ya!"

She turns towards Maki and says "Nice to meet you too.", still feeling a sense of deceit from the girl, but decided to play along.

Maki didn't exactly expect to be given the cold shoulder right away, especially considering how annoyingly friendly everyone around her appeared to be. It didn't turn her off, quite the opposite - it made Haru even more intriguing for her. The girl knew she needed to say something to keep the conversation going, but had some trouble thinking of an appropriate subject for a first-time meeting - after all, it wasn't exactly she was very experienced in those. Ultimately, she decided to go with the same thing Chiharu had asked her when they first met. "So... Where did you transfer from? If it's not a secret, of course!"

"If it's not a secret?" she thought to herself. "What's that supposed to mean? What is she trying to do? Is she trying to find a secret of mine? She looks even shadier by the second." She was very careful with the information she gave her and responded "Oh, I went to another school in town, but it didn't suit my needs. Where did you go to?"

Maki noticed how vague the girl was being and wondered if it was deliberate. If it was, then that was even more reason to stick around Haru. So far, no one had managed to see through the lizard girl's carefully fabricated persona. Not that she could blame them, of course - her disguise was pretty much perfect, or so she thought. Perhaps Haru was way more intelligent or perceptive than she let on? Maki could certainly use someone like that. "Ahaha~ So you're a local! Lucky you!" she laughed. "I was homeschooled up until now! Before I moved here, I used to live in Ōtsuki... Which I'm sure you haven't heard of. It's a small village in the middle of a forest that's about 200 km from Kōchi!"

Of course, that was a complete and utter lie, yet Maki tried to appear extra-convincing when saying it. After all, she assumed that if she revealed something about herself, perhaps she could get Haru to ease up as well. Naturally, that would have been the worst possible moment for her to be caught lying.

Haru has red enough books on human anatomy to know certain facial cues that people subconsciously make when they're lying, such as when people try too hard to seem truthful, like Maki was doing. She responded "Oh, really? That must be pretty cool."

"Nope, not really!" Maki laughed, completely oblivious to the fact that Haru had seen through her, though still noting her cold attitude. "Most of the population consisted of old people... Very prejudiced old people!" she smiled and pointed at her eyes, hoping her conversational partner would get the hint. "Thankfully, things are different here, for the most part! There's still people who give me weird looks, but at least no one has called me an alien and tried to dissect me yet! Wait... You're not disturbed by my eyes, are you? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out..." Maki spoke out and turned her head away. It was time to play the 'misunderstood little girl' card in order to steal some sympathy.

"She's trying to soften me up so I'll tell her my secrets." she thought, then responded "Don't worry. If I was easily freaked out, I wouldn't have come to a place like this."

"Well, yeah, but it's not like most schools for disabled kids have a... lizard girl among their students!" Maki laughed, trying to play the last part off as if it were joke. Though, if she was to be fair, it really was untrue - she wasn't technically a lizard, after all. While still trying to avoid eye contact with Haru due to her 'embarrassment', she used the opportunity to look around the room and make sure nobody was listening in. If the conversation went south, Maki wanted to be sure she could get out of it without lasting consequences to her reputation.

"Lizard girl?" she thought. "She's obviously referring to her reptilian eyes, but she's left subtle hints in her speech before, she might be getting at something. Could she be- ugh, you read way too many comic books, Haru." She responded "Well, I don't mind." then smiled.

Maki noticed Haru's smile with the corner of her eye, so she quickly turned around and smiled back. Her mental disorder made it difficult for her to figure out if that reaction was genuine, so the best she could do was accept it as such and hope for the best. "Thanks! That means more than you know!" she closed her eyes, faking contentment. After deciding that the best course of action would be to steer the conversation in a different direction, Maki turned her head and looked out the window. "So, have you had a chance to explore the school yet?"

Haru knew that Maki was going to offer to give her a tour, when she'll actually be interrogating her for secrets. She decides to go along with it and see where it went. She responds "Actually, I just got here yesterday. I haven't seen much of the school."

The doors to the classroom practically burst open, a rather rushed looking Ikina-Sensei came into the room and walked over to the desk
"Sorry I'm late, My alarm-clock appears to be broken and as such I'm kinda late. Now let's see what we have here..." she said as she opened her class book and then scanned the room, then back at her book, then back at the room once more. She then turned and as she walked back out of the classroom she said
"I'm ummm....I'm in the wrong classroom...you guys are next period."
With that she was gone almost as quickly as she'd entered.

Sanzo Sadow wrote:"Well that seemed rushed." he mumbled to himself.  

<I wonder if the teachers here are always informal like that.  I don't think that's it though, maybe he just had an important meeting or something.  Then again, I guess a 20 minute period is a nice way to start out at my new school. I should write back to Itsuki>

Sanzo wrote on the piece of paper "Hey, I didn't realize if you saw me back then. I was just trying to be friendly." He started to right a bit smaller "Does the teacher always leave early like this?" He tossed the note back over toward Itsuki, and then glimpsed around the room.  The girl who had been reading earlier didn't look pleased at all.

Itsuki picked up the paper and read it. "You can just ome over and talk now," he called to Sanzo.

Sanzo stared at his hands for a bit, twiddling his tumbs while partly listening to the conversation between the new... boy and another girl? He was still questioning if it was a boy or a girl, but it didn't really matter to him that much anyway. He thought their conversation didn't seem to be going anywhere, but he was only half listening anyway. Itsuki called Sanzo over, and Sanzo thought to himself "well if that wasn't more of a cue than anything." and scooted his seat over beside Itsuki's desk.

"How are you doing? That was a strange class, I think." Sanzo said, attempting to start a conversation. Every once in a while he would glance at Itsuki's missing arm, but he tried to not make it obvious.

Itsuki pretended not to notice the glances at his missing arm. "I'm fine. That was a strange class. Guess something was bothering him," said Itsuki leaning back in his chair, "How are you?"

I momentarily wonder whether we're to stay here to avoid disturbing other classes as he said, or to avoid questioning as to whether or not he really made us do anything with the class. Oh well.
I want to make another paper airplane, but can't quite think of what to write... oh, right; this would be the opportunity presenting itself, wouldn't it?
"Are you a boy or a girl?"
The paper airplane flies near the person I'm asking (Haru) and hits the side of "it's" desk, falling to the floor below, rather than landing atop the desk as I had intended. Oh well.

Haru notices the note on the ground. She picks it up and reads it, then sighs. She writes "I won't lie, I'm a girl." then folds it back into a paper airplane and sends it to Sora.