Chapter Thirty-Two - Real

“Sensei Gabriela, how do you say ‘tatakau’ in English?”

“Ooh, ‘fight’!”

“Fight!”

“Use it in a sentence.”

“I use karate to fight!”

“Good, good.”

I’m not sure if I should be condoning violence, but this is English learning. I talked a bit of my kickboxing to see if I could teach some stuff in English with the class. I punch and I kick and I like to exercise. I mentioned how it is a sport and there are competitions and tournaments around the world and trying to maximize anything that could be used in a regular sentence as well. I let them use their own examples as they wrote sentences about their favorite sports and competitions.

Volleyball seems to be a popular choice as our school’s team is really good in the prefecture. They are aiming for nationals which is insane to think about. Fighting or in this case going up against multiple schools across the nation.

My thoughts are interrupted as I hear two gunshots outside the school. I panic and duck signaling the students to take cover and see if we should barricade the door. The students look bewildered at my actions and continue their work instead. I get back up cautiously as I turn towards the window where I heard the loud noise. I peek as my students murmur and whisper to one another, probably asking each other what I’m doing.

I see the outside world as the street is empty. I blink and the street turns to night time as a blue glow illuminates the rainy alleys. I blink again and the daylight returns. That was weird.

The bell rings and I am not on lunch supervision today. Half the students rush out of the classroom towards the cafeteria while the other half stays in the classroom to eat their homemade lunches. The bento boxes are neatly unwrapped and revealed. The intricate lunches of rice, meat, and vegetables fill a vibrant color to the bleak walls and wooden desks colors of the classroom.

This school is due for renovations in about three years, so there should be some improvements and modernizations in place. I’m not sure if I’ll still be working here by then, but it would be cool to revisit the campus once those changes are implemented.

I walk out of the campus to eat my store bought lunch on a bench overlooking the garden. I’ve been working here for a month now and it has gotten to the point where it is kind of awkward to ask another staff member if we can eat together. I think this is a point of no return, but I do see other staff members eating alone in the staff room or in other various locations across campus. Maybe I should take the initiative and approach one myself. After all, I’m still craving ramen. But I want to go with someone.

That aside, while I’m munching on my bread I think back about the weird experience. It felt like déjà vu, but I’m not sure. The best possible explanation I can think of for this hallucination is an eclipse. Those celestial events can change the daytime of a location for a few minutes. It is wack.

That is the scientific explanation, but according to my phone, there are no eclipses scheduled for today. There is also a magical explanation in which the rifts between two worlds merge together, like a spirit world. That is huge in Japan in terms of religion, myth, and pop culture.

I want to explore more about this, but I still have work, so I’ll leave it for later. Lunch time ends almost abruptly and I go to the staff office to start grading assignments.

The day progresses smoothly then. I think about the rest of my day as the last bell rings. The students start to either head home or meet up for club activities and sports. It is such a well organized system to keep these students busy with extracurriculars that appeal to them. Honestly, I don’t remember if I had something like this in my middle school as I was doing sports mostly. But thinking about it now, maybe I would’ve liked to do some calligraphy. The penmanship and skill put into it is so alluring.

I stretch from my chair and crack my knuckles. I have kickboxing after this as I am not in charge of any clubs. I managed to find a dojo that is super close to my apartment. I go every other weekday from Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays. I still don’t have hobbies lined up for Tuesdays and Thursdays, which is why I want to be productive on those days.

I’m going down the stairs as I wave goodbye to some students. Tremors quickly shake the whole building. I don’t think, but I lunge towards the bottom of the stairs as the other two students lose their balance and also fall. The tremors quickly get more violent as I instinctively shield both students with my body. A piece of concrete falls and I feel my back shatter. I groaned loudly wishing I had a stronger frame. I wonder how much this hospital visit is going to cost.

I feel more debris fall on top of me. But all my mind can concentrate on is keeping these two students safe. The adrenaline keeps me awake enough until I feel the full force of a brick paired with gravity land on my skull.

I awake in a black sea of mold. Like ooze, it clings on me. Seiko and Olive are dragging me back using their weapons to cut and sever any connection to the mold on me without harming me.

I got this.

[Ocean Slug Tail Equipped]

I remember. I didn’t die during the car crash. I was able to live my dream of teaching a little longer. But fate did not have the same plans I had. I died protecting those kids. I’ve been thinking this whole time I could not help my teammates at all. But I’ve always been on top of it. I’ve always been protecting them and bringing the best potential out of them. I will not let the Ocean Slugs down.