“Hey Takumi! How’s life with the gaijin?” Shou asked as David put his bag away. Shou, the most outgoing person in the class, liked to test out new English he picked up from TV shows on David. “How long did it take you to wake him up this morning?”
‘Great, so Takumi complains about me to his friends,’ David thought as he tried not to let it show in his expression.
“Oh, not too long, you know, he’s great. David’s Japanese is improving really fast,” Takumi said quickly, trying to derail the conversation before it did any more damage. He threw David a quick glance as David’s jaw muscles tightened.
“Hey, that’s great, now if only he’d lose some weight and get better at sports. He’s been killing us in all the inter-class competitions,” Naoto said bluntly. Leaning in close he whispered something that sounded a lot like “Third years” and “Stomped.” Takumi’s shoulders slumped a little as Naoto laughed. Naoto was the kind of boy that preferred picking David’s brain for the English phrases he’d never let Jessica or Yukiko hear him say. Missing David’s reaction, the round faced boy retrieved his books for first period.
Attempting to hide the red creeping into his cheeks, David hurried to his desk. The boys’ words had stung; he had thought Naoto and Shou were his friends. Distracted, he accidentally knocked into Natsuki on his way, pushing her into Mizuki, the class representative.
“Hey watch it. Oh, it’s you. Such a waste of space. You don’t even know what I’m saying, so what’s the point of insulting you?” Natsuki said in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. Mizuki and the rest of the girls around them giggled. Before he could stop himself, he eyed her and said, “Jerk.”
Fortunately, it came out in a crude form of Japanese that shocked her dumb just long enough for him to slide out of her way. Watching from the back of the room, Naoto and Shou shrugged as they watched the exchange. Usually, David hung around them until the beginning of class.
With only a minute to go, Rie came in followed close behind by a diminutive man with short black hair. Moriyama-sensei was their homeroom teacher. Despite his somewhat odd appearance, he was energetic and easily commanded the respect of his students. David liked how the Japanese used the suffix “teacher” as a sign of respect. It seemed so much more appropriate than using “Mr.” or “Mrs.” all the time.
“Hey, don’t worry about it. They like you, but just haven’t really had a chance to get to know you,” Takumi whispered. He leaned across the aisle between their desks. “What did you say to Natsuki?” Before David could reply, Moriyama began class.
‘If this is just the start, today is going to be a horrible day,’ David thought. He dreaded finding out what the rest of the school might have to say about him. He almost wished he could go back to his previous oblivion. Moriyama did not improve his mood when he announced a schedule change for the day. An extra P.E. class would be added in exchange for English. ‘At least I’m decent in English class, why couldn’t they just cancel Japanese?’
David began their second period worrying about what Rie, Takumi, and all his other classmates thought of him. Luckily, the next period was math. David found that understanding Japanese enabled him to answer all the problems he had been struggling with for the last month. He had already studied the same material a year ago in Arizona. Math was one of his stronger subjects and he had been on an advanced track. Like his father, David had an affinity for math and science, though again like his father he sometimes ignored social niceties in his pursuit of figures. It was a flaw that his socialite younger sister always seemed eager to bring up.
During the class, Tadashi-sensei asked several students to write the answer to their homework problems on the board. Tadashi was the opposite of what David expected for a math teacher. A track team coach, he was nearly as lithe and energetic as Takumi when he was at school. After circling all but one answer on the board, Tadashi called attention to Natsuki’s.
“Can anyone tell me why this one is wrong?” he asked.
Surprising everyone, including himself, David raised his hand. After a brief pause, Tadashi called David up to fix the problem. As he rose, Takumi gave him a hard stare.
“This, and Natsuki forgot this,” David said, pointing to the mistakes and using only the most basic Japanese. His limitations had the effect of making what would have been a reasonable explanation terse, as if not worth the effort to explain further.
“Very good! Yes, David is correct. Natsuki please be more careful in the future.” Tadashi covered his surprise with praise.
David just caught Natsuki’s face, seething with resentment as he returned to his seat. Despite himself, David felt a little thrill of satisfaction. Takumi leaned over and whispered with a strained voice, “You just made her look like an idiot in front of the whole class.” He was rewarded with several back slaps from the students sitting around him, including Naoto and Shou. It was almost enough to help him ignore the piercing glares from Natsuki and her friends. Takumi looked stoically towards the front for the rest of the class.
David continued to impress teachers over the next two periods, surprising everyone with his sudden participation. By lunchtime, classmates and teachers alike were assuming that David had just been holding back. David also found that if he spoke very slowly, he could get away with more advanced language. He began to overhear whispers. Mizuki and her friends were telling people that he had held back so that he could show off later. The whispers grew to outright gossip when he corrected another of Natsuki’s answers and two of Mizuki’s in science. Although unhappy about the rumors, Takumi told David not to refute them since it was an easy cover in case he slipped.
Badminton
April,
Despite awakening isolated, with confused senses that I could only barely comprehend, one thought drove me to fight through the despair: They are coming…
Although the day had gone better than he had expected, David still worried about the afternoon’s double P.E. period. He had yet to get used to Nakano valley’s humidity and the athleticism of his classmates was intimidating. While there was a wide range of interests among the students, they all seemed to be semi-professional athletes. The only exception to David’s avoidance of sports in Arizona had been snowboarding and swimming, two activities that got him out of the heat. David’s reluctance had not been just because the sun was so hot it could melt your shoes. He avoided sports because he hated looking like a fool. David had been acutely aware of when people made fun of his father for his eccentric TV persona.
‘Of course, I succeeded in making a fool of myself anyway. A least my hand and bruises healed,’ David thought with a smile. ‘I wonder if I can convince the teachers to let me read instead…’
While thinking of ways to get out of a potentially humiliating P.E. class, David headed off to help clean the school. Unlike back in the United States, Japanese schools generally did not hire janitors. They relied on the students to clean every day after lunch and before school. Fukiko-sensei, the small and sometimes quiet English teacher, had given a thoroughly unconvincing speech about how it helped build responsibility. Her enthusiasm for sweeping aside, David liked her. She had been extremely helpful over the last few weeks. Just as Yukiko had been his crutch at the Estate, Fukiko