006 | High School Debut

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Substitute teaching
When: All day April 5
Where: A large public school in Tokyo
Summary: There are too many teachers sick and the Far Shore residents need to help fill in!



For some reason or another, many teachers have gotten sick just as the new school year is starting! In a panic, the school is seeking out every substitute teacher they can find, which is still not enough, and so the gods have to step in as reinforcements. And the Heavens are insisting on Far Shore residents helping strictly because this sickness seems so darn suspicious.

So anyone who looks old enough is being asked to step in as a substitute teacher and anyone who looks young enough is being asked to blend in as a new student, all to help the school and find out what exactly is causing this mysterious illness plaguing only the teachers of this school. There are many subjects open to teach and all Far Shore residents are expected to act as if they properly belong in this school while conducting their investigation. That means you'll have to teach properly or attend classes, depending on which role you've taken on.

Some gods might even find it useful to try and get information out of students by possessing one of their own, therefore guaranteeing the trust of the others around them. It's all up to you how you choose to investigate!

Newcomers will find the following note in their pockets as they are transferred to the school:

Greetings and apologies for the strange introduction.

I am sure you have many questions and concerns, but you have appeared at a very inconvenient time. Please attempt to help us, if you can, and we will reward you to the best of our abilities.

If you have any questions, you can seek out the counselor. Too many students underestimate what a good counselling session can do towards helping to alleviate their fears and uncertainties.

Kindest regards,
☼ Amaterasu ☼



Classes

Being a big school, there are dozens of different subjects available. As teachers, you can practically teach anything you would like to, and as students you are facing a constant stream of completely different kinds of information. Maybe the school needs to tone it down a bit on how many different subjects they offer...

Hallways

The hallways are always a great place to mingle and get to know the other students in the school. You'll see all sorts in the hallways, ranging from the beautiful girls being followed by their fanboys all the way to the delinquents who are promptly making their way away from the classrooms for the rest of the day. Hopefully somebody around here will be able to give you a heads up as to what's going on.

Lunch

Lunchtime is the easiest time to gather gossip and information. Whether you are staying in the classroom with a bento or heading to the cafeteria to wrestle for some bread or spending your lunch in the faculty room with the rest of the not-sick teachers, you will find that both the students and the faculty are more prone to chatting during lunch. And a lot of them talk about a curse laid on the school because of the late principal...

Counselling

Surprisingly enough, there is a white-robed shinki in the counselling office of the school, and the golden chrysanthemum of Amaterasu can be found on her tunic as well as on the door to her small personal office. Oddly, all of the other students and faculty keep passing the door by, but the counselling shinki simply continues to smile gently all the same.

FINAL BOSS

Turns out there is something causing the illness in the teachers, and it's an exceedingly large ayakashi, one so large that no single god could possibly take it down. You'll have to all work together to weaken it enough for the rending to work on it.

The battle for the FINAL BOSS will be posted on the OOC date of July 17, all threads involving destroying him should go there when it is posted. All other events leading up to the FINAL BOSS battle should slowly build to figuring out that an ayakashi is at work.



In Summary:

• Blend in
• Make sure to go to class
• Don't forget lunch!
• Investigate the illness
• Seek counselling if you need it
• Defeat the FINAL BOSS
• Have fun~

Comments

[sweetdeath]

History Class

So... [Tsuzuki glances at the class notes that the teacher had left for him. Hey! Twentieth century! He remembers this stuff. Uh -- Russo-Japanese War, okay, the death of the Meiji Emperor... he lets the notes fall back down on the podium and looks up with a grin.]

... we're starting today talking about the end of the Meiji era! You guys are in luck. I remember it like it was yesterday.

People really used to live differently back then, especially in the country. We didn't have nearly as many trains...

[He's just going to keep rambling about his childhood memories unless he's stopped. Maybe it's a good thing most of the mortal students seem to be checking out?

Someone do something!]

Lunchtime

Okay, so you said everybody thinks there's a curse?

-- Hey, can you see me? I just asked you a --

Hey!

[Nope. That sure is a student turning and casually wandering away like Tsuzuki isn't even there trying to talk to him, again.

He's just going to have to try something drastic.

He turns around, reaching to put his hand on the shoulder of a third-year who's taking her bento box out of her locker.]

Sorry, I promise I won't do anything weird!

[And with that, Tsuzuki is dissolving, and the third-year girl is starting violently and fumbling for her bento before she drops it, in a very oddly Tsuzuki-esque way. She grabs it firmly in one hand and turns to dash after the boy Tsuzuki'd been failing to talk to. Too bad she (or, in fact, he) isn't looking out for passers-by. Was that you stepping out into the hallway just now?

Think fast!]

[dancermai]

[Mai was in this class, trying not to fall asleep and headdesk. Not that he was boring, far from it. She's just not very good at this sitting still at a desk business. She's trying very hard not to yawn and it was only after he'd rambled on for a few moments when she realized he was teaching this class as if he were there.

That's not...that's not how you're supposed to do it, right? She's raising her hand and desperately flapping it around.]

Which page of the book are you telling this story from?!

[sweetdeath]

What? I didn't finish reading it this morning! I was running late, and then it took me a while to find the class notes....

[Tsuzuki blinks guilelessly.]

So I thought I'd just give you guys my personal experience!

[Oh no... this isn't stopping him at all.]

[dancermai]

[She's very dramatically waving her hands around to try and stop him. Personal experience isn't something that great to say when you're talking about history. HELLO!]

When you say personal experience you mean you're just acting in character from the book RIGHT?!

[Please catch a hint and stop scaring the students.]

[sweetdeath]

[...oh. OH.

Whoops.]

Y-yes! Yeah, that's right! Ha ha, I was acting out -- um -- a personal diary entry from -- a ... a person that lived in that era!

[That was smooth, right? Please tell him that was smooth! Please... please at least let the other students forget about their weird teacher, because he's a denizen of the Far Shore....]

Class

[sleepingknight]

[Well. This is awkward.

She's doing her best to be a good student like she was for the rest of the day, but between it being Tsuzuki and the fact that he's rattling off what seem to be his own personal memories, she ends up reluctantly raising her hand.]

Um, sir...?

[sweetdeath]

... Yes? [Tsuzuki breaks off in the middle of a reminiscence about the way steamed sweet potatoes used to be sold from carts in the fall to point at the girl with her hand up.

The purple-haired, pointy-eared, winged girl with her hand uoh shit. He swallowed: he'd been hoping they'd manage to get through the whole class without having to talk to each other, but they were going to have to do something now, huh?]

Uh... Yuuki! Did you have a question?

[sleepingknight]

Are we going to be tested on steamed sweet potatoes...?

[Because if not, it might be time to go back to the book.]

[sweetdeath]

... Well, I'm not writing the test, but it's, um. Local... flavor?

[Ha ha! Flavor, get it? He laughs uncomfortably, and looks down at the lecture notes, which are all about politics.

Actually, it might be a good idea not to talk too personally about the 1910s.

He wonders if anybody else noticed that. Naah. He can pretend he was reading a letter or something, right?]

Um, anyway! On page 183...

[He winks at Yuuki in a quick, silent thank-you, and then focuses firmly on the book. Names and dates! Battles! History. It really wasn't like that living then, but he'll stick to it, for at least the next couple minutes until he wanders off on a tangent again.]

history class

[galactically]

[Sheryl knows by now that Tsuzuki is older than her — by many, many years — but it's one thing to learn how old he really is and another thing to hear his personal experiences. Her eyes dart across the room, realizing that most of the actual students are using their desks as pillows.

Perhaps she can spice up this class a little while the others are asleep... and so, she raises her hand.]

Mr. Tsuzuki, have you ever been in a romantic situation?

[OH BOY]

OH MY GOD SHERYL NO

[sweetdeath]

[If Tsuzuki had had anything in his mouth it would've just been atomized over half of the classroom. He sputters in a panic for several seconds, and then points at Sheryl dramatically.]

What kind of question is that to ask your teacher?!

more like OH SHERYL YES

[galactically]

[Sorry that you have a shameless student, Tsuzuki. Sheryl lets out a joyful laugh, pointing back at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes.]

A perfectly valid one! This is a history class, right? Romance is also part of history along with boring tales of old trains and wars.

[sweetdeath]

Not world history, it's not! Not even Japanese history! That doesn't have anything to do with it!

[You don't get sordid stories about his exes no matter how hard you try, Sheryl. Noooo.]

Anyway, a gentleman doesn't kiss and tell!

class

[darkduelist]

[At first seeing Tsuzuki as the teacher of his class surprises Yuto. Then he actually finds it somewhat relieving, thinking that maybe this way he'll be able to focus more on watching for any clues regarding their investigation.

And then Tsuzuki begins to talk - or rather tell them the stories from his past and Yuto just stares for a moment, before he starts feeling that something needs to be done quickly.

He actually raises his hand (albeit reluctantly).]

Excuse me, but I believe we should focus on the information that can be found in our books.

[sweetdeath]

Huh?

... Oh, sorry! [Tsuzuki laughs in embarrassment, pulling out the textbook. Right! Right, nobody needs to hear him reminisce, that's boring!]

What page were we on? Hey -- uh... let's go around the class and read out loud, okay?

[darkduelist]

[More than boring it's actually weird for a teacher to be talking as if they lived in Meiji era. Wasn't that almost 150 years ago? Now Yuto begins to wonder just how long Tsuzuki is... around? What would be a good word for it when they're all dead?

Yuto's musing is interrupted with Tsuzuki's words. So they're going to read out loud? He sighs inwardly.]

Should I start?

[sweetdeath]

Yeah! Hey, thanks.

[It's a pretty boring passage in the book, but there's not more than ten minutes left in class, and Tsuzuki figures if they just switch to a new kid every paragraph most of the students will get the information they need. Plus, they're mostly living, so they'll all hear each other! That's a bonus.]

Lunchtime

[pachintoki]

[Crash and well, even if Tsuzuki was the one disappearing, the girl would have no trouble seeing Gintoki once she ran smack into him. He didn't even have a chance to teleport out of the way. He'd been working pretty hard as a PE substitute today, hiding the ears and two tails that decided to show up today. He wasn't very good at it. . . it was a pain! Such a pain, and so even though they were faint, most mortals wouldn't notice them anyway. Right?

Anyway, the bento seems fine, so after they pick each other up, he'll start to bid the student on her way. ]

I should give you 50 push-ups for that, you know? Watch where you're headed or you'll look stupid.

[sweetdeath]

Ha ha, sorry about that!

[Tsuzuki reaches back to ruffle his hair and stops in bewilderment as his hand hits a neat ponytail with a bow tied around the elastic band.

Oh, yeah. He probably shouldn't mess up her hair, should he? It'd ruin her reputation, and he wants to take care of his worshippers, not make their social life any harder!]

I'll be out of here in a flash -- oh man.

[Those kids he'd wanted to track down are gone! The delicately built high school girl's shoulders slump like a tired salaryman's, and Tsuzuki heaves an indelicately huge sigh.]

You didn't see where those kids down the hall went, did you, Gintoki?

[pachintoki]

No I didn't-- Eh --

[Gintoki. Did this high school girl just call him Gintoki? He'll look at his hands for a sec, then look off to the side with an idle scratch to his cheek. Just what was up?]

Look, you know, you shouldn't just call a teacher something like that. Aren't I an adult? Where's your sense of respect? Are we close?

[sweetdeath]

Oh yeah, right! [Tsuzuki laughs, embarrassed, and waves at the girl's face, lowering his voice confidentially.] It's Tsuzuki. Sorry, I forgot! I'm just trying to ask a few questions, but the kids I was looking for took off too fast...

Did you see where they went?

class

[blindfoldcode]

[... You know she's pretty damn sure that was a while ago. She's absolutely certain of it actually. She raises an eyebrow.]

Uh, sir. Maybe you have your eras mixed up.

[She's pretty sure they're supposed to be blending in and this is not blending.]

[sweetdeath]

Huh? No, that was the right era! I was born in --

[Oh. Right! Whoops! Tsuzuki forces a quick laugh.]

-- just about twenty-five years ago! Um, 199... 1...?

I'm just reading from this, uh, this diary entry I found!

[Is he making too big of a deal about this? Possibly. Are any of the students actually paying attention who aren't already denizens of the Far Shore?

Luckily, it doesn't seem so.]

[blindfoldcode]

[Still it wouldn't be good to continue on like that if somebody did manage to pay attention.]

Interesting diary. [She turns to look out the window again.] It's colorful.

[sweetdeath]

Right, ha ha. It's great color! So you know what it was like to be there!

[Definitely making too big of a deal out of this. He clears his throat hastily and fumbles through the pile of lecture notes.]

So we're back on page, um, 180! Got it, everybody? We'll just... read out loud now, okay?