Chapter Text
She put on the brand new school uniform and did her makeup, dark and beautiful. As she applied her eyeliner, she held the notion that she would be, in her own thoughts, just fine. Another girl, not far from her, looked at her reflection in the mirror and reassured herself in her head that what was about to occur would be nothing like what she experienced in middle school. A boy near her started making his way to school, walking on his own, as always. He preferred to be alone, but that was not the case all the time. As he walked, a girl was riding the tram and humming joyfully as she played with her hair. Not a single serious thought crossed her mind at this stage. As she rode, a girl across from her was taking notes on a small notepad. She was full of nothing but confidence in herself.
These teenagers were a few of the new year 10 students of 2007, making their way to the prestigious Toronto-Tokyo Alliance High School – a high school established by the Japanese ambassador in Canada about 15 years prior. The school was opened so that teenagers all over Toronto could complete their secondary education just like teenagers in Tokyo would, as part of a foreign relations initiative. The curriculum was the same, but the style of teaching and learning was based on Japanese schooling, with the goal of letting Canadian children and Japanese children bond, unite, and strengthen the alliance between the two nations.
It was the first day of school and one of the year 10 homeroom classes was waiting for the arrival of their homeroom teacher. There were 3 other homeroom cohorts, all with around 20 students each, who would be together during most classes. The same went for the year 11 and year 12 cohorts.
As they waited, some spoke to each other, making relatively casual small-talk whilst others chose to remain silent, taking in the atmosphere of the school building. From a distance, the sound of the homeroom teacher’s high-heeled footsteps could be heard approaching. From the window looking out to the hallway, her perfectly straight blonde hair and smart-casual clothing could be seen, as well as the books and papers she held.
“If this class is worse than last year’s…” she murmured to herself, ready to be disappointed, inconvenienced, or both at once. She opened the door and saw an array of students who were officially under her tutelage. They stopped their conversations and turned their attention towards her. She put on a forced smile and said in a calm voice, “Hello, class. Welcome,”
“Hello!” said a bubbly blonde girl, waving and smiling broadly.
“Morning, Miss!” said a muscular bearded boy, politely.
“I’m Miss O'Halloran and I will be your homeroom teacher,” she stated, placing her belongings on her desk, “I will take attendance now. Oh, and you would want to rearrange yourselves at the back of the room please, because we have a seating chart in alphabetical order, according to surnames,”
Two girls with identical hairstyles looked at each other relieved. The more lean one sighed, “We have nothing to worry about,”
“Yeah,” agreed the more rounded one, “Thank goodness,”
The students migrated to the back of the classroom as Miss O'Halloran prepared to take attendance. As their names were called, they sat in their allocated seats, which were arranged in 6 rows of 4. As Miss O'Halloran took attendance, she took note of their names. In the first column were Geoff Algolen, Cody Anderson, DJ Benson, Alejandro Burromuerto, Trent Cooper, and Izzy Connelly; in the second, Eva Garren, Gwen Ingrid, Justin Kalani, Heather Kasuga, Tyler Kenard, and Harold McGrady V; in the third, Leshawna Olongola, Courtney Satella, Sierra Skyes, Noah Sterecra, Bridgette Summers, and Duncan Tarun; and in the fourth, Lindsay Tyson, Sadie Unda, Katie Uratu, Owen Waterflower, and Beth Yensten.
Once they were all seated, Geoff asked, referring to the small laminated sheets on Miss O'Halloran’s desk, “Uhh, what are those?”
“Your time tables,” responded Miss O'Halloran, “You all have the same classes at the same times, most of which are in here,”
And I’m stuck with you, Miss O'Halloran thought to herself, preparing for what may come in teaching this specific cohort of students.
“That makes no sense,” Duncan said, quiet enough for no one to hear him.
“Now then,” began Miss O'Halloran, “To go into more detail, for every class except for practical science lessons, physical education, and the art electives, which you have chosen last month, I presume, you will be in here. For your art electives you will all be separate according to your choices. Also, lunch is to be consumed here and for every period 6 class you have in here, you will be in charge of cleaning the parameters,”
“Wow, we have to clean too?” asked Owen, in shock.
“That’s the norm in Japanese high schools,” responded Miss O'Halloran, matter-of-factly, “When you went to the open day last year, you would have learned that this school runs similarly to ones in Japan, so-”
“Japan?” interrupted Lindsay, “Like anime Japan?”
“Anime? I love anime!” proclaimed Beth, “If this school is anything like the one in ‘Player Club High’, that would be so cool!”
“Yeah!” agreed Sadie.
“Hey Miss?” asked Katie, “Does this school run clubs by any chance?”
“Hey look!” noticed Harold, “They have Japanese class,”
“We get to learn Japanese?!” exclaimed Sierra, “Yay!!!”
“This is going to be awesome!” proclaimed Owen, overly excited.
“Miss,” said Katie, “I asked you something,”
Miss O'Halloran groaned in annoyance and asked, “What Kaitlyn?”
“Does this school run any clubs?” asked Katie earnestly.
“Yes,” responded Miss O'Halloran.
“Is there an anime club?” asked Cody, lifting his hand high in the air in an eager manner.
“That would be so cool!” exclaimed Tyler.
Miss O'Halloran internally ached as she knew how anime fans were, and now she essentially had to teach and aid a class mostly composed of them. She tried to think of a possible excuse to leave the classroom as the children were sharing their love for anime with each other. She left the classroom and proceeded to the principal’s office, simply stating, “I need to print something. I’ll be right back,”
“That was sudden,” remarked Cody, “She didn’t even answer my question,”
“Like I was saying,” stated Harold, “Everyone knows that a true otaku indulges in Ninja Boy,”
“Ninja Boy?” judged Noah, “C’mon, everyone knows Kill Book is better,”
“I love that show!” declared Izzy.
“I prefer Super Code,” said Trent.
“Ok,” responded Cody, “But Sona is objectively hot,”
As he made that statement, a number of the boys erupted in recognition of his knowledge of the best looking anime characters according to popular opinion.
As this was happening, Miss O'Halloran informally burst into the principal’s office as he was typing something on his computer.
“Chris!” she exclaimed, “I have a problem!”
“What, Blaineley?” asked the principal, dismissively.
“My students…” said Miss O'Halloran, panting, “I don’t think… we’ll get along very well,”
“How so?” asked the principal, suspicious of her wording.
“Most of them…” she complained, “... are addicted to anime. I can’t teach a class full of dweebs. D’you know what that’d do to my psyche?”
The principal chuckled, not taking Miss O'Halloran seriously, and said, “You’re over-exaggerating,”
“They’re annoying,” emphasised Miss O'Halloran, “Can I switch with Josh please?”
“It’s the first day,” responded the principal, a little disappointed in her, “Who knows, you might come to like them,”
Seriously?, she thought to herself, annoyed. She groaned, “Ugh… ok,”
She left his office and heard the faint sound of him laughing as she began to walk back to her classroom. As she was heading back, the students were still bonding over their anime admiration.
“C’mon man!” stated Tyler, “Fifi is the hotter girl, I’m just saying!”
As this was happening, Heather thought to herself, A whole year with these losers? That’s easy. She knew the type of people some of her classmates were and she felt the need to establish some sort of superiority to them, if not aloud then in her mind.
“I’m back,” said Miss O'Halloran, with an inconvenienced expression.
The students’ conversations died out and Cody asked, “Weren’t you gonna print something?”
“Nope, I had everything with me this whole time,” sighed Miss O'Halloran, “Now, as I was saying, this school runs like a Japanese school, hence the name. It’s still the regular Canadian curriculum but there are a few differences. Get to know each other because we’ll elect the committee members on Friday, and prepare your speeches as well. That’s compulsory,”
There was silence before Lindsay asked, “What’s a committee member?”
The sound of marching-band music played from the monitor in the front left corner of the room. A logo appeared, reading Toronto-Tokyo Alliance High School: Daily Announcements. The music faded out and a man in a suit holding a piece of paper appeared on screen. He proceeded to read from the paper. “Good morning, students and faculty, and welcome to semester 1 of 2007. For all of our first years and new students, you will be attending a meeting with Principal McLean next Monday at the beginning of period 1. Also next Monday, each homeroom class will elect their student committee members. Every student is expected to prepare and present a speech. Looking ahead, the school clubs will reopen at the beginning of next week, which also means the selection of the mathletes. Please consult the mathematics coordinator for more information. That’s all for now,”
The monitor shut off and there was a low hum of conversations in the room. Miss O'Halloran sat at her desk, zoning out before Bridgette asked her, “Is everything alright?”
“Yeah,” responded Miss O'Halloran, half-heartedly, “I’m just a little tired,”
“You seemed fine before,” Duncan remarked.
“Yeah, I know,” groaned Miss O'Halloran. Then the sound of a school bell went off and she sighed, “Alright. Time for math class,”
“Do we stay here?” asked DJ.
“Yes,” she stated, “I said that twice already,”
“Oh,” said DJ, “Sorry,”
“Whatever,” murmured Miss O'Halloran before addressing the class, “Now class, get out one of your notebooks and label it ‘Mathematics’. Also make sure to put your names on these notebooks just in case they get lost,”
The students did as they were told, not without a few quiet conversations between some of them. Once one of these conversations increased in volume slightly, Miss O'Halloran redirected their attention to the whiteboard at the front of the room. She wrote down the date and the heading, ‘Mathematics – Week 1 Lesson 1’. Below the heading, she wrote the word, ‘Diagnostic’. She then turned to the class and said, “I want you to write this down. In a moment, I will give you a handout with an array of questions regarding what you learned in mathematics the previous school years. I want you to answer them all in your notebooks by the end of the lesson. Once you’re done, leave your notebook on my desk and I will review it later. Any questions?”
Noah raised his hand, and once noticed by Miss O'Halloran, asked, “So this is a diagnostic?”
“Did you read the subheading?” she questioned audaciously.
“Yes,” he responded, “This should be able to determine what we’ll be doing in class, right?”
“Yeah, that’s what this is for, right?” asked Bridgette.
“Obviously,” responded Miss O'Halloran, “And the top 3 students with the most correct answers will be selected for the mathletes, for those of you who are ambitious,”
The students proceeded with the task with some of them putting genuine effort into it whilst others were not putting effort into it at all. The rest of the classes were quite standard; a rundown of science safety, a simple lecture on World War 1, foundational Japanese learning, and an overview of English literacy skills. Period 6 was physical education, which was separated by gender, where they underwent various physical assessments before cleaning their classroom and going home.