Battle Hymn of the Republic

It was the first day of school at Nishi-Ku Academy high school, and the campus was packed with students, all looking alike and very sharp in their white and black academy uniforms. It was a sunny day, and during the summer, so it was fairly hot, but not too bad, and the students were used to the weather in any case. Miyuki, in class 1-C was already in her home room, having sat down to the left of Hisoka, Hana sitting to his right. The students were mostly standing about, chatting about the short vacation and complaining about the odd starting time of the Academy, but that was the life of going to a fancy school.

However, all the chatting stopped when the instructor walked in, a severe woman with a severe bun, wearing a sever outfit, and looking very severe. She smiled sweetly, and any thoughts about her personality that her appearance had given went through the window, as she introduced herself to the class as Miss Aizawa and then began writing a welcome up on the whiteboard. She called out roll, and then smiled again. As most of the students had been together for a long while, going mostly to the same middle school there had been no need to introduce them. However, the teacher announced something- "I have a new student to introduce to you all, a young man who comes from Wales, in the United Kingdom. I'm told he was the top of his class and his father moved the family to Osaka in order to study at the many nearby universities. He hasn't been in Japan all that long, so he only knows a little bit of Japanese, so please be kind to him." She made sure that the students had all heard this before calling in English: "Percy, you may come in now." and with that call out in what was a foreign language to most of the students, they all stared diligently at the door, wondering who this new student was.

Percival Caxton was all for formality, it was a nice way of making an occasion seem official and special. His patience was wide-spread, and he was fairly mature for his age, but the heat of Osaka was something he hadn't gotten used to yet. The boy had already broken into a sweat, wetting his hair under his sage green alchemist's beret. Still, he tried to straighten his already tightening uniform, and his beret so that the Alchemist's shield could be seen clearly on the headwear. The shield itself was black background, with gold potion bubbling over, the top read WELSH ALCHEMIST, and below the potion was GRADE B.

When he heard his name, his fidgeting placement halted and he straightened up. It was time to make a good first impression. So, he opened the door and stepped in. Each step felt like it added more slanted eyes onto him, and the boy could only muster up the bravery he found in fighting mystic beasts that plagued the muggy nights of Bangor. He stopped, and turned to face the class. At first he seemed a little nervous, but he took a breath and brought up a smile.

"Ko... Konichiwa?" greeted Percival.

Most of the class Giggled. The teacher Shushed them, then in Japanese, asked Percy to introduce himself.

Why would Percival want to introduce his father? Wait. No. The Japanese use your last name to refer to people at first meetings. That was something that the boy was slowly getting used to. So, he spoke, in the best Japanese he could muster.

"Greetings! I am Percival Caxton, at Wales. I was made in Bangor, and bred all my life. I am energetic to..." he struggled for a second, "To... understand all of you? Yes. Please, forget my bad Japanese. My one language is Welsh, my two language is English, my three language is French, and my four language is German. I am despicable for neglecting to taught your language good before settling here."

The class mostly stayed silent, though it was obvious one or two were trying very hard to stifle laughter. One person, Hisoka, actually responded to the Introduction, strangely enough, in English. "Welcome to Japan. Don't mind them. Most can barely speak Japanese." When he finished, he grinned smugly. Most could tell they had been insulted, but were not sure how. Miyuki grinned, and Hana glowed, the older girl awed by Hisoka's smarts.

"Well, then, why don't you go and sit with Takahashi, Percy" Miss Aizawa said, smiling, and pointing to an empty desk behind the boy. "He can probably help you."

Percival bowed his head to Aizawa in a respectful manner, and went again in Japanese, "Thank you, Instructor Aizawa." He turned and walked down the rows keeping his eyes towards the back and tried not to answer any stares until he finally set down. He looked to his left, at Takahashi. "Takahashi." Percy held up his hand to shake his, "Thank you."

"Cacksuten," Hisoka answered, slightly butchering the name due to his accent. "You are welcome," he finished, in English, shaking Percy's hand and then allowing him to sit down. As Percy did so, the young man turned forward to look at the teacher, whom was fiddling with her notes, getting ready to give them all their class schedules and hand out important information about the school.

As Aizawa-sensei did so, Miyuki turned to look at Percy, specifically his cap. The Sapphire worn at her throat gleamed, though she didn't notice, busy as she was trying to read the odd head wear the welsh boy sported. "A- Arukem- Arukemistu" she muttered, trying to think of what the word meant, before realizing she was staring, turning swiftly to face forward, a light blush growing on her cheeks.

"Aruke... Mestu?" Percy tilted his head, hearing the words being spoken. It was hard to discern what aruke mestu meant. He looked over at Miyuki, giving her a questioning stare, before noticing the blue gem hanging around her neck. It was subtle, but it seemed like he could feel a pulse emanating from that way. It was magical in nature, mages like himself could feel it.

Wait... Are these people mages, too? No... A rock that big... That's mystic, she's got to have some understanding right? Percival failed to notice his own continued staring. In fact, he had stopped staring at the sapphire, and was staring at her. His expression read somewhat of enraptured, or even, interested.

It was completely lost on the girl, however, as she was adamantly facing the other way. Hana, to Percy's other side, seemed to have noticed this, and giggled under her breath, writing a note and quickly passing it through Hisoka and to Miyuki. When Miyuki read it, however, it only caused her to blush deeper and sit a little stiffer in her seat.
Aizawa-Sensei continued to talk, occasionally passing out papers.

"Aruke Mestu..." Percy repeated the two words again, before pulling his beret off to reveal his shiny, brown hair. He ran his hand through it and looked at the Alchemist's shield. He blinked as he repeated the words again, "Arooka mestu... Alooka mistu... Alkamistu..." then, clarity! "Alchemist." He looked at Miyuki, still speaking rather low, "Alchemist?"

When Miyuki heard the word direct at her, she stiffened again, taking a deep breath and calming herself, getting over her embarrassment of staring at the new kid too long. "What is 'Alchemist'?" she asked, in Japanese, finally turning back to look at Percy, hoping the teacher wouldn't notice her blatantly not paying attention. Hisoka didn't notice any of this, absorbed into the teacher, but Hana was giggling at the whole affair.

More Japanese, he should've expected this, that Percival. He gave the question some thought before actually developing a suitably local answer.

"They make sodas." was his response in Japanese, he wasn't exactly paying attention to the class going on at the moment. Although he hoped that no one would take notice, he also didn't seem to be too aware of it.

"Ah. Soda-pop." She muttered to herself in Japanese, thinking it over. She turned back forward, and tried to pay attention, handing back the pile of papers that had made its way to her desk. After a moment, however, she turned around again and asked: "What flavors?"

Flavors? Hrm... That must mean what sort element you imbue into the potion! Now... Is she referring to Scientific Alchemy... Or Mystic Alchemy? No no... If I go naming bromide or iron, I'll sound a little stiff. I'll assume Mystic. thought Percy, taking this all into a quiet consideration as he paid half-attention to class, and half to her. He was quite capable with that, being the academic dynamo he was.

"Oh... Well, all kinds, really. Fire, Ice, Wind, Lightning, any flavor you could imagine of." replied Percy in Japanese, appearing entirely serious as he spoke, because he was.

Miyuki simply gave Percy a deadpan stare. She would have dropped her jaw, but her half-turned position prevented her from doing so. "I.. Is New Brand?" she asked in slightly broken English, incredulous. Usually soda was flavored after fruits, or it was a cola, but, Fire? Ice? Was Fire a berry soda? was Ice something else entirely. Miyuki was quite confused. "No Orange flavor?" she added, in Japanese.

"Is..." Percy seemed a little confused, "Is orange... Japanese slang for fire? I imagine we probably are on separated thoughts here."

Miyuki took a moment to decipher what Percy had said. Finally, she mimed drinking, and said the word "Drinku?" in once again butchered English. there was something odd about this Percival Caxton. Miyuki would have to ask Hisoka what 'Alchemist' meant, because Percy's explanation had only served to confuse the girl.

"Drink a... potion?" said Percy in English, but only so low that she could hear, as not to rouse any prying ears that knew English like Takahashi did. He continued in Japanese, "You've got to be very aware of what you are imbibing. Otherwise you might die."

"Uuuehhh?" Miyuki said, thankfully keeping herself quiet. Percy was using rather formal wording and saying strange things in English. Potion? What the heck is a Potion? she thought, before asking Percy in Japanese "How do you die from Soda?"

Christ! Is this girl dense? What do you think will happen if you drink a fire potion? thought the ranking Alchemist. The mage sighed, before something lit up in the back of his head, a very sudden and fairly scary realization. Every mage was at least aware of the elements, it was something they could catch on to, and only an occasional few had heard of the less practiced art of alchemy.

"Can you say soda in English." asked Percival, in Japanese.

Confused, Miyuki scrunched up her face, thinking up the word, and then replying in English "Soda," working very hard to keep her speech habits from messing up the word. Why Percy wanted to know that was beyond her, though it was obvious that the language barrier was proving to be a problem for both of them.

Percy blanched white in shock. He had been explaining Alchemy to someone who probably had no business knowing what it was. The conversation needed to stop immediately, but Percival was far from graceful when it came to that. He simply turned his hand, and uncomfortably faced forward, putting all his attention on the class. Oh dear.

As Percy went silent, Miyuki shook her head and rolled her eyes, checking the clock. It was almost time for Homeroom to finish, where they would be released to their other classes and activities. Miyuki quickly looked over the papers on her desk, figuring out where they would go next and what options she had for the time being. "Baka" she muttered under her breath.

Percy caught that, and the insult, and took it a little personally. He stared down at the desk a little uncomfortable as he gathered his own papers, trying not to give Miyuki any glances to see how she was taking this. He cleared his throat and apologized as solemnly and as quietly as he could, in Japanese.

This was, however, lost in the ringing of the bell, signaling the end of the period, and starting a rush of activity, many people getting up, putting paper into their bags, moving about, and generally making a lot of noise. Miyuki, Hisoka, and Hana got up, and the girls made for the door, but Hisoka stopped and waited for Percy. "I think you could probably use a bit more practice, if Miyuki's any indication." the young man said in English. "Whatever you guys were talking about, it was so muddled I barely understood it." he admitted. The fact that he had understood any of it when paying attention to the teacher was probably nothing short of a Miracle in its own right, though.

"Ah... I guess..." said Percy a little shaken from his sudden realization. He stood up and tried to gather his stuff. "Say, Takahashi, do you know anything about that Sapphire Miyuki was wearing?" He spoke in English rather comfortably, not too hindered by a foreign language in his social interactions.

"Sapphire? Oh. The necklace. She says it's a fake she won from a claw machine down by the park." Hisoka explained, not seeming to worry about it. "Why, do you like gems or something?" he asked, starting to walk toward the door.

"Did you see the size of that gem?" Percy tried to laugh it off, knowing for sure now that there was more to that gem that met the eye. "If it was real it would be worth quite a bit of money! I just wanted to know if I was talking to someone used to a lot of rich etiquette or something like that. Talking to people is hard enough as is."

Miyuki and Hana, ahead of the two young men, made their way out of the door, but stopped quickly as Miyuki was bowled over by a large student. She looked up, and her eyes widened in shock at the vaguely familiar face.

Ruarc was walking down the halls of what would be his temporary new school as he tried to learn more about the region. He was standing almost a head higher than most of the students around him which drew almost more attention to him than his face tattoo or his right eye. For the most part he was able to hide the tattoo as he had let his long hair out of its ponytail, letting it hang loosely around his face. In the crisp white uniform he had received he had a very refined look about him when looking from the left side, and almost delinquent from the right side.

Ruarc stumbled to a halt as his pace was disrupted by the other student. He briskly turned to face the girl and apologize. "Gomainasigh," he said quickly as he did his best to make the apology understandable.

The man apparently barely even looked at Miyuki. she recognized him well enough, but she figured that most Japanese girls must look the same to him. Her hand instinctively hid the Sapphire around her neck, as she picked herself and her bag back up, muttering to Hana "We need to get out of here, that''s that creep from the park I told you about!"
"Ehhhhh?" Hana responded, looking the tall man over, a little afraid of him. She hid behind Miyuki, and Miyuki seemed to be somewhat annoyed by this, but went with it.

Just then Hisoka emerged from the room, and stopped at the scene unfolding in the Hallway. "Oh, another exchange student!" he said, in English, figuring that the Caucasian man would speak the language, much like Percy did.

"Hm?" Percy arched a brow as he adjusted his beret as he followed Hisoka out of the classroom. He looked at the two girls and then the tall Caucasian man. The Welshman looked at him, and began to judge the features. From what he could see, at least from what he could discern with his own Welsh knowledge, this young man was a Celtic neighbor. Though, the young Percival did not let this come to light, in fact, he stayed silent.

Ruarc debated whether to keep moving or not since he had already apologized and he was quickly being outnumbered by the young students. "Fuck, English, well it is better than Japanese I guess," he thought to himself as one of the students spoke to him.

"Yes, Ah jus' transfur'd in ta tha Junior grade and was takin' a look aroun' the school ta get ma bearin's when Ah accidentally bumped inta yur friend here," Ruarc replied to the male student as he adopted a friendly smile. He looked back to the girl he had bumped into and finally got a good look at her. His eyes widened ever so slightly as he remembered the girl from Utsubo park not to long ago, but he figured there was no sense in making a scene about it in the middle of a crowded hallway so he let the matter go.

Miyuki wanted to spout a few choice words at the young man but figured now was not the time. When she saw his eyes widen, she knew he remembered the day at the park. Somehow, his slightly awkward speech and actions seemed to satisfy her, as Hisoka took a moment to try and decipher his heavily accented speech.

"Well, try to be a bit more careful around doorways, seems people need to pay more attention, and that goes for both of you." Hisoka answered, holding out a hand to shake.

Hana, for her part, stared dreamily at Hisoka. He's so cool... she thought, announcing "He studied English in America for a year" in Japanese, as if it was her own accomplishment.

"Oh, she's so adorable! I just I want hug her!" went Zulan, making Percy quite aware that the gods were seeing all of this through his eyes.

Zulan. thought Percy, sending a message with only a word to remind them of their agreement.

"I know, I know! But isn't it so painfully obvious? Love is the one thing that knows no culture." continued Zulan, before a familiar, gruff voice cut into the mix.

"Someone should slap her straight before she begins to drool." growled Aurus. Percy's face contorted into discomfort. "My apologies, mortal. The little girl only sickens my stomach."

Percy understood the sensation of love as well, but had only understood the aching pain of it being taken from you. He didn't have a true grasp of it, but it was there enough. He leaned over a bit and whispered to Hana.

"You know..." The Welshboy's voice low, "... it's never a good thought to wait too long." His brightly colored green eyes turned to her, "Don't loss your chance."

Ruarc was not certain of what all the other young girl had just said, but even with language barriers it sounding like swooning. He looked over each of the students in turn before looking back to Miyuki.
"You have been in there for five minutes and you already pissed someone off?" Laoise asked Ruarc as she sat perched on a windowsill looking in at the group.
"Bug off bird brain, it is the girl you were supposed to keep tabs on. If you had done what I asked instead of flirting with a songbird from up north you would have recognized her.
"You are one to talk, pickle liver. Remember that painter in the park?"
"That was nothing."
"Anyway, you should apologize to that girl or something."
"I already apologized."
"About the park, moron."
"Oh, yeah, I will be sure to if I run into her again."
"If you do it now you can get it over with."
Ruarc thought about what to do next since it would appear to others that he was just standing in place staring off in a random direction, and the bird had a point too. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly and looked back to Miyuki.
"I am also sorry about our last run in at the park," Ruarc said slowly and deliberately in the best Japanese he could manage, hoping what practice he had would pay off as he bowed considerately.

"Ah, so this is that man from a few weeks ago." Hisoka said in Japanese, chuckling. "Do not worry about it. I just think you should stick to more normal clothing unless you are going to hang around a pedestrian's paradise," he directed at Ruarc, in English.

Miyuki seemed to huff a little, but accepted Ruarc's apology. "It's alright...." she muttered in Japanese, before being shoved forward as Hana jumped from Percy whispering in her ear, the poor shy girl surprised, especially at the truth of the words. "L-Let's get going, we've got to get to our next classes, and passing period is nearly over!" Hana announced, stuttering a bit. She was heavily embarrassed by her outburst, and flattened her bangs over her face.

"She is right," Hisoka said in English, continuing "Let's all get to class. You too, New kid." Hisoka didn't know how else to refer to Ruarc, as the Irishman had never given them his name. Hana and Miyuki were only too happy to move on, and began heading toward their next class, Hisoka waving at Ruarc before dragging Percy along with him.

Ruarc waved back at the group as he turned to go in the direction he assumed his next class was in.

Percy could swear he could smell the herbalistic scents of a Celtic druid. Alchemists tended to have an advantage when it came to sensing the primal arts of magic, since they worked so closely with nature and it's elements. Still, there wasn't any time to question Ruarc as Hisoka began to drag him towards their next class, History. As they moved towards the class, he looked at Hisoka rather carefully, judging the boy for a moment. Hisoka was also a bit of an anomaly, what with his excellent affinity with the english language, and his amazing charm. Percival found himself a little envious, but quickly shunted that away, should one of the gods try to catch him for it.

"So, Takahashi-san, if I can name you that," started Percy in Japanese, "Would you be aware of the numbers of out-of-country kids here? Perhaps teachers? I imagined I was the solo transfer student."

Ruarc made his way casually down the hallway as stragglers rushed past him trying to get to their class before the bell, the Irishman however was still not sure what all of the panic was for. “I think they said my class was somewhere up here,” he mumbled to himself as he proceeded up a flight of stairs. A bell range behind him as he reached the top and looked around. His eyes perked up as he saw the number for his Second year classroom. “There we go.”
As he approached the door an adult slid it open and looked out. The man started saying something to Ruarc in Japanese, something along the lines of “There you are.” He grabbed Ruarc by the shoulder and led him into the classroom to stand in front of the other students. “Class, before we get to class introductions, I would like to present a new exchange student who will be joining us. Please welcome Ruarc Flynn from Ireland,” the teacher said in Japanese. “Now, Ruarc, since this is Remedial Japanese, would you please introduce yourself in Japanese.”
All eyes were on Ruarc now as the students waited for him to speak. At the front of the class the young man could hear whispers as people conversed with their friends and discussed the Irish oddity standing before them.
Ruarc took a deep breath and thought about the correct words needed to introduce himself. He then stood up straight, clasped his hands behind his back and adopted his best Irish etiquette. “Conenichiwah. Wahtashi no nami wa Ruarc Flynn. Anata ni aete ureshedesu,” he said, trying to say “Hello. My Name is Ruarc Flynn. Pleased to meet you.”
The class started laughing and more whispers could be heard, but Ruarc could not make out what was being said. “All right Ruarc, you may take the seat in the back corner by the window,” the teacher said, motioning Ruarc to his seat. Even as he walked to his seat the Druid could feel eyes watching him and inspecting him.
Ruarc was thankful when he got to his seat and sat down; it was by the window and allowed Ruarc to not feel quite as confined by the classroom. Unfortunately the seat also put the entire class in a position to get a good look at the tattoo on his right cheek, and the rune on his green right eye. His neighbors consisted of two girls sitting in front of him and a guy sitting to the right. The girls were talking amongst themselves with the occasional giggle and a glance back to Ruarc, while the guy was off in his own world somewhere else. From the front of the class Ruarc heard the teacher mention something about the students introducing themselves and telling an interesting detail about themselves.
Ruarc didn’t pay attention much to the introductions, not that he could understand most of it anyway. While each student stood up in turn and gave introductions, the Irishman adopted a look similar to the guy next to him and stared out the window to his left. Time passed and Ruarc could hear the voices getting louder as the line progressed towards the window side of the room.
“Ruarc?” the teacher called from the front of the room.
“Hmm?” Ruarc growled as he snapped his attention away from the window.
“It is your turn,” the teacher said.
Ruarc sighed and stood up in his seat. “Um, Ahm Ruarc Flynn, an’ ma eyes are two diffarent col’rs. Left eye brown, right eye green,” Ruarc said quickly so as to be able to sit down again, but before he sat down though the class suddenly erupted with students trying to ask him questions. A few he made out being “Is that a real tattoo?”, “What is that symbol on your right eye?”, “What is Ireland like?”, and “Are you single?”. Ruarc was more than a little surprised by this and didn’t know how to respond, but thankfully the teacher said that questions could wait until after class; unfortunately that meant as soon as class was over Ruarc was going to be in trouble.

"Ah, Sumimasen." Hisako responded. "I am not certain. It's only my first day here, as well. I have heard there might be a couple of faculty from other countries, but it is a mostly Japanese academy" he informed the Welshman in Japanese. He paused for a moment as they arrived at their classroom, a mass of lethargic students not exactly wanting to enter the room but also not wanting to be late, but after a moment the way was cleared and the four students made their way to their seats, arranged similarly to before, but with the girls having flipped sides.

It was only moments of waiting before the bell rang, and the teacher began class, quickly taking roll, and then starting off into their first lecture- an introduction into Japanese Mythology. Miyuki was entranced by this subject, as it suddenly had much more relevance to her life, and so she was paying nearly as much attention as Hisoka as the teacher, Takahata- Sensei, went on enthusiastically about a strange flying beaked snake that only served to fly through screen doors and cut down wasps nests, to a giant skeleton made from the bones of starved peasants. he mentioned such things as magical cats called Bakeneko (Miyuki had some personal experience with such, and she giggled at the thought), and a story about an evil woman with powers like a spider who seduced men before eating them. On and on the man went, until finally the bell rang, signaling the end of class.

Takahata-sensei made sure to remind the class that there would be a quiz on the lecture, and the students let out a collective groan as most had not payed much if any attention. As the students all got up, Miyuki stretched, and looked at the other three students with her, Smiling. "What an interesting lecture!" she announced in Japanese that was just a little too squeaky for a girl her age, and Hisako countered "It's all fairy tales. Stories made up by mothers to keep their children in line." Miyuki almost made a comment to the contrary, but then she noticed Percy and kept her mouth shut. Not that any argument she made would be received well by common-sense-Takahashi-Hisako. "Well, what class do we have next?" Hana asked, having left her schedule in her bag.
"Math. A nice, real subject." Hisako responded, smugly.

"I am not surprised, Takahashi." said Percival in english, organizing his books away from history. He had taken great interest in the lecture as well, having encountered several ancient spirits with his father back in Wales. It was interesting learn of the myths that the Japanese carried as well. "You did strike me as a very..." Hrm... what was that fancy word...? "... pragmatic person." An expression of surprise spread on his face, before he went back to the Japanese language. "I am in understanding, it's insane what people come up with. What's next," he took special care in throwing a glance towards Miyuki, "Enchanted gems?"

Ruarc’s class passed with nothing much happening. The teacher was reviewing stuff from the year before, but it was nothing Ruarc hadn’t figured out for himself from reading a travel brochure on his way to Japan. As the class began to wind down the Irishman noticed several people glance back at him. He was confused by this until he remembered the teacher telling the class to wait until the lesson was over to ask Ruarc questions.

Having spent all his life in a secluded village, and the past three years living in a hut secluded from the secluded village, Ruarc was neither a fan of nor good with big crowds of people. After minutes of anxious waiting the bell rang, signaling the end of the lesson. Before poor Ruarc could even lift his backpack he was surrounding by girls and guys alike asking him questions, some of the more popular questions were about joining a club or eating lunch together. With half of the class huddled around his desk it would be hard to slip away if it weren’t for the fact that he was a Druid. The noisy questions turned into sounds of confusion as the Irishman slipped out of the crowd right under everyone’s nose and began jogging out of the room and down the hall. “Druids are masters of getting out of tight spots,” Ruarc said to himself with a smile.

After a going a ways down the hall he came to his next class, English. Ruarc quickly slipped into the classroom and grabbed a seat where the right side of his face wasn’t projected to everyone for fear of drawing another crowd. He slid back in his seat to relax for a moment before the class began.

Mr. Miller was a couple of minutes late, since he had to delegate the assignments he graded last night for the senior students to the other English Teacher, Mrs. Camilla. She had no strong feelings about it either way. He eventually entered the class with glasses, sweatervest and a laptop under one arm. He took a bow to the class and said, in accented Japanese, "Good morning everyone," He cast his eye about the room, "I am Mr. Miller, I'll be helping you all with Introductory English," He then cast another eye around the room, "And if I'm not mistaken, we have a new student today: Ruarc," He gave Ruarc a nod of acknowledgement, trying to ignore the oddly shaped tattoo, "I'm sure you'll fit in just fine."

He then opened his Laptop and got a piece of chalk, "Now, we'll be starting off with sentence structure, and we'll try and introduce ourselves in English at end of the lesson," He started writing on the board, and wrote: 'Hello, my name is', "This is a basic English introduction, let's break down the word and see what makes it that way."

Mr. Miller then proceeded to extrapolate each word, with 'Hello' as a word used for greeting, and writing down the phonetic pronunciation, then 'my name is' as a way of introducing your name, and then, he asked the children a question, "So the sentence starts with an interjection, then you relate the sentence to yourself with 'my', which is an adjective, and add a Noun 'Name'. Although, you can also use 'Name' as a Verb, but we'll look at that later."
He then gave a quick explanation of what nouns, adjectives and verbs were. Simply speaking, nouns were naming words, adjectives were describing words, and verbs were acting words. Mr. Miller also made note that the Japanese language introduces names surname first, then given name, whereas for English, it was the other way around.

Eventually, the end of the lesson got close, "So, now that we know how this sentence works, we'll attempt to introduce ourselves in English," He then coughed lightly and started speaking in English, "Hello, my name is Jonathan Miller," He then motioned for the kids to start their personal introductions.
"Hello, my name is Rumi Kaito." Well done first time around, maybe she knew a bit of English to begin with.
"Uh, hello, m' name is Mimi Kamayama." She had the right idea, but the pronunciation was a bit off.
"Herro, name is Okihana Taichi," He'd gotten the first/last name switch mixed up and forgot 'my', but was brave for trying.

Upon hearing the mention of magical gems, Miyuki nearly imperceptibly stiffened, but continued walking, not saying anything, and acting as if she hadn't heard Percy at all. It was easy for her to do, as Hana was busily discussing her own encounters with some of the wayward spirits the teacher had mentioned, and getting very excited about it.

"Magical gems would be ridiculous, though I suppose you can use gems for technological purposes. More old fashioned folk would probably call that akin to 'magic'" Hisoka observed. hitching his backpack and walking faster to catch up to the girls. Luckily, their next class was not far away, and they managed to reach the door by the time the two were sitting down- It seemed they had a routine, as Miyuki and Hana had sat with a space between them to allow for Hisoka.

"Magic? Absurd!" laughed Percival in Japanese as they had entered class, "Such a thing couldn't exist in this time of book-learned." The Welshboy took a look at the group, finding his only English contact sitting between the the two girls. He fidgeted a moment as he found himself in a slightly discomforted position. He scratched his chin before deciding to sit next to the one closest to him, taking the most natural of neutral choices in seating. To his slight dismay, it was next to Hana. Now, he couldn't speak to Miyuki to see if he could find out a little more about that gem. Though, the afterthought was that his curiosity wouldn't make him intrusive. He had a bad habit of asking a lot of questions.

It seemed to serve him well enough, in any case. The period passed rather quietly, and Hana, having already forgotten the whispered hint from earlier that day, had spent much of the time they weren't paying attention to the teacher in the pursuit of asking Percy what Wales was like. "Is it anything like Japan?" was one of her first questions.

The questions posed to Percy made him slightly uncomfortable, partly because it was coming from someone who knew nothing about magic. He had to be careful with how he answered, otherwise he'd end up in a lot of trouble. His sage beret had tilted in the span of time they had been there, so he straightened it, and used the extended headweard adjustment to think of an answer. Something normal. Something nonmag.

"Well. It's not as eccentric as you'd imagine. Wales is pleasant, earthy country. The example of place that you can just feel the heritage in. As if the grains of our elder parents are in the ground itself, growing up and filling the sky with the odor of ancients." Percy reflected on his Japanese, cursing himself inwardly for not having as good a grasp as he could, but he continued, "Of course, it's also an afraidy dirtplace. The nights in Wales are filled with the sounds of ghosts and spirits, good and bad." No! Wait! That part's true! Lie! Lie darn you! "But that's what I understood when I was puny. Today I know it is just the wind off the mountains."

Hana's eyes widened, and she listened intently. Although Percy's Japanese wasn't the best, the girl could get the gist of what he was saying, and she ate it all up. Until, of course, the teacher noticed, Snapping a ruler on the desk and getting everyone's attention, causing Hana to jump and yelp a little, straightening in her seat. Despite her arms snapped to her sides, one could tell that Hana was doing her best to hide herself behind her bangs, as her face turned a rather brilliant shade of crimson. Miyuki giggled at the reaction, and Hisoka simply shook his head, muttering something about having time to talk next period.

Percy's head snapped forward, knowing that a lack of discipline was paid for in pulling mandrakes, and nobody ever wanted to do that. That's what they did back in Bangor, at least. He always wondered exactly what normal schools did for their punishments, much more a foreign country! He almost wanted to do something to find out, but felt that he was still making first impressions. The boy stiffened, putting on his strong, resolved face(or as Zulan had termed it, his 'Aurus' face) and put on a veil of focus.

"I can always storytell you later more." said Percival in a hushed tone, speaking out of just the corner of his lip, to which Hana nodded very subtly.

The teacher seemed to be satisfied with the result of his attention-getter, and turned back to the whiteboard, going on about the basic definitions of math and certain rules to mathematical operations. Even Hisoka was bored by this, as he knew it already, but a basic math class for high school first years required the basics to be reviewed at least once, and it was the first day, so they toughed it out. The rest of the class passed quietly enough without as many questions, except those addressed at the teacher by some overachieving or brownnosing students (those with actual need to ask questions generally too shy to do so).

Before they knew it, class was over, the bell ringing and excusing them to lunch period, and a little bit of freedom. And before Percy could do anything, there were more students than simply Hana, Miyuki, and Hisoka around him. It seemed Hana's questions would have to wait, as the three were pushed out of the way for the rest of the suddenly more interested students to come in and try to talk to young master Caxton.

"Ah!... Hello!" said young master Caxton to all these interested. It was dizzying! So much Japanese being thrown at him at once! It was hard to comprehend question after question, coming one after another. Trying to piece apart every syllable was hard enough when he was talking to one person. He tried answering one at a time, but it was almost a little too much for him.

"Come on, mortal. You've faced a mindless, murdering rock-monster before, what are some children to you?" mocked Aurus.

"Easy for you to say! You're not in the thick of it! You could at least give me some advice instead of just distracting me further!" strained Percy as he answered another question in his broken Japanese.

"Simple, boy, just kill a few of them and show them that you will not tolerate their incessant questioning!" roared Aurus in laughter.

"What? No! That's terrible advice! You hush!" growled Percy as a bit of discontent washed on his face as he was continually bombarded. He looked around for his friends, wondering if they had left yet. Well, he considered them friends, at least.

Suddenly, the fire Alarm went off, and the sprinklers started going, and Percy felt a hand grab his, pulling him out of his desk and towards the door as the students scattered, trying to shelter themselves from the downpour from the roof. Percy could feel the faint sensation that magic had been done, but what kind he could not tell. However, when he looked forward, Hisoka and Hana were guiding him, and looking back would see Miyuki shoving her way out of the throng of people trying to escape the water, she herself looking almost like she had gotten a facefull. Luckily, the teacher had already left, or she would have gotten herself in a lot of trouble- It had been her plan to 'rescue' Percy in any case. She had set off the fire alarms to distract the other students while Hisoka and Hana got the Welshman out.

As Miyuki caught up with them, Percy could see a faint glimmer of something red being shoved into her pocket. it could have been a lighter, or perhaps another gem- Percy couldn't tell. However, once they had vacated the hallways, they found themselves in the middle of the schoolyard with most of the student body and many of the teachers trying to restore order. Miyuki chuckled weakly, still unsure of why she had resorted to such a drastic plan.

Percy wheezed, being nearly dragged a quarter of the way and being made to run the rest. He was no athlete, and it showed, in how he was near exasperated from their lengthy run. His blood was pumping and his face was red, part from that, part from the embarrassment of being seen as so unfit. The Welshboy pulled off his beret and rung it out, before looking at his other three friends with a look of shock, mainly Miyuki. I can't believe it... did she use magic in such a public place for that!? Percival had the hold in the urge from berating her for such reckless use of magic, but now really wasn't the time. The surprised look plastered over his face slowly melted into appreciation.

"Thanks for that, I rarely know you, yet you're acting so well on me." Percival smiled as best he could through his shakiness. It was a little cold now. "Thank you."

"What are you talking about?" Miyuki said, somewhat defensively. Hisoka caught on rather quickly. "Yeah, we didn't do anything. Just took advantage of an opportunity." he added. Hana nodded "Besides, it's my turn for stories first." was her portion of the act.

"Uh... Right..." Percy said, still a little shaky. "Right... Sorry. Um..."

"Quit sounding like such a pansy, it's embarrassing to me." chided Aurus.

"Aurus! That... that thing! Did you feel it? That magic? It was fire magic, right?" asked Percy, looking down at his dampened trousers for a moment.

* "I only feel when my body is in your world, boy. I just take off your sight and sound." shot back the Fire God. The young boy sighed before straightening up with a smile.


"Not how I estimated my beginning day would be like, but that's not the issue." Percy grinned before looking at Hana, "You wanted to listen a few more news of my homedirt?"

Hana nodded, not saying anything, but Hisoka spoke up instead. "I think we would all like to hear more about Wales. I've been to America before, but never Europe or the British isles," he explained, before adding "Oh, by the way, it's 'Homeland'." Miyuki and Hana Giggled a bit at the little correction, but at least Hisoka had tried to make it a conversational one rather than a condescending one.

And yet, even as Percy would begin to speak, Miss Aizawa made her way to the group of students that included most of class 1-C, and Called them to her. "One-C! Please line up in front of me! I've been told this whole thing started in the classroom you were in!" she shouted over the din of the crowd, and, begrudgingly, the class formed up in front of her. Aizawa, nice as she was, showed that the severity wasn't entirely feigned, and got to the point. "Allright. which one of you started this?" she asked. Nobody seemed to want to look at her. None of them had been paying attention, and the only four that knew were certainly not speaking.

"Aizawa-Sensei." said Percy, from near the center of the group. He looked rather sheepish whether he garnered a few stares or not. There was little reason to do it, for some people who had foolishly decided to trip a fire alarm. His hand went slowly into the air. "I did not know what the alarm meant. My Japanese comprehension was very low." he shuffled his feet, and sniffed. It sounded like a crying sniff, when it was just from how soaked his clothes made him feel.

"You fool! What are you doing!?" growled Aurus, Zulan being strangely quiet for Aurus' uproars. "At the very least, try not to look like an idiot! Be gullible or something!"

"O-...One of the older students... they told me to pull the switch. They..." His lips pursed, appearing to struggle with his Japanese when he was just trying to figure out how to lie. "They said we were having a fire drill." He looked up at her, feeling something pull at his heart. Was it guilt for lying? Or did crocodile tears run in his blood? "I... I thought... I thought I was doing the right thing..."

Aizawa sensei smiled sweetly. "It's so nice of you to cover for your friends, Percy, and good to see you've made them so quickly." she spoke in English, to cover what she was really saying and keep the other students in the dark. "Unfortunately, I know that the alarm wasn't pulled, which means someone set off a sprinkler with fire. I heard from one of the students that you were being bombarded with questions and your friends rescued you. It seems my suspicions were correct." The teacher then switched back to Japanese. "Kagami, Takahashi, Watanabe, and Caxton, please make your way to the principal's office to explain why you did this. You're lucky it happened during lunch break, but it's still pretty major so... Get going."

Hana had gone white by now. Hisoka seemed to be only slightly put off by this, but he was also staying very quiet. Miyuki rolled her eyes theatrically and groaned, glaring at Percy as if to sarcastically say: "Thanks, Jerk"

"And that's why we don't lie, Percival." said Zulan, coming in finally. Though, her wise words didn't settle Percival's mind at all. He could feel the eyes on him. The foreignor could only feel much more foreign at this moment. The Welshboy didn't look at his three accomplices, not daring to meet their gazes. It was... He had just been so sure. Back in Wales, a fire alarm was a fire alarm, whether the sprinklers went off by themselves or not. He hadn't taken the differences into account. The young man didn't even bother to look up at Aizawa either, only following the other three to the principal's office.

The Quartet walked on in silence, the mood rather demure, as they headed towards the principal's office. Hisoka, actually knowing where said office was, led the way, with Miyuki coming next, wanting a little bit of distance between herself and Percy, whom she felt slightly betrayed by. This left Hana as an intermediary between Miyuki and the Welshman. As they made their way, however, they were stopped short by a strange sight- There were frogs crawling slowly all over the ground, though they smelled strongly of spirits, and seemed oddly flat and rubbery, suggesting they had been pickled at some point.

"What the heck?" Hisoka said, stopping short, and looking at the strange scene in front of him. To their right was an open door and, if they read the Japanese on its window, they knew it was the science lab.

Percy looked up and felt a strange, familiar sensation. He had encountered once or twice with his father in the Black Mountains. It was energy that seemed to work on the same principle as those he had there on those peaks. They were undead mountain warriors who told their stories through decayed lips to those who showed no fear of them. This feeling... it was different. It rang of the same kind of magic, but was more... forced... and what-say foreign. The boy looked up at the moving frogs.

"Those are... dead..." said Percy in English, barely believing what was going on. Was this place full mad idiots who used magic willy-nilly? "I can smell the formaldehyde from here!" The Welshman pinched his nose tightly as the sickening scent came to him. Even as a alchemist, the non-magical fromaldehyde had it's uses, but there wasn't any magic in the world that could override it's horrible stench.

"They... They CAN'T be dead." Hisoka stuttered, looking on. "They're moving around. this has to be some kind of prank." The freshman walked forward a few feet, to a point where he could look into the Science lab. Sure enough, just about everything in there was behaving strangely. The rats in their cages were rattling the bars, trying desperately to get out ( a few of the larger ones rather successfully) and all of the pickled and dead animals for dissections had started moving, even the sheep's head in a jar, whose chalky opaque eyes were rolling painfully in their sockets. Mostly small creatures like starfish, frogs, and the like were moving around the classroom, causing a bit of havoc.

The back closet, which was closed, was emanating strange noises. There was a distinct clacking sound, like hollow things banging against each other, and crashes and smashing, as if jars were being knocked over.
"I... I think we should get out of here, before we get in trouble." Hisoka observed, looking more than startled. The magical energy in the area was so high that even Miyuki could feel it, and so could Hana and Hisoka, but to them it just felt like a sense of foreboding that told them to escape.
"Don't you think we should do something about this?" Miyuki suggested, looking on over the spectacle with a healthy amount of fear, but not near as much as her two other friends. That's when the handle to the closet door began rattling, a scraping sound accompanying it as something attempted to open it.

Hana screamed, and was the first one off down the hallway, braving the frogs (they weren't so scary, considering) and she was followed by Hisoka, whom showed he was quite capable of the feat. Miyuki, as much as she might want to run, found herself unable to do so, something telling her it was better to stay.

Percy walked over to one of the crawling, squished frogs and side stepped it, only to kick it over towards the door, and then followed that up with a goalie kick, launching the frog back into the science lab. He looked back down at the hall and saw the other anurans making their way off. In all honesty, this didn't seem too scary to him, especially considering what he had gone through just to survive a trip to an ancient Welsh ruin. He looked up at Miyuki as he went back to another frog, kicking it towards the door and giving it the same goalie kick.

"Well, Kagami?" said Percy in Japanese, put particular emphasis in his words, "I imagine you have some way of solving this, right? Considering you're not marathoning like Watanabe and Takahashi."

"Actually, you stole my idea." Miyuki responded, as she finally managed to get herself moving again after the initial shock of sensing that much magic at work at once wore off. It was a new sensation to her, but she had known what it was immediately. "Besides, there's nothing to be afraid of, right? It's just little lab animals, and I bet that's the prankster in the closet." No sooner had she said those words than the closet door burst open, revealing the demonstrative human skeleton, which had apparently come alive, and was now moving of its own accord. It looked around, though it had no eyes, and began shambling around the room, as if investigating. Behind it, the stuffed forms of other larger things could be seen, starting to move. They included a deer, a monkey, and some kind of mid-sized cat. Stuck to their bases for now, it was a matter of time before they would be able to free themselves.

"I don't think kicking will work anymore." Miyuki Muttered, suddenly thinking that running wasn't a bad idea at all.

"Then get marathoning. These things cannot be lawed to run chaotically through the halls." said Percy in his broken Japanese. Things were getting a little more serious, as the items of this very-well funded lab came to life. His hand grasped around something, like a rod of some sort, but there was nothing to be seen, not yet. "Unless you feel like manipulating that gem of yours." This was it. Was she a mage or not? Would he have to wait until she left? Or could he summon the god necessary to stem this dead tide now?

"Whatever it is you do with that fancy hat, do it." Miyuki stated, backing up and out of the Science lab. "I'll go make sure Hana and Hisoka are still allright." Miyuki bowed to Percy quickly, apologizing for leaving him, and then ran down the hallway- Just in time to hear a scream up ahead. It was Hana. Soon, Miyuki rounded a corner, to see Hana fainting, with Hisoka on the ground in front of her, apparently also fainted, though his uniform looked a little worse for the wear. The reason for that, however, became immediately obvious as Miyuki looked up to see what appeared to be a smallish bear standing in the hallway, it having apparently batted Hisoka to the ground as if he were a piece of tissue paper.

Percival sighed. Once more he was alone to face the threat. He figured it was something he would need to get used to. His arm shook as Unity materialized into his hands. He stepped into the Science Lab, and slammed the staff down on the floor, sending out the arcane gate to the Elementalia Magicus.

"Hal! O Doktom O Growt!" summoned Percy, causing the vines of Modeka's energy to burst forth from the staff. The vine constricted and formed the Mini-Modeka on the table, in the very center of the reanimated beasts. As always, her warm, inviting aura filled the room, almost giving the dead walking amongst them real life in their unliving bodies. She looked around, calming gazing left, and then right.

"Modeka! Cleanse the curses from this place!" commanded Percy, to which Modeka replied with a nod and brought her hads together in front of her face. She shook as energey built around her, absorbing into her like a plant absorbs the suns light. A glow formed on her, getting ever brighter as the spell charged. Then, in it's final moment, the glow constricted within her, and exploded, permeating everything within the lab and the immediate hall.

Several halls away, Miyuki had pulled the Babylon key from her pocket, and she popped the Sapphire out of her necklace, replacing the Ruby with the blue gem instead. She disconnected the key from her keychain, and spun it around a couple times, unaware of what she was doing or why, but it became clear to her as she saw the key turn into the staff. Oh, right, Saph said I can use the staff without fully transforming. It struck the girl as odd that the items she carried could respond to commands she didn't even know she had given, but she was thankful for it.

"Get back from my friends!' Miyuki yelled at the short bear-creature, pointing the staff. All that managed to do, however, was get the attention of the bear, which had been investigating Hisoka's shoes. Angered, it began lumbering towards the girl, but she was ready. The staff pointed, and, once again like a fire hose, sprayed large amounts of water from its tip, the pressure of which knocked the small bear back, flipping it onto its hindquarters and pushing it past Miyuki's two unconscious friends. She moved forward, standing between her friends and the bear, and it charged again. This time, however, she pointed the staff at the floor, then drew it up in a wide arc toward the ceiling, creating a hemispherical sheet of ice, which became a very effective barrier against the bear. A second charge caused the ice to crack, and Miyuki dispelled it, the sudden influx of water creating a moving wall to push the bear down the hallway, where it slammed into the wall. Upon hitting the wall, however, the bear shrank, a piece of paper flying off of it, soggy, but dissolving before it hit the ground. And when she looked back up at the bear, it was a large stuffed 'teddy' bear.

Miyuki, confused, retracted the staff back into Key form, and swiftly put the ruby back in it, sticking the sapphire once again into the necklace.

All that was left of the active bodies in the science lab were just bodies. Stinking, dead animals littered the floor, what ever else that had sprung to life in jars had fallen silent again. Percy stepped forward, using his staff as a walking stick as he wrapped up Modeka in one arm and hugged her tight.

"Thank you, Modeka." he said, holding the mini close. She tucked her head into his chest comfortably and then slowly dissappated into her viny energy, before she was sent back to the Elementalia Magicus through Unity. The boy lobbed the staff up into the air and the rod warped away, off into the space it concealed itself in for futher use. Percival stepped outside the Science Lab, feeling glad that he had done something right today. He walked casually down the hall, side-stepping a frog or two to find Miyuki, Hana, and Hisoka, in a very soggy hallway.

"Kagami?" went Percy.

"Umm, I found them like this." Miyuki lied quickly, pointing to the other end of the hallway. "Somebody set that up to distract them so they'd slip on the wet floor and hurt themselves." she continued, crafting a believable story.

"That's irrelevant." interrupted Percival, waving his hand, having had enough of the strangeness of a supposedly normal Japanese school for the day. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." Miyuki responded stooping down to look over Hisoka, whom was closest to her. "I'm just wondering what is wrong with this school. This is not normal at all..." she muttered, mostly to herself, but it was loud enough that Percy could make it out.

"Kagami..." said Percy thoughtfully as he crouched down next Hana, resting the top of his hand on her forehead. "Do you imagine such a object as magic could exist?"

Miyuki stopped to think for a moment. She was picking her answer carefully, because she didn't want to give away what she could do, but at the same time, it seemed obvious to her that Percy could do some kind of magic, as well. Just as she was about to open her mouth, however, she was spared from answering by Hisoka groaning and stirring, starting to wake up. Hana was not long after in waking up, her mostly shock-induced fainting not lasting as long as Hisoka's injury-induced one.

"Ah well. I suppose we should carry Takahashi to the doctor." said Percy, waiting for Hana to fully awaken before offering to help her up. The Welshman sighed, looking down the hall and then back. "And I imagine one of us needs to communicate to the principal, still."

"I'll go to the principal, you take them to the nurse." Miyuki said, as Hisako continued to take his time waking up. "Hana, Help Percy with Hisako, allright?' she asked, as Hana took Percy's hand to help pull herself up. She nodded shakily, looking around at the hallway. "Did.. did I imagine that?" She mumbled, not believing what she had seen earlier, as the current evidence pointed to a different truth.

"Imagine what?" blinked Percy as he helped her up, before kneeling down to Hisoka and heaving the boys weight on his own. "I'd try not to inhale too extreme in this place. Formaldehyde tends to induce fainting when it's thick enough. I imagine Takahashi took the rough end when he inhaled too much in." He swirled his finger in the air, indicating the remaining smell of the flesh preserving fluid.

"Yeah.. that must have been it..." Hana mumbled, helping take Hisoka's weight from the other side, and pointing Percy down one of the other hallways. "The nurse is this way." she pointed out.

"Take care, I guess." Miyuki said, turning to walk the other way toward the principal. "I'll explain all this to the Principal." The 15 year old began walking, and thought to herself I hope he's nice... The air about her suddenly felt more foreboding, and she imagined herself walking off toward her doom.

Ruarc nodded at Mr. Miller’s acknowledgement, but not much else. Other than that not much else happened. The class went by slowly as Ruarc took mental notes of the lecture, and when the bell range he was able to slip away quietly before a group formed around him.

”You going to dodge those students the entire time you are here?” Laoise asked Ruarc as she hopped along the windowsill of the hallway windows.
”If they ask me something in Irish I will be happy to answer them, but I don’t see a need to figure out the correct words for an unimportant question,” Ruarc replied as he found a spot to lean against the window to relax.
”That is oddly cynical for you Ruarc. I thought you liked answering questions.”
”As I said before, if they ask in Irish, I will answer in a heartbeat.”

Ruarc’s conversation was interrupted as an alarm range out through the school. ”That is not the school bell,” he thought as he saw the people in the hallway begin scrambling for the stairs. After asking what was going on another student informed him that it was the fire alarm. Having never taken part in a fire drill, Ruarc followed casually behind the other student in route to the exits.
He stopped halfway to the stairs however when his right eye began to respond to magic once more. ”Again? My eye never reacted this frequently when I was back home,” he thought as he tried to pinpoint where it was coming from. Once he got a fix, he began jogging down the now empty hallway, and once he felt he was close he began searching around. He found nothing.
“Well, what the hell? Am I on the wrong floor? Damn!” Ruarc monologue as his search turned up nothing. He made his way to the stairs and bounded down the flight of steps. “C’mon! I am not missing another lead,” he said.

”This isn’t like the energy of the animals, it is similar to the first flare up of unique energy from the park,” Laoise said as she flew passed the window of the second floor.
Ruarc already knew this and focused on the hallway in front of him. As he reached an intersection the energy once again faded away and the Druid lost the trail. “Oh come on!” he said in an aggravated tone. He scratched the back of his head out of annoyance and turned down the hallway going in the direction he last felt the energy in.

"Kaito?" Mr. Miller was making a roll call of the students in his class on the lawn.
"Here." She replied easily.
"Kamayama?"
"Hai, Sensei."
"Taichi?"
"Nn."
"Flynn?" He looked around for Ruarc, and awaited reply. After ten seconds had passed, his stomach dropped, "Children, stay put. I'm going find Ruarc," He nodded towards one of the other teachers, "Keep an eye on my class for me, please?" He nodded and took up Mr. Miller's previous position, looking over the class.

The first place he started looking was his classroom, but he was coming up empty handed there, and his heart skipped a beat. He'd been told that the alarm was just someone holding a lighter to a sprinkler, but something was telling him that there was more to it. He could hear someone charging up and down the stairs, "Ruarc?" He asked aloud, hoping that it was who he was after, "Ruarc, you need to come to the lawn and be accounted for!"

Mr. Miller then stepped on something that crunched and paused. He looked down and moved his shoe cautiously and found a flattened frog. His eyebrows furrowed, "Ruarc, this is no time for practical jokes," He stated sternly before noticing that what he'd stepped on smelt very bad. He took a closer look at it - and it reeked of chemicals, the sorts used for embalming.
"...the hell?" He asked himself in English under his breath, "Flinging dead frogs?" He then inspected the corridor and noticed several other small shapes dotting the hallway, all with the same stench, "This isn't funny," He then started heading towards the Principal's office, taking a right turn at the end of the corridor and walking past a teddy bear soaked in embalming stuff. He paid it no notice.