2025-07-05: The Teacher Helps Tidy Up
- Log: The Teacher Helps Tidy Up
- Cast: Yua Ooshiro, Jun Kashihara, Ichika Kawase
- Where: Kasugayama High - Gymnasium
- OOC Date: 2025-07-05
- IC Date: Tuesday, June 05 2012
- Summary: After dance class, Yua picks on two students to clean up. This would be totally normal, except that she sticks around to HELP Ichika and Jun put the mats away. She clearly cares, but she's definitely kind of a weird teacher -- and Jun, with his own teaching aspirations, is in a good position to see that. Ichika's grades aren't great, even if her dance moves are, but Jun offers to help tutor her after Yua suggests they help each other out.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Recently, Kasugayama (and other schools) received a new hire -- a woman focused on addressing school refusal by re-engaging disengaged students, focusing on health and physical education. She comes to Kasugayama one day a week -- though which day it is varies on a roster, to avoid students being able to easily Skip Dance Day -- in order to educate students in the art of dance.
Thankfully, Eikichi vouched for her, and so the students of Kasugayama are willing to give her a chance. That's just kind of how politics work in this school.
Today's class focused on learning some contemporary dance moves in order to dance along to a song which is popular amongst teenagers right now -- after learning some important stretches to help limber themselves up so they don't hurt themselves. ("Dancing shouldn't hurt," Yua said, quite sternly. "You might have heard 'no pain, no gain' -- but I want you to forget it when it comes to dancing. Instead, you must practice, practice, practice! With practice, dancing is as easy as walking!")
Once everyone's all tired out from both the stretching and the dancing, though, the third year's class has finished...
... but there's an important Japanese ritual that must be observed.
"Kawase-kun, Kashihara-kun, would you please stay back to help me tidy up?" Yua requests, politely, though it's not technically the kind of request they can refuse. Oh no. They've been recruited... to clean the classroom. Or the gym, in this case, which is arguably worse.
Normally, a teacher might disappear after allocating students to this task.
But, strangely...
"Hup!" Yua is helping them pick up the dance mats and tuck them flat in the storage closet.
Man, don't they teach you you can just make the kids do this in teacher school?
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
Jun does not care for sports. Gym is accordingly one of his least favorite classes. Nonetheless, he does attend, even if it's with a lack of enthusiasm. A future teacher shouldn't be known for cutting classes. Besides which, he minds Ooshiro-sensei's lessons less than most. If he must exercise, at least it's by doing something beautiful and elegant--and he likes her policy of rejecting 'no pain, no gain.'
So when she asks him and his classmate Ichika to help tidy up afterwards, Jun merely sighs in resignation before he nods. "Very well," he says, brushing his glossy black hair back. At least she asked before he had a chance to change out of his gym clothes. If he's going to continue to get sweaty, it may as well be in the appropriate clothing.
And so he goes with Ichika to start picking up the mats, except--
'Hup!'
Jun stares wide-eyed at Ooshiro-sensei as she starts picking up the dance mats too. He shoots Ichika a brief, bewildered look, partially obscured by the bangs that fall over his right eye--but he soon follows suit.
"Have you been teaching long, sensei?" he wonders to Yua as he goes. "Before you came here, I mean."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika Kawase has been known to skip a class here and there. ...But even if she were inclined to skip this class, she doesn't know when it's going to be! That's actually an incentive to attend a little more often, and so while at lunch she disappeared...
She was back for dancing. And Ichika vouched for her, too. Not a surprise, since Eikichi did--but then, it's not surprising that the Thorn Boss would like dancing, either, to those who know much about her.
Ichika is likewise in her gym clothes, her voluminous hair tied back in the kind of ponytail that, with a little sweat, could probably kill someone. Don't worry about that. But she doesn't mind exercise or sweat. She is a little surprised to be the one asked, though. "Sure," Ichika answers, as if she could actually say no. "I can do that."
She actually likes Yua. But to her surprise...
She shares that look with Jun, along with a mirrored lifted eyebrow.
Jun's got the right question. If he wanted to be subtle, that would be ideal. However, "..."
"Not used to the teacher stopping to help with this stuff," she says, RUINING the idea of treating Yua like she's doing a normal thing.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Yua looks back at Jun, as if she can hear his wide-eyed stare. (Well, it probably has some SFX, but those are only audible to the audience.) "Eh? Me? Ahhh --"
Who ever heard of a teacher being nervous about being asked a question?! But this isn't one which she can decline to answer so easily, so instead, thinking quickly, she LIES.
"N-no, actually! This program is my first real job as a teacher! Ambitious, isn't it?" She laughs, a touch nervously. "But I thought it was an excellent opportunity, being able to see how so many different institutions operated..."
She picks up another mat, as she looks over to Ichika. (Hopefully, her hair doesn't kill anyone. You can't fight here, this is the dance hall.) "Is it really that strange?" She wonders, tilting her head. "I'm not sure it instills a good moral if you students are left to do the unglamourous work alone..."
... hey, wait, if she just graduated or whatever, didn't she get landed with the unglamourous work so her superiors could get on with their day?!
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
Jun chuckles a bit when Ichika gets straight to the point. He's only been acquainted with her for a couple of months, ever since they started their third year as classmates of 3-A, but he does appreciate her candor. Most students of Kasugayama High are like that--and that's one of the things he likes about it. You can't get this kind of brutal sincerity in most other schools.
Of course, with that brutal sincerity comes a different kind of posturing... Jun's had to deal with plenty of that, too. But one digresses.
"Aha. I see," Jun says to Yua. She does seem nervous, but that's only natural if this is her first assignment as a teacher. He gives her a patient, encouraging smile. "Unusual yes, but not strange--at least, not in a bad way. Your kindness speaks well of you, sensei. As Kawase-san says, most teachers leave this sort of thing to us students."
And superiors to juniors... but Jun refrains from speculating on whatever politics are going on behind Ooshiro-sensei's assignment. He sets the next mat atop the stack and steps out of Ichika's way. "As I'm sure you've already seen, most teachers here have given up on us--and on themselves," he concludes, matter-of-fact.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Her first job! Don't they teach this part in teacher school? Ichika had assumed so, but apparently not. It's her first, and she sees it as an opportunity...
Ichika's hair is bloodless. For now.
Jun laughs, but Ichika knows he's not laughing at her by now. Before she came to Kasugayama, Ichika wouldn't have been so blunt either, but... It's how it is here.
"Ohh," she answers, thoughtful. "Yeah," Ichika chimes in, nodding to Jun. "It's not a problem. It's cool if you actually care. It's just..."
She gestures to Jun a moment before she finishes rolling up the next mat after Jun, setting it down.
"I'm not used to 'good morals' being the concern, right." A pause. Hmm. Maybe she did get loaded with it, but...
"You probably don't want to take too much knowledge from how they operate here."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Luckily, Yua doesn't mind brutal honesty. It just kind of sounds like 'honesty' to her, so she's not liable to chide the youth for being too honest.
They might teach all this in teacher school. Maybe Yua just skipped class that day? Or...
"You're remarkably steady!" Yua notices, as she lays another of those dance mats flat in the closet. Straightening up -- she bends at the knees, and elongates up with effortless grace, but this is not about that -- she turns to him, and smiles. "I'm supposed to be the one supporting you students, aren't I? But I thank you, regardless. Though..."
She pauses, a hand at the sliding door, as she looks over the worn and damaged gym.
"I'm terribly concerned," she admits, looking back to the Thorn Boss again, "to hear you say it's cool I actually care, and to hear Kashihara-kun talk about teachers giving up on the students here. It shouldn't be exceptional to care about you. There really isn't so much difference between the students of Kasugayama and Shujin, you know...? You are bright young men and women, just the same as any of them." The sliding door creeeeaks, and Yua, with a little start of alarm, stops leaning on it before it breaks. "Y--yes, the private schools have more funding, but..."
She puffs out a sigh, as she goes to pick up another mat.
"You must be so frustrated," she guesses, because she certainly is.
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
Jun, who has a teacher for a father, knows that teacher etiquette isn't something one learns at teacher school--not every single little nuance, anyway. (At least, not the teacher school his father attended.) The proper social cues are something one has to pick up on the job, as it were. Some things, you're expected to just know, and god help you if you don't.
But surely Yua doesn't know anything about that.
Jun nods in agreement with Ichika. "Yes, I agree. I don't think it's a bad thing to have students clean the classroom after school, of course. Knowing how to clean is an important life skill, and getting students into the habit of it will help them for the rest of their lives. But so often teachers treat themselves as separate from students. How are you supposed to get them to trust you if you behave like that?" He shakes his head ruefully, then smiles back at her. "So I thank you too, Ooshiro-sensei."
He heads over to pick up and put away another mat. They're not heavy, but they are bulky and unwieldy, and he's neither tall like Ichika nor athletic like Yua. He brings it over, but it does take some effort. As he does, though, he listens to what Yua has to say.
"Hmmm... I'm surprised to hear you say that, sensei," he says thoughtfully. "'More funding' is more than enough difference for some." He smiles at her and Ichika again all the same. "But I'm not that frustrated. I actually like it here." He hefts up the mat, and carefully sets in on the pile once Yua is out of the way of the sliding door. "I've learned lessons here that I don't think I could have learned at any fancy preparatory school."
He steps out of the way and turns a thoughtful look at Ichika. "...Though that might just be me."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika sure doesn't know. She's barely managing at regular school. Yua's concern, meanwhile, gets a thoughtful look out of Ichika again. It shouldn't be...
"...People here don't usually talk about what 'ought' to be," she says, using the word Kitagawa had used before. "Just what they are." A pause, and she nods to Jun. "Somebody's gotta do it," she agrees. "I don't mind. It's 'our' school, after all." A pause. "...Hm. I guess I would trust a teacher more who acted like that..." % r
Ichika has an easier time with the mats because of her height. She listens, too. Not much difference between...
"You think?" she asks, and looks to Jun as he explains his feelings. "Huh," she says. "...I guess it makes sense. I mean, I'll admit, I've learned a lot of things I wouldn't have learned, too."
But it might just be him? "...It's not all bad," she says diplomatically. But there's a major 'but'.
"...People tend to get sent here because nobody wants to care anymore. A lot of my friends are like that. And it's true for me, too. My parents couldn't find anywhere else that would take me--well, Akiyama. But it burned down."
"Shujin seems pretty different," she says, "But maybe not. It's got a lot going on lately, too."
A shake of her head. "...I dunno," she says of frustrated. "It's not like I'd be getting better grades somewhere else. At least here I'm not bringing the class average down."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Yua has never been terribly good at picking up on unspoken social rules, like that. Even if she really was a teacher, perhaps she would have been doomed from the start...
"You're right," Yua nods, to Jun, and indeed isn't sharp enough to pick up on the fact that he thinks she wasn't complimenting him back there. More's the pity! She clearly regards him with respect, regardless. "I might have been around longer than you, with more adult responsibilities and considerations, but we are fundamentally on the same team. As Kawase-kun says, it's our school, yes? Ah, as for what 'ought' to be..." She adds, turning to Ichika. "When what 'is' isn't acceptable, I find it all the more important to remember how things should be."
It's slightly different to 'how things could be'; less a hopeful statement about the future, and more an imperial edict on how the present state is wrong. ... but that might be hard to hear, because the two things sound quite similar, at a glance.
She's pretty good with the mats -- at five-foot-nothing, she's tiny, but she knows how to move well enough that she she can manage the bulky weights. (Besides, she lifts weights too, you know! If only so Miho has someone to train with...) They're old mats, though, so she needs to take a little extra time to avoid tearing them more than they already are. "Money isn't an inherent quality of success," she shakes her head, looking to Jun again. "It's true that money makes life much easier... but I find too many people judge one's worthiness by one's material worth alone. But wealth doesn't measure moral character." ... after all, she's doing terrible things, and she's quite wealthy these days. Rather than voice that, or address the rumours flying around that Yua gets dropped off to school by a chauffeur, she smiles to her students instead. "As you say, you've both learned important things here! And I'm glad to hear that, too... I was quite worried at the apparent lack of opportunities here, compared to the other campuses."
No one tell Yua that Ichika is talking about how to throw a punch and sell stolen goods. She might faint on the spot.
"Ah," she adds, her gaze softening, as she looks to Ichika again. "But it sounds like you've heard that message more than once... I'm sorry, Kawase-kun. I can't stand here and lie to you, many adults do see people that way... but I haven't seen you bringing the class down when you've been with me. You're really quite a remarkable dancer already!"
She leans down to take up another mat, but she pauses, in the gesture. "Are you concerned about your grades?" She asks, and maybe she's a great fit for Kasugayama, because her question is direct too. (She's not doing it on purpose. She feels like her tone is plenty delicate.) "I can look into the after-school programs, see if there's a drop-in service..."
Though, if they have a formal avenue for homework help, wouldn't the teacher know about it already?
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
Jun had thought Ooshiro-sensei had meant 'steady' as in 'physically steady,' and he certainly isn't that when it comes to this sort of task, so it had indeed gone over his head. He does appreciate her attitude in a general sort of sense, though--especially as she says they're on the same team. He smiles at her. "Yes. I quite agree."
"What an elegant way of putting it," Jun muses, looking at Ichika with new respect. She might be quoting someone else, but it's still a fine way of putting it: what ought to be. Even if it's in reference to what most don't do here at Kasugayama. "It's true, though. Most of the students at this school don't have that kind of luxury." He smiles warmly. "That's why I like the Death Boss in particular. He utterly sparkles with dreams, doesn't he? It's wonderful."
It surprises him a little for Ichika to be diplomatic at all. She certainly didn't pull her punches earlier, even if they arguably weren't very hard punches. (He does not explain to Yua about the actual punches, either.) But then she comes back into it again, and Jun's gaze softens with sympathy. He doesn't know why Ichika has ended up here and has no intent of prying. She does seem frustrated herself. It... probably is easy to be, since if anything, he's the one bringing the class average up and indirectly pressuring the others. Jun doesn't feel bad about his part in that--he's simply living his life, and he sees no reason to apologize for that--but if Ichika has that attitude about herself...
He looks back at Yua for the moment. "I quite agree there too. Money is no measure of moral character, you're quite right. But it's naive to deny that money commands respect in society, deserved or not. Maybe it's simply greed at play, but even so..." He turns a thoughtful look to Ichika as Yua reassures her, offers to look up any drop-in services. Jun already knows that no such thing exists here at "Cuss High." He fetches what might be the last of the mats. "It continues to be reassuring to see you so earnest in offering help, sensei," he comments. "I want to become a teacher in the future myself, you see, so it's heartening. I even offer tutoring services to other students here, informally--" Jun laughs a little, shifting his grip on the mat. "Not that many take me up on it. But I'm happy to help those who do."
He doesn't offer such services to Ichika directly, of course. It's one thing to have a teacher offer; it's another for it to come from a peer. If Ichika's interested, she can approach him later now that he knows she knows the option is there--if Yua doesn't simply smash them together like a pair of Barbies first.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Indeed it's borrowed--but Ichika agrees. It is a good way of putting it. That's why it stucks with her. And now, Yua expresses ownership, too. "You sure you want to be 'our' with us?" she has to ask. But 'should'... it's a different word still, but maybe it's a good one. "...Mm." She's used to a lot of things that aren't acceptable just being how it is. Still... Jun brings up the Death Boss, and Ichika nods. "It's why I follow him," she says. "He's not like everyone else. ...He has real dreams. It's inspiring."
The real punches can just be a little secret for now. "I've got money," Ichika says. "Enough of it, anyway, or my parents do. But money alone doesn't make a difference."
Yua is nice to her, and Ichika shakes her head. "You don't.." She pauses. Dancing. "Well," she says, "Dancing I like." She doesn't have to deny the compliment if it's about something she's actually good at.
"Oh, is that it?" she asks of Jun. A teacher. "...Huh. I could see that from you. I guess it's why you're so concerned with lessons."
She doesn't answer Yua's question at first. She considers it, though. An unspoken offer, not directly made, but made available. Maybe...
"There's no need for that," Ichika says to Yua. "I'd rather you stick to teaching me dancing. That's something I can really go for. ...But thanks, sensei."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"He's a wonderful young man," Yua smiles, speaking of Eikichi. Does she know about the punching? She probably doesn't know about the punching. She thinks the kids organising themselves into gangs with bosses leading them is cute, so she probably doesn't think they're actually doing gang things.
The alternative is that she's actually fine with criminal activity, and how could that possibly be true?
"And I'm happy to be associated with you," she adds, to Ichika. "This kind of reputation doesn't frighten me! After all, the concerns are really a little overblown, aren't they?" Punching. Punching and vandalism and theft and loitering and illegal skirt lengths. All of these things are still true Kasugayama facts, Yua!!
... well, she still seems to have faith in everyone. Maybe that's her privilege, as a woman with money, to be able to leverage her respect to be able to stand with such a rough crowd.
"Oh, I -- I don't think I'd be terribly good at teaching you anything aside from dancing, anyway," Yua says, with a touch of nervous laughter, as she makes sure all the mats are lined up properly in the closet. One might note that she makes sure each of them are straight, as if she's actually paying attention to how they're stored. Realising a moment later that she's said far too much about her own self, she hurries to add -- "Ah, that is... I specialised quite a bit when I was learning!"
It might be more supportive to Ichika to admit that she was a straight-D student at school, but if she admits something like that, won't they realise there's no way she would have made it into teaching school in the first place?
No, she just has to -- pretend she's better at it.
Luckily, Jun is here! No one tell Jun he's probably better at this than Yua is. And, in fact, Yua did play with Barbies growing up, because Yua was a child far too enamoured with America. She had a ballet Barbie when she was a little girl. It was her best friend. Now --
"Why don't you two have a talk about that?" Yua suggests, just, flat-out spelling it out, just like that. "Kashihara-kun is an excellent student, I hear, and you'd be helping him in his goals to learn more about teaching too! And that way, we can focus on dancing! A little self-expression to go along with academic effort!"
Yua smiles, brightly, her one visible eye shutting like a happy cat.
Would you say no to that face.
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
Real dreams are indeed inspiring. There's no question in Jun's mind why Eikichi is the top Boss at Kasugayama, despite only being a second year. "He is," he tells Yua and Ichika both. "I mostly only know him by reputation, I admit--we haven't really spoken much--but I've at least seen him in action, too." Jun laughs a little. "Do you know, sensei, that nobody at Kasugayama High smokes because the Boss--" the Boss, as Jun puts it, "--strictly forbids it? I respect his tenacity."
Jun nods in concession to Ichika's point, that money alone isn't enough. If she's here even with money... then it might well be a sensitive issue for her. He opts to drop it. "Yes, that's right. I only made up my mind earlier this year, but my father is a teacher, and he's long been an inspiration for me," Jun tells Ichika instead.
He surveys the mat closet as Yua lines them all up. He gives her a curious look when she gets nervous... It sounds like she might be hiding something--or at least might be embarrassed by something. He doesn't press. She is a P.E. teacher. It would not shock him to learn that this is because it's the only thing she was fit to teach. (It would shock him to learn that she never attended teacher school at all.)
"Oh, do you think so, sensei?" Jun asks politely, smiling as she picks up on it. He gives his classmate a nod. "Well then, I'm not part of any afterschool program or anything like that, but if you don't mind me, Kawase-san..." Yua offers an extra angle to work, and he adds, "I really would appreciate the experience, if you're willing to indulge me."
Or indulge Yua, but that's hardly an issue at all with that adorable happy-cat face of hers, is it? She really does just want to dance, and Jun thinks that's wonderful of her, too.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika's a third year, and she still accepts Eikichi's leadership. Of course, she just said why. She doesn't have the 'dreams' he does...
But, "I talk with him some," she says. "If you ever feel like it, drop by the Prison. He's there practicing with his band a lot of the time. He's got time for people, though."
Are they overblown concerns, though??? Ichika tilts her head, but doesn't attempt to burst the teacher's bubble this time. This time. She also notices Yua's self-deprecation... But doesn't know why that would be.
Jun's right, though. It is a sensitive issue for Ichika. "Oh, yeah?" she asks of his father. "Cool. ...It's nice, having inspirations like that."
The latest inspiration she got was from that reporter. ...Thinking of it cheers her up a little.
She looks to the mats too, expectantly. If they did it wrong, they'll have to do it again, after all.
But... Ichika has her pride. So she wasn't going to accept help outright. When they act like it's part of Jun's self-enrichment, though, and they're both willing to spare her self-esteem about it...
Yua looks so happy about it, too. There's no way a woman like that is being manipulative about it.
"...All right," she allows after a moment. "If it'd help your experience... then I could go for that." She doesn't see much point in improving her grades, but she is self-conscious about them all the same. "Just as long as you don't go easy on me just because I'm a Boss, or a girl. I expect the same treatment you'd give anybody who was trying to learn."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"Oh! Is that why?" Yua exclaims, a hand to her chest. "I'd noticed I didn't have to scold anyone here for doing that where they thought I wouldn't notice... goodness, I hadn't thought that was his doing! He must be such a good role model!"
... maybe Ooshiro-sensei is just weird.
(She notes that Eikichi usually hangs out in the Abandoned Prison, though. ... she probably won't need to know that, but unfortunately, she is here to keep notes. Just... in case.)
Still... Jun's father is a teacher. Maybe Yua should be a little more worried around him... he might know enough to realise she doesn't actually belong here. Well, that's how she ought to think, but... how can she just frost him out, when he genuinely wants to improve himself?
Maybe... everything will be fine. She might even be a good teacher! (Well. A good health and physical education teacher. Yua doesn't know enough about teaching to know the stereotypes around her chosen class...)
Luckily, the mats are straight and good! Would Yua make them do it again properly if they weren't? ... she actually might. She's a considerate teacher, but that doesn't mean she has no demands of her students. For instance: every student she caught straining themselves she stopped and lectured, because they were going to injure themselves if they tried to push through their pain and show off. No one was allowed to get away with it!
Right now, though, the only one not getting away with it is Ichika. (The 'it' in question is her grades.) Luckily, Yua pitches things in a way which spares her pride, and it wasn't even an accident. Yua is quite familiar with how one's sense of pride can be important to oneself, after all.
And so, "I think it's a marvellous idea," Yua encourages Jun, and through him, Ichika. When Ichika accepts the idea, she claps her hands together. "That's great! With an attitude like that, I'm sure you'll succeed!"
With that, Yua twirls -- like, actually does a little twirl, one foot curling up and resting on her knee for a moment before she places it down again. "Thank you both for your help tidying up," she smiles, to them, as she picks up the ancient boom box she was using to play the music. "I'll let you get back to your tasks, now. I've just got to pop this back in the teacher's lounge!"
And do -- ugh -- paperwork, but they don't need to know the depths of Yua's sorrows. No: she has a smile for them, as she exits, light and with effortless grace.
Maybe this can be a good thing.