07-13-2009, 08:24 AM
Covering his mouth with one hand, Ash allowed himself to yawn discreetly, then proceeded to rub his right eye until it decided to stop trying to close. Really, all his body wanted was to go back to sleep, which he had been more than happy to do on the train ride, seeing as to how all the Japanese people seemed to be doing it. Of course, as an alternative to that, he could amuse himself with how they preferred to crowd on the other side of the compartment rather than come anywhere near him and the black man who sat beside him. Ash didn’t know that man, and they had nothing in common, but in the eyes of the Japanese they were the same: gaijin – foreigners. He had been warned plentifully before by friends who knew more than him about how prejudicial the Japanese were against people not of their own country, however, so he was not surprised. Otherwise, though, he wouldn’t have known anything about Japan, aside from what his father told him. He didn’t even know the language, for that matter. Apparently, that helped you make some friends, at least at your workplace or school. Well, tough tomatoes for him, in that case.
As you might have guessed by now, Ash wasn’t the type to stress very much about matters. It had been enough for him to know that his school was going to have a high concentration of foreigners, for some reason, especially among the honor students. That was enough for him. Still, damned parents for moving this far overseas. Well, he supposed it was to be expected when his father knew both English and Japanese. Though, by far, the greatest horror of them all was that his father taught English here, at this school. Ash was really tempted to not sign up for the class at all, but he knew he’d never hear the end of it at home if he didn’t do it, so he finally pressed the pen down and added his name.
It was only when he turned to look for the next paper that he realized he had been holding up another applicant with his hesitation. It was a boy a little bit shorter than him, and his tie was colored burgundy, marking him as a freshman, unlike Ash’s gold that told everyone he was a sophomore. Though, also unlike Ash, this boy wore a white uniform rather than a black one. The last he’d have wanted was to get between an honor student and his studies, so he hurried to step aside and offer the list.
“Sorry,” he said, grabbing the next list and quickly signing his name up for the Japanese class. He was definitely going to need that one, so there was no bailing out of it, either. That seemed to be it, though. He’d already signed up for enough classes, aside from these – Geography (his favorite subject), History, Algebra, and Astronomy. Definitely had enough for one quarter, so he settled for that.
He noticed the boy from just earlier also signed up for Japanese – but that was pretty much all he still managed to make out before some tall, muscular guy decided he should just push people randomly aside and make his way to the lists. Another honor student, by the uniform, and probably a senior… There had to be at least a few of those idiots in any school, of course, Ash noted with a sigh, as he was struggling to free himself from the crowd as they pushed each other in their rush to get out of the guy’s way. He hit his shoulder in the process, on hell knows what, or who, but he managed to emerge. Seemed he was right near the same guy again.
“You alright?” he said as he rubbed his shoulder, figuring that, since they were both foreigners anyway, he could just start a conversation.
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