Yokai High (Cammy and Crow)

[Cammeh]

<Good morning. My name is Kaede Miyamoto-Watts. I have just moved to Japan from America. I am living here now with my father. Everything is very new and I am still learning Japanese, to speak and to act. Please forgive my rudeness if I make a mistake. I am depending on you all from today.>

The practiced speech was made with a quiet seriousness, with a bow to his teachers and his new classmates. Everything felt strange. Wearing a uniform, wearing special indoor shoes, speaking Japanese, bowing. But this was to be his new life. Ma was not here. Nobody he knew was here. Kaede's face tightened slightly as he fought back the homesickness, and the grief. He needed to be here. And not just because of the Agreement.

The teacher allowed questions from his new classmates, and Kaede answered them the best that he could, with help and explanations, and even a few translated words, from the teacher. The school had admitted him based on his grades and a translated exam, and he was going to a tutor and juku to help with his Japanese and History. He was from California, and no he didn't know any celebrities but yes, he could surf a little. He played a little baseball, but he preferred track and field. He liked rap music and some rock, but also Native American music, as his mother was Native American and Black. He also spoke Spanish and a little bit of a Native American language called Chumash. He played the electric bass and also the native drums and flute. Yes, he had dyed his hair blond. Yes, he missed his family in America very much.

When Kaede was asked why he had moved to Japan, he snapped his mouth shut for a moment before finally answering that he was uncomfortable talking about it, and the teacher quickly brought an end to the questions. The class welcomed him in unison, and he was able to take his seat, near the front and close to the window. The rest of homeroom went on as routine, with announcements and attendance, before the first teacher arrived for the first class.

Kaede spent a lot of time watching and listening hard, trying to keep up with the teacher. It was too slow to write in kana, the Japanese lettering, but too time-consuming to translate into English, so he simply wrote the Japanese using Romaji to properly transcribe later. After the first class, he found himself slightly mobbed by his classmates, but they gave him a bit more space when he began to look a bit too overwhelmed. He heard the girls giggling and caught the word 'shy'. He'd take that if it meant being mostly left alone for now.

 

[Crow]

Mikaboshi Mizuki - a regular high school girl, or was she?

She certainly acted and looked like one, never a fish out of water, not metaphorically anyways. She wasn't the most social lass in the class, and her eyes that resembled those of a dead fish didn't help one bit.

The young lady sat at her desk, twirling her pencil and looking out of the window as Kaede introduced himself in front of the class. Of course, she listened clearly and carefully.

"America, huh? Not a fan."

The clock's very hands would fly by swiftly. Hour by hour, minute by minute until the first class had ended.

During this time, she couldn't help but feel that the boy had a very strange energy to him. Perhaps he was one of those. With that, she made her decision.

With her ever-so-stern eyes, she approached the boy Kaede.

"Come with me, we need to talk."

 

[Cammeh]

Kaede jumped at the command, more from the voice than the bluntness. He was used to people being so blunt back home, but it was out of the normal, here. At first he thought she was a teacher or an upperclassman. What were they called? Senpai. But he'd seen her sitting amongst the rest of the class when he was on display earlier. He ran through the list of faces he'd compiled in that time. He'd already sorted through the ones who'd questioned him, and then mobbed him after class. Most were under the 'tolerate' category, and he really hoped to put this new arrival under 'avoid', but looking at her, he was surprised that he could trust her.

Hesitantly, noticing the bewildered faces of the other students, he got up and followed her out of the room into the hallway, feeling like he was being taken aside to be yelled at. Once they'd closed the door to the classroom and crossed over to the window, he looked at the girl curiously. There was something about her, something familiar. He'd felt it when he first set eyes on his father; one of the few times he'd actually seen the man in the month that he'd been in the country. He was still trying to figure out what that feeling was. Maybe he'd find out with her.

"Y-yes?"

 

[Crow]

"There's something about you, and I believe that I know why you came here - you live here. You are native to this country. Well, so am I."

Mizuki walks circles around the boy, pondering.

"My name is Mikaboshi Mizuki. I am a student here, I am your classmate. As for what else I am, I will need to confirm if you are what I believe you are first before I tell you. An indication of my suspicions would be your teeth. They're hard to hide, except behind your lips."

Mizuki crosses her arms and looks at Kaede in the eye.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Open your mouth already and let me see."

 

[Cammeh]

I-I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean..." he said hesitantly. His Japanese was still a bit slow, so maybe what she had said didn't mean what it sounded like. "I was born in California. Were you born there too, you mean?" He shied beck from her glare, backing up against the window. Her command was just too weird, especially in front of a room full of curious classmates. Without waiting for an answer, Kaede stammered, "I, uh, I think I'll use the bathroom before next class begins...", making up a quick excuse and starting to edge away. Before she could do anything else, like jump him, he quickly scurried down the hall. Closing himself in the bathroom, he leaned against the door and breathed a sigh of relief.

Using the toilet and washing his hands, and then splashing some water on his face to calm himself down, Kaede hid in the bathroom until the warning bell sounded for class to start again. He dried his face and opened the door cautiously, hoping she wasn't out there, laying in ambush for him. As he hurried back to class and his seat, he couldn't stop thinking about the strange encounter. What on earth had she possibly been going on about? Maybe she was crazy. He'd thought to ask one of the other boys when he got to know them a bit more. The girls were just a bit too scary, and way too eager. And not just this Mikaboshi girl.