Jin's History Class Part 2 (First Years Only)

It was just another morning after the Principal's murder. It hadn't affected his daily life much except that he had finally met up with other people who can use a Persona like he did. And that he finally has something to do to pull him out of all of this mediocrity in his life. However, that mediocrity would still be around as long as he was a teacher in this school. Not that he minded that much since he would still be part of this distortion in his life.

He sat in the chair behind the desk waiting for the bell to ring. Insomnia hasn't been very kind to him, it didn't help he was still a tad giddy of this involvement. His stoic expression did very well to conceal it. As the stream of students entered through the door, his eyelids rested shut for a while. The familiar ring of the bell opened them back to consciousness.

The sight of his seated students greeted him. With a nod, Jin took up a piece of chalk to begin teaching.

"I believe we left off on what would become the Greek Hellenistic world. Open your books to page 89, please."

It was another morning and another day of school awaited Akuma as usual thorough the school year. With his head in the clouds, he made his way into the class, taking a quick glance at the almost dozing teacher in the front. He wasn’t sure if he could recall who that was, but he supposed it was the new teacher he heard about recently, with all this strange murder rumours too. Those thoughts poofed from his mind quickly though, as he settled himself, taking his history book out, and started flipping through the pages absentmindedly, not really focusing on anything in particular until the bell rang.

With the teacher’s command, he would search for the said page, giving it a spare look before setting it down on the desk, and directing his gaze out of the window, totally not focusing on the class right now. It just wasn’t entertaining enough at the moment, so his level of attention was low. If he got called on right now, he’d most likely have no idea what is going on, and would have to stutter something random out. Thankfully, he was pretty good with words, so he wasn’t bothered much, unless the teacher attempted to outsmart him, which hasn’t happened yet. ‘Hmm, those birds out there are pretty…’, Obviously his thoughts weren’t on the subject of history at that time.

Weakness:

As the students opened their texts, Jin was already writing on the board to title the lesson "Hellenistic Greek World". With the chalk resting on the threshold for later use, he started to pace in front of the desk where he would normally sit. He was restless himself with how all these events has passed. And so far he hasn't heard anything from the girl. This was worrying. Nevertheless, he would continue while appearing at ease to everyone in this room.

"The Macedonians power sprang from the characteristics of their society and their ethnic pride. They demanded the freedom to tell their monarchs what needed to be changed... Macedonians thought of themselves as Greek by blood and took pride in that identity."

From the corner of his eye, he noticed a student wasn't paying attention to his lessons. Jin frowned as he was speaking. He barely remembered who that kid was due to the number of teenagers that flooded each room of the schools. But he ignored it for a while just to give him a chance to at least pretend to listen to him at least. Or even write down some notes as the lecture went on.

"...Phillip the Second restored the army's confidence by teaching the infantry an unstoppable new tactic. He armed the infantry with sixteen feet thrusting spears while arranging them into a phalanx which made the group look like porcupines. Using cavalry to disrupt the enemy's battle line and protect his own infantry's flanks, Philip smashed the Illyrians with his revived army."

Now he paused for a moment. Jin allowed the silence to fill the room and stared in the boy's direction. Memory seems to reclaim his identity as Akuma Tohru. Soon every classmate would wonder why he's stopping while following his gaze at the child disinterested in the lesson.

"Are you still with us, Akuma?" he asked him politely enough.

The teacher soon started his lecture, talking about Macedonia and whatever, and meanwhile, Akuma stared out into space, barely paying attention still. He did hear what was being said, but he sort of filtered it in and out, too distracted by petty thoughts to pay real mind to the ongoing lesson. And this time it did come to bite him in the butt. Funnily enough, he didn’t even notice when the teacher went silent looking at him along with most of the class, until the teacher addressed him directly. Only then did he sort of get back to reality, blinking a few times, meeting the teacher’s gaze.

‘’Ah, yes, sorry sir. The atmosphere is just a bit numbing here. It’s sort of not what it was before. I promise to pay attention though, the Greek are fairly interesting after all.’’, he said slowly, trying to sound as believable as possible. Not that he knew much about the strange happenings around the school, but he figured it did make a blow, so he played it off a bit, hoping to see a good enough result. If not, it was worth at least a try.He wasn’t going to directly admit having a lack of focus. That would be way too plain. It was always more fun to see the possibilities one could take, so why not pull something less traditional, no? In the middle of waiting for an answer back, he would start paying attention as he promised, taking his note book and pen closer, as it would be lame to not hold a word. Akuma rarely lied unless it had a benefit for him. The only thing that slightly bothered him were the stares of his classmates. It was unpleasant being gawked at, since he got that a lot before, and it never made him feel good. But, what he was to do. It was a bit late for regrets now.

Strenght:

It was rather odd that the boy didn't notice the silence until his name was spoken. It looks like the topic really bored the student way out of his mind that he had to find something else worth occupying his time. The excuse this kid used just caused him to raise an eyebrow at him. But, he didn't question that at least.

"You don't have to be interested if you want. Just at least try to pretend to pay attention," he told him honestly with a quirked grin, "That's all I ask other than keeping up your grades."

With that said, Jin continued to pace around in front of the class with more of his lecture before Akuma could say anything else. His teaching style was a bit queer, especially with the utterly blunt statement. Not that he really cared in any case. But at the least he was willing to put his efforts to someone who are more invested in their education.

"Now, where was I again...? Ah, yes. Phillip. So he used diplomacy, bribery, and military action to eventually turn Macedonia into an international power. So eventually he started to raid the Greek city states to assimilate them into his rule. For his justification for making himself the leader of Greece, he wanted to attack Persia for revenge stemming from the Persian War..."

In all honesty, Akuma didn’t initially expect the teacher to be so flippant and just let it go with a simple request for him to pay attention. The blue haired teen wouldn’t have minded if it had been a bit more dramatic than that. He could use something lively to help him keep his focus. It was worth a try though, and he had said he would pay attention to the lesson, so he would attempt it, even if he found it hard to do. It wasn’t really that the lesson was way too boring or anything, Akuma just had a hard time keeping his attention on one thing for an extended period of time generally. There were times when he actually considered trying to get rid of this little problem, but he always ended up letting it be, as it did often make for interesting situations, and that was something he enjoyed. That was the main reason he willingly let it keep happening time after time. It was a little sad that it didn’t arouse more hassle this once. He’d have to make due with what he had.

While his thoughts did stray here and there, he managed to stay on track with the lesson fairly well, scribbling some notes down once in a while, tapping his pen against the note book thoughtfully. It was strange to think that people lived that way before, even if it was only Greek they were learning about right now, Quite an intriguing concept wasn’t it? The way humans changed their ways with passing time, like whims really. Thinking of something that was at least near the subject this time around, he doodled a sort of Greek style building into his papers as he listened to the lecture with one ear.

As he lectured, Jin glanced back at Akuma who seemed to be writing down notes at this very moment. His head bobbed a little bit in approval as he continued the lecture. He started to walk back behind the table to start writing on the chalkboard. His lecture finally reached Alexander the Great as it finally left behind Philip. The white limestone started to make marks to add onto more detail of the subject. While he was still on the job, he had thoughts of the case so far. It was clear that the killer wanted to get rid of Lorielle quickly to eliminate any risks of revealing his identity. Even worse, he was efficient and smart enough to destroy security equipment when he had the chance. All this really points to Kiryu, Aburai, and Yui. However, was there really one culprit? Couldn't it have been a collaboration? This recent event seemed to suggest it...

"In 334 B.C.E. Alexander launched the most astonishing military campaign in ancient history by leading a Macedonian and Greek army against the Persian empire to fulfill his father's dream of avenging Greece..."

The lecture continued at a fairly normal pace, and Akuma continued to struggle to pay attention. It was even becoming annoying at this point. Not even doodling a quite sucky looking Greek soldier near his short notes helped much. He should really learn how to pay attention for a longer period of time. That would be so useful in class. Mainly in those that had long, slightly monotone lectures. Then again, he did understand that there wasn’t much else to do when it came to history. What else could they do than listen to what happened in the past and so on. That’s what it was all about, no? Thankfully, human past was quite interesting, although, Akuma would have preferred it in smaller bursts of info at a time. Would be easier to focus on the meaning.

He scribbled into his papers moodily as he sort of listened to the ongoing lecture, flicking his pen or poking at the book to keep himself in reality. He figured the teacher wouldn’t be happy if he started gazing into nothing again. Or maybe, it would be more interesting than being a good boy and do as he promised. Although, he might as well be distracting the class with his attempts to keep himself on track, that was sort of funny too. In a way, he wouldn’t mind either, as it promised something to happen either way.

The professor’s name was Jin and he was someone the cops were very suspicious about, but someone Lori knew. She needed to get to him and let him know what was happening. Thankfully, teachers were easy to find, especially if you were a student. She didn’t recognize the name though. He obviously wasn’t one of the usual professors at this school. That meant she had no way to know where he would be next. She needed to find him. And this class wasn’t helping. She hadn’t been paying attention since the beginning, and now she was losing all hope. She dropped he head against the desk and sighed. She really didn’t want to be here right now. She closed her eyes and let her mind wonder off without her. So many memories that weren’t her own where jumbled in with the rest of them, and she needed to use them. This would have been easier if Gabby wasn’t trying to block out the noise from the lesson going on. She turned her head toward the front of the room and finally saw it; one of the faces that was at the first crime scene; someone she didn’t know but Lori had seen. Jin was already there. She wanted to stand up and cheer when she saw him. If things kept coming this easily, she could get her revenge on that killer in no time. First, she had to get him alone though. That is where things got tricky. She needed to wait for class to be over, and get him somewhere without a screen. She barely trusted those things anymore. She should start with the easiest thing. She raised her hand and waited to be called on, “So, in short, Phillip was a good leader with a need for revenge?” She could understand that.

The lecture went on and on as every bit of historical fact continued to flow out from his lips. His lips were starting to become parched with all this incessant speaking. It was very much routine as everyone was just there listening -or at least pretending- to his soliloquy of history. Oh he so wanted to get a smoke. His fingers tightened around the book of notes he had been glancing to keep him on track for today's lecture. He glanced towards the clock to see class was about half-way there...

As the lecturer looked back at the host of students, only a solitary hand rose up in their midst. Aithne Gabriela it seems. It was a small reprieve from his continuous flow of speech, but it was accepted gratefully to at least somehow brighten up this boring class.

"Yes, Miss Gabriela?"

Upon being called, she then asked him more about Philip.

"Yes, he was a good leader. But revenge? Indeed, but he most certainly had expansionist ideals besides it that were passed down to Alexander."

With a nod after the clarification, Jin again begin to continue his lecture. Minutes would pass by before he finally close the notebook of his as the bell finally rang for dismissal. As the students conducted a chorus of screeching chairs for whatever business they had, he was already moving towards the desk to start packing up for the next class.

[OOC: Now's your chance, Conch.]

Not much was happening, aside from the constant amount of historical information that poured from the teacher’s lips. Well, Akuma didn’t particularly expect anything more at this point of time. Man, he wished they would do something more entertaining in history lessons at least once in a while. History could be really interesting, but he was seriously not going to get much, with his attention getting diverted so easily from the monotone talk. Before he could lose himself in cloudy thoughts again, an interruption came in the form of a fellow student asking a question about Philip. Akuma did throw a glance towards her, but nothing more, really, as he did not now that girl personally. There were way too many teens in the class for them all to know each other. He was sort of wondering how did teachers manage to remember all those names by heart. Must be pretty difficult to accomplish, hmm?

After the question was taken care of, the class would continue in a similar motion to what it was before, thankfully, it wasn’t long till the bell rang, signalizing the end. Akuma barely resisted putting hands to his ears to block out the annoying screeching noise of chairs being moved. It was so irksome, having to hear that after every bell ring. One of the few things that irritated him a bit. He himself didn’t move yet, thoughtfully picking at his history book. There was quite a bit of time before the start of the next lesson, so why hurry? And so he continued randomly staring around, seeing the teacher about to go gather his things from the corner of his eye.

There was more history spewing out of Jin’s mouth, and Gabby didn’t particularly care about it. Right now, she was more concerned with how to get to him and finish off the awkward process of meeting. What was she planning to say anyway, ‘Hi, my name is Gabby and you don’t know me, but I sort of know who you are because I have the memories of my comatose friend shoved into my head.’ She didn’t think that would go over well. Actually, that would probably get her thrown into a mental institution. She stopped paying attention to the class again and began writing what she planned to say instead. If things got too difficult, she could always turn to these notes.

The worry in her head only got worse as the class finally wrapped up. The chairs screeched as the rest of her class got ready for the break. Gabby stood up, in her own right, and went up to the professor. She would have liked a private conversation, but it was clear there was no way that was going to happen. As she was finally next to Jin, she would speak, hoping to distract him from his stuff for a moment, “Excuse me. I just have a quick question about today’s lesson. Why did the Greeks help Alexander so willingly in the war?” She already knew the answer, but she planned to slip the letter into his stuff while he was answering the question. It would be a simple letter, ‘I know about the murders and know how they are happening. We need to meet up. Inside the school isn’t safe. I’ll be out front when the traffic dies down.’ She would not include her name, or the specific place. All she needed was for him to be there.

When he was done answering her question, she would say thank you and move away. She looked over to notice one of her classmates was looking toward the teacher. She feared that he has seen what she just did, so she went up to him to make sure he didn’t think anything of it, “Hello. Is something interesting happening over there?”

As he was about to reach his stuff, the same familiar voice that had asked about Philip. Aithne Gabriela was already asking him another question as Jin diverted his attention towards her. It was a little bit odd for her to be asking a question of something he had just already explained in the lecture. Regardless, he'll still have to explain.

"It's mostly because Alexander had great charisma and success as a leader, which allowed the Greeks to place such hopes in him."

Upon finishing his answer, the girl thanked him and left off on her own. As he moved to get his stuff packed up, he noticed something was out of place. A small piece of paper folded for him. His finger curiously picked it up and unfolded it to read. He blinked at the message and knew it was something about the murder... Could it be that girl from earlier?

No matter, he would have to meet up with her later. Jin put everything away into his suitcase and then left.

[Exit]

OOC: You two can continue on your own if you wish.

Akuma was just in the middle of daydreaming about the time he was going to spend after this school day was over. He had noticed that the girl that was asking a question before had gone to talk with the teacher once more during the time he took a glance in that particular direction. The girl was apparently quite into the studies, or so it seemed. Akuma’s mind was way too distracted with other subjects to think anything else of it at that moment. At least until she came over to him, asking a strange question. ‘Over where…?’, he would think, a bit startled at being called upon.

‘’Ah, Hello to you too. I think it’s not? Depends on what you mean by over there. That is not exactly a specified place, I’d say. I can’t really tell what is your definition of interesting either. Our opinions on that one may differ.’’, he’d say after a moment of looking at her, trying to figure out what she had meant in his own strange way. He assumed she could have meant practically anything, as he was aware that he had been glancing around a lot, while he was thinking about stuff. Well, whatever was she trying to inquire about, he would hopefully find out, if she gave him a better idea of what was it she really wanted. Although, he wouldn’t have minded beating around the bush either. That was a fun way to pass time too.

((Well, why not? I don't mind continuing :3))

“Personally, I find books interesting.” Either he hadn’t seen anything, or he was the king at pretending to be as aloof as he seemed, “Particularly any pertaining to the field of scientific study. It’s like reading fact and fiction at the same time. History on the other hand…” She trailed off, “I guess that’s not what you saw though. Most people don’t actually like books that much.” She shrugged her shoulders, “Oh well. I’m Gabby.” She would introduce herself to the boy she had never met before. She really was getting better at this meeting new people thing. Well, so long as it was only one person at a time. Any more, and she would still have a near mental breakdown, “Now, let’s assume there was something interesting happening over there. What would that mean to you?” She gave a small smile, not really asking a question, but phrasing it like a riddle.