Jin's History Class 2 Part 1 (Third Years Only)

Background music for Class. (Yeah, I know. I can't find the real one. But this will have to do.

Spoiler:

It was lunch as the clock hit the corresponding time. Jin was office as the host of students congested the path to the cafeteria. Having already becoming accustomed to this normal circumstance in several other schools, the teacher had packed his own meal beforehand. From the interior of his suitcase was a simple plastic bag with a tight-sealed ream. Its contents included a simple ham sandwich that has been cut diagonally for two portions of the meal. As he unzipped the bag, a faint aroma of leftover cold cut meat oozed from the opening. Without a single word, he started to eat as the minutes passed by before the next class as he glossed over the notes from the teacher of the class he would be teaching.


It was this time that Jin decided to arrive in a little earlier than last time. Perhaps he had earned himself a few strange glances in his direction as the room was full of lively rowdiness of discussion between teenagers. They could probably tell that he was today's substitute teacher. In return, the man only smiled gently back at them as he waited patiently for the last few minutes to pass by for the obligatory school bell to signal the end of lunch. Then it finally rang. The shuffling of desks and feet soon replaced the majority of discussion as the students were getting ready to leave. Jin made himself a little bit more comfortable in his seat right in front of today's batch of students. Since after all, he would be up on his feet giving another lecture before calling it a day.

It rang again, at this time most of the seats in the classroom have been occupied by then. Jin took a few extra moments to give another quick glance at their teacher's notes for one last review of what he was going to cover. Islamic culture. Or most importantly, Muhammad. Upon finishing the scan, he finally began class with an open book on the desk and another introduction.

"Hello, class. As you probably already have guessed, your teacher isn't here today. I've been sent here for today. My name is Jin Zong Wu. You may call me Jin."

And like the previous class, he wrote his name on the whiteboard.

"We'll be going over Muhammad and some Islamic/Muslim culture as your teacher told me. Now open your texts to page eighty-seven, please."

He waited for them to follow his directions. As it seemed like every student have a open book on the wooden surface of the desk, the substitute began the lecture like before with the marker in hand and the whiteboard ready.

"When the Sufi poet Rumi was writing in the 1200s CE, Islam was in its golden age. Christianity was in the High Middle Ages, and it had been more than two millenia since the Hebrews drafted the tenents of their faith after, according to their belief, Moses received the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have something in common. Their "light" comes from a single God, and all are built on the belief in divine intervention from beyond..."

It was one of the usual days, which meant Hibiki was currently loitering around in school, attending classes and everything one does on a normal schoolday. Most of today's classes were boringly monotone, but he wasn't even surprised anymore as that could be applied to almost every day too. It kind of made him wonder if it was the same for second and first years too, as he had transferred directly into third year, which meant he had no idea how the day went for others. Although, maybe it was his own fault that he found it boring. When he took the fact that he remembered important stuff quickly and coupled it with his distaste of doing silly things during class as some of his classmates did, it kind of made sense. It wasn't that he completely detested not paying attention in class, but the way his classmates usually performed it just didn't suit his taste, and so he bored himself by actually listening to the teachers.

Right now, it was almost the end of lunch break and Hibiki was sitting in his seat, absentmindedly tapping his pen against the desk as he scrutinized his shedule, double checking what his next class would be. ''History, hmm? Shouldn't be much of a problem...'' At least that was what he thought. While history wasn't listed in his favourite subjects, he didn't dislike it either. Simply put, he was neutral towards it. He lifted his head up from his reading as he heard someone come in. It was an older man, so he assumed it was a teacher. But, if he was here, that meant, he would be taching the class. Maybe the usual teacher was sick? Well, either way, he didn't mind, as long as the lesson wouldn't be a drag. It kind of surprised him that this particular teacher was here early. It hadn't rung yet. That was a rare occasion, as it was more likely for teachers to be late, at least from what he had obsereved so far. It was a nice change though. Maybe the lesson would be more interesting as well. Glancing at the clock, he reached over to his bag, taking out the things he needed for this class. The bell went off a few moments later, signaling the start of the lesson.

Hibiki leaned his elbows on the desk slightly, as he watched the teacher make an introduction. Looked like he was new in this school. At least he hadn't seen him before, and he was sure he would have remembered such a peculiar name. Sounded chinese, perhaps? He could have been wrong about that one though. Name origins weren't a hobby of his. Well, a change of the usual routine might just be good. Maybe he'd like history more then. Although, the lecture itself was a bit difficult to focus on. He had a feeling that a few of his classmates were actually dozing off. It wasn't bad, really, there was just a lot of it in quick succesion and it was in a form of monologue. Hibiki forced himself to pay attention though, and he kept diligently writing some notes, giving an occasional glance at the book. ''Hmm, so much information...is that really neccesary?...'' With his memory he'd have no problems remembering it all, but still.

''Excuse me, can I ask something?'' he inquired, raising his hand to be polite. ''We're going over Muhammad and Islamic culture, yes? I was wondering why do we have to mention the other religions as well. Is it that relevant?'' he asked, trying to sound neutral. It wasn't as if he was trying to have less notes to learn later, he was just curious as to why did they have to cover all that, when the base subject wasn't about all the religions.