Fandom High School

When the class assembled in the Danger Shop today, they'd find a very simple setup. A field, filled with cherry trees in full bloom. Algren didn't give a damn if they were properly in season at this time of the Spring or not. He wanted his class to write their final surrounded by cherry trees.

"Today, you've got a short written exam," he said, handing out clipboards and pens to the students as they entered. "And one bonus assignment, when you're finished that. Answer the questions, hand in your papers, and then, if you can find for me the perfect sakura blossom, I'll give you an extra ten percent on your final overall grade."

He nodded. Get to it, kids.

[Open!]

Screw it. Between the holiday, the invasion last weekend, and changing his best friend's diapers a few weeks before, Algren had pretty much taken his syllabus, cut it into a perfect square, and then used it to fold an origami toilet.

Which he then went and flushed.

"This weekend, we'll be talking about Japanese fashion subculture," he said after the students had filed into the danger shop. "After the past semester and a half, you're already acquainted with the kimono," all too well, considering his song and dance number a few weeks ago, "and I won't bore you too terribly with talk of hakama and yukata. Today, you're going shopping."

The scenario loaded, and now they were standing on a bustling streetcorner in the middle of Tokyo's Shibuya district. Tall buildings, bright lights, and billboards as far as the eye could see were the backdrop, today. And, milling around them, were people who seemed to be hell-bent on representing every walk of life imaginable.

"Your mission today is to go shopping around Shibuya, and try to emulate the modern fashions that you can see wandering about. Don't be afraid to go a little crazy. Odds are that here, nobody is likely to stare." A pause. "Unless you want them to."

[Open!]

"Origami," Algren announced as the students took their places on the mats he'd laid out in the usual classroom.

You didn't need a Danger Shop for this. That would be silly. And so Algren had arranged the cushions on the floor in a semi-circle around a stack of square sheets of brightly colored paper set on a table in the middle of the room.

"The Japanese art of paper folding. In fact, that's what the name itself translates to. 'Ori' means folding, and 'kami' means paper." Forgive him for that. He's a linguist at heart and he has to translate things whenever the opportunity arises, or else he'll develop some sort of inferiority complex. "I'm not going to waste much of your precious paper folding time by lecturing about the origins of the art or the conventions of it, today. I'll just give you a handout with a selection of patterns, and let you go at it. If you need help with any of the folds, feel free to choose a partner, or to come speak to me."

Really, the students ought to just get used to filing into the Danger Shop for class, at this rate.

Today's setup looked suspiciously like a Japanese village from at least a hundred and thirty years ago, with a lantern-lit stage set up below a small hillside, which served very nicely, if you were observant, as raised seating.

( I hope you all enjoyed the festival last week... )

[OCD on the way up! Those links up there lead to YouTube clips of each of the different theatre styles, for the curious.]

"While I can't imagine many of you are going to be heading back to situations after you graduate where you'll be performing serious business ventures in Japan, today's class is going to focus on Japanese business etiquette, like it or not," Algren announced as the students made their way into the classroom. Instead of the cushion setup today, there was a table, set with enough seats for the students in the class. Algren was seated at the head of the table, farthest from the door, with his hands clasped in front of him.

( Before you pull up a chair... )

[OCD coming up! The TA's assistance with your delicious coffee and tea was modded with permission.]

Another Japanese Etiquette class, another week with the cushions and the slippers. You probably all know the drill by now. Algren will laugh at you if you don't. And then throw the slippers at you.

He's nice like that.

( Black cats crossing your path... )

[OCD coming up!]

When the students filed into the classroom today, they would find the setup to be... sparse, at best. Algren had taken the time to push the desks to the side of the room, and to set out cushions to sit on. There was a mat at the door for students to leave their shoes on, and slippers nearby for them to wear instead. No, this wasn't the way that classrooms were set up in Japan. But Algren found it comfortable, and he could get away with doing this while teaching this particular course, and so the students were going to just have to suck it up.

Algren, who was clad in a traditional Japanese hakama today as opposed to his typical and very dated brown suit, was already seated, cross-legged, on the cushion farthest from the door.

"Hajimemashite," he said, speaking up as the last of the students settled in. "Algren desu. Doozo yoroshiku. Make yourselves comfortable. It's the first lesson of the year, so I'm going to actually take it easy on you, just this once."

How kind!

"Today, we'll be introducing ourselves. Hopefully the novelty of doing so hasn't been worn thin after a weekend of it. After all, you've still got another week of 'hello, my name is,' left to go. In front of you, you'll find your syllabus as well as a handout with the words I just said to you written on it, and a translation underneath. Introduce yourselves the way I just did, and then, please, share in English your grade, something random about yourself, and why you're taking this course."

Yes, 'paperwork error' is a completely acceptable answer. 'I enjoyed or missed out on laughing at you in Sex Thru The Ages' will probably result in detention.

"Miss Yamanaka, I would like to speak with you after class, if you don't mind. The rest of you? Introductions. Go."

[OCD coming up! And go!]