After a few minutes of walking, we arrive at a rundown orphanage.
"I'm back, everyone!" Hisashi-sama shouts.
SLAM!
Through the door, a large number of children, 15, no, 17 of them, come rushing out towards Hisashi-sama.
"SENSEI!!!"
A few of them jump at him, hugging him and knocking him down. And there go some of the newspapers he was caring.
"Welcome back!" says one boy, grabbing him.
The sound of children's laughter echoes throughout the delapidated street. Nice to see that someone is happy here.
"Welcome back," I hear a woman's voice say.
Looking towards the building entrance, I see a woman in her 30s. Silver hair. Green eyes. Pale skin. Around 190 centimeters in height. A cheerful smile. And...
Holy! Those ears!
"You're an elf!?"
"Quite the overreaction," she calmly says with a smile.
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"But I thought that..."
"Humans existed in the First Age, and they still exist now," Hisashi-sama says. "Shouldn't be a surprise that races from the other ages survived. Never seen a yokai before?"
I shake my head.
A child tugs at my cloak. A young girl...with cat ears! And a tail! A real catgirl! A yokai by Fourth Age standards.
"New guy smells funny," the catgirl says.
(She's so adorable! Reminds me of Sueka in some of her old photos.)
"Oh," a black-haired boy starts to say, "leave the a.."
The elf puts a finger on his mouth.
"Mind your manners."
(He's a darkness tone.)
"Thank you, Mai," Hisashi-sama says.
She chuckles as a few of the girls cling to her dress.
We walk into the orphanage. The interior has a chalkboard, some desks, basically everything you'd expect of a school. Well, a less-fancy school anyway.
Hisashi-sama walks up to me and takes the remaining newspapers from me. He then puts...more money than I would have charged into my pockets.
"My thanks." he adds.
"Come on, sensei!" a human girl says.
"Um..." I begin. "Mind if I stick around?"
"Hm?"
"It's just that...I never had an actual education before."
He looks at me for a little while, then smiles.
"Sure."
Instantly after this, he and Mai-sama start to handle the children.
"Mind your manners," says Mai-sama.
"Don't eat those crayons, please," states Hisashi-sama.
"Yuki, don't smell Oren. It's impolite."
"Charlie, don't pick your nose. You're not Luffy."
"Quite the handful, aren't they?" I comment.
"One must be patient," replies Hisashi-sama, "especially with those who will lead our future."
Within minutes, all the children are sitting around their two teachers who are next to the chalkboard.
"Okay," Mai-sama exclaims, "today we will be talking about rhime tones. Okay, who can guess how many types there are?"
Three children raise their hands.
"Six!"
"Ten!"
"It's eight."
"It's actually nine," Hisashi-sama says, "but you'll usually only see eight, so good job Takeshi!"
(Usually only eight?)
"Now for the tone types themselves," Hisashi-sama says.
"Oren," Mai-sama calls out, "would you please tell everyone?"
"Me? Oh, sure! Let me see. There are animal tones. Plant. Electric. Fire. Darkness. Ice. Water. And...Wind!"
"Oren's so smart!" remarks Yuki-sama.
"Stop sniffing him please."
"But he smells nice. Has a bit of a farm-ish smell."
Guess I haven't washed my cloak, let alone myself, recently.
Yuki-sama then sits in my lap.
"Okay, everyone know what time it is?"
"SONG TIME!!" the children cry out in unison.