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Kaguya jolted at hearing a bump on the wall again, turning around.
“Is this going to be a normal thing?!”
“Man, I dunno.” Smart got up and scratched the back of his head. Kaguya looked at him and pouted with a slight scowl.
Marcus Smart has continued to magically slide across the world into the Student Council Room specifically. No one had been able to figure out why it happened, but they found out that he could be easily sent back by having someone else make him fall down on his back and slide.
Her eyes perked up a bit when she looked at his jersey and shorts.
“Hey… what happened to your clothes?”
“Huh?”
“You used to wear green. Why are you wearing blue now? And your hair…”
“Oh…” Smart’s expression dampened a bit. “I got traded. I don’t play for Boston anymore…” He slightly exhaled through his nose. “They wanted a star, and they needed to trade someone to get him. It had to be me at the last minute, sadly.” Smart seemed quite sad about the entire thing…
Kaguya opened her mouth only to close it again. She didn’t really know what to say to him. Waiting for a moment, she put her hand on his back in an attempt to console him.
“I’m sorry…” She quietly said, trying to sympathize, even though she didn’t really understand why he might be feeling down. Smart glanced at her and gave her a slight smile.
“I loved Boston while I played there… Pretty sure they loved me too.” He said. “Been with them for nine years.” He sadly nodded. Kaguya frowned in response…
“They… just got rid of you?”
Smart nodded. “Yeah. The league is a business, can’t really have a say in what happens during trades.”
Now she could see where he was coming from.
“I’m very sorry, I… I know how you feel.” Smart eyes widened a bit as he looked at her.
“Huh..?”
“I know what it's like to be used because of a business,” She said. “My family owns one of the biggest companies in the world, but my freedom is very limited…”
“They’re… actually planning to marry me off to someone else in the near future. There’s a high chance that I… I may have to say goodbye to my partner…” Her voice started to crack a bit.
Smart blankly stared at the ground with wide eyes… Her situation was a lot worse than his. He glanced at her and started to react in the same way she did when he told her about what was happening to him. He opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, trying to find the right words, eventually patting her on the back…
“Your boyfriend, right?” She nodded. “I see...”
“You know, I told my teammates before I had to leave, our relationship would last forever.” Smart chuckled a bit. “I cried… It was definitely tough, but… I know they’ll take me back at some point.”
“...Maybe your partner will too if you ever get married off.” He said, trying to reassure her.
Kaguya turned her head to look at him. “You really think so?” Smart nodded, but he tilted his head with an unsure expression.
“I guess… If you both feel that way. I’ve never met the guy,” He shrugged. “But, I think you said he made it to this school through an academic scholarship, and this place looks pretty prestigious,” He said, looking around. “So, I guess I can tell he’s a hard worker.”
“Hmm…” She smiled as she thought about Shirogane and his hard-working nature. “Maybe you’re right…” She lightly chuckled.
“Well, I should probably be heading back now while I’m still energized, can’t keep everyone waiting for long,” He backed up a bit towards the open space in the room. “See ya next time.” Kaguya nodded as she ran up to him and lightly bumped him with her shoulder. She watched as he fell back and disappeared as he slid back on the carpet.
“Their relationship would last forever, huh…” She laughed. “How cliché.”
She thought it was sweet nonetheless.
With Marcus Smart now playing for the Grizzlies, the team of grit and grind, he hustled even more than he usually did on plays and especially defense. Because of that, he got his ankles broken more than ever, and that meant he got sent to the Council Room more times than he usually did.
However, the rest of the Student Council didn’t know that this happened quite frequently. They got to find out about Smart sliding into the Council Room the same way Kaguya did.
Ishigami sat alone, playing on his console, enjoying his time alone in the room without Iino telling him to put it away. He had his headphones on, so he didn’t hear the bump against the wall.
Smart got up and saw him, not recognizing who he was. He needed someone else to help him teleport, but he didn’t want to make someone he didn’t know help him. Not right away anyway. Smart just… awkwardly stood there for the time being. He eventually shrugged and walked behind him, looking over his shoulder to see what he was doing.
Ishigami was playing in English, since Kaguya still had the language locked. He still had a bit of a tough time when reading it though. He was clicking through dialogue when he had to respond. Unfortunately, he couldn’t read and picked the mean option when he had to reply.
“Aw, cmon…” Smart said in Japanese. (I have the language locked on English this time too!) “You can't say that to them…” He pointed at the screen. Ishigami saw his hand and slowly turned around with a terrified expression at an excruciating pace.
He stared at Smart blankly, taking off his headphones.
“Wassup.” Smart said.
And in classic Ishigami fashion, he-
“AHHHHHHHHH-”
…yeah.
“-WHO ARE YOU?! H- HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?!” Ishigami screamed. Smart pinched the bridge of his nose.
“It’s always so hard explaining this, man…” He put his hands on his hips and exhaled. “I’m Marcus Smart, and I play for a basketball league in the U.S, and uh… I still don’t know how I appear out of nowhere or why I appear here.” Smart watched as Ishigami gave him a familiar glare.
“Why are you-”
“I’m not here to do anything weird, alright.” Smart said immediately.
Ishigami was taken aback by his quick response. “How- how did you get in here?” He repeated.
“Okay, you know what, I know a little bit about how I get here.” Smart explained how he magically appears in the Council room.
“Oh…” Ishigami looked him and his uniform up and down. “Right… You’re a sports guy.”
“Wh.. What’s wrong with ‘sports guys’...” Smart asked.
“Nothing, nothing… I just don’t think people should be getting paid millions for being good at throwing a ball.”
“Hey, cmon, it’s a lot more restricting than it seems.” Smart said. “Almost every day it’s physical training or playing games.. And all the charges and fouls I take. It’s pretty tough to keep getting knocked over again and again.” He nodded.
Ishigami exhaled through his nose. “Can’t anyone do that? Get fouled? What do you do, is it like soccer… Do you just flop on the ground or something…”
Smart frowned at him. “Wow, I’m in a completely different part of the world and people are still calling me a flopper.” He sighed and put his hands on his hips. “It’s a lot more complicated than it looks, alright? You gotta set your feet, and position yourself correctly, and-”
Ishigami cut him off. “Right, right.” Smart slumped his shoulders and narrowed his eyes a bit.
“You ever played a sport?” He asked him. Ishigami shrugged.
“Used to. I quit not too long ago, but I’ve played since elementary because I felt like I had to. Never really found it fun.”
“That’s fine, it’s not for everyone.” Smart said, looking at him.
“...what’s that supposed to mean?” Ishigami eyed him carefully. Smart eyes widened as Ishigami’s tone changed suddenly.
“Huh? Nothing, nothing… Anyway, I kind of need your help with something.” Smart said.
“Yeah? Why should I help you?” Ishigami snapped back. “I don’t even know why you’re here! You could be a spy for all I know!”
“Why does that keep coming up?” Smart asked. “What’s so important here that can be stolen or whatever?”
Ishigami thought about it and shrugged. “Actually, I don’t know. But still! I don’t know what you want.”
“C’mon man, I know it’s weird and all for a random guy to appear in your, uh, Council room? Right? But it’s just something quick alright? Nothing bad.” Smart said. Ishigami kept glaring at him. “Dude, that wasn’t a jab at you personally! I swear.”
Ishigami finally sighed and stopped glaring at him. “Fine, I’ll help you on one condition.” He stretched his hand out in front of him. “Let’s shake on it.”
This was a bluff! Ishigami had no intention of helping Smart out!
‘Like hell I’m helping him!’ Ishigami thought. ‘I don’t even know what he’ll ask me to do, but I still don’t trust this guy! I just gotta hold off until someone gets in here…’
Smart gave him a confused look.
“What is this, do you have like a hand buzzer in your palm, what’s going on here?”
“It’s just a little thing I do.” Ishigami quickly lied. “Just shake my hand already.” Smart raised an eyebrow but he agreed, getting closer to him and stretching out his own arm to shake.
However, as soon as he did…
“Oof!”
Ishigami immediately lunged towards him and tackled him square in the chest, bringing them both to the ground and making Smart slide on his back.
…wait.
Ishigami spoke in short bursts as he tried to keep Smart on the ground. “I’m- just- gonna keep you here- until someone gets over-” He looked up. “W-what the hell?! Where are we?” Ishigami looked around the empty stadium.
“What the… why are you here?” Smart groaned. “See, this is why I didn’t want to shake your hand,” He pushed Ishigami off of him with minimal effort. “Seriously, if you just agreed to help me earlier, you wouldn't have to be here... You're lucky no one is here right-"
“Wait, shut up, shut up for a second,” Ishigami said. “What the hell just happened? Where are we? H-how did we get here?”
Smart sat up, arching his back to look at him. “It just happens whenever I slide onto my back. Though, I haven’t teleported with anyone yet…” He put a hand to his chin. “I should probably make a note to not do that.”
The sound of a basketball dropping to the ground and rolling toward the both of them made them turn their heads. The person who dropped it came running over.
“Hey, Marcus.” A tall and strong-looking guy wearing a similar jersey to Smart’s gave him a wave. He had long hair and either a New Zealand or Australian accent. What’s the difference between the two? Who bloody knows.
“Hey, Steven.” Smart replied in English. Steven Adams nodded at him before turning his attention to the other guy on the floor.
“Who’s the kid?” He asked him. Smart turned to look at Ishigami.
“Right… So you know when I disappear randomly…” Smart said, tired of having to explain this over and over again.
“Yeah?”
“Where I- uh.. ‘Appear’ after I disappear, I guess.. this kid was there and he tackled me, and.. now we’re both here.” Adams leaned back a bit in surprise.
“Oh, wow.” He looked at Ishigami again. “Wait, you let this bloke tackle you?” Adams chuckled. Smart frowned response.
“Hey, I wasn’t expecting it. I can’t say I blame him though, that was a-.” The words started to drown out in Ishigami’s head. He didn’t understand most of what they were saying anyway.
He walked away from them to try to clear his head and try to grasp what happened. (even though Smart already explained it to him.)
He heard Smart walk over to him again.
“Alright,” Smart started to talk in Japanese again. “I’ll help you get back to where you need to be.” Ishigami's shoulders relaxed as soon as he heard that.
“Oh, actually?”
“Yeah,” Smart kept walking toward him, looking down at the hardwood. “I just gotta-”
He suddenly tackled Ishigami and flipped onto his back before he hit the ground.
“Ow! What the-” Ishigami pushed himself off of Smart to see… that they were in the Council Room again! “How-? How do you do that?”
Smart got up and dusted off the carpet fabric that stuck to him when he slid across.
“Eh, I don’t really know,” He admitted. “I just seem to randomly teleport between here and wherever someone makes me slide a short distance on my back.”
“Does this happen a lot?” Ishigami asked him. Smart shrugged.
“Sometimes.”
“Why have I never seen you before until now?”
“I don’t really stay here for long usually. There’s this girl that’s always here. I don’t know if you know her, but she usually sends me back by just making me fall and slide. That’s why I needed you. So you could send me back home.”
“Oh,” Ishigami nervously scratched his head. “Well… I feel stupid now.”
“Nah, it’s fine. But, I still need to go home.” Smart stood in front of him, putting his arms up. “Little help?” Ishigami nodded and walked up to him.
“...what do I do now again?” Smart slumped his arms.
“Are you kidding, man… just knock me- hey!” Ishigami shoulder-tackled him. “Oh, you fu-” Ishigami stared at him as he disappeared. He stood there for a few more moments, sighing.
He has grown a lot since his early days, and he rarely says this anymore, but right now, he felt the need to say-
“I wanna die, so I’m going home.”
“Mavs, moving down the floor, Grizzlies in pursuit…” MIke Breen, the announcer for the game currently going on. “Here’s Dončić, gives it up to Curry, inside to Williams- BLOCKED! By Smart! But a foul! Williams goes down hard. Good ball movement by the Mavs, and- uh oh! Smart and Grant getting in each other's faces, yapping at each other!”
“That’s a flagrant!” Grant yelled at him, getting right up in Smart’s face. He shoved him after getting close enough.
“That’s not a flagrant!” Smart shook his head and ran back towards him. “Shut up, how is that a flagrant?”
“Wide smiles from both of the former Celtics.” Breen observed. “This has been their first meeting here since they’ve been traded from Boston. Obviously, their relationship hasn't changed a bit, seeing how they're acting here at the end of this game in Dallas.” It was all in good fun of course, especially knowing Grant.
“And, now their teammates are trying to pull them apart. They seem to be smiling about it as well.” Breen chuckled as he said that last line.
“I'll show you a flagrant-” Grant twisted himself free from the grasp of the Grizzly player behind him. He grabbed Smart, hooking his arms around his torso and forcefully tackling him to the ground. Smart’s smile instantly disappeared.
“Wait! Grant-” Smart said as they fell. “Ow- we’re gonna-!”
“...And, Smart gets whisked away by, uh, whatever that is, again… Oh- looks like Grant Williams disappeared as well this time!” Gasps of shock and concern went around the arena. (for Grant, everyone knew that Smart disappeared randomly at this point.)
Breen continued. “Good news is that they’ll hopefully be back soon. Adams actually mentioned this in an interview. Apparently, when someone makes Smart slide a good distance on his back, Smart will-”
“...get teleported to the school.” Smart said as he slid across the familiar carpet. And winced as he felt the pain of hitting the hardwood floor a little too hard with the back of your head.
Grant had a similar reaction as Smart, getting teleported to a completely different place out of nowhere and all. He was even more surprised to see Smart not being too concerned about the entire thing.
“Dude, do you not care about this? We just disappeared and-” It finally struck him. “Oh, is this where you go when you do that disappearing thing?”
“Yeah,” Smart said while nursing his head. “But it only happens occasionally n- ow! Man! Did you have to tackle me?!”
“You take charges all the time!”
“I don’t slam my head when I take them! And you’re strong as hell, man!” Smart groaned and laid down on one of the couches in the room.
Grant stared at him from behind the couch. “Are we, like, gonna go back or what?”
Smart sleepily replied, “In a minute, I’m tired from that last play, heh. And I don’t think they’re gonna sit me when we get back.”
Grant gave him a confused look. “You’re tired after a chase down block?” He gasped dramatically. “ Who are you?! What have they done to you in Memphis?”
“Yes, I’m tired!” Smart sat up. “I’m 6’4! I gotta get up for those blocks, man.” He fell back onto the couch. “Just… gimme a sec. Won’t take too long.”
Grant nodded to himself and just stood there, waiting awkwardly… He looked around for a little bit before seeing some black construction paper and a pair of scissors on the table in front of the couch. He shrugged and picked up the supplies.
“Might as well,” He started folding and cutting the paper. “Good thing I learned how to make this recently.
Just as he put on his swiftly made handiwork, a dog ran into the room.
…it ran away immediately as soon as it saw Grant. He stared after it, blinking.
“Okay, really… I’m not that scary.” Grant took it off for now, looking at it again to touch it up a little more. However, something else was about to enter the Student Council room. She looked after the dog as it ran away.
“Hmm? Where are you running off to, Pes?!” She called after it. “Did Ishigami scare you off again-” She turned around and looked into the room.
“W-Huh? Her mouth slightly opened as she raised an eyebrow. “Who..?”
Grant quickly turned his head towards the voice.
“Ah, shit.” He whispered, panicking. His arms dropped to his sides. “Marcus, I think we gotta leave now… Someone’s here-“ Smart snored in response. “…great.” He turned back to her. “Uhhh…”
“Who are you?” She asked him again.
He quickly turned back to Smart to plead again for help. (“She’s not even speaking English!”) Still got nothing in response. Breathing in sharply through his teeth, he turned back to the girl once more.
“K-kon… Actually, you know what, I’m not even gonna pretend I can speak Japanese.” He shook his head. “So, uh…”
She smirked. “I can speak English, you know.”
Grant deadpanned.
“Oh.”
“I can actually speak three more languages; my parents are both diplomats.” She smiled and shook her head. “But that’s enough about that. I should introduce myself. I’m Chika Fujiwara!” She nodded her head. “Now, um… Who are you again?”
…Grant was kind of tuning her out after he heard her say that she could speak Japanese. He was concerned with something else right now.
“Is your hair that bright pink naturally?”
“Huh?”
“Like, did you dye the entire thing or something? I don’t see many people dye all of their hair, especially not something as extreme as bright pink. Maybe just a few highlights, but yeah.
“This is my natural hair color!” She angrily waved her arms up and down, pouting. “And bright pink is extreme?!”
“I mean, for a hair color, yeah? How many people have you seen with bright pink hair?” Grant asked.
“My family?! My sisters and my mother all have a similar hair color to mine!” Grant nodded as he listened.
“...are you sure?”
“Huh? Yes I’m sure!” Fujiwara was starting to get irritated.
“Are you completely sure though? Nobody- heh, nobody dyed you and your family’s hair in your sleep?” Grant chuckled.
“Shut up!” Fujiwara yelled, fuming. She saw a tuft of navy blue hair poking out from the front of the couch.
“Ishigami! Can you tell this guy if you dyed your hair or not?” Chika crossed her arms and gave Grant another smirk.
…but just like Grant, she was met with some more snores.
“Damn it, Ishigami! Why did you have to stay up playing video games again?!” She turned back to Grant, livid at this point.
“Listen, I still don’t know why you’re here, or who you are! You keep dodging my question! So, for the last time, who are you?!”
Grant slowly clutched the paper in his hands behind him, holding it so it would wrap around his face a little better when he would put it on.
“Me?” He stiflied his laughter before putting on a straight face. “I am vengeance. I am the night.” He said, his voice becoming deep and raspy. “I’m whatever Bos- Dallas needs me to be.” He donned the mask he was hiding.
“I’m Batman. ”
…
Fujiwara narrowed her eyes and gave him the most dumbfounded expression she could pull.
…
“ Ehhhhhh…? ”
Grant tried to bite back a smile, letting out a few snickers, eventually breaking out into a small chuckle.
“Really bro… You’re doing this here too?” Smart sat up, shaking his head with a smile on his face.
Fujiwara snapped her head towards him. “What?! You’re not Ishigami!” She switched her gaze from him to Batman Grant repeatedly. “Whaat is going on?!”
Grant turned to look at Smart, who still seemed to be calm about what was happening. He took out a notecard and gave it to Fujiwara.
Grant was confused about where he kept the card. “You have pockets?”
“Just a small one. It’s so I can carry that,” he gestured to the card. “whenever I meet someone new here.”
Fujiwara looked at the card. There was English on one side and Japanese on the other.
“Oh,” Fujiwara looked up at Smart. “You can read English, right?” Fujiwara thought about it and shrugged. “You might wanna read the English side if you can read it… I’m not sure I did a good enough job with writing the Japanese part.” She nodded and flipped it to the English side.
“Why?” Grant asked him.
Smart whispered back. “I used google translate for that side.”
Fujiwara started reading, mumbling as she read.
“...you’re marcus smart..? You… teleported here and you don’t know why…” She kept glancing up at them. “...you can be easily sent back by getting pushed onto your back, what?” She looked at Smart again, confused.
“Yeah, I don’t know why it happens either. The only thing I know is that I need someone else to make me slide.”
Fujiwara hesitated. “Uh… huh. So… don’t you two have somewhere to be?”
Smart nodded. “Yeah, yeah, we were just about to leave.” He poked Grant with his elbow.
“...by the way, are you sure you didn’t dye your hair?”
“You too?” Fujiwara gave him a grimace. She looked at his hair. “Isn’t your hair dyed?”
“It is, actually.” He smiled, backing off. “I'm just kidding about yours, though.”
Fujiwara stood there with a blank expression. “Oh.”
Smart exhaled in amusement. “Alright, see you.” She watched as Grant tackled him after Smart told him to, the both of them disappearing.
“How did you know we were talking about that?” Grant asked Smart after the game.
“About what?”
“About the hair color thing.”
“Oh, I was awake that entire time. I just wanted to hear what you were gonna say, haha.” Smart laughed about it. Grant frowned at him. And then proceeded to push him.
“Woah!” Smart hopped on one leg and flailed his arms, trying to stay on balance. “Hey, hey, I almost fell, don’t-” Grant pushed him again. Smart fell over and disappeared.
Fujiwara exhaled in gratification. “Ah, it’s nice to visit the Council Room once in a while-"
*bump*
“Ow.”
“YOU’RE BACK AGAIN?!”
“Twenty-seven on your head?” Jayson Tatum punched Smart in the shoulder.
“Why’d you guys have to complete the coaching staff after I got traded?” Smart tried to push him off.
The former Celtic embraced his old teammates after a tough, but close loss in the Garden. Smart gave it his all, diving for every loose ball and creating good looks with extra passes, but against these Celtics, there wasn’t much more you could do. (damn it… Porzingis… where did that trade deal even come from)
“We’ve been asked about trading back for you, y’know?” Tatum said. “They’re not telling us anything though.”
Smart sighed. “Damn. Alright, guess I’ll be coming back when my contract ends.”
“When is that until again?”
“2026.”
“That’s too long, bruh,” Tatum chuckled after he said that.
“Yeah, but I’m still gonna be pushing for that chip. I hope it’s gonna be against you guys.”
“Us?” Smart nodded. “Haha, nah. You’re not gonna beat us.” Smart gave him an unbelieving look.
“All you’re gonna do is cry to the refs while the ball is still live and ima watch as you fall behind more each quarter.”
“Yeah, yeah, now I’m posterizing you every time we play.”
“You’re just gonna act like you got fouled when you can't finish at the hoop.”
“What, you’re saying that?”
They both got up and squabbled with each other, but like the other fight Smart had with Grant, it was still nothing serious. (it would probably never be with them) The other Celtics tried to break them apart anyway.
…unfortunately, both Al Horford and Jaylen Brown bumping Tatum made him fall over, sending him toppling into Smart.
They both disappeared, leaving Horford, Brown, and the rest of the Celtics standing there in silence.
“...whoops.” Horford said.
Tatum flopped onto the carpet while Smart rolled backwards onto his feet.
“Mmphow,” Tatum muffled into the carpet. Smart grabbed his arm and helped him up.
“Woah, what the… Oh wait, Grant told me about this a while ago.”
“Yeah, in that Dallas game?” Smart nodded. “What’d he say?”
“He said it was weird. Also, he was mad at you for that.”
“What?! He was the one who tackled me!”
“For pretending to be asleep, pretty sure.”
“Oh, that,” Smart said in realization. “Yeah, nevermind, that’s fair.”
…
“Y’know, me and Grant are still stronger than you.” Tatum clicked his tongue and jolted his head away.
“I was cooking you inside, what‘chu talking about?” Tatum shook his head, pushing Smart once he got close enough. Tatum noticed that he was smiling for some reason, even after he pushed him.
He disappeared, and then Tatum realized…
“Oh, shit, Mar- damn it…” He was left there in the Council Room, stranded. “...uh, hopefully he’ll be back.
“I’m not going back,” Smart said to his former team when they asked where Tatum was. “Well, not yet.”
“...and, why not?” Brown asked him.
“I think it's funny.” Smart shrugged. “I’ll go back for him a bit.”
Tatum stood there in silence with an awkward smile on his face. His brow slowly furrowed the longer he waited for Smart to come back eventually realizing he wasn’t coming back. His smile started to fade as well.
His eyes darted towards the door as it bursted open, a small figure rushing into the room.
“These requests from the tabletop club are just unreasonable- huh?” She started to walk towards Tatum.
“Who are you- woah…” She stopped right in front of him, realizing how much he towered over her. “A-ah…. Um…”
“What’s up,” Tatum nodded at her. Her eyes widened.
“You’re, ah, speaking English…” She pulled out her phone.
‘Good thing Ishigami showed me this translator app.’ she thought. She flipped it around and clicked the power button.
She pushed it again. And again…
“What?!” She kept trying to turn on her phone. ‘Agh! Of course it had to die now! I should’ve stopped playing those… relaxing audio files…’
“A-ah…” Iino desperately tried to make conversation, even though Tatum clearly wasn’t understanding what she was saying. He slightly tilted his head and raised an eyebrow.
‘Wait!’ She swiftly tilted her head up, ‘I still have my notes!’ She dashed over to her bag and retrieved her notebook and a pencil. She began to rifle through her notes and started to furiously write common sentences onto a separate piece of paper. She stopped writing and closed her notebook, placing the paper on the cover. She nervously looked between Tatum and her writing.
“N-nice t-to meet y-you,” she stuttered out. She extended a hand for him to shake.
Tatum noticed that she was struggling with her English. He took her hand and gave her a firm handshake. “Nice to meet you too.” He gave her a friendly smile. Iino seemed to relax a bit after that as she introduced herself.
“What i-is your n-name?” she asked him. Tatum spoke slowly so she could digest what he said better.
“Jayson Tatum.”
Iino nodded and tried to write his name down. She was so nervous she didn’t realize that she could’ve just asked him to write it himself. She struggled for a little bit and looked at what she wrote.
Json Tatum
‘This seems wrong…’ She thought, looking at it. ‘Shouldn’t something be here in between this first name? I think this is an English name by itself…’
Jayson Tatum
‘...This makes the exact same noise!’ She gritted her teeth. ‘Agh… Whatever, I’ll just show it to him and see if he needs to fix anything.’
She showed him the paper.
“Yup. That’s me.” He nodded. “I think you’re the first person that didn’t know who I was to spell my name right.”
“Ah, okay, Tatum… W-what are y-you doing here?” She looked all the way up at him. “Y-you… don’t, um, l-look like a…” She looked through her notebook again to find the word she was looking for. “...a t-teacher.”
“Oh, right. My friend disappears inta thin air, and he comes here for some reason. And now I’m here cause I fell onto him when he disappeared.”
Iino awkwardly smiled with her mouth slightly open. She was getting lost in the conversation, partly due to Tatum’s accent and him accidentally getting back into talking fast again as he usually does.
“Do- do you need a dictionary or something? An English one?” Tatum asked her. She flipped through her notebook again.
“Oh, yes.” She ran to the closet and pulled out a bilingual dictionary and a regular English one.
“Do you want me to write things to-?” Tatum walked over to her but Iino stepped back and turned away. She didn’t want him to see her handwriting. It wasn’t that bad for writing in a foreign alphabet though. (and it’s not like he would judge anyway) “Okay…”
Iino introduced herself and Tatum explained what happened. Iino nervously kept rapidly flipping through her books to keep up with their conversation.
“Is your friend going to come back for you?” Iino said. Tatum shrugged.
“Dunno. he’s been pissing me off lately haha. Or, well, he’s been trying to.” Iino was still flipping through the dictionary to look for what Tatum says.
‘Oh, I meant that he’s been annoying me.’ Iino glanced at what he wrote down and stopped.
“Oh.” She said, sheepishly scratching her head. She looked back up at him.
“...you’re very tall. I wish I was taller.”
“Guess it’s genes. I’m a bit taller than my dad though.” He said as Iino kept flipping through her books. “Are you still growing?” Iino hesitantly shrugged.
“I’m not sure.”
Do you eat enough?”’ She nodded. “Get enough sleep?” She thought about it, tilting her head back and forth.
“I do, but I don’t have-”’ She paused to think of the right word, scribbling out part of her sentence. “My back isn’t straight when I sleep.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t have a bed, I sleep on a- a giant stuffed bear.’’ Tatum gave her a confused look. She timidly laughed in response.
“You sleep on a teddy bear?”
“Yes! That. I have a big one. I sleep in its arms and- um, its lap.” Tatum scratched his head.
“I think you might wanna get an actual bed. i dunno if it’s gonna help with growing more, but you might mess up your posture or something.”
“Aw… but…” She said quietly. She sighed in defeat. ‘Alright. I’ll get a new bed.’
The door burst open again, causing both of them to turn their heads.
“Iino, have you seen what the tabletop club has been asking for?” He laughed in disbelief. “This is- oh. Not you guys again…”
“Again?” Iino looked at Tatum.
“How many times have you been here?” She asked him in English.
“U-uh…” He stuttered. “This is my first time here.”
Ishigami gave him a frustrated look, shaking his head. “What do you guys want from us?!” Tatum still couldn’t understand. “Are you all spies?”
“Spies?!” Iino looked at Tatum with a horrified expression. “You’ve… you’ve been-” She flipped through her book. “You’ve been tricking me!”
Tatum was taken aback. “What? No…”
“You’ve been tricking me this entire time! I should be mad at you for- for… Being here without a teacher or the Council knowing!” She was so frustrated she didn’t even bother looking through her books for words she was looking for.
“I know what you’ve been doing! You’ve been getting my attention so your friend would be able to steal- steal… whatever you needed from us or this room!” Tatum was very confused by these accusations. “Where is he? Where is your friend?!”
*bump*
“I’m back.” Smart kipped himself back up onto his feet. He looked around and saw Ishigami.
“Oh,”
“It’s you again!/It’s you again…” They both said simultaneously.
“Man, what happened to that one girl who was always here?" Tatum furrowed his brow and looked at him.
“You’re talking to girls?!”
“What? No! It’s-” Smart sighed. “I’ll tell you later…”
Tatum shook his head. “Okay bro.”
“Wah! Who-? What are you doing-?” Iino said.
Smart waved her off. “Sorry, but we gotta leave.” He grabbed Tatum and brought him to the ground. He slid and they both disappeared into thin air.
“We’re baaaack.” Smart said as he stretched.
“Bro… go see a doctor or something. This is weird, man. And I don’t wanna get trapped with an angry high school girl by myself again.”
“Yeah, alright, alright…”
…
“...And what was that about talking to a girl being there? Aren’t you already married..?”
“Alright it’s not what it sounds like-”
Ishigami and Iino looked at each other for a bit.
“So, about the tabletop club-”
“Oh, shut up, Ishigami…”