[Open] Observing Growth

A girl in a black, lacy dress sat on one of the benches at the perimeter of the gym, usually reserved for those injured or that made excuses to skip either P.E. or Power Control classes. Her dark hair was in loose curls, with a ribbon on either side. She wore striped stockings. Right now, the elementalist powered students had a bit of a group session. Then there would be practice with those that had psychic or empathy powers next. Perhaps this girl was just waiting?

Her face was drawn into a look that wandered between concentration and boredom. She was reading a book from the library. Its cover was yellow and worn despite being bound in a plastic case to protect it from future wear. Its title read: Civilization and Its Discontents. By Sigmund Freud. It was heavy reading for a little girl.

She noticed Jacob walk the perimeter of the gym and looked up from the yellow pages of her book. She closed the volume, a black felt bookmark within the page she was just on.

"Hi, Mr. Cunningham." She smiled softly. "You teach Math, don't you? Surprising to see you here."

She saw the student that lost control of the water, and giggled politely as though she were embarrassed for him, as Mr. Cunningham did. "Poor guy." She commented.

Pathetic. These people lacked control, finesse. They were too uncertain. Their minds were muddled with unnecessary thoughts that did not allow them to unlock their fullest potential. When it came to total control, the only thing that was left was further refinement and improvement.

"No, I'm not in your class. Everyone speaks only good things about you, though. Your old students miss you. It makes me want to change classes, you know." She smiled brightly. She didn't want to say that the class was boring – he was probably on good terms with the Maths department anyway, but this was the reality for students. Teachers that used outdated projectors and wrote scrawled equations for everyone to copy down in confusion and boredom. Add on revision of topics on a Friday afternoon, and you have a class of sleepy students. It didn't help that her voice was high-pitched and rather grating.

"The timetabling of Miss A's class really clashes when I want to talk to my father anyway."

"I can't say it out loud," She whispered. Konishi turn her head coyly, away from Mr. Cunningham. It couldn't hide the rosy flush on her cheeks. "You're popular with the girls. They say you help them focus, but at the same time, you're a... good distraction. The boys think you're cool, too, and you're funny. It makes class seem more lively that way." What she said was generally true. She may have exaggerated a little and guessed what the boys thought of him, but Mr. Cunningham was popular with the students. That was a fact among the student body.

"Civilization and its Discontents, by Sigmund Freud. I was reading about the death drive. I was thinking of studying psychology, but I don't think there are many pathways for it. We're supposed to give our preferences for careers soon. I just never really thought about what I want to do."

Psychology actually didn't interest Konishi at all. She thought of the Super-Ego and Ego as the mediator to be mere social constructs. Pitiful social constructs set in place. One wasn't born as a man or woman, two diametrically opposed forces. One was made man or woman by society. Psychology at least helped her to understand what happened in other people's minds.

"Why did you decide to become a teacher, at this school, specifically?" Konishi asked. She wanted to hear his motivations for herself.

"Death drive, in this context, is described as aggressive, destructive behaviour that ultimately is detrimental to the foundations of society. It is the greatest impediment to civilization, but also an instinctual disposition to humankind. " Konishi summarized. She smiled at her explanation. Or at him, it was hard to tell.

She didn't tell him that she was reading the book in order to understand what society pinned down as being wrong, and how she should then act accordingly. It was probably not wise to take the advice of Sigmund Freud, but Konishi's decisions were rarely driven by the realms of common sense and rationality, or at least the social constructs that people were molded into.

"They must have some sort of reason for seeking you out as a teacher here," Konishi suggested. "They wouldn't hire any teacher. They'd have to handle the surprises of super-powered young adults and have an open nature about them. Does that fit you?" The description was easy to determine. If they pulled any middle-aged, balding teacher, or a strict matron, he or she would definitely not fit the school's ideology or the diversity of the student body. It had to be someone like... Mr. Cunningham.

Nakata entered the gym trailing three students. They weren't enrolled in his power control classes... at least now none of them were. After the last test where one of them both identified his illusory obstacle course and managed to get through the test virtually unscathed, it became evident he wasn't in need of the same curriculum some of the others were. Still, all three had much to learn, not that he didn't, but as a matter of fact they all needed to try to push their limits and he had seen two of the three in action.

The students were all college students, though one of them was only sixteen and had been forced to take high school classes, they were all past high school and so a level of control could be expected. Nakata was happy to train them and let them cut loose as much as they wanted.... At least that's what he thought until he saw the gym full of people. He had completely forgotten about the day and the message that went out to all the teachers about the gym not being open for regular power classes.

It would have been fine to just take a seat and begin practicing something else, but all were decked out in gear that indicated that they were there for combat practice. Firstly, Nakata wore his battle clothing with his hear undone, the black scarf around his neck, cloth and leather gauntlets on his arms, the sword belt he wore that carried a wooden practice sword this time instead of his regular katana, and black elk hide pants. Additionally, he carried a wooden naginata in his hand to serve as an additional weapon for him to learn to use more efficiently for one of his future ventures.

Zachary Korios, one of the students with Nakata, wore a black combat vest adorned with wooden bo-shuriken, wooden kunai knives, two boken wood katanas on his back, a metal and leather harness with joints covered his right elbow, and had a part that would attach to yet another wooden blade-shaped piece that sat horizontally on his back. He wore black pants with pockets on the legs for various equipment normally, and black leather gloves.

Another student with Nakata, one Damien Kusanagi, wore a black kimono shirt with black Hakama pants, and had a similar device on his as Zachary, only he had them on both forearms. His outfit was more refine than the others, but it was made for combat nonetheless.

Finally the third student with Nakata, Katsuo Igarashi wore a black hooded jacket, open in the front with a black T-shirt underneath. The pants he wore were also black, and were made of thick cloth. Along with these, hanging from a belt, was a boken wood katana, and two wooden daggers. Beyond that he wore gloves with rubber studs on the knuckles rather than the silver, iron, and gold spikes he normally might have worn.


The entrance into the gym wasn't exactly grand, but the unexpected populace there was fairly disconcerting. Zachary, Damien, and Katsuo all looked at Nakata with puzzled expressions, leaving the teacher about a step away from face palming. All four were clearly of Asian decent but Nakata and Damien were the only ones that were pure japanese. Zachary was native american and japanese with black hair, Katsuo was Chinese and Japanese with white hair, and they were all dressed as if they were heading to a weapons tournament. It just wasn't an ideal situation. He looked at his students and started to explain when he noticed another teacher in the bleachers talking to a student.
"Hold these for a minute." He told them, heading away from them before they had a clear chance to protest. The students headed to one corner of the gym with Naka's wooden katana and naginata as he approached the other two.

He waited a few moments for them to finish the line of conversation they were on before he fully approached.
"Hello Mr. Cunningham, and Mrs. ... I'm sorry I don't recognize you from any of my classes... or from counseling." He said with a smile, nodding first at his fellow faculty member and then at the student he was talking with.