Chapter 10: Class Time



“Alright, students.” Miss Watanabe stood in front of your class, starting class as soon as the bell rung. It was safe to assume that your first period of every school day would be your English class. “Take out the sentences that I have assigned to you as homework yesterday,” she smirked, adjusting her glasses, “if you have any, that is.”



You did as you were told, alongside everyone else in your class. You glanced over at Sayori, and surprisingly, she did her sentences as well. She seemed to be the type to always forget.



Miss Watanabe walked around the class, collecting the papers that her pupils handed over. As soon as she had a complete stack of homework in her hands, she went over to the podium and stood behind it, placing the papers down. She shuffled through the papers, skimming through each quickly.



“…Hm, well.” Something caught her attention as she took out two papers from the stack. She chuckled. “It appears that our lovely couple do not have direct copies of their sentences!” She looked at you, then at Sayori. “You’ve learned your lesson, good job.”



Sayori glanced at you, giving you a little smile. You did so as well.



“Very well,” your teacher would place the stack of homework down, “onto the real lesson for today—”



Sayori raised her hand.



“Yes, Sayori?” Miss Watanabe answered.



“Do we have to? You just said that Riko and I had learned our lesson...” Sayori said.



You softly place your palm on you face, a little frustrated by her question. You couldn’t help but laugh a little too due to how silly it was. Other people in class gave a small laugh as well.



“Well, Sayori, you and your prince may have learned an important life lesson about cheating and honesty, however, as your English teacher, it is my obligation to also teach you the importance of literary structure and grammar, otherwise, your future college will have a field day; shooting down every, single essay you turn in. That’s not a future you want, now do you?” Miss Watanabe said. You read that in the most sarcastic voice possible, and it was hilarious.



Sayori pouted. “Hmph… why can’t colleges just accept poetry?”



“Because there’s more to reality than just poems,” Miss Watanabe said in her always snarky attitude, “now, let’s go on with the lesson for the day.” And so, she began to teach, writing on the green board behind her a few sentences. “Now, these sentences that I have wrote here all share a common literary device called parallelism—”



As her class went on, you couldn’t help but doze off. It was undeniably boring to be in a class, as funny as Miss Watanabe can be. Eventually, you closed your eyes and took a little nap as your teacher was going over the lesson. A few minutes later…



“…Huh—?” You groggily opened your eyes and felt something pointy poking at your cheek. You shifted your eyes over to what it could be. It was a teaching stick.



“Rise and shine, Riko,” Miss Watanabe had just woken you up, “dreaming about your friend over there?”



You immediately sat straight up by the presence of your teacher. “S-Sorry, Miss!” Everyone in class, including Sayori, were giggling at you, particularly at something on your forehead. You wondered what it could be, but it was probably something Miss Watanabe did, and it bothered you.



“Get some more sleep at night next time, Riko.” Miss Watanabe sighed as she went back to the front of the class. “Now, since Riko here dozed off throughout much of the lesson, I have to assume that he already knows about the content. Riko, would you kindly please tell us what parallelism is?”



“Uhm—” You paused for a moment as you looked at the choices given to you. You had three. The first option said, “a similarity between things that are alike, that are otherwise unlike from each other,” and the second option said, “parts of a sentence that uses the same grammatical structure or use similar constructions and sounds.” The third gave you the option to call Sayori for help, who was eagerly raising her hand to do so.



You were stunned by this question. This game was trying to make you know things that actual high schools would want you to learn. You tried to look for the best possible answer, but none of the answers came to mind. Out of desperation, and for the sake of plot, you chose the third option.



“I’ll have Sayori to answer for me.” You told the teacher.



“Ah-ha, really?” Miss Watanabe smirked as she looked over to Sayori. “I suppose couples are to help each other in times of need. Sayori, what is your take on this question?”



Sayori answered, “Well… you see, parallelism is when lines never meet! Like in that slanted rectangle thingy.” The class laughed again. The class today was just embarrassment after embarrassment for you and Sayori.



Miss Watanabe chuckled, “I appreciate the attempt, but that’s not the answer. You’ve confused parallelism with parallelogram. I suppose that would be a good answer for your geometry class.” She points her teaching stick at the board, directing the class’s attention to the example sentences that now had some underlines. “Parallelism is when parts of a sentence use the same grammatical structure or use similar constructions and sounds. Many famous writers, particular those who give out speeches, use this device in order to put an emphasis on a certain topic.” She wrote one more example on the board, “Take this quote from Julius Caesar: “Veni, vidi, vici.” In English, it translates to “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Notice how in both the English and Latin version of the phrase repeats “I” in some form, replicating the structure of the clause before it. This creates some sort of rhythm, you could say.” Miss Watanabe readjusts her glasses, a particular shine suddenly coming off it. “Parallelism aside, Julius Caesar said that phrase after his easy victory at the Battle of Zela in 47 BC. He was undoubtably a great military leader and he knew how to keep his enemies and rivals in place. Had he watched his back that one March, I might have to teach you all Latin instead of English.”



You did not know why Miss Watanabe would talk about history in an English class. Then again, social studies usually coincides with language arts.



Your teacher would look at the time left in class. Only around five minutes were left.



“Alright class,” she would pass out papers to everyone in your class, “this paragraph is for homework. Follow the directions on the paper, carefully.”



You glanced over the paragraph that Miss Watanabe gave you. It was, ironically enough, about the Roman Empire. Maybe that’s why she was talking about Julius Caesar.



The bell would ring, and you approached the exit to go to your next class. Before you could go, however…



“Riko, Sayori.” Miss Watanabe called for the attention of you and your friend.



You turned your head over to the teacher.



“Yes, Miss Watanabe?” Sayori responded.



“Stay good, okay?” Miss Watanabe said with a small smile.



She nodded, “We will, Miss Watanabe!”



You and Sayori then left the class on a good note.