FATE: A World All New

III. Dante's Not so Good Day

        Dante followed the young lady to the principal's office. Once there she bid Dante farewell and left. Dante waited for the principal to be free and then went in.

The principal was bent over his desk which was covered in papers. "Yes?" He didn't look up.

"I'm Dante Vale?" Dante said, uncertain of how he should go about this.

The principal's head shot up. He examined Dante for a moment. "Ah yes. The new teacher of Mythology and Legends." He got to his feet and held out his hand. "Principal Tsue. You come highly recommended, Mr. Vale."

Dante shook Principal Tsue's hand. "Well I'll try not to disappoint."

"Be sure you don't." Tsue came out from behind his desk and led Dante out of the room. "Your classroom is this way, Mr. Vale." As they walked, Tsue went on to explain: "It starts at 8:45 AM each day but it would be beneficial for you if you arrived 45 minutes early yourself."

Dante frowned. He looked at his watch. It was 8:17 right now. He had less than thirty minutes to prepare his lesson.

"Here we are." Principal Tsue opened the door to a lecture hall.

The aisle down the center had large lines and groups of chairs on either side with a stage at the bottom. On the stage was a podium with a microphone and a projector. Behind the podium, on the wall, was a screen that could be pulled down to use with the projector.

"Now I'll leave you."

Before Dante could say anything Tsue was gone. He sighed. "Thanks," he mumbled.

He headed into the room. As he walked down the aisle he looked around. The chairs were natural theater seats and they each had little tables in front of them for note taking.

I wonder how many students I'm gonna have... Dante thought. And what should I-

Dante's thoughts were cut off as his foot met something unstable and he was laid out. He groaned and lay in the middle of the aisle for a moment.

This is my life now crossed his mind more than once as he lay there.

But he didn't know how true that statement was. Coming to a stop a few feet away was his new life. It was green, maybe a little bigger than a marble, and of course round.

Finally Dante got a hold of himself. He sat up and looked at the marble. It looked like it was shaking. Dante sighed and grabbed it before standing up. "My students haven't even been in here and they're already leaving toys around." He looked at it once more. It didn't seem to be shaking now. Maybe it was a figment of my imagination? Dante shrugged and stuck it in his pocket. "Better get ready for those students of mine."

After leaving Dante with Principal Tsue Yoshino Fujieda had gone straight to a larger room for a form of orientation that all students of Mythology and Legends had to take before the class. As soon as she opened the door she saw three boys. Two were sitting side by side, the other was sitting alone. Yoshino went and took a seat by the third boy.

"Hey, Thomas," she said as she slid into the seat next to him, "sorry I took so long."

Thomas Norstein, the boy next to her, looked over. "It's fine. You still made it in time for orientation."

She nodded. He was right.

"It seems Mr. Vale is going to have a small class," Thomas commented as he examined the near empty room.