Death Note: The Next Kira (Part One)

Chapter Nine: A Teacher's Advice and Finding the Death Note

JANUARY 16, 2006

MID-MORNING (FIRST PERIOD IN CLASS)

TOKYO, JAPAN 

                                                                        MARIE 

I was dumbstruck when Mr. Mikami said that I should introduce myself to the class. 

I chuckled nervously. "Maybe...you should go first since you are the new teacher of this class," I told him.

 Mr. Mikami raised an eyebrow at me. "You know what?" he asked. "Maybe you are right." He straightened up his red striped necktie and cleared his throat. "Hello, class...again," he said awkwardly. "My name is Kaito Mikami." 

"Hello, Mr. Mikami," everyone said in the class. 

"I was born in Okinawa in 1978. I lived here for three years after I was born before my parents moved to America."

 One of the girls raised their hand. "Yes," Mr. Mikami pointed at her. 

"You in the back." I turned in my seat and saw that it was the same girl I had seen earlier.

 "Where exactly in America did you move to?" she asked. 

"It was California," Mr. Mikami answered. "When my parents got there, there were millions of things that they didn't know that were illegal there. They got arrested for indecent exposure because they didn't know that you're supposed to be wearing bathing suits in the hot tub. I spent parts of my life in foster homes until they were released when I was a teenager. They're adjusting just fine to the American lifestyle by now. And once again, no, I'm not related to Teru Mikami." 

Everybody looked at each other and nodded. "Anyway, to prevent something like that from happening to people who live in Japan and decide they want to move to America, I created these kinds of schools." Mr. Mikami continued. 

Everybody softly gasped when they heard this. "So...you're saying that you created these kinds of schools?" one of the other girls in the class asked.

 Mr. Mikami nodded. "Absolutely," he answered. "I don't want anybody to lose that much amount of time that I lost due to my parents' little mistake, so yes. I am the owner of the Japanese-American Training School Chain. I had to shut down some schools in Japan because some parents were complaining that this idea was turning their kids into hypocrites." 

"Hey, I'm from America, and I'm not a hypocrite!" said one of the girls in the class. 

"Yeah, me too!" said a guy sitting in the middle.

 "So are you!" said one of the girls as she pointed at me. 

"I'm from America too, but I moved to Japan so I could get low to the window," said a voice from behind me.

 "Cool," said another guy. We turned and saw the same guy who was bullying me on the airplane. Everybody else looked at him like he was crazy.

 "What's that supposed to mean?" the guy who looked like Vincent Valentine asked. "It means none of your business, you Vincent Valentine look-alike." 

"Hey!" Mr. Mikami boasted. "We don't say it's 'none of your business' to other people like that! Also, why don't you try being a little more respectful to people?!"

 He rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Whatever," he mumbled under his breath. 

"Now," Mr. Mikami said as he picked up the stack. "Don't freak out. This isn't a pop quiz. Instead, this is a little assignment about your name, birthday, favorite color, favorite animal, food, favorite movie, favorite book, favorite music, and yada, yada, yada."