Chapter Text
Oborozuka Elementary School – Monday morning.
Kanna stood stock still in the front of the blackboard of classroom 3-2 like a N*katan ready to bounce away. She had been looking forward to going to school all weekend, but standing in front of a classroom full of curious gazes was a little unsettling (especially after what Kobayashi said about what they did to people who were different.) Still, she was a dragon, so if there were any problems, she could just blow them up – Lady Tohru gave her permission (without Kobayashi’s knowledge.)
“Good morning, children!” the teacher greeted her student brightly. “Today, we have a brand new student transferring in today.” She gestured to Kanna. “This is Kobayashi Kanna.”
“Hello,” Kanna spoke in a small voice with a polite bow.
Instead of going by her actually family name – Kamui – Kobayashi told Kanna to take her family name instead (Kanna, Tohru, and Elma had all assumed Kobayashi was her given name.) The reason being was so that if there was any trouble or a conference, Kobayashi could pose as Kanna’s parent. If her tail was out, Kanna thought it might start wagging.
“She’s adorable!” a girl squealed.
“Where’re you from, Kanna?” asked a boy.
“Ushishir,” Kanna answered immediately like she had rehearsed. It was a small (uninhabited) island north of Japan close enough to explain why she could speak the language, but far enough not to bring her ethnicity into question.
“She’s from overseas?”
“That’s so cool!”
Unbeknownst to the classroom, including Kanna, someone was peeking in through the window hidden in the brush of the tree outside. It was highly unexpected that someone as rigorous with the rules as Elma would be snooping on private property, but she had a good reason for it! Elma raised her head out of the brush, leaves in her hair, and jotted down something in her notebook.
“I see,” Elma hummed thoughtfully. “New students are formally presented in front of the entire class. Perhaps this is to help them better integrate themselves among their classmates. At the least, Kanna’s introduction has gone smoothly. I wonder what Lucy’s introduction will be like. I hope she doesn’t take after Tohru….”
Yes, this was in preparation for the day when Lucy would eventually (give or take a millennium) join human schools like Kanna. Kobayashi had initially though to ask Tohru, but Elma vehemently volunteered, wanting to learn everything about ‘human educational facilities.’ Kobayashi didn’t argue – she just chalked it up top maternal dragon instinct.
Kanna is a shy girl, Elma thought as Kanna took her seat in an empty desk in the back of the class. Elma jotted down the theory that her placement was due to how late she arrived in the academic year. I hope everything works out fine….
About half an hour into class, the teacher started explaining basic mathematic equations. She wrote down a simple problem (273 + 651) and said to the class:
“Let’s see if any of you can solve this one. Hmm…Kanna, do you think you can solve it?”
“An oddly simplistic problem for children at that age,” Elma hummed, jotting down in her notebook again. “Is this the extent of what human children are capable, or are they purposely being held back…?”
It came as no surprise that Kanna was able to solve the problem without any difficulty. Dragons were always more intelligent than humans, even more so since education in their world was so heavily restricted to the wealthy. Yet the children seemed to think Kanna was some kind of super genius for solving a basic mathematic equation.
Individual differences are bound to appear even when learning the same thing in the same environment, thought Elma, jotting down another note. Isn’t this a rather inefficient method of learning? Wouldn’t putting them in different classes based on their abilities be a more prolific approach to help them develop? Why put them together based on a specific age group?
As she looked up and saw Kanna take her seat, Elma noticed her desk mate something inaudible. She thinks for a moment, then jots down another note.
After several hours of similar educational lectures, the children were herded outside, forced to wear matching clothes, which reminded Elma of what Kobayashi said the other day. Based on what she read on the internet, this was a period for promoting physical exercise in growing children, hence the name physical education. But as far as Elma could tell, these children were just running, yelling, and throwing a ball.
“Hmm…it appears to be a sport that involves hitting each other with a ball,” Elma hummed, jotting down another note. “How barbaric. Why would adults encourage such violent practices?”
Elma looked up from her notes as a ball bounce off one of the human girls and rolled to Kanna’s feet. The little dragon girl picked it up, tilting her head to observe it curiously. Then, with a huff, Kanna stepped forward and launched the ball across the court. As expected, it hit one of the opposing boys with enough strength to knock him flat on his back and bounced back to Kanna. She picked up the ball and repeated the motion. She did this again and again until everyone on the opposing side was out.
“How merciless,” said Elma disapprovingly. “Tohru has been a bad influence on her.”
“Kanna, you’re incredible!”
“You’re good at everything!”
“Kanna, you think we can be friends?”
Kanna’s singlehanded domination seemed to have attracted a large group of admirers. Kanna, being as shy as she was, only nodded along with barely a word uttered. Once again, it brought for Kobayashi’s warning to the forefront of her mind.
They either alienate the one with power, or accept them as their friend, Elma hummed, jotting down in her notes. Well, they are juvenile humans, after all. They haven’t been tainted by adult perception just yet….
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”
Elma let out a startled yelp, jumping out from her hiding place in the bushes. She turned around and noticed a teacher from one of the other classes coming up to her.
“Oh, hello, there,” Elma greeted politely.
“What’re you up?” the teacher questioned her. “This is private property!”
“Oh, I’m not doing anything suspicious,” said Elma, holding her hands up in surrender. “I was just observing little children without them knowing I’m here.”
When the children walked back to class after P.E., Kanna perked her head up curiously as when she saw a car leaving the school grounds flashing its blue and red lights.
Nothing of interest happened for the rest of the day. They went back to the same cycle of educational lectures until the final bell rang, signaling the end of school. The students and teacher said their goodbyes and started gathering their things to leave. But not even a second after the teacher left the room, someone called out to Kanna as she was stuffing her supplies inside her bag.
“Wait a minute, Kobayashi!”
It took a moment for Kanna to realize that they were talking about her and not the glasses-wearing human she lived with; that was going to take some getting used to. Kanna looked over to the one who called her out and the first thing that came to the dragon girl’s mind was that the other girl had a big shiny forehead.
“You are getting way too much attention!” the child declared, pointing an accusing finger at Kanna. “A transfer student should be more modest!”
“Ugh, there Saikawa goes, acting like the class queen again,” one of the boys groaned.
“Shut up! No one asked for your opinion!” the girl known as Saikawa snapped, partially blinding him with her shiny forehead spotlight.
“I’m standing out?” asked Kanna curiously.
“Yes, you are!” shouted Saikawa. “Those clothes are too cute, and you’re so good at everything. It makes me so mad, I wanna give you a hug!”
“Wait, are you mad or do you want to hug her?” one of their female classmates asked cluelessly.
“Both!” Saikawa screamed. “I challenge you, Kobayashi Kanna! I’ll prove to everyone that I’m better than you’ll ever be!”
“Don’t bother with her, Kanna,” one of their classmates warned. “Saikawa’s is a hopeless person who plays dirty and never accepts defeat.”
“You shut your stupid lying mouth!” Saikawa screamed, then rounded back to Kanna. “How about a test of arm strength? I may not look like it, but I’ve won karate compe – “
Saikawa trailed off midsentence, becoming instantly flustered when she saw Kanna tearing up and sniffling.
“I just…,” Kanna sniffled, “I just wanted to be friends….”
If you plastered a picture of a donkey over Saikawa, it would be a perfect representation of how she felt.
“Oh – oh no, I’m – I’m sorry!” Saikawa sputtered, flailing her arms frantically. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to make you sad! The truth is, I just wanna be friends with you, too, I swear!”
Could you be anymore roundabout, several of their classmates thought.
“Please don’t cry!” yelled Saikawa. “Here, I’ve got candy! Want some candy?”
“You can’t bring stuff like that to school!” one of their classmates pointed out.
“SHUT UP!”
After school had let out, Tohru had been waiting by the front gate to walk Kanna home (since someone had been hauled away by the police.) Kanna rolled the hard candy she received from Saikawa in her mouth as she recounted everything that that transpired on her first day of school.
“So you faked crying, huh?” Tohru hummed thoughtfully. “Seems kind of a devious way to settle things, don’t you think? I would’ve obliterated them and be done with it.”
“Kobayashi said no obliterating people,” Kanna reminded her. The fact that the adult need to be reminded not to kill people was very concerning.
“Yeah, good point,” Tohru conceded. They walked in silence for a few seconds before she spoke up again. “Kanna, why did you decide to you wanted to go to school?”
“It looked fun from watching,” Kanna answered plainly.
“Was it fun?” asked Tohru.
“Yeah.”
“Keep in mind, some aspects might not be too fun,” Tohru pointed out.
“Yeah.”
“We are dragons in human form,” said Tohru. “There’s no reason for us to be equal to the humans. ‘Being’ among humans isn’t the same as ‘living’ with them. You know what I mean.”
“I do,” Kanna nodded. “But…because they’re so close by and live at the same time as us…being together with them seems a lot better than keeping them away.”
“Being together…,” said Tohru, looking down thoughtfully. “I’ve seen many kin destroy themselves because acceptance was too foreign for them and thought exclusion was their only option. I know I used to be the same way….”
“What changed?” asked Kanna.
Tohru knew exactly what had changed. An overbearing goody-two-shoes with a black hole for a stomach. And after that was a teal egg that was waiting to hatch soon. And the latest addition to her list was a silly human who drunkenly pulled a holy sword from a dragon’s back and invited them to live together. The thought brought a humorous chuckle to her lips, which confused Kanna.
“You’ll have to figure that out on your own,” Tohru replied cryptically. “Before we go home, we need to make a quick stop to the police station….”
“Welcome back, you three,” said Kobayashi leaned on the couch with a beer in one hand and Lucy tucked securely on her lap. “Looks like you managed to get Elma free. You didn’t break the jail down, did you?”
“No, I just paid those silly humans in gold ingots,” said Tohru amusingly. “You should’ve seen how they were fussing only a shiny rock.”
“Thank god I already have my own personal security,” Kobayashi muttered, sweatdropping.
“They were so mean!” Elma cried. “I didn’t even do anything wrong!”
“If a suspicious person dressed in a weird costume was watching my kid, I’d be concerned, too,” said Kobayashi, who then turned her attention to Kanna as the dragon girl set her backpack on the floor. “So, how was your first day at school?”
“It was fun,” said Kanna.
“That’s good to hear,” said Kobayashi brightly. She reached for something beside her and held up a paper bag, handing it to Kanna. “Here, this is for you.”
Kanna tilted her head curiously. She opened the bag and pulled out the small object inside. Her eyes went wide, her mouth open in awe. It was the little rabbit accessory she wanted in the store the other day, but decided to put it back.
“But…,” Kanna muttered.
“It’s a gift for entering school,” Kobayashi explained kindly before Kanna had a chance to turn it down. “You should be able to hang it on your backpack.”
Kanna held the little accessory dearly to her chest, smiling to herself. Kobayashi looked straight ahead at the TV, sipping her beer, to spare Kanna and herself from embarrassment. It was strange, Kobayashi thought. Twenty-five years old and suddenly feeling like a mother to a child that wasn’t even hers, on top of said child being centuries older than her.
Still, it was a good feeling.
“Miss Kobayashi!” Tohru cried. “What about me? Don’t I get anything for doing a good job!”
“Here, you can have this,” said Kobayashi lazily, offering her half-empty can of beer.
“I like you, Miss Kobayashi,” said Tohru, giving the human a blank stare, “but please don’t insult me.”
“Oh…sorry…,” Kobayashi apologized awkwardly.
BONUS
“What’re you doing to your stuff, Kanna?” Tohru asked, noticing that Kanna was putting labels on all her school supplies when she came to dust the child’s room.
“I’m labeling them,” Kanna explained. “They said I’m supposed to put nametags on all my things.”
That ended up giving Tohru a wicked idea. She took one of the labels, quickly scribbled something on it, and went out to the living room. She spotted Elma in the kitchen, bending down to rummage through refrigerator. Tohru walked up behind her wife and gave her a loud smack on the ass, making the former priestess jump with a startled yelp. Tohru smiled proudly at the label slapped on Elma’s round bottom that declared “Property of Tohru.”
“And now it's properly established,” said Tohru.
“TOHRU!” Elma squealed embarrassingly.
