I sat in Mr. Blonde's office fidgeting with my hands as I waited for him to re-emerge from the small closet within his office, the same room I saw take the miniature altar and dragon.
Damn, I have to go to school again. Worse is that I have to manage with this accursed language barrier!
Enrolling in a school hours after my rebirth is one of the lesser-thought-of situations I daydreamt about in the many what-if situations I imagined myself in as an Isekai protagonist, even less so with a language barrier preventing me from understanding this world's vernacular.
Looks like I'll have to rely more on my Imagination Manifestation to portray ideas purely through visual aids.
That shouldn't be too difficult, right? I mean, plenty of topics can be visualized—love, money, order, death, sex.
I ignored the direction my thoughts went.
I'll miss porn.
I tried to.
Still, attending a school where magic seems commonplace shouldn't be too difficult to acclimate to.
I heard Mr. Blonde's footsteps as he emerged from the closet in his office. He placed 3 more uniform boxes on the desk, tied together with a rope like a ribbon on a gift, and another sheet of paper larger than most.
Instead of lines of indecipherable text, there was a diagram. More specifically, a map of the school. It was still labeled with those indecipherable characters, but they only labeled rooms for what I guess indicated either their class or purpose.
My eyes drifted to the numbers marked across the map, looking hand-written compared to the stamp-on text I had seen prior.
Next to the map was a timetable, reminiscent of the copies of my class schedule I was given in my past life. Those same numbers were written next to the rows of the presented schedule.
Damn, a class schedule too.
There were 5 classes according to the timetable schedule I had been given.
I guessed the numbers on the schedule corresponded to the rooms where these classes took place.
Finally, the last thing I was given was a key with a shape the same as the one I saw Kiori fiddle with when opening his dorm room.
I looked at the wooden tag on the rope key ring. It was the same number as Kiori's, 61.
He's going to be my roommate? Or rather, I'm going to be his?
I looked at the miniature door I conjured when I was explaining where my first uniform was.
Was this always the plan? To have me bunk with the person who summoned me?
Although the idea was surprising, it made sense. Kiori summoned me and Mr. Blonde caught on a few hours after my summoning when I was near his student. And seeing that Mr. Blonde has a summoned being of his own, he likely figured it out the moment he saw me.
I'm not exactly in a position to protest this.
As I gathered my things and prepared to take them to my new residence, I suddenly realized something.
Shit, how do I ask about truancy?
When I thought about it, a scenario portrayed as a few movie scenes flashed through my mind. There's no obvious icon that comes with skipping school.
Wait, don't tell me I have to start attending now?
I put down my things and stared at the schedule I had been given.
I pointed to the classroom marked with a 1, then tapped my right wrist, making sure the gesture was seen by Mr. Blonde.
He only seemed confused.
Damn, watches probably don't exist here.
I recalled the desk and chair I saw in the classroom Kiori and I first sat in together.
I visualized a smaller version of the desk similar to the ones I've sat in in my past life as a reference, but that wouldn't be enough to portray the question, "Do I need to be there now?"
Shit. If I had to play charades with my life on the line, I'd be dead.
I looked at the numbers on the map and schedule.
Maybe this could work.
I hurriedly manifest a student's desk and hair in Mr. Blonde's office, ignoring his vocal protests. Then I created small hand-held signs with the numbers 1 through 5. Then I sat at the new desk facing Mr. Blonde and quickly cycled through holding all of them one at a time in my right hand.
Mr. Blonde only looked more confused by my charade, barely holding in a laugh.
"You try being cursed with this language barrier and see how you like it!"
His eyes widened in surprise at my shout.
Damn, it'd be nice to know the calendar. I'd be able to know what days my classes are and record the day of my rebirth.
I conjured a 7x5 grid and placed numerous sun and moon icons in each square. I then made the grid and moons significantly bigger.
Please tell me that you have a calendar.
His eyes widened in understanding, taking the calendar I had manifested and sitting at his desk. He then took out a piece of paper from one of this desk's drawers and produced 6x6 with numbers descending from top left to bottom right.
There's no way that's the calendar, right?
It couldn't be! Perhaps it's this world's board game equivalent of Snakes and Ladders?
But… would Mr. Blonde be the type of person to keep a board game tucked away in this desk's drawers?
I stepped closer as Mr. Blonde drew on the 6x6 grid.
On the 27th square, he made a doodle of the three-obelisk altar I was reborn on.
On the 28th square, there was an abridged version of the school's emblem.
The 1st square was circled, crossing over into other squares, with books, potion bottles, sparks, crystals, and a frying pan over a flame. The numbers 1 through 5 were marked on the various symbols surrounding the 1st day.
He took his thumb and pressed it on the 28th square, mimicking when I signed that enrollment form.
If the 28th is today, then it means I have 2 days to prepare myself for those classes. I'll have to adjust myself to this school's foot traffic and plan my routes so that I can seamlessly adapt to this place.
I looked at my schedule once more and acted like I was eating from a bowl, before pointing to the mostly indecipherable timetable. Knowing when lunch break was would help, in case I needed to mentally prepare myself for the upcoming classes, perhaps get clues as to what's taught in my curriculum.
He merely pointed at the 4th row, which was notably thinner than the other rows.
3 classes, lunch, and then 2 more. Alright, I could work with this.
Having a plan of action ready, I put the room 61 key in my right jeans pocket, then folded the schedule and put it in my other pocket before grabbing the map and 3 sets of uniforms and setting off toward my summoner's room.
5 seconds later, I walked back into Mr. Blonde's office to confirm his location on the map and then retrieved the calendar he drew on.