At 2:30, the teacher still hadn't arrived. After being late for four or five minutes, she finally rushed into the classroom, panting heavily. She looked utterly exhausted.
By the way, Eichi's homeroom teacher was a beautiful woman with pink hair, a gentle face, and a white dress that made her look a lot like someone he knew.
The classroom didn't quiet down because of her arrival, though the noise level dropped slightly.
Some students stopped talking when they saw her, behaving on their own.
But others kept chatting as if nothing had happened.
Eichi frowned slightly at the scene but said nothing. Seeing that, Tetsu beside him also stopped talking and fell silent.
Noticing the noise, the teacher seemed to use all her strength and shouted, "Quiet, everyone, please be quiet!"
Even though she yelled as loud as she could, her voice still sounded too gentle to have any authority.
At that moment, a girl stood up and shouted along with her, finally making the class quiet.
The teacher sighed in relief, smiled warmly, and said, "Hello everyone, I'm your homeroom teacher. My name is Joylin. I'm 18 years old. You can call me Miss Lin."
So she was from the Joy family. Instead of working at a Pokémon Center, she had become a teacher, and such a young one at that.
When she spoke, her tone was very soft, which gave Eichi a good impression of her.
Miss Lin continued speaking, but soon after the class had quieted, chatter began again. She told them to be quiet, but as more voices joined in, the classroom grew noisy once more.
She realized something was wrong and raised her voice. "Everyone, stop talking, please quiet down… quiet down!"
It didn't work. The students had realized this young teacher was easygoing and lacked presence, so they became even more unruly.
After shouting for a while with no effect, she began to grow anxious, and sweat appeared on her forehead.
Seeing her like that, two students couldn't bear it anymore and shouted at their noisy classmates, "Stop talking!"
But no one listened, and the others kept chatting as if they hadn't heard a thing.
The two students glanced at each other, embarrassed and angry.
Beside Eichi, someone tried to start a conversation with Tetsu, but Tetsu ignored them. He was too worried, glancing at Eichi, his expression looked frightening, like a volcano about to erupt.
Then, a girl suddenly stood up and shouted, "Shut up already! Do you still want to have the class or not?"
The classroom instantly fell silent. Everyone stared at her, even Miss Lin was startled.
Miss Lin quickly said, "Alright, everyone, stop talking, let's continue class." But the quiet only lasted a moment before noise filled the room again. Some students, realizing Miss Lin hadn't gotten angry, were now sure she was easy to push around.
One boy sneered and said, "Ignore her, let's keep going."
The speaker was a red-haired boy with a mean, smug face. Around him sat three others: a fat one, a bowl-cut, and a short, stocky boy.
As soon as he spoke, the classroom became noisy again. The brave girl's face flushed red, whether from anger or embarrassment, no one knew.
Seeing all this, Miss Lin looked discouraged and on the verge of tears.
Watching everything unfold, Eichi couldn't take it anymore. He slammed his book heavily on the desk.
Bang!
The loud sound startled everyone, and the room fell silent again. All eyes turned toward him.
Eichi slowly stood up and said calmly, "Anyone who keeps talking can get out."
Even Miss Lin's attention turned toward him. Eichi then pointed to the red-haired boy's group and said, "Especially you over there."
The red-haired boy instantly scowled and stood up arrogantly. "Who do you think you are? What gives you the right to tell me what to do?"
The three beside him also stood, looking at Eichi with disdain.
The air grew tense. Tetsu stood up beside Eichi to back him up.
The moment Eichi heard the boy's words, he moved like a leopard, leaping over a few desks and grabbing the red-haired boy by the collar.
The three nearby students tried to stop him, all lunging at once.
Students around them gasped and watched nervously.
Eichi shouted, "Get lost!" and kicked the three aside, then lifted the red-haired boy up by his collar.
It was the first time anyone had dared to fight in class, and the boy's bravado faded fast. "W-what are you doing?" he stammered.
Eichi glared and said coldly, "Weren't you acting tough just now? Try acting tough again."
"Do you even realize this is a class meeting? Don't you know how to respect a teacher?"
The string of questions left the boy stunned.
Miss Lin quickly ran over. "Student, please put him down, this isn't right."
Hearing her, Eichi couldn't ignore her request.
He looked back at the boy and warned, "If you make another sound, I'll throw you out myself."
Then he scanned the room. The boys who had been making noise all lowered their heads, not daring to meet his eyes.
Eichi flung the red-haired boy to the floor. The boy groaned, rubbing his sore backside.
Miss Lin sighed in relief; it had finally calmed down.
The three lackeys hurried over to help their friend up. The red-haired boy, still angry, shouted toward Eichi, "What kind of man hits people? I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"
Eichi turned and sneered. "Unwilling to admit defeat? Trying to save face?"
The boy snapped back, "Who cares? Just tell me if you'll fight or not. Don't tell me you're scared."
Miss Lin's headache worsened. She couldn't believe her first day as a teacher would be this chaotic.
She rushed forward to stop the red-haired boy, but he ignored her.
Eichi said, "Miss Lin, please don't worry. This idiot needs to be taught a lesson today, or he'll never learn."
The boy yelled angrily, "You dare call me an idiot? Just wait, I'll show you who's boss! Let's go next door!" He stormed out with two of his friends.
Seeing she couldn't stop them, Miss Lin sighed helplessly and gave up trying.
Tetsu approached Eichi and asked worriedly, "Are you sure about this?"
Eichi replied confidently, "You'll see soon enough."
Then he stepped out toward the next classroom, and Tetsu quickly followed.