The short homeroom period began with an extra air of excitement, as if the students were all waiting for something to happen. The whispers were all of different tones, but they all spoke of one thing: "There's a new transfer student today."
The teacher began to speak, and the class fell silent. She was not young; she had probably been teaching here since before I was born. Her voice was kind, gentle, and her eyes smiled warmly at us.
"I have some good news," she said, smiling broadly. "This year we are welcoming one new student into our school community."
A girl in the back raised her hand.
"Yes?"
"Is it someone from another country?"
The teacher nodded. "Yes, it is indeed. She is originally Japanese, but had lived abroad for many years until recently returning home. I hope you will welcome her just as warmly as any other member of our school family."
The students murmured amongst themselves. It was rare that anyone came to this small town from somewhere else—everyone knew everyone, and
everyone looked out for each other. As I figured, this poor new girl would be the subject of much teasing over who she was or where she'd come from. And then there were those who would never accept her, no matter what.
"Her name is Saya Otonashi," continued the teacher. "But enough from me. Why doesn't she introduce herself? Come on in, Saya-chan!"
The classroom door opened slowly, and in walked a girl with a blonde ponytail, and of course wearing our school's uniform.
The students were dead silent as she stood by the chalkboard, nervously holding her hands in front of her, and looking expectantly at the teacher. Sensing there would be no initiative from the girl, the teacher gave her the verbal nudge.
"Saya-chan, why don't you introduce yourself and tell them your story?"
The girl looked around uncertainly, and then finally, cleared her throat and began to speak. Immediately, the class recoiled as something became painfully clear to all of us: Saya Otonashi is terrible at speaking Japanese. She would accidentally add in English words and the Japanese ones were pronounced with middling to horrible accuracy. But despite these obvious mistakes, nobody said anything about it. It was silent, seething judgement.
"Hello! My name is Saya, and..." She thought for a second before continuing, "...and I'm really happy to be here."
A snicker from the back of the room broke out, and the teacher immediately responded with a deadly glare at the girl in the back so as to say, "I'm not interrupting to tell you this, but you better stop." The girl quickly shut up, and Saya carried on.
"Many years in America, yes, um, and I still work my best to improve my Japanese, so be bold to speak to me often, my Japanese will get better... I think. I enjoy eating Japanese food and I am very trendy."
The teacher sensed imminent disaster from this dreadful introduction and cut in to save the situation as soon as Saya finished. "Thank you Saya, that was a wonderful introduction. Your seat is in the back, next to Kaneto."
I realized that meant she was sitting next to me. That was quite lucky, because while I think most of the crummy kids here had already made their minds up about her, I found myself curious about this girl, and moreover I felt bad about her situation. It was obvious she wanted to live here, but reintegration in a place like this was hard for anybody.
She shuffled over with her head down, looking defeated. Her long hair swayed behind her as she sat down. She looked tired, even though she'd only just arrived.
"So anyway," said the teacher, "let's begin our lesson."
The day went on surprisingly as usual, though not a soul would even look at Saya now. I felt an urge to do something, even if it would be a small gesture. I ripped a tiny piece of paper off my notebook and began to write on it: "My name is Kaneto Arima. Nice to meet you. I hope we can be friends. BTW, I am good at English." Then, when the teacher was facing away, I leaned over and smoothly dropped it on her desk. She looked surprised, tilting her head a bit to read it, before a smile appeared on her face. She quickly flipped my note over and began to write something fervently on the back, before passing it back.
It was a picture of a little doodle giving a thumbs up.
The rest of the class passed uneventfully, but my mind was on the bell anyways. I think Saya was thinking the same, as we were sharing glances throughout the whole period. We both got up together and left at the end of the class.
When the bell rang, I knew I had some time before the next class. Everyone got up and started talking amongst themselves, but I didn't join in. Instead, I walked over to Saya.
"So, how long have you been learning Japanese?" I asked.
"Yes! I've been known to study for hours each night!"
That wasn't really the answer I was looking for, so I just assumed it wasn't a whole lot before she came here. I didn't want to make her feel bad, so I decided to change the subject.
"What did you think of your first day?"
"Well..." She paused for a moment, considering what to say. "I don't know if I can explain it with justice. It was not good..."
I nodded sympathetically.
"I did my best, hoping many come to help me in the future." I could tell she wanted to say more, but couldn't find the words. So instead, I spoke again. "Well, let's try to get along from now on, okay? You're going to be here for a while, right? I'll help you become better at speaking Japanese."
She seemed relieved by this offer, and gave me a quick nod. "Okay then! Let's go to lunch together today!"
"Sounds like a good idea, Saya."
I took her hand, which made her smile brightly. As we headed to the cafeteria, she looked around and noticed all the other students staring at us.
"Ah... They are looking at us," she said quietly.
"Ignore them. They're just jealous they weren't invited to sit with you during lunch."
"Oh, thank you so much! I will remember this!"
I laughed at her reaction, but not in the bad way. I didn't know how much of what I was saying she was picking up, but it seemed to be enough to where we could understand each other.