Quantum Leap - Vol. 3 I Will Wait For You On The Other Side

C002 Yaskawa-kun

The teacher was Japanese and was teaching the English Language in the Japanese language. Hurr... Hurr... Hurr... No wonder this Shiro character was finding it hard to adapt to the English language that supposedly is taught purely in English and in no other languages...!!!

Is there something wrong with the education system during that time? Actually, there was nothing wrong with the education system except for the lack of native English speaking teachers that Aeon Corp engages to teach elementary school teachers in grasping the English Language during that period of time.

No wonder the original Shiro character had to sit through the juku for English lessons. I was wondering if this Shiro character had to sit for other juku lessons as it would be disruptive if he did so. Furthermore, I was wondering if the Leap would be considered as a success if Shiro were to excel in his studies in this series. Hahaha...!

I discovered that the lesson was rather topsy turvy and the expressions used were all Jedi-like from the manner of speech by Master Yoda. Such as "Walk to school, I used to, every day." That's one of the f*****g examples I was trying to explain...!!! Hahaha...!!!

A few students take their turns to read a few paragraphs each from their textbooks when my turn finally came. I held the book at eye level and then begin to read. English was my mother tongue in my past life and was of course a natural thing for me to read and narrate what I was reading to the whole class. 

After I had done reading the paragraph that I was assigned to read, the whole class as well as the teacher were taken aback at my sudden comprehension of the English language. They were surprised at how clear I had narrated the passage that the teacher requested me to read a short poem when he handed me another book that he took from the table instead. 

I took the book from him and began to read aloud to the class once more. 

"Shiro-kun, why are you here in my class in the first place? A few days ago, your English pronunciation and reading was worse than a baby learning how to talk and was much slower than a snail...! Do you suddenly have a private tutor that teaches you how to read at this pace and you somehow got the gift of the gab and was able to comprehend whatever was thrown at you, eh?" 

The teacher was somehow delighted that he finally had gotten rid of one student that was able to comprehend the lessons that he was teaching and at the same time to receive credits from the school. Initially, the teacher was asking the questions in Japanese which was automatically translated back to me in English. As I replied to him in English, the translated speech was transmitted back in Japanese. How wonderful and convenient...!

"Wow...! I am sure getting the hang of it very well, just like live Google translate...! Hahaha...!

The teacher then proceeded and made the right decision to strike off my name for the rest of the semester and removed my name out from the remaining juku. Yipee...! Do I leap right now or would there be more tasks for me to accomplish then?

"Sensei... Can I be a teacher as well since I could speak as well as comprehend the English lessons?" I joked with the teacher as he guffawed while the rest of the students were looking at me from top to bottom and were wondering how I got to be so smart all of a sudden.

I guessed I should be able to find some kind of employment as a guide for these teachers in mastering the English Language in the near future. Hahaha...

After our juku ended, the students bowed and mentioned our appreciation to the remedial teacher. Staying back in school for cram lessons is definitely a BIG drag. We had to rush out of school immediately after our juku, rushed to grab the metro train home and changing lines if needed be, rushed to change to the main railway lines at the bus and MRT interchange and rushed to be packed like sardines within the train carriages as we compete with the rest of the commuters as they too were rushing back home from work...!!!

I wished I never have to end up in any Metropolitan Japan right after this...! Be it Singapore, the Philippines, Hongkong, China or even Malaysia... There is no way for us to avoid the rush hour and competing with workers returning from work at almost the same time as the juku ended. Unless you have a female companion with you, I don't mind being squeezed at all along with her and getting squashed in all the right places. Hahaha...!!!

After my juku, I realised that I had an appointment with Akira so I decided to head to the swimming complex within our school sporting hall. I was awed by the facilities that were provided by the school and discovered that our high school was as large as any polytechnic here in Singapore, in fact, could be considered as larger and more complex even. 

I proceeded to the swimming complex after passing by some of the facilities that had been mentioned earlier to meet up with Akira after her swimming sessions. I soon arrived at the indoor swimming complex and it was quite packed with swimmers taking turns at one end of the pool with their coaches at the sidelines, armed with handheld loudhailers and stopwatches in their hands.

I discovered that all the swimmers were girls...! With their hair neatly tucked under their Speedo swimming caps. Wearing one-piece swimming suits that outlined their sleek bodies. Some of them even wore the two-piece swimming suits and how I wished I could be in the pool with some of them and acted like a shark that only aimed to remove the knots from behind their backs as well as the sides of their waists. Hahaha...!

A f*****g horny chlorinated water shark...!!!

Everyone was equipped with hand fins and short flippers to aid in their swimming lessons and after completing a lap, they would leave the pool and do a rotational session of a dozen chin-ups, a dozen bench presses and a dozen squats before putting on their flippers and fins and repeating the whole process again.

It was like preparing for the Olympics and every swimmer had to complete the rotation. It was found that the exercises that they performed off the pool were to enhance their upper and lower bodies.

If it was me, I think the coaches would find me 'crawling' at the bottom of the pool after two or three sets of those 'torturous' swimming lessons...!!!

In actual fact, these sessions which were exercised after completing a single lap enhances their propulsive swimming muscles. I got all riled up as I watched the beauties raised themselves up from the pool using the jumping blocks, their tight one-piece swimsuits, their ample firm breasts, their curvy bodies and one particular swimmer that happens to spout water from her mouth at me as she ran past after removing the fins and flippers.

It was Akira, who else would have done such a childish thing...! I wished to know how well this Akira was in a relationship with me. Had she had her first kiss before and also would that be me or someone else? God...! How could I think of such a thing at the time like this...! Would I not be thinking of the possibilities of the task that I need to undertake and also to accomplish to make the next Leap?

"I guessed being an English teacher, got struck out of English juku lessons would not be the tasks intended for me after all. Meh... might as well see how the rest of the series goes, since the book cover of this series seemed a bit of a naughty side, don't you think so?" I thought inwardly as I moved slightly to evade the water that Akira had spouted directly at me as she laughed when she noticed that she had not gotten me wet like the other times before.

Seems that Akira and the rest of the female swimmers were enjoying themselves during that afternoon sessions and after one more lap and a succession of land exercises, one of the coaches blew a long hard shrill whistle to indicate the end of today's training.

I looked at the clock above the scoreboard and it showed exactly 4:45 pm. Such prompt and timeliness without a hint of tardiness in Japanese culture...! How efficient could these Japanese be...! Almost everything in Japan works in a clockwork manner or precise and almost perfect right to a T.

While waiting for Akira to finish washing up and change, I loitered around the indoor swimming complex and viewed the championship trophies that were majestically displayed at the showcases underneath the hanging scoreboards.

A list of swimmers' names and their accomplishments were also put on display on the general noticeboard and seemed that as time passed by, records were frequently broken and their completion time was getting shorter and shorter. Akira's name was mentioned in one of them. Akira Ashiteru, the latest entry, first from the bottom list. Hahaha...!

The shimmering light on the surface of the swimming pool was illuminated by the open skylight above. The main lights were then switched off and only the ones within the pool and the auxiliary lights illuminating the exits and entrances of the complex were left on and would be switched off by the maintenance person right before he or she leaves.

"Woooooo...!!! Come on, let's go already...! I noticed you cannot take your eyes off ogling at the girls earlier... So what do you think of my new swimwear just now...? You know what? I managed to shave off slightly more than one second off my overall timing just now... Am I getting better or my new swimsuit makes a difference...?"

Akira seemed a bit too chatty and excited when she learned about her timings during her medley of breaststroke, butterfly, front crawl and backstroke just now. I do not remember which swimming technique she had managed to swim faster in, but I definitely cannot forget her swimwear that looked somewhat like a one-piece scuba diver wore except for its short sleeve and shorts with both sides of the waist left bare to expose her fair and slender skin.

You know what I'm trying to say... Swimwear two-piece bikini and one-piece swimming costume. Hers was like a combination of those two, except for a pair of padding at her breasts area with a zip that runs midway in front. Get the picture already guys...?

As we walked out of the complex and headed towards the schoolyard, we saw that there were several cars that belonged to the teachers and seemed that the owners were still in school to mark their student's exercises books. In other countries, I guessed the teachers would be elated when the last school bell rang for the day and they would likely put off their work for the following day instead.

Akira, who was walking beside me, suddenly jumped in front and blocked the way...!

She held both hands under her chin and blinked her jellyfish-blue eyes and fluttered her eyelashes at me while asking, "Shiro... Do you think I earned a little reward or something like that since I had made significant progress in my timings just now, hurr...?" She spoke to me in that manner as she slightly squatted and lowered herself by bending her knees. She acted pretty cutely in that manner as in all Japanese anime characters I think.

I laughed out at her antics and right behind her, I could see Yaskawa-kun, the Ice Cream Robot... A large vendor-type stall complete with a retractable blue and white verandah. It was an automated self-service soft ice cream vending machine with a smiling robot behind as it that serves ice cream in a wafer cone for ¥100 each.

"You could ask for an ice cream directly behind you instead. Don't you worry, Akira... I will definitely treat you to some ice cream, alright, and we can have them at a park nearby, would that be alright with you?"

Akira flashed a big smile on her face and her eyes sparkled up as well. She laughed in her usual girlish manner and clapped her hands enthusiastically. Simple pleasures such as ice cream would surely excite a girl of any age, any time, any day. Heh... I suddenly sounded like a Japanese advertisement on TV.

A treat is still a treat, so at ¥100 per cone and without any toppings is a tad expensive, but of course, we have to consider the automation and maintenance plus overhead and operating costs. ¥100 per cone is still considered all right to me. Considering that there are quite a number of Japanese in the community that was still unable to cope with social interaction to any buy ice cream or any kind of treats, so Yaskawa-kun might be the answer to the predicament that others were facing right now...