Last time on Urashima Keitaro: Lazy Genius:

He approached the teaching podium and said, "Welcome students, as you may or may not know, Professor Yoshi Agami has taken a leave of absence from his duties as an instructor. He has placed his trust in me as his replacement to guide you towards your goals at passing your college entrance tests. I will give you nothing less than the best of my abilities while I am here and I will consider it an insult both to me and you, for you all not to do the same. Before we begin today, are there any questions?"

A young man raised his hand and said, "You haven't formally introduced yourself, unless I missed it?"

A young woman similarly raised her hand and said, "Um how old are you exactly? You don't seem old enough to teach."

The young teacher up at the front smiled a little at the questions and said, "I had planned on questions about the curriculum, though I am glad I have such inquisitive minds. As for my name," he stood aside revealing the blackboard which now had his name on it. 'a few theatrics and a very old magic trick, and I think I have their undivided attention...' he thought as he said, "Like the board says, I'm your new sensei, Urashima Keitaro, age 20."

The room was dead quiet except for two strangled gasps.

The moment of silent lasted roughly 3 seconds after the gasps before murmuring broke out among the students.

"20! He's a year younger than me!" said one young man incredulously

"This has to be a joke, where is the camera?" Said a young man who was cocking his head to the side.

"He's dreamy isn't he?" whispered one of the girls in the back to another who did a "so-so" motion with her hand

Keitaro raised his hand and due to the amount of attention he'd gathered he only needed to do that to quiet the group. He cleared his throat and if he'd heard the murmured comments he didn't let it phase him as he pressed on. "You all may be questioning my credentials, but I can assure you I am qualified to teach you what you need to pass this exam. I managed to place 2nd in the country on it, when I was 15." The murmuring began once more. Keitaro simply began once more to talk and it quickly quieted so the students could hear what he had to say. "I would like to take the time we have together today to accomplish few things."

Keitaro reached into his briefcase and pulled out a stack of papers as he began to pass them forward. "These are some of the practice tests from one of the crams schools from last year. It took me a bit of convincing but I managed to get the Sensei to give them to me." The class broke out into murmurs once again as they took the papers.

"He seems dedicated, only someone who wants to be a teacher really bad would be this prepared on the first day." murmured one student to another

"Yeah, I'm glad he's willing to work so hard for us." the other whispered back.

One student though, was thinking differently as she glared through her thick glasses up at the "New Sensei" 'This Practice test he "Labored" to get is from my desk, he just made photocopies of it!'. She was about to protest before Keitaro began to speak once more.

Keitaro walked back up to the front and said, "Now, I will give you an hour to fill out what you can. Once the hour is up, I will survey the class and see what problems we need to focus on the most. This improves the efficiency of the learning process 70! The normal method involves polling and reviewing the curriculum based on our nation as a whole. Things are rarely so cut and dry and we hardly would ever have a class that would exactly fit that. I seek to custom tailor lesson plans to specific classes." His expression became a little bit impassioned as he said, "It is my hope to introduce this as the new preferred teaching method in cram schools everywhere." Most of the students looked quite impressed with his idea, though some seemed worried about being Guinea pigs in some kind of teaching experiment.

Keitaro seemed regretful as he spoke his next sentence. "It will require a lot of personal monitoring though, which is why I would like to ask the class if anyone is willing to be my teacher's aid? Your duties would include finding new problems for the practice tests and giving them to me, I will choose the appropriate ones and produce the test which my aid or aid would photocopy for me. They would also be in charge of picking up and delivering tests once everyone is finished as well as passing them out."

Only one person sweatdropped as she looked at the rest of the now mostly eager students and thought, 'Being teacher's aid? Those are almost ALL the duties the cram school teacher has other than lecturing...'

"Please Sensei! We would be honored to be your teacher's aids!" said a slightly taller young man as he stood up and pulled his slightly shorter(and pudgier) friend with him.

Keitaro nodded pleased with finding two enthusiastic students as he said, "May I have the names of my two new teacher's Aids?"

"Kimiaki Shirai, sir!"Said the shorter one

"Masayuki Haitani."Said the taller one who'd volunteered for his friend.

"Why did you have us volunteer for this, Haitani?" whispered Shirai through his smile.

"Girls love guys in positions of authority! This guy looks as nerdy as us, but look at the girls all staring at him so intently!" whispered Haitani through his smiled as they saluted.

Keitaro nodded and said, "Thank you gentleman, Everyone remember to give Haitani and Shirai your respect for assisting your education."

With that the students began to work on their tests and eventually Keitaro surveyed them and picked out the first topic of his lecture for the next day they got together. He even gave them a few hints on solving the problem if they wished to begin to tackle it on their own. The students became more impressed with their teacher's prowess at the problems and even the reluctant Naru had to admit he was good at teaching people how to preform difficult problems.'That doesn't mean he's any less the lazy hobo he was when I met him!' she quickly thought as the class began to leave.

The other person who'd recognized Keitaro uneasily made her way to the front of the class as the small crowd of people with questions, both about him and about the problem from earlier began to dissipate. "Ummm Urashima-sensei..."she quietly murmured as she pulled an errant couple of hair strands behind her ear and then nervously played with the ends of her mousy brown hair.

Keitaro looked up from the podium he'd been shuffling papers on. He motioned Haitani and Shirai over to talk to once he finished talking to the young lady before him. "Yes my new stu-" his eyes seemed to focus on her as he said, "You look familiar, do I know you?"

The girl nodded and said, "Umm I'm Kenta Rin, you know my brother..." She looked over to her new sensei and noticed he had a far-off look in his eyes for a moment before he shook that away.

"Kenta-san, I don't know how much you know about your brother's eccentricities, but it would probably be best if he did not know that I am the one teaching you." said Keitaro in a serious tone as he noted her reaction.

She seemed to slump in relief and said, "Jiro-nii would definitely become distracted if he knew that Urashima-sensei. I was hoping that I could get you not to send home anything that would have your name on it."

Keitaro nodded and said, "Of course Kenta-san I make sure that the progress reports have Agami's name on it, since he is officially the original teacher."

As the girl was turning to leave Keitaro said, "Kenta-san, despite the past your brother and I have, I will do all I can to teach you effectively, please do not think otherwise." The girl nodded slightly and quickly rushed out as Keitaro began to talk with Shirai and Haitani.

"Will you two be able to find examples of problems like the one we saw today?" Said Keitaro as he looked over at his two new Aids.

"I'm sure I can find something online easily, Urashima-sensei!" said Shirai enthusiastically as he smiled at his new sensei in a confident manner.

Keitaro nodded at this and said, "Since you two are willing to help out so much don't hesitate to ask me for help on whatever you don't understand. I also thought that once a week we should go discuss our weekly lesson plan over beef bowls, my treat of course."

"Yes Sir!" they both replied in unison as they walked away, dreaming about the girls falling all over themselves to hook up with the two new fantastic teacher aids.

Keitaro smiled as he shuffled his papers into his briefcase and closed it. He nearly jumped at seeing another girl in the class. Her thick coke bottle glasses and pigtails seemed to mark her as an avid student. 'I thought I was the only one left in the room...' "Can I help you?" he asked as he smiled in a comforting manner.

"Don't think I don't know where you got that test" she said as she snorted to herself in disgust, "you really are a lazy bum." the girl said as Keitaro quickly connected the dots.

"Naru-san? Is that really you, you look..." his eyes widened as he thought about what would happen if he finished that sentence. "...Studious."

Naru simply huffed and said, "If you're going to be my teacher, you'd better give it your best and not half-ass it. If I don't get into Tokyo-u because you got lazy and didn't get us prepared enough..." She decided not to voice out the rest of it and left it to Keitaro's imagination.

Keitaro chuckled nervously as he held up his arms in a placating motion "Ahh Naru-san don't worry, I'd never harm anyone's future with my lovable quirks."

Naru turned and began to walk out muttering something about "lovable quirks." Once she was gone Keitaro sighed as he slumped forward resting his elbows on his podium. 'It's Days like this I wish I had taken Seto-sensei up on his martial arts lessons' he thought to himself as he walked out the door.

Meanwhile...

The Hinata Inn was quiet as a van pulled up to it. Attached to the end of the van was a mobile stall that was usually used in the transportation of horses and cattle. The jarring of the stop caused the occupant of the stall to wake up. The driver looked back at the stall which was now thrashing wildly and sighed. "I definitely don't get paid enough for this." With that he grabbed his clipboard and walked towards the front door.

After a couple of knocks Kitsune opened the door and causally leaned against the door frame as he looked out at the delivery man. She'd just awoken from an alcohol induced coma and looked out blearily at the man. "Wsgaf doas wannd." she muttered blearily as she stared at the man.

The delivery man who was smiling cheerfully said, "Hello miss, is there a Kentago Uroshima at this residence?"

Kitsune leaned against the door for a moment or two absorbing what the man said before she muttered, "Nah, hig nahdg id keighags urahkdma."

The man nodded before he said, "Ahh my mistake this writing is a little sloppy, but there is a Keitaro Urashima living here?"

Kitsune nodded and then muttered, "Fnn"

The man nodded and began to chuckle, "Really? He's teaching a cram school class that your best friend is in, Sounds like a sticky situation. Can you sign for this in his stead?"

She nodded and reached out signing quickly before she muttered, "Wsgaf id feh stjkll?"

The delivery man chuckled and said, "The form says that Urashima-san's father was the sender so it must be his. As for what it is-"

"Whats in this, is it something tasty?" came a shout from down the stairs as both the delivery man and Kitsune realized Suu was home. Kitsune quickly grabbed the man and shut the door of the Inn. She had dealt with Suu long enough that she knew that Suu was prone to asking questions with her hands. As the door to the stall opened all hell broke loose.

A few minutes later, outside Hinata House...

Keitaro was approaching the Hinata Inn at a sedate pace glancing about and taking in the town as he had a few other times. 'There is always something new and different to see. This is especially true if one slows to take a longer look at things that are normally taken at face value...' he thought as he strolled down the alley that would put Hinata in view. His eyes widened once he saw what was going on.

The front area was in a state of pandemonium. The various shouts of Su filled the air as she chased after her new quarry. Said creature gave as good as it was getting though, and soon had Su beating feet and running away on one of her Mechanical Horses. In the front window Keitaro saw both Kitsune and some man in a brown uniform that he could only assume was the delivery man looking on in surprised fascination. The creature finally caught the scent of something familiar that made it stop and look directly at Keitaro. Keitaro's eyes widened and he took off running at a speed that he normally saved for direct death threats. It took off with an astonishing speed after Keitaro with Su galloping behind on her Mechanical horse hooting and hollering like some kind of cowboy.

Kitsune watched watched her new manager run away and shrugged lightly. She finally looked over at delivery man and said, "That has to be one of the most strange things thats happened this week." finally sobered enough to speak out normally.

The delivery man looked at her in a confused manner and said, "What? I can't understand you with all that mumbling."

Streets of Hinata City...

"Crap!" Keitaro yelled as he dashed down the street now with two pursuers. Suu had decided that she wanted to capture Keitaro along with her new "friend". Keitaro knew it was useless to run from his fate. His pursuer had all the advantages in this kind of chase. He pondered stopping but before that thought got transmitted to the rest of his body, he felt pressure on the small of his back. Keitaro closed his eyes and accepted his fate.

Hinata Inn...

A now muddy and disheveled Keitaro stumbled back to the steps of the inn. He shot the occasional glare at both Suu and the enormously large canine that had been released from the stall. The slobber glistened on his face as he stared down forlornly at the new suit he still had on. Both Suu and said Canine were both looking very pleased with themselves as they continued up the steps.

Most of the inn had gathered outside to see what the commotion was about and the emotions ranged from confused(Kitsune), wary(Motoko), concerned(Shinobu), annoyed(Naru), and mildly amused(Haruka).

Keitaro realized that this situation would take some explaining and sighed before he said, "Everyone this is Jinta, my dog."

Motoko was the first to ask a question as she stared at the behemoth canine before her. "Urashima-san, I assume that you were going to ask before assuming that your dog could live here."

Keitaro nodded in a beleaguered manner before he said, "My parents more than likely sent him here because they wanted him out of their hair." He sighed and said, "Jinta can be kind of a handful."Said dog perked at its name being said and sidled up to his master eagerly wagging his tail. Keitaro rested his hand on the top of the dog's head and closed his eyes in weary acceptance.

Shinobu was the first to speak after that explanation and said, "Sempai, just what kind of dog is Jinta? I've never heard of dogs getting this large."

Keitaro smiled at the memory of his first encounter with Jinta.

Flashback...

"Urashima-san I understand your wish to have a pet, but why would you choose this particular puppy. He happens to be the runt in this litter, runts are notorious for dying within 10 or so weeks of being born." The caretaker of Jinta's mother said.

Keitaro held the pup up to his face and was rewarded with a slight nuzzling and a small whimper. Keitaro looked back at the man and said, "This dog was born into this life with no advantages. I would simply like to make sure that he is rewarded instead of penalized."

End Flashback...

He looked over to Shinobu and knelt down next to his friend and said, "Jinta here is a Saint Bernard, a breed of dog known for it's fortitude and strength. When Jinta was very young, he was the runt of his litter and wasn't expected to live very long. That was three years and many treatments ago though."

Seeing the confused looks on the tenants he said, "Though I made sure my education was as eclectic as possible, I've always been fascinated by the body. When many of my peers decided to delve further into technology and robotics, I decided I would take that path less traveled. I became a bioengineering major, studying the process of chemical releases in the body. Jinta here was my final project."

Haruka adjusted her cigarette, "So, instead of being a little runt, Jinta here is a mammoth-sized Saint Bernard?" Haruka summarized, inhaling another hit from her cigarette.

Keitaro nodded at this when Naru finally decided to voice her opinion. "No! You can't expect us to live with a pony-sized dog. You've pushed the envelope too many times!"

Keitaro nodded and said, "My mother and father decided to send Jinta here because he was too much to handle in the city. The grounds around here are quite large though, could he perhaps simply stay around here as an outside dog?"

As Naru looked at Jinta she noted the dog's eyes which had become large and watery and his tongue hung out as he cocked his head to the side in a decidedly innocent manner. Though it could hardly be considered "cute" given Jinta's size, it was rather endearing. She looked back over to Keitaro who she noticed was fighting more to get his dog to be allowed to stay here than he had to be allowed to stay himself. 'Is he trying harder because he's becoming less lazy or because he's fighting for a friend...' she wondered silently as she looked to the rest of the tenants. "Fine, but one mistake..." she said, after a moments of silence.

Motoko finally spoke and said, "This simply adds to your responsibilities to the Hinata Inn Urashima-san." as she looked at the dog. 'This animal is the result of Urashima's experimentation. I suppose strength of body isn't the only path that can defy fate.

Kitsune shrugged and said, "I suppose it would be alright to let this guy stay with us. He'll be like a second guardian against perverts with Motoko-chan." As if to answer the statement, Jinta ceased his innocent face and stood to his full height, trying to look as imposing as possible. That got a laugh out of Kitsune as she stared at the dog. 'Can he understand us, or is Keitaro giving him signals or something?'

Suu nodded and leapt onto the back of her new friend and said, "Suu likes Jinta, he can stay and I'll retrofit him with a laser cannon/banana detection device." Keitaro looked over at Suu and remembered that one of his goals was to determine Suu's level of intelligence.

Motoko looked over at Shinobu who had yet to speak and said, "Shinobu-san, you are a tenant here now and you also have a choice over whether this dog can stay or not."

Shinobu blushed brightly as everyone's attention turned to her, but firmed the resolve she'd gained from earlier and said, "I would like to have Jinta here as well, h-he seems like a good dog." Jinta bounded over to the girl very quickly and gave her a very sloppy kiss as Suu and Kitsune laughed.

Elsewhere...

As Kenta Rin entered her house she looked over to her father and said, "Good afternoon, father."

Kenta Genma looked up from his paper and smiled as he said, "Hello daughter, how was your first day at Cram school?"

Rin smiled at her father and said, "It was good father, I learned quite a lot and our teacher is very good."

Genma nodded in approval and said, "I'm glad you like it dear. You may not be a genius like Jiro, but you know that I'm proud of you right?" At Rin's nod he said, "Good, can you take some food out to your brother, he hasn't left the garage since this morning. I think he working on some new device for Karenta Corporation. Why he insists on using the garage I'll never know..."

Rin nodded grabbed a few items for her brother and headed to the garage. As she opened the door she noted her brother underneath a large covered item with a pair of overalls on. She proceeded in and said, "Ummm, Jiro-nii, I have some food for you..."

The legs moved a bit as a wrench slid out from under the covered object and Jiro said, "Thanks Rinny, can you hand me a Phillip's head screwdriver." As Rin grabbed the screwdriver and slid it under the cover Jiro said, "So how was your cram school?"

Rin stood there for a moment and said, "It was excellent Jiro-nii, Professor Agami is a wonderful teacher, just like you said."

Jiro slid out from under the cover and said, "Didn't I tell you, you have nothing to worry about with him teaching you. You might even beat my score on the exam."

Rin reddened and said, "I doubt that Jiro-nii, but thank you for the support. I'll let you get back to work on your secret project."

Jiro smiled and slid back under the covered object as he said, "Thanks for bringing out food for me sis!" He continued to work for a few more minutes before his private phone began to ring. He let it go and before long his answering machine got it. "You've reached the Mechanical Mecca, I'm unable to come to the phone right now, and until I devise a better phone you'll have to leave your name, number, and reason for calling. Thanks."

The beep came moments later and a young woman's voice sounded over the phone. "Kenta-san, This is Mai Tenou, faculty correspondent for Tokyo University. In regards your request for a meeting with Professor Agami, he left for Jamaica this morning for an extended holiday with his wife, but I will let you know the moment he returns."

Jiro Pulled himself out from under his cover with a questioning look on his face as he stared into space for a moment and said, "Why would Rin lie to me?"

Author's note:

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out guys, I was trying to figure out where to go with this and it branched out too much for me to pick a path I liked most. I am still looking for a beta, please PM me over FFnet or you can contact me via aim. Namejestaking