A/N: First upload of a non-Hetalia fanfic and that of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei! Comments are very much welcome.

Chapter Rating: T?

Summary: Kudou's first appearance! Crush at first sight..? No way! Or yes way?

S1-E10: A Cultured Man Weathered the Rain Under Rashomon

"I understand." This was going to be something, for the cultural festival, Nozomu's class wasn't that much enthusiastic about the Cultural Festival in school. Rather, they did want to have something awesome as a presentation but it seemed that with what Chiri Kitsu and Abiru Kobushi had said, they were going to find something that'll work for the teacher's standards…

What was this standard he was talking about again?

"…we must conduct our activities in moderation." After some time babbling about the country's economy which really didn't have any connection to their school activity, even mentioning more about the Japanese Constitution, Nozomu announced how they were to present their class' activity.

The class representative-like girl, Chiri, took over the front to conduct a voting system in what they wanted to do and what the majority think would like to be done. "Who has something they want to do for the cultural festival?"

On the chalkboard were some options they were choosing from: Solo singing, mass game, play, mock trial, and mustache dance (what the hell even is that?)—all which had the scores respectively: 1, 2, 15, 1, and 2. "And so, majority rules…which means we'll be doing a play." Chiri announced to the class with a smile.

They moved to the gymnasium to start practicing their play entitled "Crying out World, In the Center of the Love" which was written by Harumi Fujiyoshi. Usui Kagerou who was bound to be the leading man of this play, had been holding a mannequin on stage whilst stating his lines, "World… W-W-World. World, world, world!" His eyes were already tearing up with bad acting.

"He's crying world…" commented Kaede Kimura.

"He sucks." Brutal honesty was given discreetly by the normal girl, Nami Hitou.

"Hm, still…" It seems that teacher also had a comment about this, "Isn't it too cultured?"

After some conversations with the injured girl who directed the play, they crushed out that idea.

Samba: 5 Band: 10 Macarena: 5

Another set of choices in hand from the class and the winner was a band.

"One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Yeah~!" Kaede was enjoying this band idea, performing much like a rock star on stage and what not. The downside of it was, someone chose her to do the singing—her voice was just atrocious. On a brighter note, now they knew that she was just horrible at singing so they'll have to avoid letting her sing next time.

"Too cultured," luckily, their teacher disapproved of the idea too.

Ichijou festival
Jun Kudou's Fairy tale Storytelling

Narrator: Class 2-H. Kudou Jun, a storyteller who can tell a fairy tale about any subject.

"Heartless…

The Heartless King" this left Nozomu intently observing the stage.

"Long ago, there was a kingdom with a king who wanted everything. He would buy everything that he wanted around the world with money. The King told everyone, 'There is nothing I do not posses.'

One day, a traveling merchant visiting the castle said, 'Forgive me, but there is something that Your Majesty does not posses. That would be a human heart.'

The King was upset about this—

*OMITTED*

The King used his body to protect the child from the demon kidnapper. 'Thank you. Thank you, Your Majesty!'

That was when the King finally attained a human heart in exchange for his life. It was only for a brief moment but the King attained a heart and was happy."

"Far too cultured… how could such a heartbreaking story be considered as uncultured!" Nozomu rejected the idea right after it ended. He was in tears, for God knows how the genius storyteller did that, they didn't know.

"I was moved…" Not to mention that most of the class had been moved to tears as well just by watching him.

After that, there were more ideas being shot in hoping for approval by the older man but none of them had been given that permission yet. None of the students' ideas were accepted by the 'standards' of Nozomu Itoshiki. He'd then explained the ways of having minimum cultural standard examples to his class.

It'd been days already since their first meeting and none seemed to work, rehearsal days were wasted and the only thing they presented was a 'boring' science exhibit that was in contrast to what other classes had done.

Long eyelashes batted slowly, "hahh…" it wasn't like him to sigh like that. Sure, Jun Kudou had always been the less talkative guy (aside from the times he would be storytelling that's scripted by the director) but he was usually 'cheery' per se. Orange-lit rays seeped through the glass panes of the building, illuminating halls that were directly hit by it—a hint of nostalgia piercing through the whole school. The bookworm had finished a round to the library, bringing some borrowed books along with him. "These should do," he said, going back to their empty classroom.

"Ah! Kudou, aren't you going home yet?" It didn't seem quite empty at that time.

"Sir Itoshiki, I could say so for you. I've just returned to get my stuff, and yourself?" The male student replied, going over to his seat near the front row. Kudou had packed the new books he lent from the library and Nozomu noticed this.

"You really do love reading books, huh?" Equally, the teacher had gone to the classroom to retrieve his belongings that were left from a while back, "Ah, also Jun…"

'Yeah, I've heard that a million times already." Kudou thought, turning his attention back at their teacher, "Hm?"

"You're really great at storytelling! A natural, really…" It was for the first time he'd seen the man like this. Perhaps it was because they were along (or maybe, if it weren't for the fact that Nozomu had a stalker which was his very own student AND tried his hardest to ignore—or naturally did forget—her, Matoi Tsunetsuki) that the older man lowered his guard. "Though, you know that was a too cultured act you did, so it wasn't—"

"I get it. Don't worry, sir, it's alright."

"Ah, really? Y-Yeah… aha… ahahahaha…" Though, it was still a bit awkward to be talking about such a few days after the Cultural Festival already. But perhaps he was a bit relieved by the boy's presence in the room. He wanted none other than someone who wouldn't cause too much trouble.

The thought of liking someone troubled him though, "Ahahaha, it's getting late. I have to go back to the faculty office too. See you tomorrow, Kudou!" Dash, off he went out for some reason he'd gotten a bit out of hand with his own imaginations.

This left the student confused though, 'He left… did I do something wrong this time?' Clearly he didn't, but somehow, it cheered him up to hear the teacher's comments about him. Heck, he liked Nozomu's presence as well, uhm, when left unguarded that is.

'Having him in his 'despair' fit is troublesome at times.'

Not really just at times but most of the times.

Chapter End