What A Dream Wants

A few minutes later, Ms. Watson entered the cafeteria again.

"I apologize for the delay. Anna, thanks for covering for me."

"No problem, Carol." The other lunch lady replied.

"Anyway, tables 11 and 12?" Mrs. Watson called out, "Come, get your lunch quickly and quietly, please."

. . .

Everyone finished getting lunch and started eating. After a while, the bell rung, signifying the end of lunch. Steven cleaned up and returned his plates to a lunch lady.

He then peered down at his schedule. The next class was Phys Ed. in the gymnasium.

. . .

The gymnasium was brightly lit, sleek floors, and benches on both sides. As the students poured in, Steven saw some unfamiliar faces.

A whistle blew.

"Alright Soldiers, Call me Captain Baker." A middle-aged man holding a whistle shouted. "I am your gym teacher. Alright anyone wanna know a cool fact about me?"

Before anyone could speak, he continued:

"A cool fact was that I had a profession before this... I was a Captain. Well, I wasn't very professional, but that doesn't matter as a gym teacher. Alright, I'm gonna be answering some questions now. Don't interrupt."

Before anyone could speak, he continued:

"Do I have qualifications to be a gym teacher? Obviously, ha! You don't need qualifications to be a gym teacher. You little peeps sure are funny."

(They need a bachelor degree program...)

Steven stared. He wondered if the Captain had perhaps bonked his head on one of his many voyages.

In truth, the Captain had always been like this.

"So I'm your gym teacher and I will be teaching cultivation of the body, mind, and soul..."

Before anyone could speak, he continued:

"What! You guys don't know what cultivation is? Well..." He looked down at his book, Cultivation 101.

"Let's see... Cultivation is like farming. You know... planting and agriculture and stuff."

Before anyone could speak, he continued:

"Okay, gardening is pretty easy. All you need to do to maintain most plants: water them here and there, some fertilizers here and there, and some sunlight here and there."

"But..." Call raised his hand.

"No buts. Didn't I say no interrupting? Anyways, remember to pull out weeds and give your plants adequate space to grow."

He looked at the book again.

"Oh wait, wrong book." He went to his desk and took out another book. "Okay, this is the correct one. They had the same title."

The captain cleared his throat.

"Anyways, without this book, you guys wouldn't be able to comprehend the profound truth of cultivating!"

"Captn. Baker, I think we-" Call called out.

"Nonsense! You little'uns know how to grow plants and stuff? You all are city kids, not country kids." Captain Baker bellowed out, chuckling.

"I came from a pretty rur-"

"No interrupting." Cptn. Baker shouted. "Now... where was I? Oh right!" He opened the book and flipped through a few pages.

"Let's see..."

"Oh, I see." He said, "Aha! We're not growing plants, but humans! It is when humans grow using the energies found in nature! I always wondered if you needed to water humans..."

He read a bit more.

"Oh, there are a bunch of realm stages too. It's like those videogames you youngsters play to level-up. See, I know all about you young people."

He read a bit more.

"Blah blah... Surpass the boundaries of normal humans. Sounds cool and all, but very tiresome. Luckily, I won't be cultivating, you guys will. For the rest of the class, I want you guys to um... do that cultivating thing. Ok soldiers, work hard!"

At this point, some people raised their hands, but... Captain Baker had already put on his sunglasses, and thus could not "see".

He plopped out a chair that just so happened to be there and started drinking some juice from a cup. It had a tiny umbrella in it and was reminiscent of a drink served in Boujee vacationing islands.

"I will be sitting on my vacation chair if anyone needs me." He sank into the chair, relaxing...

"One of the profound mysteries of the world is how this gym teacher got his teaching license. Even pondering this concept for eternity would not yield a rational answer." Someone muttered beside him. He had encapsulated what it meant for the gym teacher to be a gym teacher... at... a... school!

'Ouch,' Steven looked at him. 'He's Sage! He looks smart.'

Steven made a mental note not to cross the guy for mental health reasons. The last thing he needed to do was to offend someone for no reason just so the plot could progress in an unhealthy manner.

"Teacher, will you give us some pointers?" The girl from his class, whose last name was Udon, asked. Do you want tasty Kitsune udon? Apparently, it's really tasty! The udon consists of chewy thick noodles, luminescent dashi broth, and aburaage seasoned well with soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Now, just for the low price of 10,660 yen, you can buy Japanese noodle soup in dashi broth, topped with seasoned fried tofu, narutomaki fish cake, and scallions! But wait, there's more, the vintage Japanese Shop of the Udon family will also throw in exclusive kawaii chopsticks made with wood from the mystical forests of Japan! Buy now! This deal will only last until supplies last, buy now or die. Of hunger and sadness. (Bowls and noodles sold separately.)

Kitsune had just asked the question a few minutes prior when Captain quickly replied:

"Mmhehwasha," he laid back and began to snore.

Steven tried to interpret the concepts of growing plants but it was really hard. The Captain was snoring.

Steven tried to interpret the profoundness of cultivating but the atmosphere wasn't right; the captain was snoring.

'Ommmmm.....' He yawned: 'Zzzzzz...'

What was cultivating anyways?

But, before they knew it, the class was over. The bell had rung.