KOF School

Igniz...

Everything was set for Seirah's birthday, the cake, the gifts, the party, all of it. Even Seirah chose to not go to work that day because she didn't want to deal with 'crappy students' on a special day. Well, Kay didn't mind since Maxima agreed to pick him, Zayn, and Kula up early from school.
And that was music to his ears.
Kay could hardly concentrate in class that day, thinking about Seirah's birthday the whole time. Even his friends were very much aware of it since he was practically glowing with enthusiasm.
"What time are you leaving?" Iori asked when Rugal left the classroom after Physics.
"During recess," Kay said. "So yeah, in about an hour."
Ryo turned around to look at him with a smirk. "Wish Whip-sensei a happy birthday for me, will ya?"
"Sure, I will," Kay chuckled. "There's gonna be a big party and I don't wanna stick around in school."
Kain eventually came in for English and collected all of the students' essays. He explained to everyone about Haiku writing and assigned everyone to write a poem for homework, something which Kyo actually looked forward too. He smiled to himself at the thought of writing a poem.
Kay suddenly received a text from Maxima and raised his hand. "Sir, can I leave? I have to go home early for something."
"You can't go home without your parents having permission from the school, you know?" Kain said.
"I know, that's why my dad's already in the office," Kay politely countered. "So can I go now?"
Kain gave him permission to leave. Kay waved at his friends and walked out of the classroom just as Zayn descended the stairs, lighting up upon seeing his older brother.
"Come on, let's go," Kay said, smiling at his brother. "Let's use this side so that we can meet up with Kula too."
They went downstairs and spotted Kula happily trotting out of the Year 8 block. She grinned cheerfully when she spotted the brothers and ran straight into Kay's arms.
"Let's go home!" Kula exclaimed.
"Yeah, I'm just as excited as you are," Kay agreed with a snort. "Let's go."
They went straight to the school's office and spotted Maxima patiently seated at the lobby sofa. He got up as soon as he saw them and pointed towards the counter as he went towards it.
"Hi, I'm here to pick up my children early?" Maxima said as he ducked into the low window.
To their dismay, the one seated behind it was none other than Igniz. The three youngsters groaned but tried to ignore the fact that he was the one tending to them, even Maxima.
"Oh, you're Kay's father?" Igniz said as soon as he recognised him.
"Not like you haven't seen me," Maxima said, remaining as calm as he could. "I'm here to bring them home for the day."
"Ah yes, give me a moment," Igniz nodded and ran off.
"Where is he going?" Zayn groaned. "Can we just go home already?"
"Can we just sneak away?" Kay added. "What is he even doing in the office?"
"He's one of the administrators, Dash," Zayn explained. "Head of Maths or something."
"What? Really?" Kay said in surprise. "This jerk?!"
"I don't like him!" Kula growled.
"Neither do I," Maxima admitted, tight-lipped.
Igniz returned and gave Maxima a sly smile. "Sir, can I speak to you for a moment? It's about your son's performance in my class."
Maxima turned to his son in surprise before turning back to Igniz. "What? But he got a C. He passed, didn't he?"
"Yeah, that's the thing," Igniz nodded curtly. "He barely managed to get that C."
"Well, I would've scored higher if you didn't deliberately skip that chapter on TRIGONOMETRY," Kay remarked softly.
Zayn nodded and patted his back understandingly. "I know, I know. He's a crappy teacher."
Maxima motioned for them to follow him and entered the office. To their surprise, Igniz brought them straight to Rugal's sitting room.
"Kay?" Rugal said in surprise and turned to Igniz. "But he's such a good student."
"In other subjects, maybe," Igniz said. "But not in Maths."
Maxima frowned. "Mr. Bernstein, my son got a 65 in his last Maths exam. Why is that considered bad?"
Kay cleared his throat and stepped forward, bowing with respect before speaking. "You know I'm a good student in class, even in Physics as you know, but maybe this was just the lowest I got because I couldn't understand the concept of Trigonometry. Igniz-sensei went through it far too quickly for me to grasp the basics, I got the formula muddled. The questions that came out in the test were far different than the ones he taught in class, being the ones he simply extracted from the textbook, skipping a few steps just as the example showed. Maybe he did provide good explanation, but it was much too fast for me to understand." He finished with another bow and backed away slightly.
Rugal turned to Igniz. "Come on, Mr. Igniz. You know that examples in Maths textbooks are usually nothing like the ones in the real exam, right? Then why would you use that to explain it to the class?"
Igniz was silent for a moment before speaking. "Well, I'm not sure about that, but Kay definitely doesn't have an interest in Maths, seeing how his handwriting is barely decipherable. It's like he shows his anger towards the subject in the form of his handwriting. What about that, Sir?"
Maxima groaned. "It's Maths, Mr. Igniz. The brain works faster than it does for other subjects. I'm sure you're aware of that at this point, right?"
"I am, but other subjects require critical thinking too," Igniz reasoned. "Why can he write well for them but not Maths?"
Kay sighed. "My handwriting has always been horrifying for all subjects, Maths is no exception. You're speaking as if you have seen my books for other subjects, Igniz-sensei."
"Can you show me your Maths book and books from other subjects?" Igniz said. "Mr. Bernstein, you can compare to see for yourself."
Rugal shrugged and watched as Kay took his backpack off and pulled out his Maths book, Japanese language book, and English book. He put them down on the table and unsuccessfully masked his disappointment in front of them. Rugal flipped through the pages of the Maths book and English book, then opened his Japanese language book.
"His handwriting looks the same to me," Rugal said. "They're all equally bad, especially the one on Nihongo."
"Yeah, even I can't read it myself sometimes," Kay agreed with a triumphant smile.
Igniz pulled the books towards him and looked through himself. He stared at the pages before looking up at Kay. "It's still better than your Maths book."
"Sir, I really have to get going for an important errand," Maxima politely cut in. "The subject of this meeting went from Kay's latest Maths result to his handwriting. I'm not sure what Igniz-sensei is getting at, but I don't see any issues with it since I'm already aware of his marks and I'm satisfied with it. So please, can I have permission to take my children home for the day?"
Igniz was about to argue further but Rugal gathered the books on his table and handed them to Kay. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Maxima. Mr. Igniz will give you the permission letter to take them home."
Igniz reluctantly led them back to the office and handed Maxima the form. He quickly signed them and left the office block to go home.

Based on true story. My mom came over to pick me up from school this one time during her birthday and the teacher ambushed her by saying she was concerned for my results. I admit, it wasn't all that good, but it wasn't the worst and I didn't even fail. She kept insisting that I wasn't fit to do that subject and I should drop out of STEM and go to Social Science instead. She was speechless when my mom pointed out that I had scored an A in Modern Maths and didn't know how else to go on and pulled out the topic of my handwriting instead, saying how it looks worse than it does with my books from other subjects. I actually never noticed that, but it's because the subject has the natural ability of aggravating people. I mean, come on. It's Additional Maths, literally comparable to Rocket Science. I personally feel that the latter could actually be easier to understand than this subject.
Needless to say, this incident completely ruined the mood for us. It was my mother's birthday too that day. But don't worry, I had my payback by scoring well during the final exam. Showed her who's boss lol.