Ishida Reiko

Female

31

Of all the teachers at Kokyo High, Ishida-sensei has the least stern features which of course do her little favors when it comes to controlling a classroom. She stands at roughly 167cm which she always felt pegged her as taller than normal up until she started seeing students who practically towered over her in comparison. Her hair is a bit of a mess, there was a time when she had long, straight, flowing black hair but she's cut and kept it short for roughly two years now, often not doing anything about her bangs. Whether out of forgetfulness or simple uncaring, Ishida has a tendency to wear outfits that, while technically counting as professional, do often skirt the lines of acceptable clothing for a teacher. She isn't trying to flaunt anything - by the way she tells it anything she could flaunt no one even wants anyway - it's just that she hasn't really updated her wardrobe consistently; this is most notable in her blouses which hug a bit snugly. The principal always tells her to wear a blazer or something if she's going to just wear a blouse and for the life of her she can't figure out why.

Faculty. English and Literature Teacher.

Students ask her to be the advisor of clubs fairly often.

Drinking: Ask anyone on the staff and they'll tell you the same thing: Ishida-sensei knows how to drink. It was never uncommon for her to leave school and go to a restaurant for food and at least two beers. This might have something to do with her rather relaxed teaching methods. How exactly that will help in a crisis situation remains to be seen but her ability to hold down liquor is a personal bit of pride and is a hit at mixers.

Crowds don't really get her nervous and given that she's a teacher she knows how to speak comfortably around people. More to the point, given that she has sometimes come to class hungover and complaining about personal matters the only reason she still has her job can likely be attributed to her verbal prowess and convincing the principal to continually give her more chances. Which is to say she's quite good at getting people to do what she wants. Except go out with her, that seems to be the eternal struggle.

Reiko never quite seems to get lost which is handy given the number of times she's had to stumble back to her apartment while drunk or being walked home also while drunk. She knows how to get around and read a map and the quickest routes to get to important places. Like the liquor store or the yakiniku place or the ramen shop that has tall glasses.

She was once told it was good for relaxation or for hangovers - she's not quite sure which - and that people would be impressed by the flexibility. There's been no luck on the impressing people part but she has found it to be relaxing and calming. And she's certainly more flexible than she's ever been.

For someone that on the best of days could be considered a functional alcoholic, Reiko is fairly good natured and cheerful - up until the point someone asks her about her love life. A firm member of the Christmas Cakes, Reiko is hopelessly attracted to the idea of romance and love and marriage, though at thirty one she's past the point of being picky. As a teacher, Reiko has a clear knowledge of the subject - she is fluent in English and is thus qualified to teach it - but often her lesson plan consists of having a student read from the text and little else. Despite that, however, her students tend to have decent marks in English and Literature so she must be doing something right between hangovers and pining over the fact that she's single.

Reiko is the oldest of three daughters and before you ask, yes both of her younger sisters are married and no that doesn't make family get-togethers awkward at all. A teacher wasn't her first choice of profession, Reiko had lofty aspirations of being an actress like the American movies but her few years abroad in America put a stop to that dream. Before that she had even entertained the idea of perhaps being a lawyer, but when she was signing up for university classes she wound up enrolling in education due to being distracted by an upperclassman who also happened to be taking education. Needless to say by the time Reiko was aware it would never work out she was already well on her way to earning her degree.

Her sisters are a chef and a manga assistant respectively, and Reiko takes a little bit of pride in the fact that her job is a bit more important seeing as how she prepares the future generation in the ways of linguistics and how to come to work drunk. Reiko lives by herself in a small apartment though she frequently dines with the kindly old woman who lives next door or with the young girl that the single parent a floor down has to work two jobs to support. Though it's not the life she wanted, Reiko finds what joys she can, and not always at the bottom of a bottle either.

While she might never win a Teacher of the Year award, her students seem to enjoy having her around, and that does help tremendously. Ishida-sensei isn't exactly like a motherly figure, but more like the aunt that gets a little too loud at Christmas.

Her theme song, such as it is, is up there with her picture. Click it. Or not. Whatever.

She doesn't do shots or fancy fruit drinks, she drinks beer.

Owns a car, but doesn't drive it. For reasons that should be obvious. She CAN drive, though. She has a license.