When the class calmed down, they lined up and headed to the cafeteria, which Bill thought looked somewhat military.
After lunch, the class went out for a walk. Perhaps because of their age, this walk lasted longer than Bill expected, and they played for at least two hours. He pretended not to notice when his nanny or teacher made up games involving him, unless he actively tried to participate in games with the other children.
When they went out to the large playground, Miss Angie had the children stand by the large windows near their classroom.
Miss Angie: "Alright, class, now, who can name their favorite animal from the ones we studied today?"
((Class))
"Super Monkey!"
"No! Super Shark was the coolest!"
"I like the Super Rabbits!"
Listening to the children's responses, Bill was half lost, but their enthusiasm turned out to be contagious even for him.
Miss Angie looked over the shouting children and nodded before turning to him and asking, "William, what's your favorite animal?"
As she asked this question, the children quieted down. Bill understood better than he spoke, but he tried his best: "Super Sparrow, Miss Angie."
Nodding in response to his answer, she said, "Do you want to see the Super Sparrow?"
At that moment, Bill began to realize, and his palms started to sweat, but nevertheless, he played along and said, "Yes."
Miss Angie looked as if she had predicted his answer and even his next reaction when she said, "Well then, everyone look up!"
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, and the entire class looked up.
Bill followed their lead and saw a large shadow swiftly moving across the sky. The creature landed next to the teacher, and there was a little man with a strange head sitting on it.
Stunned, but not panicked, Bill watched the young man and the bird. While the whole class was thrilled, trying to ask questions or touch the bird, Bill could only think of one thing.
"Super Sparrow... wow."
Looking in the mirror, a seven-year-old boy studied his reflection.
By this time, he had come to terms with the fact that this was not Earth, but that was only the beginning.
It was only a few days after seeing the impossible "Super Sparrow" that the full realization of the situation came to Bill. He was astonished, though perhaps not as much as he might have been under normal circumstances, undoubtedly because he had already come to terms with his reincarnation.
However, what was somewhat more shocking was that over the past few years, he began to think that perhaps there was some kind of destiny.
This happened because shortly after he saw the sparrow, he learned something else. It was his full name.
William D. Oaks.
He knew his first name—William—when he learned it, he didn't pay it much mind. Of course, that was his name in his past life, but "William" was common enough.
However, his last name truly made him think. In his previous life, he was William Bullock. His wife called him "Bill Oaks" during arguments when he stood his ground.
This term came after one of their first marital disputes, when a tarp was blown off the roof of their ramshackle house. She was against him trying to nail it back during the storm, saying he was as stubborn as a mule, to which he replied, "I'm as strong as an ox."
He got the job done, but he fell coming down the ladder.
He lived like this for over fifty years, and she called him "Bill Oaks" instead of "William" whenever it suited her. In fact, that was the only time she used the name "Bill."
Now his name sounded somewhat like Bill Oaks. Bill wasn't sure if he believed in destiny. It contradicted his belief in free will, which he valued very highly. And yet, learning more about this strange and unscientific world he now inhabited, he found it difficult to simply dismiss such things.
At first, he still thought he was on Earth, despite the sparrow he had seen, but the subsequent knowledge he gained in class over the years made it undeniable that he now lived in some kind of fantastical world.
To start with, he lived on the island of Vallipo, which was the largest island in the archipelago. This archipelago, named the Vallipo Archipelago, was located in a large body of water known as the "South Blue." In what they referred to as the "Zero Year," he learned that the world was divided into four "Blues," each of approximately the same size. The oceans were separated by a giant mountain range on two sides and a so-called "Calm Belt," which divided the planet at the equator.
This "Calm Belt," according to stories, was swarming with sea monsters as large as islands.
By the first grade, he had fully mastered conversational language and learned that there were islands with their own climatic zones. Although he hadn't seen them himself, it seemed normal to him that there were arctic islands located just a few dozen kilometers from desert islands. Even more surprising was that this world actually used the metric system!