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Kronii leaned against the white concrete wall outside of her classroom, her heeled foot tapping furiously as she constantly glanced at her gold wristwatch.
Dear God, where is this woman…
As if right on cue, the rapid clacking of heels down the hall snapped Kronii to attention, freezing her tapping foot and facing to her substitute hurrying down the halls, Japanese teacher Sakura Miko.
"Miss Sakura-senpai, thank you so much for watching over my class-"
"Lesson plan?" Miko held out her hand. Kronii looked at it and sputtered.
"A- Uh- No no no, you shouldn't have to teach them anything new, I just gave a study guide-"
"Hm." Miko hums disapprovingly.
"Miss Sakura, I'll be back soon Maybe less than a week."
"Yes. Go now, enjoy yourself." Miko extends her fingers, gesturing for Kronii to continue on before she winks. "I got this."
~~~~~
"I mean, she teaches Japanese to English-speaking students, so she must be decent at English, right?" Kronii scans her coworker's face sitting with her in the lecture room. She doesn't see confidence. "...right?"
"Well, she's slightly better at Japanese than she is at English," Sana says while pouring a cup of coffee. "...if that's any consolation."
"She doesn't really have to do anything, really, she just has to watch over my Lit class for a week."
"Miko is a very good teacher, where she'll teach students everything she knows about a subject. Even if sometimes what she does know is wrong." Kronii's face pales and eyes widen at Sana. "Yeah, just a week!"
Kronii sighs into her can of Diet Pepsi. "I respect my senpai, but from what I've heard of her, I have to have an extra month of classtime just to cancel out my student's comprehension loss by association."
"I'm sure it won't be that bad…"
Kronii took a deep breath and stood from the table, unconsciously putting her hands on her hips. "Y'know what, I'm not even going to worry about it."
"There we go! Enjoy your vacation with Mumei, you deserve it."
"Yeah." Kronii raised her chin. "I do, don't I."
"Wow. Even with benchmarks coming online in three days, you have the resolve of a champion." Sana put her fists on her chin and looked at Kronii, stars in her eyes.
"Wha-" Kronii slid back down into her chair and put her forehead to the table. Her voice was slightly muffled. "I completely forgot."
"Sheeeesh. Well, there's only so much you can cram into your kids' heads at the last minute." Sana set a hand on Kronii's back. Kronii looked up to see Sana's gleaming smile.
"Have some faith in your students. Have some faith in Miko."
Kronii put her hand on her chin, deep in thought. After a moment, she raised her head.
"If I call the resort now do you think they can move the reservation-"
"No! Kronii! Stick with it," Sana set a hand on her shoulder and pulled her in closer. "For Mumei." Sana stared at Kronii a little too intensely.
"Yeah. Maybe. I just- uh-" Kronii grabbed her bag and backed up toward the door. "I'm going now." She opened the door to the hallway.
"You two lovebirds have fun!~" Sana trilled, one foot folded up behind her buttocks like an excitable schoolgirl. Right then two students walked past the doorframe, and both glanced at Kronii before giggling and walking away faster. Kronii turned a deep red and forced a smile as she backed through the door.
"Thanks. Sana. Bye." She closed the door with a thud .
~~~~~
Kronii stands in front of the full-length mirror in the couple's room, admiring her own figure in the backless admiral blue cocktail dress, one strap sliding off her shoulder. She turned to look at herself from the side, when she saw Mumei looking at her with steady eyes like a tiger to its prey.
"Need some help with your dress?" Mumei stepped closer and ran a single finger up Kronii's muscled arm.
Kronii nodded shyly. Mumei snapped into action, adjusting the crooked strap on her shoulder and zipping the back of the dress closed.
"Thanks, I hate this zipper."
"Yeah, no problem." Mumei pulled her phone out of her dress pants and unlocked it. "Our ride should be out there any minute."
"Okay, let's head out."
The couple walk hand in hand from their door and down the hall.
"I tried calling Miko again, but she hasn't answered."
"What would you ask her about?"
"I don't know. Just if everything's okay. The students have already done their placements, I just have to play the waiting game at this point."
"They all probably passed."
Kronii looks at Mumei with questioning eyes.
"Most of them probably passed? Is there any way you can check the final results?" said Mumei, as she held open the hotel's front door for Kronii.
"No, you can only look at them through the school computers."
"Ah, that stinks. Well… I guess you have no choice but to enjoy the company of your girlfriend." Mumei held open the taxi door for Kronii.
"Mumei, we're married. We're on our honeymoon."
Mumei paused.
"Oh yeah, sweet."
~~~~~
Kronii runs through the halls, practically bulldozing over students, until she reaches the door to her classroom. She takes her keys and goes to unlock the door, fumbling and dropping them a few times. After dropping them the fourth time, she takes a deep breath, and slowly inserts the key, and turns the handle... and bolts inside to her desk.
Okay , Kronii said to herself as she typed in her username and password to access the gradebook, Okay. Okay! …okay. Here it goes.
She hit enter.
100…
…100…
Huh?
83
94
100
96
100…
…HUH!?
For a moment, Kronii sat at her desk, stunned.
Maybe… her English… is elite…