"I'm sorry, Tonomi, but I won't be able to make it to your competition this evening," Shiro calmly spoke. "No... that isn't right. Tonomi, I'm terribly sorry, but something's come up and I can't come to your competition tonight... no, that isn't any better." Shiro readjusted his posture and tried again. "Miss Kanzaki, I regret to inform you... scrap it." Shiro sighed at the mirror he was currently practicing on. "How on earth am I supposed to do this?" he asked. Thankfully, his reflection did not reply. Shiro glanced at his watch. Fifteen minutes until class, he thought. One or two more tries, then to the classroom. He began another apologetic speech only to be interrupted by the loud crash of the restroom door as it hit the wall from a rather forceful opening. Shiro turned his head to his left to see Yamada angrily stomp through the doorway. "I need a drink," he muttered as he pulled a small container of sake out of his pocket. "Ano... good morning, Yamada-sensei!" Shiro tried to look cheerful but failed miserably. "It'll be a good morning when Kunou-sensei changes the schedule so that I don't have to work with that clumsy excuse for a new teacher," Yamada grunted. He took another swig from the bottle. "Have you tried being nice to her?" Yamada evenly gazed at Shiro. "Nice? She managed to send all the papers I needed to grade flying through the school. When she finally came back with all of them, she tripped coming through the doorway and they flew all over my room while I was trying to teach. When she finally finished grading them all, she was so tired and incoherent that she was a useless teaching partner." Another drink from the bottle later, Yamada rationalized, "At least when she's tired, she doesn't have the energy to screw things up as much." "Maybe if you tried to give her a little self-confidence--" "What's that, Shiro?" "I said, maybe if you--" "I'm the mentor here," the older man interrupted. "I've been doing this for years, and I'll handle it how I see fit." Yamada glanced sideways to get a look at Shiro's watch. The gruff older man rolled his eyes. "Great. Time for class. Don't forget our meeting this afternoon, Shiro!" he called as he left the restroom. "...can't wait," Shiro whispered. Yamada had to figure out sometime that treating Mariko like dirt wasn't going to help any. But that was for another time. Right now, he had a speech to think up. Right now, he had lesson plans to worry about. Right now-- The bell was ringing. If Shiro had paused to think about it, he would have cursed himself for being late. Instead, he simply grabbed his things and sped off for the classroom, leaving a cloud of dust behind. -- Ranma 1/2: Lack of Common Sensei Chapter 13: Timing is Everything LoCS started by Winston Smith This chapter by Falcon -- Later that day... Shiro glanced at his watch; it read half past three. "Great," he muttered. Half an hour until his meeting with Yamada. That in itself was bad enough, but it also kept him from coming up with a plan for how to tell Tonomi that he wouldn't be at her dance this evening. He could have done so earlier in the day, but the freshman English class had put him in the nurse's office during his free period. He hoped that at some point the class understood that some sayings like "Slap me silly and call me Elvis" were not to be taken literally. Since Principal Kunou had switched the schedules around a few days ago, he no longer had any classes with Tonomi. Not that it would have been easy to tell her. She was so happy when Shiro said he'd be there, and he was sure she'd be devastated if she found out he wouldn't be. He'd done what he could to get everything ready for his meeting with Sakura to speed things up; maybe, just maybe if they stuck to one lesson tonight, he could catch a couple minutes of the competition and fool Tonomi into thinking he had been there all along. But he wanted to have a plan in either case. During the algebra tests today there really hadn't been much else to do, so he looked through the test to see just where in the book the class was. He laid out the simple things like which pages to go over and which problems the students would have to do for the next two days, but as for teaching the material... Shiro shook his head. Math was never something he enjoyed or was good at, so he'd asked Sakura to help him make lesson plans for the algebra class he'd been stuck with. Thankfully, she was willing to do so despite her schedule. The Algebra nee English teacher looked down to the mathematics book and flipped a page. "I'd hate to be stuck with all of the extra and specialized grading Sakura has to do," Shiro mumbled. "All those labs and Home Ec cooking projects have to take time to grade." "Hmm? Did I hear my name mentioned?" Sakura Takahashi said from in front of Shiro's desk. "S-Sakura!" Shiro brought his head up quickly to face the younger teacher. "I didn't hear you come in. What can I do for you?" "I just wondered if you got my message about changing our meeting to six." Shiro nodded. "I already have some basics laid out; I just need you to help me go over the material so I'll know how to teach it." He handed her the open notebook with the next two days' basic plans, enough to go until the weekend. Sakura scanned the notes. "Okay, Shiro. If you'll let me take your book, I'll look at these pages and come up with some ideas for you. So, I'll see you at six. Where's this spot of yours?" "Could we meet in the little garden between the school and the auditorium?" Sakura shrugged. "Sure. Since it's here on the grounds I can spend more time in my lab." The child prodigy rubbed her hands together with glee and left the room in a hurry, labcoat flaring up behind her. Shiro sat in silence for a moment, then glanced at his watch once again. Three forty-five. "Might as well go to Yamada's room now," he thought. Shiro gathered his things into his attache case and walked toward room D8, worrying all the way about what to say to Tonomi regarding the evening, since even if he did go, he couldn't possibly make the whole match. -- "Come in," Yamada answered in response to the knock at the door. Shiro entered calmly and sat before his mentor. "How's it going?" "Well, I'm still teaching an English course, which is good. But for some reason, Kunou-sensei stuck me with an Algebra class despite the fact that I'm no good with it myself, let alone teaching it to others." Yamada nodded. "Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. System always finds a way to screw you over." "I'm sure that with a little diplomacy, we could convince Kunou-sensei to--" "Keep all our schedules the same? Not a chance. You'll just have to get used to it, Shiro. And don't think that even if you get assigned to classes you know like the back of your hand how to teach, they'll still screw you over." Shiro looked confused. "What could possibly go wrong if you had all the classes you knew how to teach?" "They could have you teach all freshmen who are all scared about being here, they could have you teach all seniors who want to do nothing but get out of here, they could have you teach Ranma's class," Yamada winced, "or they could have you teach with someone like--" Just then, the colleagues heard a voice at the door. "Yamada-sensei? Is that you?" "No, he's completely moved out all his things and switched to room 2F in the last hour and a half." "Oh. I guess I should go there, then. Thanks!" Yamada facepalmed. "Someone like her," he whispered. The grizzled old teacher went to the door and opened it, calling Mariko into the room roughly. The two returned, Yamada impatiently and Mariko with her head lowered. Her fallen hair hid any expression she might have on her face, but Shiro could tell from how slowly she walked that she was upset. "Sit down, Mariko," Yamada grunted. Mariko obeyed. "Let's hear your obligatory status report." "Well..." Mariko began. "Kunou-sensei assigned me to be a teaching assistant for the freshman PE class, but all the boys just stare at me. I'm teaching a low-level Japanese course, that's pretty easy... and of course," Mariko beamed, "I get to teach world history with you!" Yamada twitched. -- Shiro shuffled back to his apartment after leaving the train. The meeting had gone well... except for the constant clashes with Yamada over the merits of the system, the good qualities of Mariko and any other subject that came up. He could tolerate other viewpoints, but he wished that Yamada would at least listen sometimes. Shiro sighed. Almost five o'clock and he still didn't know how to break the news to Tonomi. Now he probably wouldn't even get the chance, considering he had that phone call coming. The phone call! How could he have forgotten about that? Shiro picked up his walking pace and grabbed his key from within his pocket. Just as he opened the door to his apartment, the phone rang. He darted to the phone and picked it up in a rush. "Moshi moshi?" "Mr. Shiro Smith?" "Hai, Harumi-sensei. What can I do for you?" "Let us discuss your internship, Mr. Smith..." -- Half an hour later, Shiro hung up the phone very gingerly. His eyes stared straight forward in shock. "Indefinite?" he whispered. He closed his eyes and remembered what his professor had just told him. "Shiro, the committee has decided that your internship at Furinkan High School is to last for an indefinite period of time. If you continue to receive good reports about your work at Furinkan for the rest of this year, the committee will take this under consideration and may grant you the credit you would have received for the remainder of this school year. Given the sometimes extreme and always unusual circumstances at the school, we feel this is fair. You would be awarded your degree, and additionally, your position at Furinkan would be open for you to claim if you so desire. If you are not awarded the full credit..." The young English teacher shook his head softly. He didn't know what to think of that. Certainly staying for the length of his internship would be worth it; he was getting tired of college courses anyway. But afterward? He didn't know yet. It would probably be easy to find a job back in the States; it was a well-publicized fact that US schools were behind other countries in certain areas. But what about the kids at Furinkan? They needed some stability, he thought. And there would always be room in Japan for someone who could teach English, what with all the business the two countries did. Shiro sighed heavily. He could debate himself back and forth about anything, but in this case, there was no immediate decision to be made. What was immediate, however... he looked at his watch. Twenty 'til six. Time to leave now if he wanted to be prompt in meeting Sakura. -- Tonomi Kanzaki peeked out around the corner of the entrance to the stage and surveyed the auditorium. She glanced first at the clock; it read 5:50. Ten minutes, she thought. "I wonder where Smith-sensei is?" The raven-haired girl's ponytail whipped back and forth in a vain attempt to keep up with her head as she hurriedly searched for her crush. He was nowhere to be seen. Tonomi sighed. He promised he'd be here. Maybe he was here and she missed him, or maybe he just wasn't here yet. Yet was the operative word. Of course he'd be here. Smith-sensei wouldn't have told her one thing only to do another. She just wanted to be sure, that's all. "Tonomi!" the dance instructor barked from backstage. "We need you back here to lead the final warmup!" The girl reluctantly obeyed after one more lingering gaze at the growing crowd. -- Shiro stepped off the train at the school once again. Not caring that he was cutting across the small lawn that was labeled "Do Not Walk on the Grass", he hurried toward the bench where Sakura was sure to be waiting. He should have heeded the warning. A net suddenly sprung up around him and both he and his attache case were introduced to the branches of a tree. Shiro grunted in frustration and struggled against the ropes, making a rather large commotion against the leaves. "Ano... what's going on?" a voice said from below Shiro. "Sakura?" "Hai. Shiro, what happened?" "I'll explain in a minute. Can you just help me down?" Ten minutes, a stepladder and a pocketknife later, one very embarrassed Shiro Smith finished telling his short story to Sakura, both safely with two feet on the ground. "Well, that's odd. I guess Kunou-sensei's getting a little less subtle in his practical jokes nowadays. That or Tate-- excuse me, the Blue Thunder - was trying to capture Ranma for some reason. Anyway, we have some lesson plans to make, ne?" Shiro nodded and let Sakura lead him to the nearest bench so they could go over the plans for the next day. -- Tonomi paced nervously behind the stage. The opposing teams were going to be on stage first, following one of the United States traditions that Principal Kunou had insisted on; home team goes last. Thus, she had quite a bit of time to wait and worry about how well her team would do and whether Shiro would show. If asked, she probably would admit that it wasn't her team that she was worried about, at least for the most part. Certainly not herself; she was confident in her own abilities, and as captain, she had done what she could to pass her knowledge and learned skills on to the younger students. Their team had a very good record and would likely win again tonight. But... but would Shiro be here to see it? Tonomi ran her hands through her ponytail and worried. What if he got hurt in an accident somehow? What if he lied and never intended on showing up? Tonomi mentally scratched out that thought. Shiro wouldn't do that to her. But what if... what if... "Tonomi? You okay?" Tonomi turned around to see one of her classmates. "Hai. What's up?" she asked in a vain attempt to hide her discomfort. "It's almost time for us to go out." Tonomi took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm ready." The two girls walked to the assembled squad to make their final preparations. -- "So that's how you do those problems!" Sakura nodded. "In explaining them, you might want to draw up a diagram of the 'function machine' that I just showed you. It usually amuses the students, and when they're happy, they learn better." "But I can't draw!" Shiro protested. His newfound tutor smiled and replied, "That's what amuses the students. Don't worry, you'll do fine. Now, shall we go on to Friday's lesson so you can finish out the week?" Shiro nervously looked at his watch. Six forty-five. "Actually, I have somewhere else I should be. Can we go over it tomorrow?" Sakura shrugged. "Sure. So... same time, same place?" she inquired hesitatingly. The newest victim of ScheduleSwap 2000 (tm) nodded. "I'm sure I'll need you; you've been extremely helpful." Furinkan's youngest teacher blushed at the compliment. "See you soon, Shiro. Have a good evening," Sakura said before she walked away. Shiro gathered his things into his attache case once again and hurried toward the auditorium, hoping to catch whatever was left of the competition. Hopefully, Tonomi would see him and think that he had been there the whole time. -- The curtain closed on the final dance for the opposing school to Furinkan, and a young man slipped in unnoticed to the back of the auditorium. He set his attache case on his lap and sighed in relief. It seemed that this might work out after all. "And now, your Furinkan High School dance team!" the announcer called over the PA. Shiro Smith sat back in his seat to watch the show. He was sort of surprised to see some of the guys from the high school on the dance team, but then he rationalized that some guys were cheerleaders too. He couldn't let stereotypes get to him. The team formed a giant triangle much like a set of bowling pins on stage with a certain long-haired, attractive student front and center. Tonomi began the routine with a graceful jump and split. The instant her feet met the floor again, the music began and the whole stage sprang to life. Pirouettes, somersaults, jumps and spins all came together in perfectly fluid motion as one body. Tonomi especially seemed to be dancing her heart out on stage. Shiro knew little about dancing as a competition, but from his perspective, everything the team did was flawless. He sat awed at the grace and skill of the team for a few minutes until he was rudely interrupted by a buzzing noise from within his attache case. Not wanting to annoy those others in the crowd or interrupt the dancers, he exited unnoticed out the back. After exiting the auditorium, Shiro opened his case to find his pager wobbling about inside its small pouch. He read the number displayed that was calling. I wonder who it is, he thought. No name was displayed, simply a number that was trying to reach him. Curiosity getting the better of him, he made his way to the nearest pay phone and dialed it. "Hello? Who is this?" he spoke first when the other end picked up. "Smith-sensei! I need your help!" Mariko Kawai squealed. "I went on a walk out in the city and now I'm lost! A nice young man in yellow tried to help me find my way, and..." Shiro groaned. That was all he needed to hear. Apparently she hadn't heard about Ryouga yet and had just experienced the eternal lost boy firsthand. He turned his attention back to the conversation. "...help me find my way back?" Mariko finished. Surely Tonomi saw me there, Shiro thought. Besides, there were always more dance competitions, and if he didn't help Mariko back, who would? For all he knew, she didn't have any other connections, and it seemed that Yamada would just as soon leave her in the wilderness to die instead of helping her. "Sure thing, Mariko. Just tell me where you are." "I'm outside of the city by a road sign that reads..." -- The music hit its final crescendo, and Tonomi finished with flair. Her team froze in the final formation behind her perfectly, drawing a very loud round of applause from those assembled. They would be declared the winners; Tonomi was sure of that. But where was Shiro? She looked around as much as she could moving only her eyes while still holding her final stance. Nothing. As soon as they broke to go backstage, she turned left and right but still couldn't find him. He didn't come, she thought. He said he would... he said he would... Tonomi turned around for one last lingering gaze at the auditorium. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she walked backstage. -- Author's Notes: This is probably nowhere near the quality of the last LoCS part I wrote, and I apologize. I was originally scheduled to come up the week of August 19 - 26, which would have been dead solid perfect; spend a full week on it, finish the day before school starts. Unfortunately, the person in front of me dropped and I came up the week of Aug 10-18. Not bad in itself, but I lost all of August 11-14 because I went to Michigan to see my girlfriend on her birthday (I love you, Andrea.) So, a 7 to 9-day part turned into a 4-day rush job. Thanks to Mechalink and Nathan Housley for prereading. And thanks to Mr. David Newell, my math teacher during my sophomore and junior years in high school. The function machine thing was all him ^_^ It's true; when the students are happy and amused, they learn better. First paragraph's another personal ref... it's an allusion to "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" when CB debates on how to tell Lucy "Happy Valentine's Day" but in the end, when faced with giving her the valentine, tells her "Merry Christmas!" Ahh, that was a fun part to play... I'll be back... I've got a great idea for next time or some point down the road. ^_^ Falcon out. Send all comments to: Aaron "Falcon" Bolner falcon815@hotmail.com aaron.p.bolner@rose-hulman.edu 8/18/2000