*Note: Spoken text enclosed by "<>" indicates English, "" indicates Japanese* Shiro poked his head around the corner to see Kira and Sakura still carrying on their discussion, whatever was so important about it. He guessed he'd never understand girl talk. In any case, he wasn't here to eavesdrop; that would be rude. Interrupting may be just as rude, but Shiro did have a purpose in doing so. "" Kira responded, "" "" "" Kira replied, poking Shiro on the nose playfully. "" "" Shiro predicted. "" Kira replied defiantly. Some things never change, Shiro thought. He then turned to Sakura. "It's time to get to class, ne?" Sakura nodded and replied, "Shiro, make sure you remind me to check my recrystallization sample in my lab tonight after school lets out." Shiro looked puzzled. "Aren't you in your lab all day?" "What, you didn't know?" Shiro shook his head, and Sakura continued, "You know the lab that was in the pineapple, right? Well, I couldn't just let it sit around unused, could I? Now I have a lab of my very own, untouched by student hands!" Sakura smiled broadly. Shiro smiled and shook his head softly. Lots of things never changed. --- Ranma 1/2: Lack of Common Sensei Chapter 20: Adventures in Real Life LoCS created by Winston Smith This chapter by Falcon --- Kira decided to start her journey by roaming the school grounds. They seemed a bit more worn and torn than most American schools, certainly more so than the one she had attended. Thinking nothing of it, she walked on for a few yards, not really paying any more attention to the ground in front of her. Boy, was that ever a mistake. The tourist heard a loud "SQUEEEEEEEE!" from below her as she placed her right foot on the ground. Startled, she fell backward. The next thing Kira knew, she was staring at a small black piglet, face to angry face. "SQUEE SQUEE!" "" "Squee?" "" mused Kira as she examined the piglet. "" "Squee?" the piglet repeated, tilting its head inquisitively. "You no understand English? Sorry. I try to speak Japanese." Ryouga, thoroughly confused, did not protest when the girl picked him up and headed for the building. --- "Is everyone prepared for the test today?" Loud groans resonated throughout the room as the freshman English class was reminded of their latest test. Shiro continued, "I know you've all been working hard, and I'm confident in your ability to perform on this test. You've been doing well on homework for the most part, and quizzes have gone better than my expectations. Now, show me what you can do." He passed out the tests. "First, we'll do the listening section. I'll say a phrase in Japanese, and you write the English translation. Ready?" A few scattered nods answered Shiro. "Okay. The first phrase is 'Tomorrow is another day...'" --- Mariko Kawai looked at the clock one last time. Yamada-sensei should have been here ten minutes ago, she thought. Though she was less than confident in her own abilities, it seemed she would have to teach junior History by herself today. "Everyone, it seems that Yamada-sensei will not be here today, so I'll be the only teacher for this class," she remarked. "Now, would everyone please turn to page 337? Thank you." The pages of twenty plus books rustled as the students followed their instructions. However, another decided that taking orders from Mariko was beneath him and just sat there. As luck (and Mariko's sharp eye) had it, he was the target to read the first paragraph. "Excuse me, but I asked you to turn to page 337. Could you please do that?" "I don't take orders from an assistant," the student retorted. Mariko sighed. This wasn't what she'd planned at all. Instead of threatening the student with wrathful retribution, she stood facing the class calmly. At least that's how it appeared on the outside. Within, Mariko's thoughts were a jumble. Worry over whether she had what it took to be a teacher or if she'd be an assistant forever. Joy for being given a chance to prove herself was mixed with the fear of having to do it on her own. One of her feet tapped on the floor nervously and she frowned as she tried to sort out her thoughts. The student saw her frown and heard the tapping foot and took it as a clue that he had an impatient teacher on his hands. He obediently, if a little late, turned to page 337 and began reading. "The conflict known at the time as the Great War..." The shock of hearing the previously rebellious boy read his assigned paragraph startled Mariko out of her haze of thought. She stumbled one step backward and fell straight into her chair. Flustered, she shook her head quickly, causing some of her hair to fall forward over her face. By the time she finally got herself together, the first paragraph had been finished. "Th-thank you. Are there any volunteers to read the second paragraph?" Mariko asked. No one raised a hand. "I guess I will," she declared, then began to read. She stumbled over a couple of words in her nervousness, but it came out generally well. Still not confident in herself, she passed the third paragraph on to someone else and dropped back into her world of worry. --- "..." Ryouga scratched the back of his head nervously. Usually people just finding out about the concept of water-based curses were shocked into screaming or were amazed, or thought it was cool, but this girl seemed to be completely out of it. Ryouga waved his hand in front of her eyes. "Miss?" Kira blinked, then blinked again. She turned her head to look at Ryouga, realized he was now fully clothed and spoke. "Yeah?" "Oh, you do speak Japanese. You were muttering in English a little bit ago... you're not from around here, are you?" "No." "That's too bad... I was hoping you'd know the way to the women's athletic fields. I want to keep watch over Akane." Kira looked at her watch. "I didn't mean that kind of watch--" The gaijin shook her head. "Not that kind watch, no. I have appointment at noon in staff lounge. You show way?" Ryouga smiled. "Sure! I'll get you there in no time! But one little question first... do you know a Shampoo?" Kira returned a puzzled look. With a shrug, the umbrella wielder took her hand and led her out of the restroom by speeding through the nearest wall. --- Shiro nodded as he took the last freshman's test. Ten minutes 'til the next class, he realized. Should he start grading or prepare for the bane of his existence, Algebra? Even if there was a test in Algebra as well, he still needed to be ready for any and all questions. Rather than make the decision on his own, Shiro flipped a coin. The incredibly light 1 yen piece nearly hit the ceiling, took a left hop off the floor and settled to Shiro's right, resting flat against the desk leg. "That's funny, I've never seen a coin land on edge before," he muttered. After peering down at the moody coin from all angles, he finally decided that the coin flip was too close to call. Going with his self- preservation instinct, he chose to prepare for Algebra and put off his grading for during the Algebra test. --- "One-two-three-four-two-two-three-four-three-two-three-four-go!" Following self-given signal, Tonomi hit the play button on her walkman and began her new solo routine on a small flat patch of ground next to the athletic fields. She began with slow, stretching movements that could be done easily even on little to no warmup time. No matter how flighty she was, Tonomi was definitely not stupid and liked to prepare for any possible circumstance. Though her intelligence was average or greater, her ability to observe her surroundings unfortunately was not. In a tree above her, the Black Rose of St. Hebereke waited to once again "remove" her competition. Seeing an opportunity in Tonomi's slow, steady movements, Kodachi readied herself for the attack, ribbon in hand. However, immediately before Kodachi's first strike, Tonomi suddenly hopped to the left in time with the music. Unfazed, Kodachi aimed and flicked her wrist in attack again. A hop right was her thanks. Patiently, Kodachi waited for Tonomi to slow down again. When she did, the Black Rose sent out another silken lasso, which Tonomi jumped straight over. And she's doing this with her eyes closed, Kodachi thought. What incredible luck! Kodachi, getting irked, wound up another wrist-borne ribbon strike. A complete miss. Another just missed as Tonomi somersaulted forward. Another missed wildly over a ducking Tonomi's head. "Irritant," Kodachi mumbled, fairly sure Tonomi would not hear her due to her headphones and complete immersion in the music. Kodachi decided to wait until the one move in which she'd be sure to catch the Furinkan star dancer: the pirouette. Shortly, Kodachi's moment of opportunity came. Wasting no time, she wrapped her ribbon around Tonomi's arm. "Got you! OOOHOHOHOHOoooo?!" What Kodachi did not plan on was Tonomi's pirouette continuing, pulling the ribbon further down and Kodachi out of the tree. As Tonomi kept spinning, Kodachi went around her faster and faster, until finally the ribbon slipped off of Tonomi's arm, sending Kodachi away with a *PING!* into the midday sky. Tonomi finished with a dramatic pose as per usual, then grimaced slightly. She looked at her arm and idly wondered how rug burn got there, then shrugged and walked back to the school building. --- Noon came, and Shiro sat in the faculty lounge, eating. Kira really should have been here by now, Shiro thought. Maybe she got lost or something. He hoped she was okay, and wondered if he should find a substitute for a period so he could track her down. He lost himself in thought, staring at his sandwich, and was only interrupted when he heard soft footsteps enter the room. He turned around to see Mariko enter. "Good afternoon, Mariko! How's your day been?" Mariko shrugged nervously. "Yamada-sensei isn't here today. I... I had to teach the first couple of classes on my own. Luckily I had my free period between them so I had time to relax." "Today's your first time teaching alone, isn't it? I'm sorry we didn't get that far in our joint teaching plans before Principal Kunou shuffled the schedules up," Shiro said. "Oh, don't worry about it... I'm just afraid of coming off like I don't know what I'm doing. Afraid of looking like an idiot. Afraid of doing something clumsy like I always do," Mariko said, lowering her head in shame. "Hey... I don't recall you doing anything clumsy the first time we met." Mariko laughed and looked up at him. "Of course I did. I came crashing through the door." "Uh... the first time we taught together?" "I tripped and fell in the middle of the row over someone's bag." Shiro sweatdropped and thought for a moment. "I guess what I'm trying to get at, Mariko, is this: I had forgotten about those things because they really aren't important. What's important here at this school isn't what mistakes you make or what inadequacies you may have or think you have, but the way you carry yourself, the way you treat the students, the way you teach and how effectively you get those students to learn." "But..." "Shh, no buts. We're here to teach and the students are here to learn," Shiro stated. "They know that. They know they're going to have to soak up every little bit of knowledge they can so they can get into the university of their choice, and it's up to us to give that knowledge to them, preferably in a manner that's easy for them to digest and retain." Mariko blinked. "They're supposed to eat their lessons and gain weight from them?" Shiro smiled wryly and shook his head. "Not like that. They're supposed to take in the knowledge and keep it there, not just memorize it and spit it out for you on a test." "Wouldn't that make a mess?" Shiro sighed. "We want our students to be able to remember things we teach them for a long time. That means we have to make class memorable for them." "So... maybe my making them laugh makes things memorable for them?" "Could be. I'd imagine there are also some students that are young versions of you; not very self-confident, afraid, worried... seeing someone like you work through that could inspire them into working through their own perceived inadequacies." Mariko smiled. "I get it now! Thank you, Shiro," she said, then gave him a peck on the cheek. "You're a sweet guy, you know that?" she asked, looking directly into his eyes. Shiro blushed. "I don't recall anyone telling me that before, no..." he trailed off and checked his watch. "Wow, your memory really *is* bad. I've told you that before," she said with a smile, then continued, "You need to go, don't you. Well, before you go, Shiro, I need to tell you something..." --- Sakura made her way toward the faculty lounge, ready for lunch after letting her Home Ec class out early. She had to figure out some way to isolate Akane in the classroom when cooking had to be done so fires, explosions and other natural disasters could be self-contained instead of affecting the entire area. How would she do it? Well, that was something to think about later. Right now, she needed food, preferably something that didn't remind her of okonomiyaki. Five steps and one corner away from the lounge, Sakura heard a clicking noise beneath her feet and stopped to look. "Stupid shoe came untied again," she mumbled, then knelt to re-tie the offending piece of footwear. While in such proximity to the lounge, she couldn't help but overhear the ongoing conversation within. "...before you go, Shiro, I need to tell you something..." Sakura stopped tying her shoe when she heard Mariko's voice. Just what sort of confession was she going to make? Was she going to pull a stunt like Tonomi had? "What is it, Mariko? Go ahead and say it, it's okay." That's our Shiro, up front and to the point, thought Sakura. "...thanks for listening, Shiro. And thanks for the advice. Not many people have bothered to talk to me before. I really appreciate it." "Shiro's a nice guy, or hadn't you noticed?" was Sakura's unspoken retort. "Any time, Mariko," Shiro replied. "Good luck with the rest of your day," he added. Sakura decided it was safe to enter the room at that point, and did so. Shiro greeted her and apologetically nodded as he left the room to go to his next class. Mariko smiled and greeted Sakura in a friendly manner. "Nice to see you too, Mariko," Sakura said, taking a seat opposite the elder teacher. "How's your day been?" Mariko proceeded to fill Sakura in on the previous portion of the day and her conversation with Shiro regarding it. "Maybe I'll do a better job in my next few classes," she finished. "From what I've heard you say, I don't think you did all that badly in your morning classes. Besides, if you don't let the students know that you're stressed or embarrassed, they'll think nothing's wrong at all and continue like nothing happened," Sakura said between bites of the food she'd procured from a vending machine. Mariko nodded. "Thanks, Sakura, I'll try that," she said with a sigh. Sakura tilted her head slightly in question. "What's wrong, Mariko?" "Oh, I only wish I knew how to repay Shiro for helping me out..." Oh, boy, Sakura thought. Better derail this train of thought before it gets too far. "I bet Shiro would appreciate it if you sat and listened to him sometime like he did for you. Seems to me like he's the one who's always the dispenser of advice around here; look for a time when he might need some and be there for him to listen then. He'd probably like that." "You think so? I'll do that, then. Thanks, Sakura! I should get to the classroom before Geography starts. I'll talk to you later, okay?" "We can't exactly avoid each other in this school," Sakura said, smiling. "Talk to you later, Mariko." Sakura let out a sigh of relief after Mariko left the room. At least she's not going to ask him out or throw herself at him like Tonomi or anything now, she thought. For all she knew, Shiro liked taller, more attractive women, women more his age-- And just why am I thinking about what Shiro wants in a woman, Sakura said to herself. It's his choice to make, if he's even looking or not. For all she knew, he'd devoted himself to a celibate life and wanted to avoid women, and that's why he pushed Tonomi away. But why should she care? It was his choice, not that the prodigy was biased in any direction or anything. Nope, it wasn't her choice. It didn't matter to her. Not. At. All. And with that thought firmly established in her mind, she threw out the wrapper to her sandwich and walked out of the room. --- "Where are we now? I could have sworn that last left turn was the right one to take... or maybe it was the right turn that was right?" Ryouga sighed. Someday, someone would have to teach him how to tell what direction he was facing. But right now, he had more important things on his mind, like getting this American girl back to Furinkan. "We lost again?" "Eheheh... no! Not at all! We're just--" "We lost. Simple enough for me," Kira replied. She glanced down at her watch; it read 1:30. An hour more at the maximum until she should get back to Furinkan. Getting there any later would probably make Shiro very mad... if he wasn't already. A loud rumble interrupted Kira's thought process rather rudely. Startled, she looked around to see if she could find the source of the rumbling. Then she realized something very important; it had been six hours since she had eaten. "I hungry," she muttered. "Hungry? Hmm, I could use some food too. Where would you like to-- oh wait, you're not from around here. I guess I'll have to show you the way!" Ryouga raised an arm triumphantly. "Let's see, there's Ucchan's... there's the Nekohanten..." "Silly boy! You can't find school, what makes you think you find food?!" Ryouga smiled. "Because I see someone coming that will lead me right where I want to go." Kira raised an eyebrow, puzzled. "Who?" She found out less than five seconds later as she was tackled from behind by a tall, white-robed young man. "Shampoo!" he declared. Kira retorted, "I not hair care product! I Kira!" Mousse blinked, startled. "Shampoo... you're going to kill me?" "Kira! KIRA, not kill! Let go!" Mousse placed a hand on Kira's forehead. "You're not feeling well, are you, Shampoo? Let's take you to your grandmother. I'm sure she'll have something for you." With that, Mousse took off running for the Nekohanten. Ryouga, smirking in victory, followed behind. --- "Borrow means to never pay." "Sorrow comes from never play." "Tomorrow is another day." "Tomorrow is a brudda's day." Shiro sighed. These tests weren't turning out well at all. After finishing about half of them, he'd only been able to give out one A grade, with the rest falling far into the mediocre or failing range. He decided to take a break from grading English and start grading the second period Algebra tests. "(a+b)^2 = a^2+b^2" Makes sense at first glance, thought Shiro, but after checking his answer sheet, he remembered the +2ab term between the squared variables. Looks like this class wasn't going to go very well either. As if he didn't have enough to worry about with English not going well and Kira missing... the end of the day could not come quickly enough. --- Mercifully, the end of the day did come quickly. But even with a weekend on the horizon, Shiro was in the furthest thing from a good mood. As he walked to the faculty lounge to finish grading the English tests and to meet Sakura for the latest Algebra review session, one of his problems was solved. "Shiro!" Wow, that voice sounds familiar, Shiro thought. He obediently turned around to see Kira running toward him. "What *happened* to you, Kira? How'd these holes get torn in your clothes? Where'd the sticks come from?" "" Kira went on to tell her story for the day. Meeting Ryouga, being kidnapped by Mousse and being yelled at by Shampoo comprised a good portion of her day. "" she finished. Shiro nodded in understanding. Rampant craziness just wasn't his thing. "" Kira nodded. "Something wrong, Shiro?" Shiro hadn't seen the newcomer approaching, but Kira had. "Sakura!" the tourist exclaimed, and ran over to her newfound friend. "Hi, Kira. Just a second." Sakura turned to Shiro. "You seem down. Is something wrong?" "Yeah... the tests we had today in English and Algebra? I've started grading, and they're coming out horribly. I'm starting to wonder if I'm a good enough teacher... the students obviously aren't learning what I'm teaching them." "Stop that right there," Sakura countered. "Good grades aren't necessarily a sign of a good amount of learning. I got awesome grades when I first started school, but that's because I knew it all already. That's why I got skipped ahead so far." "But Sakura, how can bad grades be a sign of good learning?" Sakura shrugged. "Maybe the questions were confusing or something." "So it *was* my fault." Sakura lowered her head in apology. "I didn't mean to imply that. Listen, Shiro. It's obvious that you need a break. I'm going to take Kira over to my lab for a while and show her around, so don't worry about her. Just go to the lounge and relax." "Thanks, Sakura. Oh, and don't forget your sample." With a smile, she answered, "Thanks for reminding me. Talk to you later." --- Time is a funny thing. While the end of the day had come quickly for Shiro, Mariko was not so lucky. Her last class of the day housed the sophomore class, home to the ever-exuberant combination of Hiroshi, Daisuke, Ranma and Akane, among others. Surprisingly enough, the class was quiet throughout the period. Not surprisingly, Mariko managed to trip, stutter, drop something or generally embarrass herself once every three minutes, if not less. What shocked Mariko was the class's lack of response to her blunders. Scattered laughter usually came up, but it was reserved; it didn't threaten to take over the classroom from her control. Whenever she made a request, the students obeyed, and when she caught Hiroshi going on about placing bets, he stayed quiet when she asked. At the end of the period, Mariko closed, saying, "Thank you for being so well-behaved, class. It's a good feeling to be working with you rather than against you." Akane raised her hand, and Mariko indicated that she could speak. "No, thank you, Kawai-sensei. You make class interesting," she said with a giggle. Other murmurs in the classroom attributed their willingness to obey Mariko to other factors, like her not being as much of a know-it-all like Takahashi-sensei or as much of a loudmouthed jerk as Yamada-sensei. When the final bell rang, Mariko thanked each student as they left, packed her things up and walked toward the door with a very big smile on her face. Unfortunately, because her eyes were closed, she couldn't see the fact that the door was currently shut. Dazed, she shook her head, then smiled again, opened the door and walked out. Shiro was right, she thought. It's how effectively we make them learn and how we carry ourselves. If I don't let my own clumsiness get to me, and it makes the students pay more attention, it's okay; I'll be a good teacher. With a happy sigh, she moved on. --- Kira and Sakura began gossiping once more as they walked away. "Kira sure is resilient, I'll give her that," Shiro muttered. He plopped down in the nearest lounge chair, opened the English folder and continued butchering each test with his red pen. Forty-six percent. Fifty-five percent. Seventy-seven percent. Thirty-nine percent. With each passing minute, Shiro looked more and more downcast. When at last he finished grading both the English and the Algebra tests, Shiro ran the numbers on them. He found the English class average score to be in the mid sixties, and the Algebra in the low seventies. Overall, the Algebra performance wasn't as bad as he thought, especially considering the fact that he wasn't really cut out to teach it. The English scores, however, were inexcusable. Shiro sat quietly, forehead in palms, and thought for a few minutes. His mental state had not approved appreciably before another person entered the room. "Ne, Shiro, whatcha thinking about?" Good old Mariko, innocent as ever. "Hi, Mariko..." he trailed off and laid his head back down into his hands. Mariko moved over and sat next to him, legs crossed. She poked his shoulder with her right hand, saying, "C'mon, you're down about something. Talk to me. I know I'm not the advice well like you, but maybe I can help." Shiro wordlessly passed the note card that he'd written the average scores, highs and lows for the English and Algebra tests on to Mariko. She looked at it for a moment, then said, "I'm sorry." "It's not your fault." "I can still be sorry. I know this class means a lot to you." She has no idea, Shiro thought. She really has no idea. He remembered weeks before when he'd gotten a call from his professor back at his school. "If you continue to receive good reports about your work at Furinkan for the rest of this year..." "Hm?" "Oh. A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from Professor Harumi at my university... he said that I'd get credit for school based on how well I did teaching here. Or how badly. I'd really prefer to finish out my schooling by doing a good job here, but..." Shiro sighed again. "You're worried that you're not good enough." Shiro nodded. "Remember what I told you earlier?" "What's important here at this school isn't what mistakes you make or what inadequacies you may have or think you have, but the way you carry yourself, the way you treat the students, the way you teach and how effectively you get those students to learn," Mariko recited. "So, since your students didn't do well on the exam, you're afraid you didn't teach them well enough." "That, or I made the test too confusing, or expected too much from them. I don't know what I did wrong, but I know I did something wrong." Mariko pursed her lips momentarily, then said, "Maybe." "What do you mean, maybe? Those kids didn't fail on this test, I failed to teach them." "Shiro, remember the first day I came here? Remember the first time we sat in this room talking about teaching methods? You said 'You just have to adapt to what the student needs and what you're comfortable with. When those two things overlap, you've found what will work for that particular class.' This was the first time you've given them a test, right?" Shiro nodded. "Then maybe you just didn't know yet whether you were teaching them effectively or not. Maybe this is your wake-up signal to try something different. Something new. Something better." Mariko finished with a smile, which brightened her beautiful face even more than usual. "You're not a bad teacher, Shiro. You just haven't found what works yet." Shiro thought on this for a while, then he laughed softly. "You know, it's kind of funny... usually I'm the one giving advice. Usually I'm the calm one, y'know? Now I'm the wreck." Mariko replied, "At least you know you have a problem and are admitting it instead of keeping it inside yourself." The distraught English teacher nodded. Maybe she was right. Maybe he should try something different, something fresh, something new. "Hey, Mariko... do you have any ideas for what I could do differently to teach the freshmen?" "Hmm..." Mariko pondered for a moment, fingers drumming on the table and chin in palm. "I'll think about it, okay?" Shiro smiled. "Thanks, Mariko." Finally, things were looking up today. Kira was back and relatively safe, and the tests may have gone somewhat badly, but there was still room for improvement before the final reports to his school went in for his internship. "Wai! It's good to see you smiling again, Shiro," Mariko said, eyes sparkling in triumph. "And you're welcome; after all, I was just returning the favor." Shiro got up and moved to leave the room. All he had left to do was pick up Kira from Sakura's lab and go home and relax... life was somewhat back to normal. Before he could leave, Mariko came up to him and tapped his shoulder lightly. "Hmm?" Shiro mumbled, turning around to face her. Their eyes met for a moment before Mariko continued. "Well, you did ask me for ideas for how you could teach better. How do you expect me to tell you about them before school on Monday?" Mariko seemed to be a bit nervous, Shiro noted. Nah, maybe he was just imagining it. She'd been fine for the last few minutes, oddly the calm to his emotional storm. "Did you have any suggestions?" "H-how about we meet for dinner tomorrow night to discuss it?" So much for life being back to normal. --- Author's Notes: Well, I hope you liked it. I'm happy with this part; I tried to make Mariko a legitimate contender for Shiro's feelings, or at least take a step in that direction. By the time we end this story, all three of the main girls should be up there; Tonomi, Sakura and Mariko. Comments and criticisms, if any, are encouraged. Feel free to post a review to the message board even if you're not a regular writer; it'd be good to know that there are readers out there who care about where this story is going and how it's being written. Expect to see me back in the queue soon unless great riots break out at the very notion. It's been fun. Aaron "Falcon" Bolner bolnerap@rose-hulman.edu 11.25.00