“Hello,” she says to me. “Excuse me. ‘Shibere’-sensei, ne?”

“Um,” I raise my eyebrows. “Yes?” I think?

“I am Bucho. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too.”

She tells Manager in Japanese to call several students for something as soon as he’s finished telling me whatever he scooted me in here for. Her tone isn’t as kind when she switches languages. “Thank you, ‘Shibere’-sensei! Mata ne!” She closes the door behind her.

“I am sorry, Cybelle,” Manager whines. “I wanted to warn you before you saw Bucho. She is Bucho from Head Office. Ah, she will be here this week, and she is very hard-working. Very strict. She will ask you if you are re-contracting, maybe many times. Have you decided? About imouto-san’s wedding?”

I feel something in my eye. “Sorry, not yet.”

“Ah, I see. Please decide very soon. You must send the form in less than three weeks, so, please, decide soon. Oh, wait. Ah, Bucho must use computer, maybe for a long time, so please do not use computer if Bucho is in the staff room. Which is, maybe, all the time.”

“So how am I supposed to sign in?”

“I will sign you in when Bucho is not using computer. Please, do not worry. Please, go to lessons, as normal. I will change the times later. Also, she is very afraid of internet virus, so we cannot use internet, so maybe, no printing for you this week. So sorry.”

I nod. “It’s okay.” Good thing I did all that last week.

“Thank you. And, also, today, we must clean very hard. Today I label towels in washroom, so if you see ‘WB,’ please clean only whiteboard, and if you see‘mado,’ please clean only windows, and …” He swears. “Ah, sorry, Cybelle! I write labels in Japanese. So, later, I will write translation for you. In staff room.”

“That’s okay, I’ll figure it out.”

“No. I must. It is very important. If you use wrong towel, it will be very troublesome. So, please, do not clean until I write translation. Ah, and, tonight, after cleaning, we must wait for Bucho to tell us when everything is clean. So please, do not go home until Bucho says. Please wait in lobby with other teachers. Is it okay?”

“Okay.”

“Thank you, Cybelle.”

We hear the elevator chimes. The sound of Akiko greeting everyone with flowers she collected outside fills the lobby. Manager lets me out of the room to get ready. He’s so anxious he doesn’t even comment on the drink cup I have behind my back. After I toss it into the staff room garbage, I can’t help but make a face. So, the Zozo staff is going to get more anal over things that don’t matter. Wonderful. If I wasn’t so full, this would totally kill my ganbarimasu epiphany. But it’s okay. The time to enjoy English has begun.