Oh, my crap. This again. “Yes, well, I feel very warm these days. Especially in here,” I end up saying. I don’t feel like getting into an argument about this.

“Eh? Warm? Ah, yes. Warm. It is warm biz soon. So why short sleeves?” She mutters something under her breath about whether or not Manager and Lieko taught me about warm biz and having a word with them about this.

The elevator dings. “Yay! Students!” Oh, thank God. I go out to greet them. “Good mor—”

“YADAAAAA!”

Shit.

Hitomu scrambles up his mother’s legs as the two Zippo and Zappo students I didn’t see yesterday step out of the elevator. They move slowly, watching the spectacle this small child creates as his mother stumbles with him and tries to put him down on the floor.

“Ah, anata wa Hitomu-kun deshou?” Bucho steps out of the staff room. She goes up to the boy and kneels, reaching for him. “Ogenki desu ka, Hitomu-kun?”

Hitomu’s screams reach a keening pitch and he sprints through the lobby in terror, scrambling for safety under the reception desk. “Oni baba! Oni baba! Oni baba!”

“Ah! Hitomu-kun, ohayou!” says Manager, coming down the hall. “And Cybelle! Eh, Cybelle-sensei, can we talk?”

“Sure.” I know it’s Manager’s way of shooing me into the staff room, but I don’t care. I’m grateful for the excuse to get farther away from this child.

As Manager slides the door behind me, Bucho calls after him, saying something about a meeting later. Manager turns to me. “What is Cybelle doing in staff room?”

I blink. “You just told me to come in here.”

“But, why are you not ready for Zippo and Zappo? In Room Five?”

“Uh, because that was yesterday?”

“Ah! So sorry! Now, you have two Zippo and Zappo; only Hanae and Shizuko on Wednesday, and Yuta and Toshiro are today. New class today, at eleven o’clock, from now on. Sorry.”

“Oh. So, in like … five minutes.” Oh, brother.

Manager walks with me as I carry my box to Room Five and set up. “Yes, Yuta and Toshiro will have Zippo and Zappo with Cybelle on Thursdays. And today, I have unfortunate news. Two classes today are cancelled. Asako and the Gotou twins. So, no Zone V lesson, and no Zone IV lesson today.”

“Oh. That’s okay. They’ll be back next week, right?”

“Eh? No. They, ah, transfer to Osaka Zozo. So, no more lessons. So sorry. But! Good news! Interview at four today is cancelled, so good news is that Cybelle has long lunch, and more time for planning lessons.” He grins at me as if he expects me to jump up and down. “Also, we have staff meeting today.”