"I guess I better lead you up to the headmistress' office now since we are already late as it is," Ranma declared when they had reached the entrance to the pink palace that was the main building of the Pretty Heart Academy for magical girls. "Maybe I can show you around campus afterwards. There is really a lot more to it than just this and the main street."
"I would like that," Ami agreed smiling.
This Ranma Saotome was a bit skittish and strange but that was no reason to be impolite and she really wanted to learn more about this unusual place.
"This castle really isn't that big. Just large enough to look pretty and impressive to the visitors. They scaled everything down when they build it for the park to save space and money," Ranma explained as he guided her inside. "There is just enough room for the great hall and some of the classrooms and offices and the teachers lounge inside. The rest of the academy has been put in other parts of the campus."
"The rest of the Academy?" Ami wondered.
"Like the dorms for the students who are going to live here," Ranma elaborated while they walked. "They are going to put them in the hotel by the street that belonged to the theme park. Some of the classes will also be held elsewhere for one reason or another. I think they are trying to use as much of the park structure as possible. You should see what they have done with the World-of-Tomorrow."
"Won't that mean a lot of moving around between lessons for the students if the campus is so decentralized," Ami asked worriedly.
"All that running around to keep from being late for class will be good training for the girls," Ranma assured her. "Magical girls always have to run to where the monsters are. Besides there's tracks everywhere in this park if the mechanics can get the rides working again the lazy students can use them for transportation."
Ami pondered that idea as they reached the stairs leading upwards. Had Usagi's daily sprints to school because of her perpetual lateness somehow improved her ability to react quickly to nearby youma attacks? She had to abandon her musings when she almost collided with a woman walking down the stairs. The conservatively dressed bespectacled young woman could not have seen Ami to avoid her because her attention was focused on a book in front of her face. Thankfully the handcart rattling down the stairs behind her gave sufficient audible warning to anyone crossing her path to allow them to get out of her way.
"Yomiko you have to look out where you are going!" Ranma admonished the newcomer. "You almost ran over poor Ami here."
"Oh, hello Ranma-kun," Yomiko greeted stopping and finally noticing that she was not alone.
"Yomiko this is Ami Mizuno she is here for an interview for a job as a teacher," Ranma introduced now that he had her attention. "Mizuno-san this is Yomiko Readman our librarian."
They politely exchanged pleasantries but it appeared to Ami to be an uphill battle to get her interested in anything outside her books and hold her attention there as the librarian quickly seemed to lose interest.
"Say Ranma-kun have you seen Kintaro-kun anywhere?" she asked almost an afterthought before returning to her book and continuing on her way.
"Haven't you heard about the incident in the bathroom yesterday? We will have to do without a custodian for a few days until he has recovered," Ranma told her.
"Oh, that is too bad," Yomiko lamented. "He promised to help me carry up the latest delivery for the library from the bookstore today. Can't you do it?"
"Er, ...I have to take up Ami to the headmistress's office," Ranma stalled and Ami was reminded of his curious reluctance to go near the bookstore earlier.
Whatever his reason to avoid that particular establishment might have been they were no match for the puppy-eyed looked that Yomiko now unleashed on him. Ranma finally relented.
"Good, I will be waiting for you at the castle entrance." Yomiko agreed happily and then added as if too prove that she had not totally forgotten Ami's presence. "Good luck with your interview, Mizuno-san. If you get the job you will have to visit me in the library so we can discuss text-books."
"Yomiko is a nice girl, but she has a bit of a thing about books," Ranma revealed when the woman in question had continued on her way dragging her handcart behind her. "I think she buys books in bulk so she really needs the help getting them all to the library. It is a good thing that they decided against having the library here in the castle or she would have filled it right up in no time. The library now is the big house with the clock on the plaza where we came."
"Readman is a bit of a unusual name," Ami observed for lack of anything better to say as they continued their way up.
"Yeah, she is half-English or something,"Ranma agreed. "The British sent her here when we asked them for help setting the school up. They apparently have more experience over there with that sort of thing and we are having a hard time finding qualified instructors so having them some of their people here has really helped even if Yomiko spends most of her time reading books."
Reaching the end of the stairs and starting down a corridor Ami thought about that. If they had trouble filling positions than that meant that her chances of actually getting the job were even better than she had thought.
"The acting headmistress was send by them, too." Ranma said stopping before a wooden door and beginning to knock. "I think the guys in charge would prefer somebody local, but she is doing a good job setting things up. I think she is from Scotland or something like that."
Before Ami could reply to that the door opened and a voice bade them to come in.
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(Posted Thu, 01 Jun 2006 21:56)
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