"Where is it? I know it's in here somewhere…" he murmured, rummaging around through a small closet of drawers where the homework assignments students completed were kept until the work was graded by the respective teachers who collected it. If they were too busy, another teacher would gladly help out with that unless a substitute teacher was brought in from the castle. Lowrie's search caught her attention and she looked up from the assignments she'd been grading to find him hard at work at the closet. "Not here…perhaps I put it in the wrong drawer by mistake."
"Looking for a student's assignment that needs grading, Lowrie?" Greif asked blandly and turned back to her own duties while he provided an answer to her rather nonchalant inquiry.
"It's already been graded," he responded while still looking. "I'm trying to find it, so I can return the assignment to her. I could have sworn I placed it in my drawer, but maybe I accidently put it in a different one. One of the other teachers might've accidently taken it thinking it belonged to one of their students." He checked through the other drawers, yet he still couldn't find it. "Nope, not in any of them; I'll check with the other teachers. Hey, Ms. Greif, you wouldn't have happened to see something that didn't belong in your drawer, right? An assignment from a different course?"
Being the only other teacher in the teacher's lounge which connected to all the offices they and the principal used at this time of the day, Greif sighed and stretched her arms up after finishing the grading she did. "I checked it yesterday when all the day's assignments were stored there. I did not see anything out of the ordinary or didn't belong. Assignments from courses I teach have been accounted for, so nothing else was found in mine when I checked this morning again to collect the assignments and return them to the proper students who finished them." She averted her attention back to Lowrie and cast a cold glare at him. "Don't tell me you lost a student's work, Lowrie."
"Maybe I have by accident," he admitted, stepping away from the closet and heading in his office to gather some things for an upcoming class. "Though like I said, I'll check with the others; it is possible I put it in one of their drawers by mistake. I'll also explain the matter to her as well."
"Which student of yours is it?" the gryphon asked while going into her own office to collect some things for one of her classes as well. "Do you believe she'll understand and take it well?"
"She received an A on the project, so I'll be sure to tell her that too," Lowrie called out so she could hear him as their offices were on opposite sides of the lounge. "Yosafire's the student."
"Yosafire?" Greif's ears perked up and her eyes widened at the mention of the girl's name when the bird demon uttered it. It was odd, at least to her anyway even though Yosafire was getting better about bringing in her homework more frequently nowadays. She was at the point of actually bringing it in earlier sometimes or on time on other occasions, and the young demon rarely missed one anymore. Still, the behavioral aspect concerning her forgetting about it more often prior to the invasion Ivlis undertook in their world months ago made the gryphon think otherwise. Most likely the notion was still conditioned in her mind, having been reinforced by countless times of the girl's past absentmindedness. Greif then sighed, figuring now was another case of that. "Let me guess," she commented critically, her voice somewhat tinged with irritation, "she forgot it again, did she?"
Lowrie shook his head upon exiting his office and shutting the door behind him. "No, I've already said she received an A for it. She definitely turned it in and I collected it from her."
"Then the mistake is your fault, Lowrie," Greif concluded as-a-matter-of-factly.
"Maybe so as we've already established," he remarked casually, not bothered by that fact. "I do wonder what might've become of it if the other teachers don't have it, and I doubt one of the other students may have taken it for some reason." He went on to explain what it was, but Greif's focus was on another matter pertaining to her own work which was why she failed to catch it.
"You'd better hope you find it soon, Lowrie," she warned him from her office. "If this does not turn up soon, you'll be in quite a bit of trouble for losing a student's assignment." She couldn't help suppress a smirk on her part, finding amusement in teasing him before the bird demon walked out of the teacher's lounge, leaving her alone in there until she left as well. Before she exited, Greif opened the bottom drawer of her desk to look at the smashed pieces of a buzzer she discovered in Lowrie's drawer yesterday when she was alone. Figuring either he, another teacher, or the principal for that matter, was playing a childish prank on the others—including her—Greif smirked a second time before she closed it. "I don't know who put this there, but whoever did shall be in for quite a rude awakening once I find out who it is and expose the fool for placing this there to annoy others."
It definitely annoyed her by nearly driving Greif over the brink of irritated insanity, though she had discovered the stupid thing eventually after half an hour of searching. Instead of checking to see if there was a name on since she did find it in Lowrie's drawer of graded assignments, Greif angrily smashed the buzzer to pieces by throwing it up against a wall as hard as she could. With it destroyed, she gathered up the pieces and stored them away, waiting for the owner's reaction once whoever it was discovered the buzzer was missing. That was when she'd expose the owner, though for now Greif was content with merely hiding it away while waiting for the chance to present itself.
…
Hours and classes passed by at a fair pace throughout the day, and by the time Greif finished the latter she was already looking forward to getting home to finish reading a book she started the month before. It was a pretty ordinary day, and she heard nothing more about the assignment which was still missing. Yosafire was in the two courses she taught, and although the young demon might have mentioned it at some point during those classes, her teacher hadn't been paying attention then because Yosafire wasn't near the front of the room and her conversations with members of groups she'd been assigned to for work were pretty quiet whether on topic or off topic. It didn't matter in any case because Greif didn't care all that much. "Well, time to get these graded and go home."
She sighed, running a hand over her side tail distractedly with the other on the door so she could open it and step over the threshold into the teacher's lounge. Her bag brushed by the frame, slung over one shoulder and lightly tapping her back with each step she took. Having shut her eyes while walking in, the gryphon opened them upon hearing sounds of rummaging in an office. "Who could that be, I wonder?" she mused quietly and softened her footsteps to sneak up on the person. "Our prankster, I bet." She smirked, prepared to catch the perpetrator in the act when Greif swore she heard a familiar voice from within speaking to the teacher inside, thanking him for the search.
Whether it was coincidence or not, Greif suspected there was a very good reason why she'd come in here. Perhaps the student she recognized had been scolded for something in class.
"Not in here either, huh…oh well, thanks for the help Mr. Riktor," Yosafire remarked and walked out after he had replied back to her, noticing the gryphon standing in the lounge. ""Oh, hi, Ms. Greif, you're done for the day?" she inquired with a smile and a friendly wave.
"Yosafire?" Greif blinked, pondering why the student was in here if she wasn't in trouble before realizing the girl came in to possibly look for the homework assignment. "Did you receive permission to come in here? I don't recall authorizing your admittance into a teacher's only room?" Although she suspected Yosafire was searching for it—and she felt correct about the assumption—Greif nevertheless asked her about that next. "What are you doing in here, anyway?" She didn't want to reveal her idea of finding the prankster, hence why she played ignorant to Yosafire.
"Trying to find my project from yesterday," came the immediate reply from the demon. "I got permission from Principal Lesley to look for it and the other teachers were gracious enough to help me. We've checked several of the offices around here together, but some of the teachers have to get ready to leave now. Thankfully I already finished their offices with them before they left."
"I see…" Greif murmured, stepping past her. "Carry on, though know I've not seen it today or yesterday. My office only contains what you might've seen in it, so I guarantee it is not there." With that said, she entered her office and sat down at her desk to do some paperwork. Grading was the first objective, and she went through it carefully. She could hear sounds of more rummaging a short distance away and looked up to find Yosafire at the closet where graded work went. Lowrie's presence alleviated the concern Greif had regarding whether the student was allowed to look there to begin with, so she dropped the matter and returned to her work just as Principal Lesley sauntered over to the two of them and spoke with them to inquire how the search was going. Greif could not hear their conversation, but she caught sight of the bird demon stepping away while waving which indicated he was leaving for the day. He waved at her too before leaving with some other teachers as Yosafire followed the principal into his office and began rummaging through it with him.
The noise didn't bother her that much, though she did open the bottom drawer to check on the broken buzzer she destroyed. Its pieces were still there, and she hadn't noticed a single reaction from any of the teachers during their lunchbreak when they came in here to eat while students all ate in the cafeteria. Closing it a second later once she confirmed it was still present, she went right back to work and continued grading the assignments. The process took a short while as there were many reports and additional assignments to go over, but eventually the gryphon finished a load for one of the courses when she heard a rapping at the open door and looked up to find Yosafire there.
"Excuse me, Ms. Greif, sorry for the interruption," Yosafire remarked before walking into the office and bowed before standing upright to readjust her glasses so they didn't fall off. "I have looked everywhere for my assignment, but it's nowhere to be found yet. Principal Lesley must go now, and it's not in his office either since we couldn't find it there either." The demon smiled with her hands folded together in front of her, and Greif sighed because she couldn't comprehend what Yosafire was doing here—not that the presence of her favorite student—Greif didn't want to relate that to Yosafire herself—bothered her, but the noise of everything seemed to be coming here now. Unless Yosafire already checked her office, a logical conclusion Greif made from that remark the student just made now, there was no reason why the demon should've come to her next.
"Is there a reason you're telling me this, Yosafire?" she asked suspiciously, starting to think that the young demon was the perpetrator she'd been looking for. It certainly was a possibility, so Greif considered whether Yosafire had the audacity to annoy her and the other teachers with such a childish prank like that. Perhaps she was only using this homework assignment as a cover-up to search for the damned thing and secretly steal it back, spiriting it away with everyone oblivious to the fact. "Surely you found your homework assignment by now if you've looked everywhere?"
"Oh, I guess I did word it like that," Yosafire chuckled sheepishly, admitting to that. "Yes, I've searched the rest of the teacher's lounge with everyone's help. The only place I haven't looked in is your office, Ms. Greif. You don't mind if I look around, do you?" Her question was innocent enough, though Greif still wanted to acquire a reaction as to how Yosafire handled rejection to her request. The fact the girl came in here under a pretense of finding homework was enough to make the teacher suspect her of wrongdoing regarding the buzzer, hence why she didn't believe her tale. Even so, Greif also accounted for the work she was still doing as well before responding.
"I do mind, yes. Have I not told you it isn't in here, Yosafire?"
"You did, though Principal Lesley suggested I double check just to be sure," the girl stated while the demonic principal walked by and poked his head in to see how the effort was going.
"As a matter of fact, I did," he cheerfully remarked to confirm the validity of that statement. "Greif, it'll only be for a little bit. Surely you can help her find the assignment she's looking for."
Although Greif would've sighed, she figured doing so wasn't proper in his presence due to her military training teaching her to always respect her superiors. "Very well," she consented to it, "though I am still busy with my own work. She may search my office as need be, but I can't offer my assistance at this time since I'm currently grading other assignments from my courses."
"That's quite alright," Principal Lesley commented with a small smile, "and you could take a break from it if you wish before finishing. Just a suggestion, but feel free to think about it." With a quick wave goodbye to them both, he walked away and exited the teacher's lounge.
"Thank you, sir!" Yosafire called out to him and waved goodbye as well before turning to Greif with her eyes shut and a smile on her face. "And thank you too, Ms. Greif. I appreciate being given the permission to search your office. I promise I'll try to not be too loud or distracting."
"Sure, you do that," Greif brushed her aside with a mere wave of her hand. "Now if you'll excuse me, Yosafire, I've got to finish grading these assignments. Go ahead and look around. I do trust you'll not disturb me with pointless inquiries and idle chatter, so be as quiet you can be."
"Roger that!" Yosafire playfully saluted her teacher and got right to the task, turning toward the bookcase in the office first and picking volumes from it. Though Greif expected her to flip the pages of each one, aware that the homework assignment had to be thin enough to fit within pages, she was sort of surprised that the demon wasn't doing anything of the sort since she appeared more concerned with checking the space behind them than inside of them. Her student didn't remove all the books at once since Yosafire was very neat and tidy about the alphabetical organization by the author's last name, and she only removed a few books at a time before putting them back. Putting a bent finger to her chin, she looked around the room and considered other places it could've been when she turned to the filing cabinets and opened them up to riffle through them.
By this point Greif was already halfway done with grading for the other course she taught and took a deep breath while leaning back in her chair. Out of curiosity she averted her attention to Yosafire to see what the girl was doing now. The demon was methodically pulling out important files and documents from the filing cabinets, though she didn't examine them thoroughly and put them back. Again, she was concerned more with the spacing of how big certain spots were during her search. Just what was her homework assignment? Greif knew it might've been something from one of Lowrie's courses and figured she might as well inquire about it. "Yosafire," she spoke up even though her student didn't make eye contact with her. It was rude not to, though a quick glance at the clock hanging on the wall showed it was getting closer to four twenty. As the two of them were the only individuals left in the school building, Greif knew they both wanted to get home as soon as possible, hence why she overlooked the rudeness. "What are you searching for exactly? Shouldn't you be more meticulous in your investigation of my office for your assignment?"
"Oh, it's not that big, Ms. Greif," Yosafire responded, "but it can't fit in small spaces."
"That answers my second question, but you've not told me what it is."
"Mr. Lowrie said he explained it to you and everyone else before."
Grief blinked and slowly started to connect the dots. Ah, yes, he did say something, though she wasn't sure what it was and couldn't really remember to be honest. "I don't recall him talking to me about whatever project you've done in one of his classes is," she replied, somewhat truthful and dishonest at the same time on purpose because she wanted to hear it from Yosafire. "If you're claiming he related this to me already, why don't you refresh my memory so I might ascertain the assignment's whereabouts if I do know about it?" It was fairly simple request, one the demon was capable of fulfilling because this was her homework; therefore, she'd know about it well.
"It was a buzzer."
Greif blinked again, surprised by Yosafire's honesty. She thought Yosafire would've given her a different response by saying it was something she made or completed. The gryphon's eyes widened slightly, taking in that information. "A buzzer…?" she parroted in confusion.
"Yeah, a little green buzzer that goes off every thirty seconds or so," Yosafire explained as she checked another drawer. "I switched it off when handing it in to Mr. Lowrie, yesterday, though he says it's possible it might've gone on by accident while putting it inside his drawer of work he's graded. You or one of the other teachers might've heard it and collected my buzzer for some time."
Putting a bent finger to her chin as she gazed up at the ceiling in deep thought, Greif racked her mind for possible places where a buzzer could be kept. She clearly didn't remember seeing the girl's name on it before when she broke that buzzer, so maybe it was a different one. Although…it couldn't have been, could it? Checking the button drawer, she pulled out a piece and made sure it wasn't spotted by Yosafire. The demon was still examining one last drawer in the filing cabinet as she then turned to a compartment in the wall and rummaged inside it for the buzzer. Having noticed that her student was occupied, Greif checked the piece she picked and looked over it. There wasn't any name on it, so the gryphon just kept checking the pieces until she came upon a flat part which had something etched into it. Bending down to examine whatever it was, Greif looked it over and her eyes widened in slight shock because she suddenly saw it had Yosafire's name etched on it. It was the very buzzer she destroyed, the one Yosafire made, and that buzzer was in her desk.
A single cold bead of perspiration trickled down her face from her temple, caressing Greif's left cheek before dripping onto the floor. It was disrespectful—no, beyond disrespectful because a serious incident like this could've meant serious consequences for her. Teachers were not allowed to destroy a student's work—unless the student didn't mind, or if that was the idea. The fact wasn't just a spoken rule to be followed; it was also an unspoken taboo inherent in the meaning of what's been said in that message. Because she inadvertently destroyed Yosafire's buzzer out of a frenzied rage—well, it was bordering on that yesterday—Greif realized the ramifications of this were quite intense. Her pay could've been docked, or she could've been fired; the verdict could have become a lesser sentence if she were to come clean about it, but how to go about telling Principal Lesley?
Greif failed to suppress a shudder at the next thought that came to mind. How to relate this to Yosafire? What if her student found out? The young demon was already here and she could find out at this very moment if possible. Although Greif knew she had to be honest, she still required a bit of time to prepare herself for what could or would have happened once this issue was divulged. That was why she set the piece back into the drawer and closed it after taking out a puzzle box she used to store paper clips in as a possible means of trying to throw Yosafire off to bide time for the truth. She hoped the demon wouldn't have caught her suspicious movements as she sat back up to find Yosafire already standing there with a puzzled look on her face that nearly startled Greif.
"O-oh, Yosafire, what is it now?" she asked, trying to suppress the first stutter and attempt to come across as irritated in the tone of voice she used when addressing her student. "Did you not say you wouldn't distract me from my work? I'm still busy grading these assignments."
Yosafire cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms. "Can I help you, Ms. Greif?" she asked inquisitively, putting a bent finger to her chin while staring at her.
"No, you may not since you are not a teacher or even a teacher's assistant for that matter," Greif retorted, wondering whether it was right to come across as being too forceful in that response.
"But I caught you glancing over at me while I was searching the compartment of materials from your military service," Yosafire explained, still puzzled—maybe she was bordering on being suspicious of her teacher, "including a mirror. I saw you through that. You wouldn't happen to be hiding anything from me, right? You don't happen to have my buzzer, correct?" Although she had come across as inquisitively curious at first, her line of inquiry certainly did make it sound like she was becoming suspicious. Even her facial expression, despite still being confused, showed she did suspect her teacher of possessing the buzzer. "Could it be in your desk, Ms. Greif?"
"N-no, of course not, I'm not hiding anything from you, Yosafire!" Greif answered her and inwardly regretted having been too hasty in her reply. Even so, she still kept up the appearance of not having the student's buzzer by getting annoyed on purpose. Hopefully that would drive her to look elsewhere while Greif thought of a way to solve the problem. Unfortunately for her, it didn't because her first word was stuttered again and she quickly denied all knowledge of it. "Absolutely not, I do not have your damn buzzer and you may not check my desk for it because it isn't in here!"
"But the other teachers and Principal Lesley let me check their desks and they verified that my buzzer wasn't in their desks," Yosafire put forth a counterpoint. "I even saw it wasn't myself."
"That was their decision to make, and my decision stands firm," Greif toned down on how angry she felt because perhaps it had been a little too much to make Yosafire suspicious. She bent down to open the bottom drawer and collected the pieces of her student's broken buzzer, gripping them firmly in her hand over her lap in the event Yosafire stepped around it to check the drawers. "Now run along and go home. Students like yourself are not allowed on school premises afterhours unless it is for the purpose of being in an afterschool club or under a teacher's observation. You've been aware of that for years since you've first started coming here as a student, Yosafire."
"But I need your help, Ms. Greif," Yosafire said, somehow feeling as if her teacher did have the buzzer as evident in how Greif reacted to her inquiry about it. "You're still grading papers which means you're not leaving yet, and I am under your observation as such."
Her remark revealed the error in her teacher's wording, yet Greif remained undaunted since she still hoped Yosafire would leave her alone and forget about the buzzer for a while. "Absolutely not, I shall not repeat myself, Yosafire. As I am the teacher here, I have the authority to cancel this investigation whether you have found your little project or not. Is that clear to you, Yosafire?" The sudden reminder of her role throughout this affair should've ended the subject as Greif had hoped since her logic had already failed, but the demon merely put both hands on the desk.
"Yes, I fully acknowledge that, Miss Greif, but you're avoiding the question and not letting me confirm whether your account is accurate or not via solid, concrete evidence," Yosafire said to counter the notion before getting right to the point instead of beating around the bush. "Is it in your desk, or not, Ms. Greif?" she asked somewhat critically, eyeing her teacher suspiciously since she really did think her teacher was lying to her about it instead being honest by telling the truth.
"It is most certainly not, Yosafire!" Greif commented, unintentionally raising her voice.
"Might I take a look to confirm the validity of your answer? The other teachers along with Principal Lesley allowed me to validate the fact my buzzer wasn't in their desks by showing them to me," the young demon went on, her voice also beginning to display tinges of frustration.
"No, you may not."
"Are you aware that by being the only faculty member to deny that request, you are casting suspicion on yourself by refusing to let me confirm whether my buzzer is in your desk, or not?" It was a perfectly valid question and Yosafire definitely hit the nail on the head which worried Greif. However, her teacher did not show it and merely clung to the concept of being the superior here.
"Y-yes, I am indeed aware of that," she murmured, failing to suppress a stuttered word due to her concern turning into slight fear. "Nevertheless, I am still your teacher, Yosafire; you are the student. I'll well within that right to deny your request based on that criteria alone."
"Solely that criteria without any evidence to support your claim regarding my buzzer?"
Greif nodded, hoping Yosafire would accept that by knowing her place. "Indeed; besides I know you don't have proof either as to whether your buzzer is in my desk or not."
"Hence why the responsibility of providing said proof must come from you."
"Excuse me?"
"The burden of proof is an essential means of proving my claim is false, Ms. Greif. As I've put forth the notion of my buzzer being in your desk via asking you about it, you are required to demonstrate it isn't by showing me, as I'm the judge of that. My verification is needed to determine if my buzzer is in your desk or not. Your desk is Schrodinger's Cat in this scenario. By refusing to uphold your side of the debate to disprove my claim without providing proof, I know you're acting mighty suspicious, Ms. Greif," Yosafire explained. While she impressed her teacher with the point and usage of a philosophical term—making Greif feel a little insecure because of how accurate the demon was—Greif didn't know how else to finish the discussion as Yosafire really was spot on in her logic whereas hers was illogical. Still, it didn't mean she needed to surrender by caving to her student's reasonable request. That would only lead to unnecessary trouble for her.
"That's a nice argument, Yosafire, but my decision still stands firm," Greif remained strong in her flimsy defense and crossed her arms, being careful so Yosafire didn't see the parts that were from her buzzer in the teacher's talons. "Now run along and head home as I'm very busy." Though she still held hope that would make her student go away, Yosafire merely growled in dissatisfaction and frustration because her teacher was being very uncooperative. "Like I said, you've no proof."
"Because you have to provide it!" Yosafire fired back at her. "Need I remind you that you were the one who didn't listen to me when I said the alchemical ingredients produced a Morph?"
Greif failed to stop herself from turning visibly pale at the mention of that. "T-that was not my fault! I-it was an accident, you know that, Yosafire! I've already apologized for it and gave the reimbursement to you for what you've spent to restock the science lab's alchemical ingredients and fix the door! It has no correlation to this matter whatsoever!" Her voice shook as she couldn't help but shudder while trying to put forth her quivering rebuttal to end the debate.
"It shows you have lied to me once by not expressing your intentions and the truth," came the immediate reply from Yosafire, who continued to go on the attack without taking action yet.
"So you believe what happened only once is a valid connection between then and now?!"
"Precisely, Miss Greif, your past accident—which you are still responsible for; don't try to deny that much—and your behavior now are starting to form a link between two different incidents you and I were main parties to. Despite their disassociations in nature, the fact remains that you've lied to me about something and I am beginning to believe you are lying to me again."
Greif began to feel a little short of breath due to fear, unable to prevent herself from actually expressing that fear through body language which already became apparent to her student. Yet she still held a smidgen of faith in the belief that Yosafire would know her place eventually. "No means no, Yosafire! Now I will not repeat myself again, save for this once: leave now, or I will be forced to have you pull weeds in detention." She pointed to the door as she spoke, wishing her threat was going to work because she knew Yosafire hated detention and pulling weeds as punishment. It was too bad for her because she thought wrong, apparently underestimating her student's commitment to finding that buzzer. In a sudden, unexpected move, Yosafire seized one side of the desk and had violently shifted it away from her teacher before beginning to search all the drawers.
"It's either in your desk, or your hands, Miss Greif!" she accused the gryphon. "Whichever it is, I'm quite positive you definitely have the buzzer I got an A on in Mr. Lowrie's science class! I don't care about your petty threats anymore at this point because I can certainly prove I'm right!"
"W-wha—Yosafire, I-I—" Greif stammered, her stoic facade crumbling in the face of this discovery that Yosafire had yet to make—and she would too as it was only a matter of time. With great despair, Greif tried to think of something and hastily opened the puzzle box to try and insert the broken buzzer inside. However, it was too full of paper clips and she couldn't put anything in. Going from pale to ashen in a split second, her eyes fell upon the trashcan that was beside her desk and threw the pieces in there when Yosafire wasn't looking since the demon was too preoccupied with the desk to notice the gryphon disposing of her destroyed homework assignment. "Look, I've already checked my desk and didn't find a buzzer inside," she tried to explain. "Surely I would've at least told you about it if it was in there." Although she tried to regain her composure, Grief could not because she was still terrified of Yosafire discovering the fate of what happened to her buzzer.
"You should've," the demon retorted bitterly and slammed the final drawer she checked to close it before whipping towards her teacher in anger. "Where is it, Ms. Greif? In this puzzle box?" She quickly snatched the puzzle box out of Greif's hands and dumped the contents onto the table before beginning to shift through them. With her student distracted by the paper clips, Greif stood to pick up the trashcan and take it away before Yosafire checked it as well. She was unlucky to have emptied it into another bag so a couple men from the castle could dump the school's garbage into an incinerator they had in the castle to dispose of trash—not that Greif planned on it, but even so, she did want to hide the smashed buzzer elsewhere before it was too late.
And yet it already was too late because Yosafire did indeed catch her with the trashcan and quickened her pace as she stormed over to intercept her teacher. "Going somewhere to get rid of a certain bit of evidence, Miss Greif?" she demanded coldly and slammed the door before the teacher could escape, giving the poor gryphon a bad fright by how severe this interaction was turning.
"A-ah, Y-Yosafire, I-I—" Greif stammered aloud timidly and suddenly yelped because she tripped over her own feet when she stumbled back and nearly fell. Thankfully the demon managed to catch her by grabbing her arm and the trashcan before pulling Greif upright and taking away the trashcan to peer inside it, scowling lividly. "I-I was just going to t-take out the trash, t-that's all. It isn't in t-there, Yosafire, t-there is only—" But her voice died out when Yosafire looked shocked.
"M-my buzzer…" Yosafire murmured softly, surprised to find it was broken. Her reaction to the sight of it in pieces made Greif feel guilty, though the student's sudden change from surprise to immediate rage once again caused the teacher to take a step back and give her space out of fear. "I-it's smashed…Y-you broke my buzzer…" Her whole body tensed with anger and she sniffed.
Swallowing heavily, the gryphon held both of her hands up in defense while backing away from her student very slowly. "N-now, Yosafire, w-we're both rational p-people here," Greif tried to put the young demon at ease concerning the buzzer and tried to explain herself carefully without upsetting Yosafire further. "I-I'm s-sure we can come t-to a reasonable—" Yosafire scowled while clenching her hand into a fist after having picked up the pieces of her destroyed buzzer; sheer force within that gesture along with the sound that came with it made Greif squeak, "u-understanding."
Yosafire didn't answer her, silently fuming over the loss of her homework assignment, the project she received an A on in one of Lowrie's classes. She wanted it in one piece, not in pieces.
Greif swallowed again and wondered if it was a good idea to approach her student, but she did it anyway because she really did want to apologize for destroying it while explaining why. "U-um, Y-Yosafire…?" she stuttered, taking a few uneasy steps forward and reaching her hand out.
Yosafire still didn't say anything.
"Y-Yosafire…?"
Suddenly the demon screamed in rage and violently threw the trashcan at the opposite wall as Greif squeaked timidly and stumbled out of the way so it did not hit her. "I hate you, Ms. Greif!" Yosafire shouted angrily and stormed out, justifiably enraged. "Understand that!" And with that said, the girl slammed the door behind her harder than it should've been closed, muttering a string of curses under her breath as she left the lounge to start packing her things up to go home and leave a defeated Greif all alone to think about where she went wrong. She really shouldn't have broken the buzzer, and could now feel the guilt of having upset Yosafire flowing through her.
…
The next day found Greif sitting in the language arts class she taught with all of the students present except for Yosafire. She hadn't seen her favorite student—which she still wasn't going to admit, even if that might make their relations better by mending them—since the demon last exited her office and the teacher's lounge, enraged over the destruction of her project. Although Greif did think about trying to repair it as best she could, Yosafire took the pieces with her which suggested she was probably going to try fixing it herself. Hopefully it was still possible to fix the buzzer.
Her tardiness could've led to her possibly being absent if she hadn't come in today, though Greif actually saw Yosafire's friends earlier that day as they were walking to school. It was actually time to begin the first class of the day, but where was the young student? Surely not trying to avoid her on purpose due to what happened yesterday? Greif already apologized to Lowrie and Principal Lesley for it, and while they did forgive her for coming clean about it, they said she had ultimately needed to secure Yosafire's forgiveness in order to truly mend the situation and make it all better.
Although she wanted to go find her, Greif decided to just give Yosafire some space instead. For now she began the lesson, hoping the demon wasn't still furious with her when the door to her classroom was suddenly thrown open violently. It startled the other students and herself, though the sight of a pissed off Yosafire storming over to her desk in between Rawberry and Froze startled her more than that. The young angel whispered to her, asking what was wrong as Greif went around to collect everybody's homework. Thinking of homework only made her nervous, and she wanted to hope Yosafire would discuss the matter of her broken buzzer when she was calm enough to.
As the students each turned over their assignment's to her, Greif eventually came over and stood by Yosafire last to retrieve the young demon's homework. However, Yosafire didn't have it at all, merely flipping through her textbook and the workbook to the proper place for today's lesson in bits of another language. "Yosafire," Greif inquired hesitantly, unsure if it was right to ask, "do you have your homework? You didn't forget about it like you used to do, did you?"
"I didn't," came the blunt reply full of seething rage which made Greif shudder slightly.
"Then where is it?"
"Your office," Yosafire stated coldly without making eye contact. "Feel free to destroy that too like you've already done with my buzzer, Ms. Greif." Her comment garnered quite a response from some of the other students, a few of whom snickered about what happened.
Greif sighed, wondering if now was the best time to apologize; though she decided to give Yosafire more space. "Look, we'll discuss this later in my office in private, Yosafire," she sighed somberly and ambled over to sit at her desk. "Turn to page ninety-seven in your textbooks and the identical page in the workbooks," she instructed the students, preparing to begin the lesson. A couple students were still chuckling and she looked up to address them when the sudden slamming of a book violently silenced everyone and got their attention as everybody glanced at Yosafire.
"Just shut up and do as she says," Yosafire said bitterly in a critical tone to those who were no longer laughing at Greif because the demon's anger quieted them. Yet her student looked up at the gryphon, and her coldhearted glare sent shivers down Greif's spine. Still, she managed to regain her composure because she felt Yosafire was beginning to calm down for the time being, so Greif believed she should've apologized sooner rather than later—maybe directly after class if possible. For now, she simply began the lesson and left Yosafire alone to prepare an apology as the demon considered whether her teacher could be forgiven for having destroyed her buzzer.
…
In hindsight, it would've been better for Greif to have not destroyed Yosafire's buzzer at all. Maybe now she'll start to be a little more careful with how she handles homework.
This one-shot was inspired by a Behind the Scenes video on Rooster Teeth's YouTube channel. The video is called Good Vibrations, and it's about Ryan hiding some kind of buzzer in Gavin's desk to drive him crazy until Gavin eventually finds it. It's a hilarious video since everyone in the Achievement Hunter office aside from Gavin knew about it. The video is two years old, but it's still very good and I recommend watching it for the laughs.
I've also added a new teacher as a minor character and named the principal as well.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Gray Garden; it's owned by Mogeko. I don't own content from any of the videos produced by Achievement Hunter and Rooster Teeth; it is owned by them because they're the ones who made the videos—just to clarify, I don't work for them.