THIRTY-SIX
Heart aflutter, it's practically instinctive when she latches onto Mrs. Tsubasa's hand.
Except, once she realizes what she's done, she turns red and tries to pull away while Mrs. Tsubasa's still frozen in astonishment.
"I—I do not mind," Mrs. Tsubasa murmurs, briefly tightening her grip on Elfnein's hand and then going lax, "but only if it is acceptable to you."
She would dither, but they're in the middle of the sidewalk (people, so many people walking around them) and they're only a block away from the school and Carol's not here anymore to make fun of her for needing someone to hold her hand—she takes Mrs. Tsubasa's hand again.
Mrs. Tsubasa smiles.
Just a few minutes later, however, in front of North Prefectural Elementary School, she remembers her nerves; the name alone is enough to make her stop in her tracks yet again as she stares up at the red brick building that seems to completely dwarf her.
(Has she ever felt so small?)
(Well, okay, she's not that small and the school buildings aren't that tall, just a few stories and a short clock tower at the center. It's like the buildings in the city. But still.)
The shiny wooden double doors look heavy, but Mrs. Tsubasa easily holds one open for her.
Inside, there are rows and rows of cubbyholes with outdoor shoes neatly tucked away; it reminds her of a similar arrangement at the orphanage, though that had been on a smaller scale.
"This way," Mrs. Tsubasa murmurs, gesturing to a hallway on the left.
There, in a room full of polished wood, a smiling secretary welcomes them, confirms their appointment, and gives them slippers to wear while indoors. They leave their shoes in a guest cubbyhole.
Another person takes them on a tour of the school.
"We at North Prefecture Elementary School—" that is a mouthful—"believe in encouraging our students to pursue careers in the sciences from an early age. To this end, we have smaller class sizes so that our teachers can better focus on individual students, we host guest speakers from universities and businesses every month, and we have a science fair at the end of each school year that is open to any and all of our students who wish to participate."
…She supposes that sounds nice? It's not like she has any personal experience to refer to.
But Mrs. Tsubasa nods along, looking intensely focused.
"How many instructors to the school?"
"Thirty-six, Mrs. Kazanari, to accommodate the smaller class sizes; our parent community strongly endorses the school's policies in this matter."
It's all going over her head—also, she had one teacher and one classmate and that didn't turn out so well for her patched-up education.
Maybe that was just Papa and Carol, though.
She perks up considerably when the aide takes them to the school's library.
It's a lot bigger than the institution's library!
Can she go to a school based on its library alone?
a/n:
I wrote 3k of my Kanade/Tsubasa/Maria story; it took a while and I got carried away, so that's more or less why this chapter is late.
Thoughts on how the rest of the school visit should go?