Three weeks previously:
"Nyamo! NYAMOOOOO!"
Minamo Morimoto, nee Kurosawa, aka Nyamo, put her head in her hands and sighed as her colleague (and, for some bizarre reason, best friend) slammed a paper down on her desk. "WHAT, Yukari?"
"Look! I just got this e-mail! It's a special vacation deal! Let's go, let's go, let's goooo!"
Minamo glanced at the paper. "That's junk mail, Yukari."
"No, no it's not! I checked! There's no fine print or anything. They're not going to try to sell us a timeshare or something – this is the real deal! Come on, summer break's in three weeks and we still haven't figured out where we're going!"
"What do you mean, we?"
"I mean, you and me. I mean, let's ditch the guys and have a girls-only vacation! Just like the old days at whatshername's place, that little rich kid…"
"Chiyo-chan," Minamo supplied.
"Yeah, her. What do you say?"
The two high school teachers regarded each other. Minamo, always much more mature than her friend, had grown up even more in the last six years – the PE teacher had married a great guy, bought a house, and taken on other adult responsibilities with ease, while Yukari, married less than a year ago to Nyamo's husband's obnoxious best friend, was still complaining about having to share her apartment space and toothpaste with "some guy." Minamo was still driving Yukari to work every day and still resenting it. However, it WAS better than letting Yukari drive herself. Keeping Yukari away from the driver's seat was tantamount to saving lives.
But would a vacation with her insane best friend be such a bad thing? She'd been feeling stodgy lately. Too many quiet nights at home with Daisuke, cooking dinner and watching game shows – and while Daisuke was the sweetest guy you could ever meet, he wasn't exactly Mister Excitement. She wasn't Mrs. Excitement, for that matter. Which is why a week or two of complete immaturity might do her some good.
She looked at the printout. Surprisingly, it didn't read like spam. It looked like a genuine offer – an offer too good to refuse. "The Beautiful Island Resort of Iyaman," she read. And grinned at Yukari. "Hey, why not? The guys can spare us for a week."
Notes:
I LOVE ALL OF YOU! With many exclamation points! I'm having a great time writing this, I'm swimming in reviews, and I am a happy, happy writer! Yay!
I didn't mean to post this bit till after Chapter 3, but Chapter 3's not quite done yet, and someone was asking about the teachers - so here they are, haplessly heading into danger.
I had to marry off the teachers - it's six years after graduation, and with the whole Japanese marry-young sensibility and Episode 19 dialogue, they must have obtained some husbands by now. Although I didn't want to marry them off because I wanted them to keep their last names... But now that I think about it, I'd love to see what Yukari's husband is like. Maybe he'll show up! One never knows. :)