2025-08-07: Fraudulent Assistance
- Log: Fraudulent Assistance
- Cast: Yua Ooshiro, Ayame Watanabe's husband Ikkaku Watanabe
- Where: Seven Sisters High School - Teacher's Lounge
- OOC Date: 2025-08-07
- IC Date: Friday, June 22 2012
- Summary: Yua discovers Ikkaku working late, after she's managed to struggle through her own paperwork. She talks to him (and gives him a /talk/) about the limits of hard work alone and the role of a leader... in her usual theatrical style. He declines her help filling out the forms he said he'd complete, but she does succeed in getting another housewife's husband home to her, at least for one night. Still, how long can Yua keep this charade up...?
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
Seven Sisters High School takes a lot of work behind the scenes! There's not just tending to the students in class, but also numerous tasks after school, before school... And right now? Ikkaku Watanabe is attending to some of those.
It's a stormy day in Sumaru City's Rengedai Ward. The teachers' lounge is for lounging, but also for working, and Ikkaku has numerous notebooks and papers before him on a desk. He not an especially tall man, but still taller than most of the women who work at the school. And he is doing a lot of the vice principal's work, which has caused a number of rumors in the school halls...
Mostly among teachers and staff, some of whom aren't very pleased, and some of whom just like ahving something to talk about that isn't the principal's murder.
Now it is late enough that most students will have left, and his work doesn't show any signs of ending soon.
He's been nice to Yua so far. Does he know?
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Know what? There are no secrets to Yua. She's a perfectly normal health and physical education teacher. She got her degree from -- from look, don't worry about it, anyway, don't you have more important things to do?!
Which is to say: hopefully he doesn't.
But it's getting late, and even Yua, who is slow with her paperwork and messes it up half the time (so, just somewhat worse than an average PE teacher, or so the cruel stereotype goes)... is finishing up for the day! She puts her files in the filing cupboard, turns...
(This side of being a teacher, she's terrible at, but it's undeniable she moves with absolute grace, even if it's kind of strange she wears a dancing leotard everywhere. Isn't that more of a Gekkoukan teacher thing...?)
"Goodness," Yua exclaims, a hand to her chest. "Hasn't Okamura-san given you enough work for today? Last week, too, you were still here when I left!"
She's maybe not supposed to say that out loud, but Yua is all grace, no tact.
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
Ikkaku does have many important things to do. Perhaps that's enough!
Yua's at least not bad company. It takes her a while to finish, and that means Ikkaku has another person to be around for longer in the day. ...The cruel stereotype is definitely present, but Ikkaku has never been cruel about it. Instead...
"Oh," he says, looking up absent-mindedly. "Ooshiro-san, did you finish, then?"
She is not supposed to say that out loud. Ikkaku winces slightly. "Ah, that's..."
His wife noticed that, too.
"We all have to chip in," he settles on. "With the Principal gone there's much to keep up with--and, well..." There are things he didn't do, or did improperly to Ikkaku's mind, and those require correcting on top of the rest.
"Well, it's fine," he says. "I hope you enjoy your night!"
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Yua puts her hands on her hips, and asks, sternly, "I don't remember giving you permission to be me! And I don't recall Takami-san, Aishi-san, Oriri-san, or Kashihara-san saying anything of the sort either! So why on earth are you saying 'we all have to chip in', when all the work is falling on you?!"
Huff! Huff! HUFF!!!
"What are you doing here, anyway?" Yua asks, picking up a paper from in front of him. She scrutinises it with her one good eye, and then frowns, and looks over to the waste paper basket...
... and pulls out the same form, already completed. "Ah, Watanabe-san! Didn't you already complete this form?!"
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
In response to that stern question, Ikkaku initially just kind of blinks in wonder and surprise. The question marks above his head are almost visible. Permission to...?
"Oh," he says, once he gets it. "That's..."
He is a bit chagrined. "I'm just helping in the way I can," he settles on. "Everyone's busy with their students," he excuses them. Granted, so is he. Which is why he's still here when even Yua is ready to leave.
"Okamura-san asked my help," he settles on. "I don't want to let her down."
A pause. Well--
"Oh, you'll see that the listing is in the wrong order," he says. "We have a convention, and I didn't realize that at the time. So I needed to redo it."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Yua frowns, rubbing a hand to her temples. "I know I don't know all the details of Sevens' situation, since I'm really just a part timer," she sighs, doing her best to at least pretend she knows how the social interplay works, "but I'm sure I remember you having classes of your own, Watanabe-san."
She pulls out a chair, and sits herself down, beside him. "I heard some people talking as if you're looking for a promotion, but... maybe the truth is that you just can't say no to people and are scared to impose?" Don't... don't just say that to a colleague, Yua! There's politics!
"Look," she puts the papers down side-by-side, in front of her. "The only mistake is the convention date, right? And you can't just mark the dates as in error and put down new ones? Then I'll just copy your work over to the new file and change the dates around. That's fine, isn't it?"
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
A part-timer. That's true! "You're still doing a lot for the students," he remarks pleasantly. But... Ikkaku does in fact have classes of his own. "Yes," he says, "And I've been sure to keep up with them!"
Yua sits down, and Ikkaku looks over at her--his expression turns lopsided, a little wry, and he exhales. "...They're not wrong," he admits. "Your way is kinder, though. I appreciate that."
"...My wife really wants to stay in Sumaru," he explains. "I usually transfer every few years to a new school." He assumes she knows why he would do that, why it would be incentivized for a teacher to do. Joke's on him!
"And if I get that position, then I'll have a more stable place. ...She'd be happier with that."
A pause. He looks at the paper and says, "Well..."
"I suppose it's fine," he allows. "It's not as neat, but..."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
So he does want a promotion! And he wants a promotion for... his wife, and there's something about that motivation which makes Yua look a little wistful. (If it's a man and a woman, a life like that is pretty achievable, huh...?)
"So you're putting aside your habits for her wishes," Yua completely did not get it, "that's very kind of you. But... doesn't she miss you? If you're struggling through all this work on your own, it must take a terribly long time..."
She's thinking of all the days Miho's firm saddles her with all the work the men don't want to do, of course, and she has to send Yua an apology text about how she'll be late for dinner, and then sometimes she shows up hours later and Yua's lovely lasagne gets all sad and burnt at the edges as she tries to keep it in the oven.
"It's all right," Yua assures him. "You can sign it, so it's like you did it, right?" Surely that's unethical! ... but she is just copying his work...
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
Ikkaku notices Yua's wistful look, but he can't know it means lesbians. Maybe she dreams of something like that? It's endearing.
"...Yes," he admits to his wife missing him. "It does." A sigh. "It's... complicated," he says. There are things he can't really share--things that would be inappropriate to mention to a co-worker--but maybe he can explain a little. If she asks.
"But I do intend to make the time."
But she says it's all right. "...No, I should finish that one properly," he decides. "But you're right, it doesn't have to be perfect. Next time I'll correct it instead of throwing it away. Thank you, Ooshiro-san."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Yua is single, apparently, or at least no one's ever heard her mention a boyfriend. She's already twenty-three, she had better hurry up...!!
"And how do you intend to do that?" Yua asks, tilting her head. "It's important to work hard, but even I know that hard work can't solve every problem in and of itself. So, what plan have you devised? If you'd like to lead us all, you'll need more than determination, after all. You need to see the path to victory, and speak it clear and true!"
S-she's... still talking about paperwork...
He decides to take the paperwork, though. "Hmm," Yua says, propping her chin up on a palm. "So you're a pretty principled guy too, huh...?"
Yua stops. Yua reviews what she just said.
Yua starts giggling madly.
"G--get it? Principled? Like the principals!"
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
Maybe her career is more important to her! It's possible. She does seem to care about her students...
But how? He blinks at Yua's passion, surprised to hear her say as much with so many specifics. "...Yes, that's true," he admits. "You never solved an equation by just looking at the variables," he reflects. "But..."
He frowns. "Her parents are that much harder on her when I'm around," he admits. "...Ah, I shouldn't get into that." But Ayame doesn't like to see them all arguing.
It's fine.
When she says he's principled he smiles. But then she starts giggling, and--
Ah.
"...Ahahaha," Ikkaku laughs in return. "I guess we'll see, won't we?"
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Yua has never solved an equation, period. She's gay and also super dumb and doesn't know maths.
(It's hyperbole, but only mostly.)
"Mm, so it's like that?" Yua wonders, tilting her head in her palm. "Of course, of course, it's your business... but I just don't think you can solve a problem like that by disappearing into your work." Yua sighs, looking up to the ceiling. "It's tough when they don't come home for ages..."
... maybe she does have a boyfriend, and she's just kept it very under wraps because she cares about her students. Schools can be quite critical of women who talk about their love lives at work.
She is quite delighted by her accidental wordplay, though. Smiling, she looks back to him -- she's actually looking at the spot between his eyes, but it's really close enough. Right? "What I'm saying is that I'll help you," she explains, more clearly and directly, because maybe he just doesn't understand implications. That's okay. Sometimes Yua is bad at implications, too. "This is really too much work to expect one person to do. And you're going to need to get comfy with delegation if you want this job, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
Ikkaku is pretty sure homosexuality has no malus towards mathematical ability. But he hasn't tested it. ...He doesn't realize it applies anyway.
"True," Ikkaku admits. "But..." A sigh. "Yes, that's also true."
"It's creepy, isn't it?" Ikkaku ventures. "That serial killer. The one who attacked the principal. ...They say that one of our students egged him on, but I don't believe that. All the same..."
"Strange things going on. It's troubling. It must be all the moreso for you." Being a single young woman.
It reminds him of...
"Well, in any case, he says. "I see. Well, I'll think about that. Delegation is important, but I did say I'd do the work..."
A pause. "But you've already helped tonight. Why don't I put all this away and walk you out? I can text my wife I'll be home earlier today."
"...Hopefully her parents aren't over." A shake of his head. "Regardless, we'll see." He starts packing things up.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"... yeah," Yua says, growing a touch more ashen, a shadow passing over her half-gaze, when Ikkaku brings up the serial killer. "Kids just... aren't in a position to really know how heavy these topics are. Some of them try to act quite tough, you know, especially if their situations are complicated... but someone of the age to be here simply doesn't have the experience to really grapple with someone who's killed so often."
Her program is designed to intervene on truants; Yua's probably seen more than her share of kids acting that way, proportionally to most teachers starting out. But all she can think of, really...
... is marching out onto that beach to trap the officers who cared about solving those murders with their killers.
Enabling the Joker like that leads to all this fear and stress and uncertainty, long after he's done his work and gone.
"Really," she says, softly, "I'm far more worried for the children."
Anyone who would want to call the Joker onto her would first need her name -- and she gives out another, when she's doing harm. Not that she could blame them for taking matters into their own hands, either...
"And when you're a leader, you need to be able to admit when a task is impossible with the present approach," Yua reminds him, as Ikkaku protests that he said he'd do it. "There's no way anyone would have faith in a vice-principal who kept stubbornly doing one thing, even knowing it didn't work. People will admire you more if you're able to work hard with insight!"
But Ikkaku at least relents on going home tonight, and Yua straightens up, clapping her hands together. "Wonderful! I'll call my car." Call... her car...?
Rather than explain that, she goes to fetch her bag and umbrella, instead. (The umbrella is very important, a simple and elegant black affair, kept in a long style.) She does, indeed, send a message on her phone as Ikkaku's straightening up.
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
Ikkaku knows it's a heavy subject, but he doesn't have any reason to think it's any heavier for Yua than anyone else. So he brought it up! And the kids, well, "...Yes," he answers. "Or at all, mostly. They're thinking of other things. They shouldn't have to worry about serial killers and strange rumors. ...But it's not the first time I've been at a school where strange things have happened."
A shake of his head. Maybe that's what's getting to him? A reminder of other days...
"Of course," he says to her worrying. "As adults, it's our responsibility to handle these sorts of things."
"True!" Ikkaku answers. But... she is a part-timer. Offloading all his work onto her isn't fair!! Still, she has helped, and--
Her car! "Oh! Yes," he says.
When he spots the umbrella, "Oh! I suppose it is raining, isn't it? Ah, ha... I rushed out, this morning."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"It would be far better if children did not need to be involved in things like this," Yua agrees. That she fears there are powers who would involve them regardless is not conversation for the teacher's lounge; why would a part-timer like Yua know about organisations pressing children into the dark?
Still... it's not the first time, for him. She wonders, looking at him; she has no sense that he's the sort of person she could look straight into, but that spark is difficult to catch, day to day, and it's not impossible she's wrong. (Or that he's like her -- a Persona-user who veils himself from that mutual recognition.) Or... was he a normal person pulled into things he oughtn't see?
forced to look by people like HER
"We have a responsibility," she agrees, though she looks a little -- frightened? Unsettled? Nervous? (guilty.)
Yua is a part-timer, though, so one might wonder how she has time to worry about a permanent employee's workload. She doesn't quite realise she ought to answer that, though, as she smiles to him. "It's okay," she says. "How about I walk you to your car?" The hand she holds her umbrella with has a strange decoration, black fabric stretched from a ring to a bracelet; she calls no attention to it, though it's quite there, as they step outside and she pops the umbrella open.
Off to Ikkaku's car, and...
There's another man, with another black umbrella, and a much fancier black car in the teacher's parking lot than most of the fare anyone can afford to drive. (Is that... a Mercer-Benz?) "Oh! Seiji-san, yoo-hoo!! Over here!" Yua calls out, waving her free hand into the rain. Is... he her boyfriend...?
"This is my chauffeur, Seiji Sahashi! Seiji-san, this is my coworker, Ikkaku Watanabe. I was just helping him get home to his wife!" Yua introduces them, of course, once Seiji and his own umbrella come close enough for conversation. ("Nice to meet you," Seiji offers, with a polite little bow of his head.) The fact that Yua just introduced a chauffeur as a normal thing she has is something she just breezes right over, as she presses her umbrella into Ikkaku's hand and hops under Seiji's, instead. "Take it, okay?" She smiles, to him. "We've got spares."
We????
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
Nope. No powers that force that, except maybe...
Well, SEBEC is gone, isn't it?
Ikkaku is too lost in his own thoughts to notice the depth of Yua's expression in the moment; he dispels his own gloom with a shake of his head. "Oh, thank you!" he answers. "It's probably best if I don't walk in the door all soaked..."
It does have an interesting decoration. But commenting on it would be improper. So he doesn't! Instead, he walks under her umbrella, and off to his car.
Ikkaku's car, as it happens, is not particularly fancy, though it is a nice blue. It's very serviceable, though.
Ikkaku turns to face him. "Oh," he says, and! A chauffeur. "Well, it's nice to meet you!" Ikkaku says, and reflects on the matter. A part-time teacher, with a chauffeur, who sighs at the idea of marital affection...
Sounds like something out of a story.
Ikkaku bows his head back, and accepts the umbrella with some surprise. "Oh, all right," he says. "Well! Thank you then. Take care!"
He smiles at both, and will try to actually get home at an almost reasonable hour for once.
...Maybe that'll coincide with one of the nights Ayame isn't extra-tired from everything. Maybe!
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"Take care!" Yua chirps, and can be heard, as she turns away with Seiji, to whine: "Mooouuuu... my toe shoes are daaamp..."
She's let into the back door of the car, of course; and of course the windows are tinted, so she disappears, once Seiji closes the door.
"Did you have a good day?" Seiji wonders, glancing into the rear-view mirror as he starts steering them away.
"No one found me out," Yua sighs, her standard for a good day in a job like this, "but I get the feeling my coworkers can't really rely on me..."
"Nonsense," Seiji shakes his head. "You seemed to do that man a world of good."
"Haaaa... mostly, I just lectured him..." Yua sighs, leaning back against the plush car seat. (Seatbelt on, of course. Miho would worry if she didn't, let alone the heart attack Remi would have.) "... I'd be more helpful if I were a real teacher. There's so many forms and stuff... and like, policies... and I don't know what's okay and what's unspeakable! I mean, I figured out he didn't want to sign the papers I'd filled out eventually... oh, I really want to help, but I wonder if I'm just causing more trouble?"
"I'm sure you're being too hard on yourself," Seiji says, kindly. "Just be careful, Ooshiro-san. Being too helpful will... bring more attention to you, too."
"I know," Yua sighs, looking out the tinted window. "I just..."
Seiji isn't looking directly at her, but that doesn't mean he's treating her as an afterthought. He's just very good at his job. "You want to help. You're a gentle soul... I see why Ijuuin-sama treasures you so."
And Yua wonders how gentle she can really be, when she's disrupting people's normal lives.