That day at lunch, Jisoo noticed Hwasa and Whee-in were missing. "Time is growing short," she thougt to herself. "Soon we'll all be out on missions and out school days - crazy as they've been - will be over." After her conversation with IU, though, the thought didn't sadden her as much as it would have just that morning.

"Looks like poor Mooncow's going back to the bottom of the rankings," Jennie quietly said to her as they filed into the dining room.

Lunch that day was a filet of salmon with confit potatoes, one of Jennie's favorites. Jisoo wasn't as fond of it as Jennie was, but it was certainly better than some of the meals they'd been forced to try.

Lunch was followed by cryptography class, during which Jisoo learned some techniques that could be used to improve the cipher they were using to write to Madame Young's students. She made a mental note to talk to Jennie about her ideas after class, and if Jennie thought they were good, to write to Irene about them.

After cryptography came math class. As usual, Jisoo was often called on to help the others with problems they were having difficulty understanding. About halfway through the class, Madame Park put her hand to her head and announced. "I find am feeling unwell. Jisoo is in charge for the remainder of the class. You've all got your assignments, go to her if you need help."

Jisoo looked up in shock from where she had been helping Lisa complete a problem in probabilities. This wasn't the first time Madame Park had left her in charge of something, but it was the first time Madame Park had left her in charge of a class. "Do I need to help someone help you to your rooms, ma'am?" she asked. "Or should I send someone to fetch IU?"

Madame Park waved her off. "I'm not so bad as all that. I've just got a headache and need some quiet and darkness in order for it to go away. I fully expect I shall be well again in time for dinner." And with that, she left the room.

"I'm concerned about Madame's health," Jennie whispered to Jisoo as Jisoo was helping her with a geometry exercise. "Several times recently she's felt unwell. I hope that they - whoever 'they' are - don't see fit to replace her."

Jisoo could only nod in agreement. For all that Madame Park was rather eccentric, they knew her eccentricities and she knew theirs. If Madame Park was replaced, they'd likely be faced with learning an entirely new educational style - their encounter with Madame Young's students had shown how much things could differ from one academy to another.

After math class came to an end, Jennie, Jisoo, and Solar went for a walk in the hedge maze.

"I'm worried about Madame Park," Solar said, once they were several turns into the maze.

Jisoo looked at Jennie, who nodded slightly, before saying "Us too."

"If something happens to Madame Park," Solar said, "they might send us to another academy, or even divide us up among a number of other academies." 

This was an idea that Jisoo had not considered. As bad as learning the ways of a new Madame might be, they were preferable to learning the ways of an entirely new academy - especially if that meant being separated from Jennie.

"We need to talk to Madame Park at dinner tonight," Solar said.

"And tell her what?" Jennie asked. "She knows more about her health than we do. For all we know, she's already thought of all this and made arrangements for what's going to happen to us."

Solar shrugged. "I don't know. Just let her know that we're concerned about her."

"And that we're willing to take on more responsibility if she needs us to," Jisoo added.

Jennie nodded. "Or if she needs a break, maybe we could arrange to pay a visit to Madame Young's students."

Solar smirked at her. "You're just trying to get your hands on Yeri again."

"Like you're not?" Jennie responded. Solar only blushed.

"Seriously, though," Jisoo interjected. "We've got to be sure we talk to Madame Park about this. Tonight."

"We need to get the others on board," Jisoo said. "I'm sure I can get Moonbyul on board, but how will Rose and Lisa react to this?"

"Let me deal with Rose and Lisa," Solar said. "I can get them on board."

"So we're all in agreement, I'll bring this up with Madame Park at dinner?" Jennie asked.

Jisoo and Solar both nodded. 

"Okay that," Jennie said. "You two have some conversations to have before dinner. You'd better go take care of that, and then we'll meet up again at the first bell."

Nodding in agreement, Solar took off in the direction of the house. After stopping to give Jennie a kiss, Jisoo followed her.

Jisoo found Moonbyul in the library, reading a Chinese newspaper. Moonbyul folded the newspaper and set it aside as soon as she saw Jisoo. "Whoa, that's your serious face. What's gone wrong?"

Jisoo sat down in the chair next to Moonbyul. "Solar and Jennie and I were talking, and we've noticed that Madame Park has been having more health problems lately, so we wanted to talk to her tonight, let her know that we're concerned about her and that we're willing to take on more responsibility if she needs us to. I wanted to come talk to you and make sure you were on both with this."

Moonb