I looked up at the towering edifice of the high school, enshrined by the golden rays of the autumn sunset. It was much larger than any of the schools I'd ever seen, certainly due to its unique student body. This was Euryale High School, a school for monstergirls—a group of human-like subspecies with animalistic or monstrous qualities. A few years ago, their world merged with ours, causing, quite frankly, the greatest shake-up in history. And, a few months ago, this school became the first monstergirl school to open its doors to humans. Being that this was the most well-to-do school in the area, I transferred my son here. ${son} was the sort to keep to himself, so this parent-teacher conference would be the only sure-fire way to find out how well he's acclimated.
Pushing past the doors, I entered the school's foyer, which was as tall as it was wide—that is to say, it was quite spacious. By no means did I know my way around these halls, but I saw a small girl with large, bushy hair walking down the hall nearby.
"Excuse me," I asked. "Are you a student here? Could you help me find—"
The girl turned around, and what I assumed was a mass of brunette hair was instead a collection of writhing tendrils, each ending in a large yellow eye. The girl herself had a singular eye in the center of her head proper. I had to keep myself from jumping back in shock, but I managed to keep my cool.
"Student?" the girl replied in an irritated, childish voice. "Why, I could be your great-great-grandpappy, boy!"
I then recalled there were monstergirls that looked young regardless of their age—I was kicking myself a little inside, but hey, let's get the faux pas out of the way early.
"Back in my day, humans were afraid of monsters..." she muttered.
"Er, my mistake, miss," I said. "Could you point me to class 4-B? My son's conference—"
Her myriad eyes all lit up in interest, and her annoyed face suddenly changed. "Oh, you must be ${son}|'s father! Please, follow me dearie—er, Mr. ${surname}!"
I followed the many-eyed woman, who introduced herself as Ms. Jashi, a Gazer, and my son's history teacher.
After a short walk we arrived at the classroom. I entered with Ms. Jashi, and was met with five other monstergirls, all who were, I assumed, ${son}'s teachers. There was one with antennae and butterfly wings, and a wheelchair-bound one with a fish's tail for legs. One had cat ears and swishing tails, while another had wings and scales. The one in the center, a woman with the lower half of a spider, ${son} had told me about. She was Ms. Anansi, his homeroom and English teacher.
"Welcome, Mr. ${surname}," Ms. Anansi greeted. "Please, have a seat."
I took a seat across from them, and Ms. Jashi sat down along with them. My breathing was slightly unsteady—I was a bit afraid that my son had been doing rather poorly here, for I did not consider how different he was from the rest of the student body. Ms. Anansi evidently noticed my worry.
"You look nervous, Mr. ${surname}," she remarked. "You have nothing to worry about. In fact, I'd say your son has acclimated quite well to our school."
I did little to hide my sigh of relief. "Oh, really? Thank goodness..."
Ms. Anansi hid back a chuckle. "Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Ms. Anansi, ${son}'s homeroom and English teacher. And without further ado, let's begin."
The spider-woman—or rather, arachne, to be correct—practically gushed about my son, and how well he had been doing in her class.
"He even seems to get along quite well with the other students, too," she finished. "Annie, an Anubis student of mine, seems quite fond of him especially."
"Annie..." I muttered to myself. I couldn't help but feel a bit bad for not knowing about a fried my son had made. "I'll be sure to ask him about her."
Ms. Anansi gave a slight bow. "And with that, I'll pass it on to you," she gestured toward the woman with striped orange butterfly wings.
"My my, it's finally nice to meet you!" mused the butterfly-woman—which I later learned was called a Papillon. "My name is Ms. Anima, ${son}'s biology teacher."
"Good to meet you too," I replied.
Her wings fluttered as she began to praise how well ${son} had been doing in her class, commending his ability to work well with others on group projects.
"My my, he's also been such a great help after-school as well!" she beamed. "I do a bit of gardening on the school grounds, and he's the only non-plant student who helps out. Ah, he's just so kind."
I had no idea he was into that sort of thing. Perhaps he's just eager to help his teacher?
"I'm happy to hear it, Ms. Anima," I said.
"Your turn now, Ms. Mizuchi," she sung, patting her shoulder.
"Thank you thank you," Ms. Mizuchi replied. "I'm ${son}'s swimming instructor. And, you can just call me Mizu, if you'd like."
The other teachers seemed to slightly leer at her, though I don't think she noticed. Ms. Mizuchi went on to, like the others, endlessly praise my son.
"Oh, ${son} is simply wonderful! He's improved the most since we've started, and he's very skilled for someone of his physiology!"
I raised my eyebrow at that one, unsure as to what she meant.
"His.. body type, I mean. As opposed to someone more acclimated to water like me, a Merrow, for instance." She continued her praising. "And, might I add he has such a handsome, handsome... form! And he's quite hot—ah, a hot-shot at the swim races!
Ms. Mizuchi kept on gushing, and for whatever reason, the other teachers kept on leering. Finally she passed it on to Ms. Jashi, the Gazer girl I had met earlier.
"Well, Mr. ${surname}, I must say that in all my decades of teaching, I have met very few who are as attentive as he is," she began. "He seems quite interested in the history of monstergirl-kind. Why, he was especially fond of the first time a human wandered into our world in modern times, before the merge—I was there for that one—back in eighteen-forty..."
Ms. Jashi continued to weave her story, a veritable history lesson in itself. She finally finished, perhaps having lost track of what she was supposed to be doing. Then, seemingly satisfied with herself, she passed along the metaphorical baton to the girl with the cat-ears.
"Nyaaice to meet you, Mr. {surname}!" she greeted. "I'm Ms. Caith, a nyaakomata, and I teach your son nyaathematics!"
Her eyes grew to the size of saucers, and she corrected herself. "Ah, ahem, I mean to say I'm a Nekomata, and I teach mathematics!"
Sweat pooled down her freckled face and her tails began to swish frantically. "Erm, ${son} is quite a nyaaice—ah, nice student! He's always happy to help out the other students during group work, nyaa~!"
Ms. Caith covered her mouth with her hands, and muttered "Sorry, I'm done, you go ahead, Ms. Zmei."
The robust, winged woman, who must've certainly been some sort of dragongirl, sat up at attention and leered at me with her orange reptilian eyes.
"Your son! Is! An absolute!" she boomed, causing me to slink back in my seat a little. "...Joy!"
I heaved a sigh of relief, and Ms. Zmei continued. "Oh, I forgot to mention! I'm Ms. Zmei! I teach P.E.! I also fought in the great Anti-Sabbath war! Good to meet you!"
In the corner of my Ms. Jashi shifted uncomfortably as I shook Ms. Zmei's hand. Or rather, as she vigorously shook mine.
"The boy's a bit soft!" thundered Ms. Zmei, "but he works hard. In the end, that's what's important! But be sure to push him a bit at home, alright?"
I nodded, and Ms. Zmei gave a few more remarks about ${son}'s performance.
When she concluded, Ms. Anansi clasped her hands together. "So, it seems that your son is doing rather wonderfully, Mr. ${surname}!"
"Thank you all," I replied. "And you all seem to be great teachers, as well."
"Oh, you're too kind," Ms. Anansi replied as her eight legs tapped idly. "So... could Mrs. ${surname} not make it today?"
"Well..." I shook my head. "To make a long story short, Mrs. ${surname} is not a part of our lives. Not for a long time, anyway."
The expressions of the teachers turned sullen. "Oh dear," Ms. Anansi replied. "I'm sorry to hear that."
She then put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sure being a single father is quite tough, but I have to say you're doing a great job with ${son}."
"It is," in confirm. "But we manage."
At my confirmation that I was indeed a single father, the eyes of the monstergirl teachers all lit up, and they approached me eagerly.
"A single father? My my, how dependable," mused Ms. Anima.
"Ooh, what a surprise, what a surprise indeed," cooed Ms. Mizuchi.
"You're still young, dearie," smirked Ms. Jashi. "You ought to find yourself a woman, you know."
"You must be quite lonely, nyaa~?" purred Ms. Caith.
"I can tell you're looking for a new wife!" bellowed Ms. Zmei. "How about--"
Oh dear. It seemed that all of my son's teachers were all looking for a man! I had certainly got some experience with women under my belt, but definitely not monstergirls! As a humble restaurant-owner and father, what was I to do?
Ms. Anansi gently yet firmly grabbed Ms. Zmei's arm, silencing her. "Now now, I think you all are getting rather personal for a parent-teacher conference. Let's not be overbearing now, ladies. Give the man some space."
The other five stepped backward, looking rather sheepish after the arachne's admonitions.
"Well, unless anyone has some closing remarks," Ms. Anansi said, "then this conference is adjourned."
I thanked them and begun to leave, but I decided to throw them a bone.
"By the way, I work down at my restaurant '${name}'s Grill' on Ajax Street. If any of you come by during lunch-time, I'll give you a discount."
The six began to clamor among themselves as I left.
***
It was another lazy Saturday here at '${name}'s Grill'. Sadly, it was a bit out of the way, so we got few customers, even on the weekends. Still, we made enough to stay afloat, so I couldn't complain.
The bell at my door chimed, signifying the arrival of another customer. I turned to the door, and saw a surprising yet familiar face: It was one of my son's teachers,