[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1089216474998128771/1145352894091104367/AmberBanner.png[/img]

[color=gold]”Where’s that bottle of Jack Daniels when I need it!?”[/color]

[color=888888]—Amber Bianchi[/color][/center]

Amber sat in her own corner of the lounge. Before her was an open laptop, her phone, and a tablet. Looking at this many screens would make a man’s head spin, and even most women. But girls were born to multitask. Even after forty years, that was something Amber never lost. 

Her phone displayed a series of text messages between herself and her two sons. She had just finished paying off her child support a few years ago, but the boys weren’t ready for the real world. They grew up without their mother. Weekly visitation wasn’t something that happened often in Japan. When the child support money stopped coming in, their father lost interest in them. Now they were living with her. But they were practically strangers. Just two young adults that weren’t ready for an adult life. They needed support and would need to go to college too. Unlike American colleges, Japanese colleges taught generalized skills that would make finding work anywhere easier. Just like American colleges, Japanese colleges were very expensive, and Amber was already trying to support three adults on a teacher’s salary in a one person apartment. Despite the difficulties, her Italian blood compelled her give something back to her children.

The tablet was her lesson planner and schedule. Monday had been finalized, but Amber liked to plan out the entire week. She liked to see when she could sneak in her lunch breaks or take on extra work. It might be worthwhile to take a shift as the Janitor, but that might cut into her soup kitchen duty in town. 

The computer screen displayed all of Amber’s finance information. Now that the boys were living under her roof, it was less expensive to support them. But she really shouldn’t have [i]had[/i] to support them at this point. But their father was useless, and they had been without their mother for almost twenty years. If she knew what she knew now, she would have never followed him back to Japan. 

If only a dry set of clothes could have solved Amber’s problems. 

The commotion spreading through the room didn’t get to Amber. Her eyes flicked up to look over the rims of her glasses before returning to her work. It was easy to get derailed by distractions. Shifting your attention threw your mind off balance, and it could take as much as fifteen minutes to get back on track. This was even more difficult when you were multitasking. 

Amber wished she could have a vacation from this. Maybe go on an adventure. Just grab the boys and go to Akihabara. She had no strong love for otaku culture, but her boys did. Moreover, it had to be more exciting than showing students how to cook stew or sew their clothes. But it was too expensive. Maybe once she got enough to send them to college, they could have that adventure. Just once.