#rotef tk

Director Croissant trusted String Gummy as much as RotEF Timekeeper trusted her. They even portray this trust the same way. Timekeeper entrusted Croissant (and only Croissant) with the key that unlocks the Director's office. Director Croissant did the same with SG.

Ruler of the Ephemeral flow TK waited to isolate themselves in a timepocket when they knew that Croissant would be elected as the Director.

In Mission! Save the Future! we find out that TK already plans on promoting Croissant to Director when they retire + Croissant being the Cookie they trust most.

The reason RotEF TK didn't promote (Director) Croissant themselves though is because they knew that Croissant would get suspicious of it. Croissant is portrayed to be very emotionally intelligent. Knowing what she's been through, Director Croissant is probably even more. She'd definitely catch on to what RotEF TK was planning by "retiring".

As TK can see into the future, they probably checked at what point Croissant was guaranteed to be elected after they left and when that moment came they took it. They went on their "The TBD and Cookies are useless" spiel and left. Leaving the TBD in the hands of the one they trusted most.

I'm really hoping this is canon, but there isn't anything stopping me from headcanoning it if it isn't

(If you have Reddit and check up on r/cookierun and/or r/TimeBalanceDepartment you probably already saw this. I can't believe I never thought about posting it on here until now though.)