Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e

It all began with a sudden incident at 6 o"clock in the evening on a certain day. Since I received a mail on my phone from the school, I decided to check it and when I did, it seems due to problems occurring at the Waterworks Bureau, the entire dormitory has received an alert that it would not have access to water for a while. When I tried turning the tap to test it, indeed no water came out. It seems repair attempts will be taking some time to finish and if it happened to be prolonged, it could take up to early morning to be fixed.

But the school too, is properly looking after the students and in the case that it becomes necessary, more than 2 liters of water at a time will be handed out to students at the cafeteria. And since the cafeteria is expected to be crowded, a warning statement was also released stating as such. And as a prohibited matter, the convenience stores that were expected to be majorly crowded were marked as temporarily unusable.

In addition, free-to-drink mineral water is installed at Keyaki Mall but it is forbidden to bottle that water for ourselves and take it back with us.

That"s not my problem though. If there is a problem, it would have to be the toilet. Although there is water in the tank, since it can only be used to flush once caution is necessary.

"As for drinks...there"s still a little bit left". The tea in the refrigerator would only last for about a single cup, but that should be enough for today. For dinner, I"ll have to endure it by making a dish without using any water. After that, as I began to indifferently make preparations to cook dinner, my phone suddenly rang. But as I moved to answer, the ringing ceased. It lasted for about 2 calls. As I reached my hand out towards my phone to check the caller ident.i.ty, it turned out to be Horikita Suzune"s name.

It"s unusual for her to call me. Even if Horikita had business with me, she usually makes do via chat. Since I got slightly curious about the matter, I decided to call back. However, no matter how many times I called, Horikita did not pick up. While feeling it was slightly mysterious I gave up on calling Horikita, placed my phone on top of the table and returned to cooking my dinner. I"ll cook fried rice today. It was a simple matter to cook fried rice using the rice I had bought in advance. After adding the eggs, the rest were just the finis.h.i.+ng touches. And it was then that the phone rang again. Once I stopped the fire and walked towards the phone, again the ringing stopped. Looking at the phone, it was like before, a call from Horikita.

Once I call back again, as expected, no matter how many times the call rings, Horikita did not answer. I felt slight doubt at this mysterious situation. Perhaps coincidentally, right after the call ended, she"s also busy. That was also a possibility but from Horikita"s personality that"s hard to imagine. She"s the type to only call when she"s in a calm state of mind. Even if something unexpected had happened, ending the call two times and not answering when I called back was strange. From here the conclusion I had drawn was that Horikita might currently be stuck in an unexpected situation.

"Yeah right".

Exasperated at myself for thinking too deeply about this, I decided to stop cooking for now and answer her through the chat.

"It seems you"ve called me two times, what"s the matter?".

And when I sent that message, without even a time delay, the read notification appeared. But from the message that had been read, a reply did not come. I waited for quite a long time but a reply did not come.

"I"m cooking right now so my response may be late, but if you contact me I will reply".

I sent that to her. Like before, the read notification appeared but no reply came and so I decided to return to my cooking.

1

Even after I had finished dinner, there was no contact from Horikita. After finis.h.i.+ng the last of my barley tea, once again I felt a slightly bothersome feeling.

"It can"t be---is it really a dangerous situation?"

Getting caught up in an unexpected situation and having collapsed somewhere, that can"t be it right? There"s no mistaking that it at least isn"t the usual Horikitlike reaction. I wonder if it"s a possibility that her phone is simply out of order and that"s why I can"t contact her. But, if that"s the case it would not be necessary to contact me for advice. She would simply need to contact the school at a later date.

If Horikita had a friend who would check up on her room at a time like this it would be a quick matter to resolve but...sadly I could not think of a single friend who would do that for her.

"Are you ok?".

Although that was a cliche line, I try to probe her situation like that.

"Oooo.....".

The read notification did not appear. Unlike a while ago, the situation where she had placed her phone had changed. Perhaps the battery of her phone had run out, or it had automatically turned itself off. Such a thing could also be considered possible but...what other possibilities could I think of. In the first place, her calling me in the first place is curious. What is the reason for that? In any case, the fact that she"s not saying it straightforward is strange. Then, if I realistically think about it---The first possibility would be that while Horikita had business with me, she is currently caught up in another matter. For instance, she"s been called by the teachers or she"s currently being called by a cla.s.smate.

But that line is thin. In the middle of summer vacation, at furthermore at night, it"s hard to imagine the school would call her out and I don"t think there exists a friend that would contact Horikita. If so, the winning theory would be that she has something to talk to me about. Even though she had tried to call me, she became involved in some sort of accident and became unable to do so. Either that or she fell asleep or forgot and so forgot to call back. Something along the lines of that.

"It just doesn"t fit".

Horikita is an honor student and she can handle herself. I can"t imagine such a Horikita simply forgetting to reply. Even though I had tried to call her directly, it didn"t connect, and I was forced to switch over to chat.

However even in that chat, she did not send a sentence in reply. For a period of time, read notifications did appear even though the fact that it"s no longer the case now leads me to imagine that it is still operational.

"I"m worried.....".

Even if I stay here, the things I can do for her are limited but I"m worried about her too so I can"t just leave her alone. For now, to let her know that I"m trying to contact her, I decided to call her again.

If I go this far, unless she"s considerably busy or have not noticed my calls at all, she should answer. Again, I call Horikita"s address.

As I did that, on the fourth call, at least I succeeded in making contact with the other side.

"h.e.l.lo.....".

Horikita did not seem to be surprised but she seemed to have a slightly tired voice.

"Hey. Sorry for calling you so many times, but I got worried ever since I received your call. Were you sleeping?".

"That"s not the case. Sorry for not replying".

I did not sense any sort of panic or any sense of an accident having occurred.

"Right now I"m a bit busy so if that"s all you wanted to say can I cut the call now".

Once Horikita said that I could hear from the mouthpiece of her phone a metallic sound.

"What was that?".

"No. Nothing in particular. Goodbye".

It seems she didn"t want to be investigated any further since she hurriedly ended the call. I am a bit worried but I did manage to make contact and the person herself is saying everything"s fine. I decided to forget this for now and slowly spend my night.

2

Nothing would happen today. I had thought the whole day would end just like that. But, around 9PM, the screen of my phone lit up. A new message had arrived.

"Are you awake?".

It was such a chat from Horikita.

"I"m awake".

"I"d like to talk with you for a bit, do you have time now?".

It was roughly two hours since our last call that she made this sort of contact.

"I"ll call you".

After saying that to her, I immediately called Horikita"s phone and with just one call, she picked up.

"What"s wrong?".

"There"s something I wanted to ask you.....".

Horikita said that with a slightly disarrayed manner of speech like before, and after that briefly went silent.

"Let"s say for instance there is a turtle".

"Huh?".

All of a sudden, such a crazy story came forth from Horikita.

"That turtle is an extremely smart and talented turtle. But, if it happened to be involved in an accident and was flipped upside down, don"t you think that would be a terrible thing? It won"t be able to stand back up on its own anymore".

"That"s right. It"s just, when speaking of normal turtles not being able to get back up, they can extend their necks and use their legs to balance themselves and in most cases, they can regain their initial posture. By the way, the ones that are unable to get back up on their own would be giant tortoises and sea turtles. It"s because both species are born under conditions that lead to them being unable to flip themselves back up".

"........".

When I added my unnecessary words, Horikita went silent.

"That was unnecessary. It would be easier if you honestly a.s.sumed that they would be unable to get back up on their own and listened".

I thought so. Even I thought that was a spectacularly unnecessary addon.

"And? That situation where it can"t get back up, is something the matter with it?".

"If you encountered such a situation, what would you do? I just wanted to ask for future reference".

"If I did, I would probably wake it up. It"s not that much of a bothersome task".

Indeed I would have no reason to save it but I also have no reason to abandon it either.

If that is the case, I might as well extend a helping hand. But I wonder what exactly this story is leading to. If I consider the situation simply, it would be that Horikita is currently, like the turtle, in a situation where she can"t get back up on her own. But from the call, I could not detect any sense of panic and she herself seems calm. It probably means it"s not that urgent of a situation.

"So...what"s troubling you?".

In response to Horikita who was beating around the bush, I straightforwardly asked her that. No matter what problems she"s facing, there"s no profit to be had in prolonging this. If that"s the case, this makes hearing it out go faster.

"I"m not particularly in any trouble".

"No but, right now our conversation"s going in that direction, isn"t it?".

"I was just talking about an overturned turtle, it has nothing to do with me".

"...then why did you talk about that turtle?".

"I just felt like it. I wanted to tell you about the overturned turtle".

This is messed up.

"This isn"t like you, no, asking for help isn"t like you either but...you called me because you didn"t have anyone else you could rely on right? If that"s the case, saying it quickly would be better".

I admonished her like that and after a while, she began to talk.

"If you feel like helping people no matter what then it can"t be helped, it"s not like I can"t allow you to advise me on this".

"O-oh. And? That"s fine so let me know".

The Horikita who had been twisted by a sense of superiority had said an unbelievable thing like that. But at this point, anything goes.

"I"m just having a little trouble".

And then finally, she admitted it honestly.

"Where are you now?"

"I"m in my room" Horikita answered.

"Don"t tell me, are black bugs showing up?".

If that"s the case even if she can afford to casually talk, it easily gives off an image that she cannot easily resolve it. It would also be accurate for a period. However the dormitories are kept clean and Horikita also happens to live on the upper floor. The chances of them appearing in her room are low.

"That"s not the case. If that were so, I could deal with it myself".

"How would you deal with it? Detergent? Hot water? Slippers? And if none of those, then how?".

I also noticed she did not immediately tell me the details of her problem. No matter how much I"m blessed with reasoning abilities, I cannot imagine Horikita"s situation.

"The reason I"m in trouble is...actually it"s fine. I"ll solve it myself".

"You"re trying to solve it yourself, but it"s already been more than two hours that you haven"t resolved it yet, hasn"t it?".

She should have already been caught up in the problem by the time she attempted to contact me. If so, she should"ve struggled quite a bit already.

"Well.....".

So that"s an affirmation, however perhaps the details of it seem to be weighing quite a bit on her since she didn"t reply immediately. But then

".....well.....indeed I"m close to my physical limits. I"ll tell you honestly".

At last I can cut to the chase. I thought that but Horikita cut in like this.

"...could you come to my room now....?".

It was a meaningful statement that was equal parts shy and disgusted.

"From now, but it"s already past 9 o"clock".

"I understand but...there"s no other way to solve this other than having you come here...."

It was a burning voice. It was a frustrated voice that sounded slightly pained.

"There might be some resistance though. To go all the way up to the upper floors where the girls live".

"I understand that, but unless I get you to move directly, it would be difficult to solve this".

And just like that, Horikita onesidedly ended the call.

"This seems a bit scary...but I suppose there"s nothing else to do but go".

In any case, it wouldn"t be nice to be late so grabbing only my phone and the keys to my room I left my room.

3

Feeling like I"d rather not run into any girls, I aimed for the time when there would be no one else using the elevator. Sneaking around like this is pathetic, but I"m just that type of person. Then with the right timing, as I reached the 13th floor where Horikita lives, I pressed the chime. After waiting for a while, since there were no signs of her opening the door, I tried opening it myself and since the door was not locked, the door simply opened.

"Horikita?".

Horikita"s room is a 1K but since there is a door installed inside too, I could not see into the bedroom. In the corridor and the kitchen that had barely changed from the time of our initial enrollment, there were no signs of Horikita.

"You"re alone right? I don"t mind if you come inside".

I heard that from the other side of the door.

"Even though we"re in the dormitories right now, that"s dangerous" I said.

"It"s alright, even if a suspicious person were to enter now, the destructive power of my right hand will be more than enough".

What"s that phrase supposed to mean? While thinking that, I entered the room. Then I walked into the room. Horikita had her back turned facing me and I could not see her expression, but I could not see any particular change about her.

The interior of the room too, was simple and I could not see any particular place that could be considered strange.

"I"m here. What"s the problem?".

"If you see, you"ll understand".

Having said that, Horikita slowly stood up and turned to face me.

And then, at that moment, incomprehensible feelings and as well as understanding emotions simultaneously burst forth from inside me.

"I see.....so that"s it?".

"That"s it".

I glanced away from her in understanding and towards the tip of her right arm. And there I saw a small water bottle for girls" use that was completely engulfing her hand.

"How should I put it...this is a disaster completely unlike you. Don"t tell me you were playing with it?".

"Don"t be stupid".

"No, I mean it"s possible right? It feels like sandwiching a pointy corn between your hands and eating it, doesn"t it?".

Perhaps saying something irritated her, as she swung her right arm around with a sharp expression.

"I-it"s a joke".

"There"s no point in telling a joke if it isn"t funny. Yours wasn"t funny, it"s a failure" Horikita replied.

"That"s not because my joke wasn"t funny, it"s because I made fun of you isn"t it?".

"This happened as a result of me was.h.i.+ng it. That"s enough could you get it off already?".

So that seems to be the story. I grabbed the tip of the water bottle and pulled. But when I did, Horikita herself was pulled along with it.

"It"s already bad enough that you can"t get it off yourself. Please step it up".

If her body itself gets pulled along with the bottle, then I won"t be able to take off what normally could be taken off.

"I already understand something like that. It"s just, I"m already quite tired so please make it brief".

It seems after having struggled for more than two hours, Horikita is already starting to get exhausted. I grabbed hold of the water bottle again. Then I added some more strength to it and pulled. Horikita too, endured the pain as she stepped backwards at the same time. But it seems she"s already used to it at this point since she showed no signs of feeling her arms being pulled off.

"This is pointless. At this rate it probably won"t come off".

"I see, as expected...".

It seems she had already expected that the water bottle would not come off as Horikita showed no signs of strong disappointment.

"Looks like we"ll need to rub it with soap and slowly pull it off. Let"s go to the kitchen".

"But that would only continue this disaster, haven"t you been informed that there"s a water outage right now?" Horikita said.

That"s right. We won"t be able to use water until 12 o"clock in the dormitories. The only water that can be used right now is the water in the toilet, but I doubt Horikita would be fine with using it.

"I"ll be going to the cafeteria for a moment".

There"s no other way except this. If I could just get my hands on some water it would be possible to pull it off. Immediately leaving the room, I headed for the cafeteria. But once there, I was a.s.saulted an unexpected incident.

"I"m sorry but a lot more students came than expected and we"re out of water".

The old lady at the cafeteria apologized in that sorry tone. It seems the students who needed water for their dinner had taken it all.

"I understand. I"ll buy some at the vending machine".

"If you could please do that?".

For just pulling an arm out of a water bottle, a large amount of water should not be necessary. About two gla.s.ses worth of water should be enough. Thinking that, I headed towards a vending machine installed near the cafeteria. But it seems misfortune tends to overlap. All the water, tea, juice and the such in the vending machine have all been sold out.

"...this is the first time I"ve seen a vending machine completely emptied..."

4

"So? You"ve come back without anything in hand?".

The water bottle woman glared at me, but it couldn"t be helped since there was nothing I could have done.

"I wanted to bring some from my room but I"ve already used up all my water".

This too, cannot be explained as anything other than a tragedy brought forth from this current of misfortune.

"So what do we do?".

"If you"re fine with it, we could ask Ike or Sudou to share some water with us?".

"I"ll pa.s.s".

I had already expected this kind of answer so I had written it off before even asking, but as expected.

"If you"re uncomfortable with borrowing from them, I can lie and tell them that I"m the one in need" I said.

"That"s not it. I"m opposed to using the water they have at hand, there"s no telling what they put in there.....".

She"s treating them almost as if they"re bacteria. That"s definitely not the case...is what I"d like to say but I don"t have the confidence to make that statement. Those guys, they have a habit of leaving drinking water or tea as it is.

If Horikita asks them to hand it over they would probably give the cleanest water they have but if I tell them I wanted the water, depending on the situation, they might hand me back something of that kind. There"s nothing more terrifying than malevolence without ill intent.

"Then do you want to challenge it again?".

"Yes. Please continue even if it hurts for me".

Horikita offered me her right arm as though she had prepared her resolve. It seems she wishes to escape from this as soon as possible. I could see slight sweat forming on her arm.

"Alright, then I"ll be putting my back into it for a bit".

I would also like to free Horikita as quickly as possible and return to my room. Thinking to endure the ridiculous posture for a moment, I pulled on the water bottle. I then used twice as much power as before to pull the bottle off but it only resulted in Horikita making an expression of agony. Despite that, Horikita did not raise any complaints and endured the pain. However, the water bottle, as though sucking on her arm, did not come off.

"This is really, as I thought, going to need some water".

I"ll need to make it slippery first before pulling it out. If it still won"t come off after that, it might become necessary to call emergency services.

"You"re telling me to wait until 12 o"clock? In this state?".

"If there"s still someone we can rely on from among my contacts, the remaining male would be Hirata" I told her.

"If it"s him there"s no doubt as to the quality of the water but...I"d rather not be in his debt".

"Even if you say debt, on the front I"ll be the one needing the water. There should be no problem for you".

"...that is indeed true".

She still seemed to be dissatisfied somewhat but she seems to have accepted that a sacrifice needs to be made to escape this urgent situation and accepted my plan.

"Then I"ll contact him promptly".

I attempt to call Hirata. However, even now, misfortune seems to overlap. No matter how many times I called, Hirata showed no signs of picking up. On top of that, even when I tried sending him a message, it was not read.

"He"s not noticing, maybe he"s asleep. In any case, there"s no response".

"I see. Feelings of joy and sadness are both mixing together confusingly and making it complicated for me" Horikita said.

"Then next is, no other choice but to rely on Kus.h.i.+da or Sakura".

"Please ask Sakursan then".

As if to say Kus.h.i.+da is absolutely out of the question, she replied to me with that immediately.

"Are you still on bad terms with Kus.h.i.+da?" I asked her.

"There"s no need for us to get along. And besides, there are many actions of hers I still don"t understand".

"What do you mean you don"t understand?".

".....the exam on the cruise s.h.i.+p. She abandoned victory from the start and instead aimed for a draw".

Remembering the special exam from a while back, Horikita crossed her arms together. Unfortunately the water bottle stuck on her arm made her look uncool and hence the intensity of her statement was lacking.

"She"s a pacifist by nature. She"ll probably choose the outcome where everybody"s happy".

"I have no intention of denying outcome 1 entirely. However if one is the "target" themselves that it"s out of the question".

She begins to speak sharply.

The exam that took place on the s.h.i.+p separated students into 12 groups in a game to find the "target". There were four possible outcomes and among them, outcome 1 is the hardest outcome to achieve wherein the ident.i.ty of the "target" is known to everyone yet is cleared without anyone betraying the group. In exchange, the reward itself is considerable where the entire group receives 1,000,000 points without it being divided up. The only drawback to this outcome is, the cla.s.s to which the "target" belongs does not earn any points. Since the other cla.s.ses equally gain valuation, the difference between them does not change. She did not take advantage of the privileged position of the "target". That is what Horikita is dissatisfied with.

"That situation absolutely favored Cla.s.s D. That means in other words, the ident.i.ty of the "target" absolutely needed to remain hidden, and should have remained hidden. However, everyone ended up knowing that Kus.h.i.+dsan was the "target". I think in regards to that, she herself was involved".

In other words, Horikita is trying to say that Kus.h.i.+da, by doing something, ended up causing outcome 1.

"That"s just your speculation, right?".

"That"s right. But the possibility of that is overwhelmingly high. I"m a.s.suming her guilt".

Horikita added more force to her words. It"s not like I don"t understand how she feels but the water bottle stuck to her arm simply makes it look uncool.

It"s just, I"ll need to correct Horikita"s idea a little here. She"s still at a premature stage.

"I can understand how you feel but that"s no good, right?".

"Do you mean saying this without any evidence that she"s betrayed us?".

"That"s not it. I"m saying it"s all your responsibility. I"ll just a.s.sume Kus.h.i.+da did betray us in fact, if we a.s.sume that to be true then the fault lies with you for allowing her to betray us. Adding on, even if Kus.h.i.+da did betray you, you had to win at all costs. Am I wrong?" I asked her.

She understood it clearly, yet in response to this difficult demand she clashes against it with her own correct answer. Horikita, against this unreasonable attack, makes her objection.

"Don"t be unreasonable. Do you understand just how unrealistic that is?".

"Unrealistic? I don"t think so. Let me repeat myself, if Kus.h.i.+da did indeed betray us and guided the group to outcome 1 that is an amazing thing. This is an area you cannot succeed in half-heartedly. In other words, in the previous exam, you were completely outsmarted in regards to Kus.h.i.+da, with a difference in between your capabilities and hers".

Of course my statement had a.s.sumed Kus.h.i.+da had indeed betrayed us, in the case that this is not true, that statement won"t hold true. Ryuuen or Katsuragi, I don"t know which but with a more powerful force, an outcome to force everyone of the (Dragon) group to bow down had been taken. Even in that case, the fact that Horikita had been outsmarted does not change.

"You had the "target" in your cla.s.s. And so you were so confident of your victory that you did not take any further actions. If so, the responsibility for that lies with the people on the same team. If you"re aiming for Cla.s.s A, you need to be able to manage at least that" I told Horikita.

".....you"re saying some difficult things".

"I understand your feelings of frustration. But even so, this is the path you chose. And besides, you"ve matured even more than before. Even if I said the same thing to you when we first met you absolutely wouldn"t have even heard me out" I continued.

That"s right. Slowly but steadily, Horikita"s mindset is slowly beginning to develop into that of an adult.

Unlike when we first met, she"s becoming a girl who does not reject everything.

"I get it already. I"ll accept the results of the exam. I confess I was thinking too optimistically. But right now the important thing, in any case, is to get this arm free".

That"s correct, this seems like a situation where some professor somewhere would say that while nodding.

"I"ll try relying on Sakura a bit" I said.

Since it"s getting late, rather than calling her I decided to use the chat to call out to her.

"Sakura, I think you"re also aware of the water outage problem. But I"m out of drinking water in my room and I"m in a bit of a bind. The vending machine"s also all sold out, if you"re fine with it would you share some water with me?".

I waited a while after having sent the message but there were no signs of it being read.

"This is no good. Maybe she"s asleep but it doesn"t seem like she"s noticed".

"Honestly, we"re completely out of luck today...".

"You want to take it off right now don"t you?".

"If I wanted to wait another day in this state I wouldn"t have even called you".

I suppose that"s true. She probably wants to get it off as quickly as possible.

"If so, that means you also have no choice but to take suitable risks too".

".....suitable?".

While on guard, she asks that. Horikita too, most likely, also understands this in her head.

"We"ll leave this room and go to Keyaki Mall where we can utilize water. There"s no other way" I said.

"So it"s going to be like that in the end.....".

She put her hands on her forehead, but it doesn"t matter which gesture she makes right now, it ends up looking ridiculous.

"Right now this period is mostly used for eating meals, taking a bath and other various things so it"s our chance".

As a matter of fact, before I came to this room, before I went down to the cafeteria, I did not encounter a single cla.s.smate of ours. If she cannot hold on until 12 o"clock there"s no other choice but to take this much risk at least.

"I can"t take this risk. Can"t you ask your friends?".

"Unfortunately that"s impossible today, it seems they"ve promised to go out together to the karaoke. They"re not here".

"Honestly. I don"t mean to repeat myself any more than this, but what a day...".

"Let"s go now so we can end this in a poof".

"W-wait. I really can"t go outside like this".

"Then do you want to hide your hand with something? It"s already hidden by a water bottle though".

"That kind of joke is unnecessary".

"I-I get it. I"ll apologize so put down that hand you"re raising".

Since she moved to hit me again, I panicked and quickly took my distance.

"Do you have anything like a cloth?".

"Cloth....? If it"s a handkerchief". Saying that, Horikita brought out a white handkerchief from a shelf.

As I took it from her, I covered it from above Horikita"s water bottle.

"...putting it bluntly this is suspicious. More than that, I feel the length of it isn"t enough". Although most of it is covered, it"s still meaningless if the tip of the bottle is peeking out.

"Do you have anything bigger?".

"If it has to be something bigger, it"ll have to be a bath towel...". This time she brings out a bath towel. I placed it on the arm with the water bottle.

"Well if it"s this it should be.....". It"s just, it"ll be a mystery as to why she"s walking outside with a bath towel in hand.

In a sense, it would be a lot more conspicuous than simply having an arm trapped inside a water bottle.

"It"s a little unstable, if I walk the bath towel will fall off".

"Shouldn"t it be fine if you hold it down with the other hand?".

Having folded the bath towel, she gave off an image as though she were about to enter the bath. If it"s like this, yeah, it looks a lot better.

"If a third party were to see my situation, what kind of impression would they have?".

"Let"s see...".

Firstly as a premise, n.o.body would walk around in the dormitories with a bath towel nor would they go outside. Naturally one would wonder. And then if I were to stand beside her, it would be an even greater mystery.

"Depending on the situation.....I wonder. For instance, maybe they might think you borrowing the bathtub in my room".

That might be too much of a leap but since I myself saw it that way, I said that.

"Rejected". She removes the bath towel and refuses. I too don"t want to be caught up with that kind of suspicious doubt.

"How about walking while putting your hands inside your bag?".

"I don"t even want to imagine that. Rejected. Can you think of a slightly better idea?"

Even though we"re in a pinch she"s still first-cla.s.s when it comes to complaining.

"If that"s the case let"s just go like this? It"ll be light and there won"t be anything to fall off like a towel or a handkerchief".

".....let"s see". Rather than wasting time thinking up this and that it"s better to simply act.

Dragging along a slightly hesitant Horikita with me, I stepped out into the corridor.

"Ok, there aren"t any signs of people around. Let"s go".

"W-wait a minute. I haven"t put on my shoes properly yet". Since she could only use one hand that"s taking up a lot of time as well. After having spent some time, the two of us head into the corridor.

"There"s a faucet on the road to school, isn"t there? If we can make it there it should be alright".

If we walk at a normal pace, we should arrive there in 5 minutes.

Since the situation is the situation, it may take twice as long as that but as long as we can leave the dormitory, under the cover of darkness it would be fine. We made it to the front of the elevator. Since both elevators weren"t moving, it would be impossible to get on them as well.

"It"s useless, Ayanokouji-kun. We can"t use the elevator".

"What?".

"There"s a surveillance monitor in the lobby on the 1st floor right? I don"t know who"s seeing it".

Indeed on the 1st floor, the footage captured by the surveillance camera inside the elevator is being displayed on a monitor. Horikita is concerned about being seen on it.

Even if she can poorly hide her arm in front of the camera, she won"t be able to avoid giving them a mysterious footage.

"Then do you want to use the stairs?".

If we"re to descend from this point, it would take quite a bit of time. And the fact that one of her hands is unusable makes it a little dangerous.

"Rather than letting anyone see this clumsy figure of mine, I"d rather choose the stairs" Horikita said.

After weighing struggles and danger on a scale against her pride. Horikita chose pride.

There are two emergency staircases, each one located equidistantly from the elevator. No matter which one we use, we"ll have to go past the doors of the student rooms again, it can"t be helped.

Bringing along a Horikita who seemed to be hiding behind my back while walking, we headed towards the staircase. Along the way, if I had to borrow Horikita"s words "what a day". In other words, it"s an unlucky day. I heard the doors to the room of an unknown student opening. About three rooms back from where we were standing.

"T-this is bad. That"s Maezono-san"s room".

Maezono of Cla.s.s D, huh? No doubt one of the people Horikita does not wish to encounter right now. But there"s no room for escape.

But from the door that was slowly opening, it wasn"t Maezono that came out, but her friend Kus.h.i.+da. I wondered if this was yet another unexpected incident for Horikita.

"Thank you Kus.h.i.+dsan. I"ll repay the favor next time".

"No, it"s ok. Don"t mind it. Good night Maezono-san".

It seems she came to play in Maezono"s room. Perhaps Maezono meant to see her off from inside, but I couldn"t see her face. As the door closed, Kus.h.i.+da, without realizing the presence of me and Horikita, headed towards the elevator.

"That was dangerous..."

"Right".

If she had only looked back, Kus.h.i.+da would have noticed our presence. Uncomfortable sweat starts to form. In any case, this place is too conspicuous. We have to head out through the emergency exits as quickly as possible.

But as we took the next step, Maezono"s room"s door opened again.

"Kus.h.i.+dsan. You forgot something, you forgot something!".

Saying that Maezono came outside. Naturally, Kus.h.i.+da turned around.

"Hmm, Ayanokouji-kun and Horikitsan. Good evening".

"Y, yeah".

There was a brief exchange of words but it seems firstly she"ll be checking what she forgot. Kus.h.i.+da heads towards Maezono.

And of course, Maezono also inevitably notices us. Horikita turns rigid. Receiving both Kus.h.i.+da and Maezono"s gaze, she becomes unable to move.

"You forgot your phone".

"Ahh, sorry. Thank you. That saved me---".

"Let"s go Ayanokouji-kun. There"s no need to stay here for long".

Saying that now while Kus.h.i.+da"s attention is focused on her forgotten belonging, this is the chance, she uses the tip of the water bottle to push my back. I suppose if this form of hers is seen, Horikita"s pride would be torn to shreds.

While being pushed, I reached the emergency exit and attempt to open the door.

However---

"It won"t open.....".

"It"s a joke, right? There"s no way an emergency exit won"t open".

"No, it seriously won"t open".

Locking an emergency exit is normally prohibited so this is probably---

"Where are the two of you going?".

Perhaps she was curious about the two of us attempting to leave through the emergency exit, Kus.h.i.+da, having finished her business with Maezono, approached us.

"That"s, no. We were just thinking about going down using the stairs".

That was a reason I didn"t understand well, but there was nothing else I could have answered with except that.

"If I remember, the east staircase"s power is cut right now so you won"t be able to use it. It would be dangerous in the dark. I think the west one would be usuable?".

"I see. So that"s how it is". Horikita, without attempting to call out to Kus.h.i.+da, was simply hiding behind my back.

"Horikitsan feels different than usual, did something happen?".

Kus.h.i.+da called out to her like that. On top of that it was past her own room. It seems she"s intending to come all the way in front of us. Perhaps Kus.h.i.+da"s actions were also conveyed to Horikita, she answered with a slightly loud voice.

"There"s nothing wrong in particular".

Those words of Horikita included a wish to make her stop coming. Perhaps they were conveyed, but Kus.h.i.+da stopped.

"I see. If there"s anything troubling you, please tell me. Earlier, Maezono-san also seemed to be troubled because of the water outage and so she wasn"t able to use the water. I have more than enough water".

Right now it seems the Kus.h.i.+da in front of us has something Horikita wants more than anything.

If she chooses to ask now, she would be able to get her hands on it easily but---

Using the tip of the water bottle like the muzzle of a gun, she presses it against my back.

By that, she probably means she wouldn"t forgive me if I relied on Kus.h.i.+da.

"Then Horikitsan, Ayanokouji-kun. Good night, both of you".

"Ohh, good night".

5

Using the emergency staircase, it"s taken us quite a bit of time to descend from the 13th floor to the 1st floor. There was the possibility that the lobby would be crowded due to the water outage but fortunately neither students nor administrators were present.

"We can go if it"s now".

"Yes".

Through the entrance, both me and Horikita, who was hiding in my shadow and following me, left. However---From the darkness spreading out before us we could see several male and female students approaching us while chatting. They don"t seem to be Cla.s.s D students, however, it didn"t matter now who they were. Not having enough time to leave the dorm itself, she turns her back as if to return.

"At this rate they"ll see us.....".

Slowly their presence approaching the dorm is becoming larger. Perhaps it would be better to return to the emergency staircase. In a panic, we opened the door to the emergency staircase. Having come this far, will our misfortune turn into a chain of misfortune? I could hear a voice coming from above us. Listening carefully, it appears to be a male student living on perhaps the 3rd or 4th floor that"s descending.

It"s often common for students living on the lower floors to not use the elevator. It"s not strange even if they used the emergency staircase. No longer able to ascend up the stairs, we were forced to hurriedly turn back towards the lobby.

"There"s no other choice but the elevator.....!".

"Is that ok? You"ll be seen on the monitor".

"I"ll have to use you to cover myself. Since we know the position of the camera we should be able to do it".

It would certainly be a strange thing, but it"s certainly not an impossible task. It was a method I would have liked to avoid if possible but since there"s no longer an escape route, I have no other choice.

We quickly get on the elevator that"s supposed on the left side of the 1st floor. And then, as I quickly stepped in front of the camera"s line of sight, Horikita stood behind me like a ghost and hid her arm.

If it"s like this even if we"re seen slightly on the monitor, they wouldn"t notice anything. In any case we need to leave the 1st floor. I randomly pressed a b.u.t.ton to make the elevator ascend.

"For now we"re safe but...this is just the start".

"I"ll just give up. This isn"t a state where I can just go outside. Since I"ve come this far I"ll just tough it out until the water outage is fixed".

I felt it was a bitter decision she had made, but Horikita seems to have concluded as such. If that"s the case, we"ll just have to return to the 13th floor. I cancelled the random floor I had pressed and pressed the b.u.t.ton for the 13th floor.

No more trials should befall us. As both me and Horikita felt relief somewhere inside us, without any notice it came. The elevator"s speed, which had been rapidly rising until now, suddenly slows. Recently whenever I get on an elevator, good things never happen, so I did not even have time to think what was happening. It"s neither a breakdown nor a mistake in pressing the b.u.t.ton. This is---

The elevator came to a stop on the 5th floor. That"s right, a student on the 5th floor had pressed the elevator b.u.t.ton. No matter who gets on, there"s no avoiding them seeing Horikita"s abnormal appearance.

At this point, having a large number of people crowd the elevator is likelier to keep someone from noticing.

However ruthlessly enough, there was only one male student standing in front of the door as it opened. Of all things, to run into him.....

That man, whether he"s noticed us or not, strides into the elevator with his usual, unchanging elegance. Not even sparing us a glance, he made a beeline for the mirror inside the elevator. Then, staring into the mirror, he begins to check his hair for any abnormalities.

"......".

Horikita also seemed to be stunned at the existence of this man who seemed to be completely immersed inside his own world. Then, bringing out a comb he seems to always carry around with him, he began to set his hair.

"Elevator Boy, I shall request the top floor".

While staring at his reflection in the mirror that man.....the student of Cla.s.s D named Kouenji Rokusuke, said that to me.

There are a lot of things I wanted to interject then, but right now, it"s better to shut up and obey him. I silently pressed the b.u.t.ton to the top floor as the door to the elevator closed. We once again ascend.

Perhaps Kouenji has no interest in us while checking his hair, but he showed no signs of paying attention to us. It was natural if we were complete strangers, but even so, we were cla.s.smates. I think sparing us a glance at least would have been normal. But we have gained a narrow escape from certain death. If it"s Kouenji, he would have no interest in Horikita at all so he would not notice the water bottle.

Now all we"d have to do is not commit any actions that would attract his attention and spend this brief while. That"s all. And even if by some chace, he happened to glance at us, Horikita had adjusted her body position to make it look alright. While maintaining her position in the camera"s blind spot, she also managed to cover herself from Kouenji.

The elevator pa.s.sed the 10th floor. I did think what business he had on the top floor, but I can"t ask that. I did think, unexpectedly he might really not have any reason to go there but we made it all the way to the 10th floor. As the elevator doors slowly opened, both me and Horikita almost simultaneously stepped out. In the end, without ever taking his eyes off the mirror, Kouenji continued all the way up to the top floor. Although we managed to avoid further problems, Horikita, after a brief, fast walk, returned in front of her room.

"It"s impossible to do anymore than this. It"s too much to go around walking outside, cautious of the surroundings in this state".

Saying that, she suddenly went back into her room. She must have felt quite anxious.....

After that, following her, I also entered the room. And, with that timing, my phone vibrated.

"I"m sorry for the late reply, I was looking up something and I didn"t notice".

From Sakura, a response like that came back to me.

"Sakursan?".

"Yeah".

"It"s about water, right? Of course it"s ok. Would a plastic bottle be enough?".

"That"s more than enough, thank you. Is it ok if I come and get it now?".

"Yes, I"ll be waiting".

Sakura replied like that. Whenever I talk to her directly in person, it"s hard to continue a conversation but when it"s through the chat, it flows really smoothly.

"Rejoice, Horikita. It seems Sakura will share water with us. I"ve got her consent so I"ll be going now".

"Thank you. Please do make sure not to tell Sakursan about me"

"Yeah. You"ll soon be parting with this figure, do you mind if I take a commemorative photo?" I asked her.

Since it seemed like she was about to start swinging the water bottle at me, I panicked and quickly ran into the corridor.

"What a fearsome woman. Judging from her athletic a.s.sessment, if she swings it down on my head I could die".

It would leave a stain on my history if I died from getting my head smashed in by a high school girl whose arm was stuck inside a water bottle.

6

"Here you go. It"s off".

After overcoming a long struggle, I somehow succeeded in removing the water bottle from Horikita.

"Honestly this was a totally disastrous day.....".

I had time taken away from me by a water bottle, I could understand the need to feel such things.

"Ayanokouji-kun, take care not to mention this to anyone else".

"Before you start warning me, isn"t there something you"d like to say first?".

".......thank you".

Honesty? Not really, but it seems like she is capable of grat.i.tude.

"But even so, not being able to take your arm out of a water bottle, it"s a happening completely unlike you Horikita".

"Leave me be. It"s not trouble I got into because I like it".

Well, it was a danger lurking close by. Or perhaps it just means you can never tell what will happen next in the world. Having been urged to leave her room quickly, I started to return to my room.

But really, is it even possible for an arm to be stuck in a water bottle and not be able to get out? I took it out of the box, rinsed it with water and put my hand in it to test it out. When I did, it seemed to be quite a hazardous size and unexpectedly my arm was fixed in position firmly.

"Rocket Punch! Just kidding".

I became an idiot for a moment and then tried to remove the water bottle from my arm but...

"I-I can"t pull it out!?".