Chapter 4: Dangers Lurk in Everyday Life

Chapter 4:
Dangers Lurk in
Everyday Life

 

It all began at 6:00 P.M. on a certain day. A text message from the school informed us that the entire dormitory wouldn’t have water for quite a while, due to trouble with the water department. I turned the faucet to confirm, and nothing came out.

It sounded as though the repair work wouldn’t finish until the early morning. In the meantime, the school was taking the necessary steps to provide for its students. It would hand out two liters or more of water in the cafeteria as needed, although the text warned us that the cafeteria was expected to be crowded as a result. The convenience stores were temporarily unavailable, but the Keyaki Mall would provide free drinking water. However, we were prohibited from bottling the water and taking it home. That really wasn’t an issue for me, though.

No, my big problem would be the toilet. Even though there was water in the tank, we had to be cautious, since we could only flush once.

The tea in the refrigerator should have been enough for one cup, which could get me through the day. As for dinner, I’d cook something without using any water. I’d just started prepping dinner when my phone suddenly rang. The moment I went to answer it, it stopped after two rings.

I saw that Horikita Suzune had called. It was unusual for her to reach out. Even if Horikita had some business with me, she generally texted. Curious, I decided to call her back. However, no matter how many times the phone rang, Horikita didn’t answer.

I did think it was strange, but I decided to give up. I placed my phone on the table and went back to making dinner. Since I already had rice on hand, I settled on fried rice as a simple option. Once I added the egg, the finishing touches were all that remained.

Suddenly, my phone rang again.

By the time I turned off the burner and went to my phone, the ringing stopped. Another call from Horikita. I tried calling back again, but she didn’t answer. This was getting suspicious.

Maybe Horikita just happened to become busy right after she tried calling? Considering her personality, it was hard to imagine that was the case. She was the type of person who called only when calm. Even if something had happened, ending the call twice in a row, and not picking up afterward, was strange. I concluded that Horikita had probably been caught off guard by something unexpected.

“Yeah, right,” I muttered.

Exasperated at myself for reading too deeply into Horikita’s call, I decided to stop cooking for a bit and send her a text.

Hey, looks like you tried calling me twice. Did you want something?

The read receipt instantly popped up, but no reply came. I waited for quite a while, but there was nothing.

I’m cooking right now, so I might not respond right away. Just text me, and I’ll get back to you.

Once again, the read receipt popped up, but she didn’t reply. I went back to my dinner.

4.1

 

By the time I finished eating, I still hadn’t heard from Horikita. As I drank the last of my barley tea, I started feeling like something was wrong.

“She couldn’t be… She’s not really in danger, is she?”

Could she have collapsed somewhere? This whole thing was atypical of Horikita, without a doubt. Was her phone malfunctioning? If so, she could just have contacted the school.

If I knew someone close enough to Horikita to go to her room and check on her, this would have been over quickly. Sadly, I couldn’t think of anyone who fit the bill.

Are you okay? I texted.

I had to find out what was going on.

“Oh…”

The read notification didn’t appear. The situation had changed. Maybe her phone’s battery had run out, or her phone had automatically shut off.

What other possibilities existed, though? The fact that Horikita called in the first place still weighed on me. Why? It was also strange that she hadn’t said what was going on.

Logically, my first thought was that Horikita had some business with me, but had been interrupted by something else. A teacher might’ve called her, or a classmate. But that theory was very shaky. It was hard to imagine someone from the school calling Horikita in the middle of the summer, especially at night. She didn’t have any friends who’d contact her that way.

Maybe some accident had stopped the call. Or she just fell asleep and forgot to call me back. That might have been it.

“That doesn’t fit.”

Horikita was a gifted and focused student. I couldn’t see her forgetting to reply.

“I’m worried.”

In the end, my options were limited, but I was too concerned to just let things be. For the time being, I decided to try calling Horikita again. I dialed her number. On the fourth try, I finally managed to connect.

“Hello?” Horikita didn’t seem surprised. If anything, she actually sounded tired.

“Hey. Sorry for calling a bunch of times. I was worried, since you tried calling me. Were you sleeping?” I asked.

“No, I wasn’t. I’m sorry for not replying.”

I didn’t hear any hint of panic, nor did I get the feeling she’d had an accident.

“I’m kind of in the middle of something right now,” she continued.

I heard a metallic thunk over the phone.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Nothing to worry about. Goodbye.”

She abruptly ended the call. Well, at least I managed to get in touch with her, and she said that everything was fine. I decided to forget about this for the time being.

4.2

 

I thought that was that, but around 9:00 P.M., my phone lit up. A new message.

Are you awake? read Horikita’s text.

I’m awake.

I’d like to talk to you. Do you have time? It was roughly two hours after we’d last talked.

I’ll call you.

Horikita picked up on the first ring.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“There’s something I wanted to ask you.”

As before, Horikita sounded tired. She paused before speaking again.

“Let’s say that there was a turtle,” she began.

“Huh?”

Horikita launched into a completely crazy story.

“It’s an extremely smart and talented turtle. If I accidentally hit it, and flipped it onto its back, that would be terrible, wouldn’t you agree? It couldn’t right itself under its own steam.”

“I suppose. But actually, in most cases, turtles can extend their necks and use their legs to flip over. The only turtles that absolutely can’t right themselves are giant tortoises and sea turtles,” I explained.

“…………”

Horikita fell silent at my unnecessary explanation.

“This would have been easier if you’d just assumed that turtles can’t get up on their own and listened to me,” she said after a moment.

Yeah. That made sense.

“Okay. So, they can’t get up on their own. Is something wrong with that?”

“In such a situation, what would you do?”

“I’d probably flip the turtle over. It’s not that much trouble.”

I wouldn’t have any reason to save the turtle, but I wouldn’t have any reason to abandon it, either. I thought I might as well extend a helping hand. However, I wondered what exactly Horikita was getting at. Maybe she was in trouble, like the turtle that couldn’t get up on its own?

I didn’t get the impression that she was panicking, though. She seemed calm. That probably meant this wasn’t a pressing issue.

“So, what’s wrong?” I asked.

“Well, I’m not upset or anything,” she replied.

“Well, it sure sounds like that’s where this is headed.”

“I was just talking about a turtle on its back. It had nothing to do with me.”

“Okay. Then why are we talking about a turtle?”

“I just…wanted to talk to you about a turtle that flipped over,” she insisted.

Okay, this was getting weird.

“This isn’t like you,” I said. “Well, I guess asking for help isn’t like you, either, but… You called me because you don’t have anyone else to go to, right? If that’s the case, then just come out and say why.”

Horikita paused.

“If you say that you can’t prevent wanting to help people, then perhaps I can’t go to you for advice,” she said.

“Huh? It’s fine. Talk to me,” I told her.

Horikita finally opened up. “I’m just having a little trouble.”

At least she’d finally admitted it. “Where are you now?”

“I’m in my room.”

“Wait. Are there bugs?”

If that were the case, I understood why Horikita didn’t want to talk about it. I was probably right on the money, although the dormitories were generally kept clean, and Horikita lived on an upper floor—actually, that made the likelihood of bugs rather low.

“That’s not it. I could deal with a bug myself.”

“How would you deal with it? Detergent? Hot water? Slippers?” No matter how good my powers of deductive reasoning were, I couldn’t imagine Horikita’s current situation.

“Well, I’m in trouble because… No, it’s fine after all. I’ll take care of it.”

“You say you’ll take care of it yourself, but it’s been more than two hours, and you haven’t done anything yet, right?” I shot back. If she’d called with this problem earlier, then she’d been struggling for quite some time.

“Well. Well… It’s true that I’m just about at my physical limit. I’ll tell you everything.”

Finally.

Instead of explaining, however, Horikita suddenly made a request. “Could you come to my room?”

She sounded both embarrassed and disgusted.

“Now? But it’s already past nine,” I protested.

“I understand, but…to deal with this, you need to be here.” Horikita spoke as though she was frustrated or in pain.

“Well, I might get in trouble for going to the girls’ floor at this time of night,” I said.

“I know, but I can’t do this unless you’re here,” she replied.

With that, Horikita abruptly hung up.

“This is kinda scary. But I guess I have to go,” I muttered.

Grabbing only my phone and room key, I hurried out. Wouldn’t want to keep her waiting.

4.3

 

I didn’t want to run into any other girls, so I waited until no one else was using the elevator. Sneaking around like that was pathetic, but hey. That was me. I managed to reach the thirteenth floor undetected. When I got to Horikita’s room, I rang the doorbell. After waiting a while, I tried to slowly open the door myself. It wasn’t locked.

“Horikita?”

Horikita’s place was a one-bedroom and kitchen model, but I couldn’t see into the bedroom area. It was hidden behind a closed door. There was no sign of Horikita in the kitchen or hallway. Like me, she’d barely decorated since moving in.

“You’re alone, right?” I heard her voice from behind the bedroom door.

“You’re being way too loud,” I told her.

“It’s okay. Even if someone came in right now, I’d conk them with my right hand,” she replied.

What in the world was that supposed to mean? Cautiously, I entered Horikita’s bedroom. She had her back to me, so I couldn’t see her expression. The room was decorated simply. Nothing seemed particularly strange.

“Okay, I’m here. What’s the problem?” I asked.

“Once you see, you’ll understand.”

Horikita slowly stood and turned to face me. Two radically different emotions coursed through me at the exact same time.

“I see. So. That’s it, huh?”

“That’s it, yes.”

I felt some secondhand embarrassment as I looked at her right hand, which was completely stuck inside a small water bottle.

“How do I say this? This is completely unlike you. Don’t tell me you were just playing around.”

“Don’t be dumb.”

“This is like when you challenge yourself to use your fingers to pick up a single piece of corn, right?”

That must’ve irritated her, because she swung her right arm at me.

“I-It’s just a joke.”

“There’s no point telling an unfunny joke. You failed.”

“It wasn’t funny because I was teasing you, right?”

“This water bottle got stuck because I tried to wash my hand. Can you help me get it off?”

So, that was what happened. I grabbed the water bottle and pulled, but only ended up pulling Horikita toward me.

“Come on. If you don’t pull back yourself, you’re gonna stay stuck. At least give it a little elbow grease,” I said. If she didn't offer a resisting force, I'd get nowhere.

“I already know that. It’s just that I’m tired. Let’s get this over with quickly,” she replied.

After trying to free herself on her own for more than two hours, Horikita was exhausted. I grabbed the water bottle again, put a little more strength into it, and pulled. Horikita pulled back as I did so, enduring the pain. However, her arm remained stuck.

“It’s no use. At this rate, the bottle will never come off,” I told her.

“I see. I suppose I expected as much.” Horikita appeared to have resigned herself to being trapped.

“Guess we have to rub your arm down with soap and slowly pull the bottle off. Let’s head to the kitchen,” I said.

“Did you forget that there’s a water outage right now?”

That was right. We wouldn’t have water until twelve. The only usable water was in the toilet, but Horikita probably wouldn’t like that.

“I’ll go to the cafeteria.”

We were low on options, but as long as I could get some water, we could remove the bottle. I left Horikita’s room and headed straight for the cafeteria. However, an unfortunate surprise awaited me there.

“I’m very sorry. So many students came that we’re all out,” said the cafeteria lady.

Apparently, those who’d needed water for dinner had taken all of it. Well then, I’d just go buy some at the vending machine. I didn’t need a lot of water to free someone’s arm from a bottle. About two drinking glasses’ worth would be enough.

I walked toward the vending machines, and discovered that our misfortune was just beginning. All the water, tea, and juice were sold out.

“I’ve never seen a completely sold-out vending machine before,” I muttered.

4.4

 

“You’re empty-handed?”

Horikita, the water-bottle woman, glared at me, but it didn’t matter. There was nothing I could do.

“I wanted to fetch some from my room, but I’ve already used all of my water.”

This tragedy was born of multiple misfortunes.

“So, what are we going to do now?”

“If you’re okay with it, we could ask Ike or Sudou for water.”

“Pass,” she replied.

I’d thought that was how she’d reply.

“I could lie and say it’s for me.”

“I’m opposed to using any water they might have. Who knows what they’ve put in it?” she muttered.

She was treating them like harmful germs or something. I wanted to disagree, but lacked the confidence. Those guys did tend to leave uncovered tea and water

lying around. They’d probably try to rustle up clean water for Horikita’s sake, but they might be a lot less considerate if I said I wanted water. Friendly malice was a diabolical thing.

“Okay. Want to try one more time?”

“Yes. Even if it hurts,” she replied.

Horikita offered her right arm, bracing herself. She wanted her freedom as soon as possible. I saw sweat trickle down her arm.

“Okay, I’m going to get a really good grip on it.”

I wanted to free Horikita and return to my own room, so I grabbed the water bottle tightly, putting myself in a ridiculous pose. I pulled twice as hard as I had the last time. Horikita looked as though she was in agony, but endured it without complaint. However, the bottle didn’t budge.

“I guess we really do need water,” I said.

The bottle probably wasn’t going to come off unless we made Horikita’s arm slippery. If it was stuck after that, we might need to contact emergency services.

“You’re telling me to wait until twelve? Like this?”

“Well, the only reliable guy left is Hirata,” I said.

“I wouldn’t have any concerns about the quality of Hirata’s water, but…I dislike the idea of owing him a debt,” replied Horikita.

“Well, I’ll say I’m the one who needs water, for appearance’s sake. It won’t be your problem,” I told her.

“I suppose that’s true,” she answered.

Horikita still sounded somewhat dissatisfied, but appeared to accept the fact that you can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs. I tried to call Hirata. No matter how many times the phone rang, however, he didn’t pick up. Even when I tried to send him a chat message, it went unread.

“Maybe he’s asleep. I’m not getting a response.”

“I see. My emotions are a mixture of joy and despair,” she replied.

“Well, we probably don’t have any other options. I think we can only rely on Kushida or Sakura.”

“Please ask Sakura-san,” replied Horikita immediately.

“Are you still on bad terms with Kushida?”

“There’s no reason for us to get along. Besides, there are still quite a few things about her that I can’t accept,” she said.

“What do you mean, ‘can’t accept’?”

“The test on the ship. She abandoned the idea of trying to win right from the start. She wanted the Dragon group to end with a draw.”

Horikita crossed her arms as she recalled the events of the previous test. Unfortunately, she still had her hand stuck in the bottle, so her declaration lacked impact.

“That’s because she’s a pacifist. She was probably choosing the option where everyone ended up happy,” I reasoned.

“I had no intention of completely rejecting Outcome #1. But it was something entirely different for the VIP herself to steer us toward it,” Horikita answered sharply.

During the test, students had been separated into twelve groups. We’d played a game where we had to discover the hidden identity of a chosen VIP within each group, with four possible outcomes in total. The most difficult outcome to achieve was Outcome #1, which required everyone in the group to discover the VIP’s identity and wait till the assigned time to submit their answers, without anyone betraying the group by turning in an answer early. The group that achieved Outcome #1 would have 500,000 private points awarded to each member, and a million private points awarded to its VIP.

The only drawback to Outcome #1 was that the VIP’s class wasn’t awarded any class points. That had caused some discord. Kushida hadn't taken advantage of the privileges that came with being a VIP, and Horikita hated that.

“Kushida being our group’s VIP gave Class D the advantage. All we had to do was keep the VIP’s identity hidden, but everyone found out that Kushida-san was the VIP. I think that Kushida herself had something to do with that.”

“But that’s just speculation on your part.”

“Yes. The possibility remains, though. Therefore, I assume she’s guilty.”

Horikita’s words grew forceful. I understood how she felt, but the seriousness was lessened, since Horikita’s arm was still stuck in that water bottle. I needed to tread carefully.

“I understand how you feel, but that won’t do,” I said.

“You mean, me saying all this without any evidence?”

“I’m saying that situation was your responsibility, too. Let’s assume that, yes, Kushida betrayed us. If so, then you’re at fault for allowing her to betray us. You have to win at all costs. Am I wrong?”

Horikita seemed to understand what I meant. Nevertheless, she objected. “Don’t be absurd. Don’t you understand how unrealistic that is?”

“Unrealistic? I can’t imagine why it would be. If Kushida did manipulate you all into Outcome #1, that’s honestly amazing. In other words, she completely outdid you in the exam.”

Of course, this was all assuming that Kushida had truly betrayed the Dragon group. Honestly, it’d probably been Ryuuen or Katsuragi. I didn’t know which. Either way, someone with more power had forced everyone in the Dragon group into a certain outcome. Still, the fact remained that Horikita had been outsmarted.

“The VIP was in your class. If you didn’t act because you were confident in your victory, then the responsibility lies with the people on your team. If you’re aiming for Class A, you need to be able to manage people better,” I added.

“You’re talking about very complicated things,” Horikita countered.

“I understand that you’re frustrated. But this is the path you chose. Besides, you’re maturing. If I’d said the same thing to you when we first met, you wouldn’t have listened to me at all.”

That was true. Slowly, Horikita was beginning to think like an adult. She was no longer a girl who rejected everything around her on instinct.

“I understand. I accept the test results. Perhaps I was too optimistic. But, right now, my main objective is getting my arm free,” she huffed.

“I suppose I’ll see if Sakura can help.”

Since it was getting late, I decided to reach out to Sakura using chat.

Sakura, my room is out of drinking water. The vending machine is sold out, too. Would you mind sharing with me?

I waited for a while after sending the message, but saw no indication that Sakura had read it.

“No good. I don’t know if she’s asleep or what.”

“Honestly, today is just not my day,” Horikita sighed.

“I take it you want the bottle off right now?”

“If I planned to wait, I wouldn’t have called you.”

“Then you have to take a risk, too,” I said.

“Risk?” Horikita was instantly wary.

“We’ll head to Keyaki Mall for water. There’s no other way.”

“So, that’s our final option.” Horikita put her hand to her forehead. Honestly, no matter what tragic pose she assumed, she still looked ridiculous.

“Most people are eating right now, so this is our chance.” As a matter of fact, I hadn’t bumped into any of our classmates this evening.

“I can’t take the risk. Can’t you ask one of your friends?” she urged.

“Unfortunately, I can’t. I think they made plans to go out for karaoke. They’re not here.”

“This is not my day,” she sighed.

“Let’s get this over with, then.”

“W-wait. I really can’t go outside like this,” said Horikita.

“In that case, do you want to hide your hand? I guess it’s already hidden in a water bottle,” I joked.

“That was completely unnecessary,” she snapped, and raised her hand as if to strike.

“O-okay, I get it. Please put your hand down. Do you have a cloth or something?”

“Cloth? If a handkerchief counts, I have one.” Horikita pulled a white handkerchief off the shelf. I placed it over the water bottle.

“This looks painfully suspicious. It’s not large enough to cover everything.”

“Don’t you have anything bigger?” I asked.

“Will a bath towel do?”

I placed the towel over her arm. “Well, I guess this works.”

Honestly, I suspected the bath towel might make her stand out even more.

“If the towel’s even a little lopsided, it’ll fall off,” said Horikita.

“Well, can’t you hold it with your free hand?”

Horikita folded the bath towel and held it to her body, giving the impression that she was about to take a bath. Yeah, that looked way better.

“If someone were to see me, what kind of impression would they get?” she asked.

“Hmm…”

No one would normally walk around the dorms with a bath towel, nor take one outside. People would be suspicious.

“Depending on the situation, I suppose they might think you were going to use my bathtub,” I suggested. That might have been a leap of logic, but that was the way I saw it.

“Rejected.”

Horikita took the towel off. I supposed that I didn’t really want anyone to think that about us, either.

“How about putting your hand inside your bag?”

“Rejected. Can’t you think of anything better?” She was peerless when it came to complaining.

“Why don’t we just go there as we are? We’ll avoid worrying about a towel or handkerchief falling down.”

“I suppose so.”

All that was left for us was to act. I peeked into the hallway, taking a slightly hesitant Horikita with me.

“Okay, no sign of anyone. Let’s go,” I said.

“W-wait a minute. I still haven’t put my shoes on.”

Because Horikita could only use one hand, putting on her shoes took quite a bit of time. Finally, the two of us stepped out into the hallway.

“Wait. There’s a faucet on the path to school, right? If we make it there, we’ll be okay.”

If we walked at a normal pace, we’d arrive at the faucet in about five minutes. We’d be fine under the cover of darkness, as long as we got out of the dormitory. We reached the elevators, but—

“It’s no use, Ayanokouji-kun. We can’t use them,” Horikita said.

“What?”

“There’s a surveillance monitor in the first-floor lobby, right? I don’t know who can see us on that.”

A monitor on the first floor did display whatever the elevator cameras captured. Horikita was concerned about being seen. Even if she managed to hide her arm, she couldn’t avoid looking mysterious.

“Should we take the stairs?”

That would probably take quite a bit of time. Also, the fact that Horikita couldn’t use one hand made it a little riskier.

“I’d rather take the stairs than let someone see me,” she confessed.

Horikita chose pride over safety. Two emergency stairwells were each located an equal distance from the elevators. No matter which we took, we’d have to pass students’ rooms again. There was no getting around that.

I brought Horikita toward the stairwell. She stayed behind me, as if hiding herself from view. I was starting to agree with her words earlier. “This is not my day,” indeed.

I heard a door open about three rooms behind us.

“Th-this is bad. That’s Maezono-san’s room.”

Maezono from Class D, huh? There was no way for us to escape. However, Maezono didn’t leave the room. Instead, her friend Kushida stepped out. Another piece of bad luck for Horikita.

“Thank you, Kushida-san. I’ll return the favor next time!”

“Oh no, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it. Good night, Maezono-san.”

I didn’t see Maezono’s face. As the door closed with a ka-chak, Kushida headed toward the elevator without noticing me or Horikita.

“That was close,” Horikita said.

“Yeah.”

If Kushida had looked back, she would’ve noticed us. I was sweating an uncomfortable amount. We were far too conspicuous like this.

We headed to the emergency exit as quickly as possible, but I heard Maezono’s door open once again.

“Kushida-san, you forgot something!” Maezono shouted as she stepped outside. Kushida turned.

“Ah, Ayanokouji-kun. Horikita-san. Good evening.”

“Y-yeah.”

Our exchange was brief. It seemed as though Kushida wanted to check on what she forgot. She headed back toward Maezono, and Maezono inevitably noticed us as well. Horikita froze.

“You forgot your phone!”

“Ah, sorry. Thanks! You’re a lifesaver.”

“Let’s get going, Ayanokouji-kun. There’s no need for us to linger,” said Horikita. She pushed the water bottle against my back, emphasizing that this was our chance.

If Horikita were seen in this state, her pride would be utterly demolished. We reached the emergency exit, and I tried to open the door.

“It won’t open.”

“You’re joking, right? There’s no way an emergency exit door wouldn’t open, is there?”

“I’m serious. It won’t open.” Locking an emergency exit was normally prohibited, which meant…

“Where are you going?”

Oh no. Kushida approached us.

“Oh, uh. We were just thinking of taking the stairs.”

That was the best answer I could give.

“Oh? But the power’s out in the east emergency stairwell right now. I’m pretty sure it isn’t usable. It’d be really dangerous to go downstairs in pitch darkness. I think the west stairs are okay, though.”

“So, that’s why it’s locked. Huh,” I said.

Horikita said nothing, continuing to hide behind my back.

“Horikita seems to be acting differently than usual. Is something the matter?” asked Kushida. She kept moving toward us, overshooting her room.

Horikita raised her voice. “Nothing’s wrong!” she replied curtly.

Her bluntness worked. Kushida stopped.

“I see. Well, if something’s troubling you, please tell me. Okay? Maezono-san was in trouble earlier because she had no water. I have more than enough,” said Kushida.

Kushida had what we wanted most of all. If Horikita could only ask for her help, she’d get water quite easily.

However, Horikita pushed the water bottle into my back like the muzzle of a gun. She didn’t want Kushida’s help.

“Well then, good night to you both,” Kushida said sweetly.

“Yeah, ’night.”

4.5

 

It took us quite a while to get to the first floor from the thirteenth. We were worried that the lobby might be crowded, but fortunately, no one was around.

“We can go right now,” I said.

“Okay.”

I made my way toward the exit, Horikita trailing closely behind me.

Then, several male and female students emerged from the darkness, chatting as they walked. They didn’t appear to be Class D students, but from Horikita’s perspective, it didn’t make any difference who they were. We couldn’t get out of the dormitory in time. Horikita turned on her heel and started to head back, as if returning to her room.

“At this rate, they’re going to see us,” she said.

The students drew nearer, their presence hard to ignore. Flustered, Horikita and I opened the door to the west emergency stairs. How unlucky could we be? I heard a voice directly above us. It sounded like a male student on the third or fourth floor, heading downstairs. Students who lived on the lower levels often didn’t use the elevators.

No longer able to go upstairs, Horikita and I were forced to return to the lobby.

“We have no choice now but to use the elevator!” Horikita said.

“Is that okay? You’ll be seen on the monitors,” I said.

“I’ll have to use you as cover. Since we know the camera’s position, we should be able to do that,” replied Horikita.

That suggestion was bizarre, but not impossible. I would rather have avoided it, but since we lacked an escape route, there was no other choice. We hurried to the left elevator and got on. I positioned myself directly in front of the camera, and Horikita stood behind me, making sure to hide her arm. She was like a ghost clinging to my back.

I hoped observers wouldn’t notice anything. At any rate, we needed to get away from the first floor. I pushed a button at random.

“Well, we’re safe for now, but…this is just the beginning,” I muttered.

“Let’s give up. I can’t go outside like this. I’ll just endure this bottle until the water comes back,” said Horikita.

That had to be a tough pill for her to swallow, but if it was what she wanted, we just needed to return to the thirteenth floor. I cancelled the request for a random floor, and pushed the button for the thirteenth. Hopefully our trials were over for tonight.

Then, just as we relaxed, the elevator suddenly slowed. I was having terrible luck with elevators lately. At least it wasn’t breaking down, and I hadn’t pressed the wrong button.

We had stopped on the fifth floor. That meant that someone had pressed the call button. No matter who got on, they’d see Horikita in this bizarre state. She might’ve gone undetected in a big crowd of people, but fate continued to be cruel, and the elevator doors opened to reveal a single male student.

Unbelievable. Of all the people we could have encountered…

Kouenji Rokusuke, a Class D student, waltzed into the elevator with his usual haughty air. He went straight to the mirrored wall, not even giving us a passing glance. As he gazed at his reflection, he pulled out a comb he always carried, and started to style his hair.

“Elevator boy. Top floor,” he said.

Horikita appeared stunned by Kouenji’s incredible display of narcissism. I wanted to say a bunch of things right back at him, but it was probably best to just stay quiet. I pressed the button for the top floor, the elevator doors closed, and we started our ascent once again.

Kouenji showed no sign of paying attention to us. I would’ve thought that he’d spare us a glance, considering that we were his classmates, but at least that meant he probably wouldn’t notice the water bottle.

While Horikita hovered in the camera’s blind spot, the elevator passed the tenth floor. I wondered what business Kouenji had on the top floor, but couldn’t ask. Maybe he had no real reason for going.

When the elevator doors slowly opened, Horikita and I stepped out simultaneously. Kouenji never once moved his eyes from the mirror. Things had ended without incident.

Horikita rushed straight to her room.

“It’s impossible. Walking around outside is completely out of the question,” she muttered as she went inside.

I was about to follow her when my phone vibrated.

Sorry for the late reply. I was researching something, so I didn’t notice your text, read the message from Sakura.

“Sakura-san?” asked Horikita.

“Yeah.” I texted Sakura back.

You wanted water, right? Of course that’s okay. Would one bottle be enough? said her message.

That’s plenty, thank you. Can I come get it now?

Sure. I’ll wait for you, Sakura replied.

It was difficult to hold a conversation with Sakura in person, but when we texted, it went smoothly.

“Good news, Horikita. Apparently, Sakura has water. She just gave me the okay to borrow some, so I’ll be going now.”

“Thank you. However, please don’t tell Sakura-san about me,” Horikita replied.

“Well, since you won’t be stuck like this anymore, how about we take a commemorative photo?” I joked.

Horikita seemed to be about to start swinging the water bottle at me, so I ran into the hall.

“What a terrifying woman. Considering her physical prowess, if she hit me on the head with that bottle, I’d probably die,” I muttered.

If a high school girl with her arm stuck in a water bottle killed me, my name would live on in infamy.

4.6

 

“There—it’s off,” I said.

After a long, arduous struggle, we’d finally succeeded in freeing Horikita from the water bottle.

“Honestly, this day was a complete disaster,” she muttered. If my hand had been trapped in a water bottle, I would’ve felt the same. “Ayanokouji-kun. Please don’t speak a word of this to anyone.”

“Before you go issuing warnings, isn’t there something else you’d like to say first?”

“Thank you.”

It wasn’t sincere, but at least it sounded like an approximation of gratitude.

“I have to say, getting trapped in a water bottle? That’s just so unlike you, Horikita.”

“Shut up,” she snapped. "I don't go looking for trouble."

I decided that I’d outstayed my welcome, so I headed back to my own room.

Really, though, was it even possible for someone’s arm to get stuck in a water bottle? I took a bottle out of a box, rinsed it, and then inserted my hand as a test. It was an exact fit. The bottle felt surprisingly snug.

“Rocket punch! Eh, just kidding.”

I gave in to silliness for a moment. When I tried to get my hand out of the water bottle, though…

“I-I think I’m trapped!”