Chapter 19: "STAHP!"

Class 3-1

The classroom was quiet. Not a single sound arose. This was because the teacher that stood in front of them, giving them a lecture was Mr. Kenichi, one of the strictest teachers to graze the school grounds. He had his hair slicked back and wore sunglasses.

On his right eye was a scar that is probably the reason why the students feared him. Some say he was mafia boss. Some say he was an evil overlord. Some say he acted as those monsters that get beaten up by Ultraman every Saturday morning.

"I have to pee." Reiji kicked his chair back as he stood up.

The entire class turned their attention to him. They felt like he was contemplating suicide by interrupting Kenichi's lecture.

"Reiji!" Kenichi leered at him. "Have you no manners? Till you ask properly, I won't let you go."

"I left my manners in the toilet." Reiji replied.

Yukino faked a smile as she rapidly pinched her arm.

"I won't let you leave until you ask me properly." Kenichi rebutted as he took off his sunglasses.

"I wasn't asking you." Reiji walked towards the door and left.

Kenichi growled angrily before he let out a disappointed sigh. He put his sunglasses back on.

"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" A male student screamed as he jumped up. He then looked at everyone. "What? Someone had to do it."

"Sit down you." Kenichi pointed at him. "Proceeding with the lesson..."

vvvvvvvvvvv

Class 3-2

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WANT TO BREAK UP?!" Yuna was shouting as she faced her back at the classroom and talked on the phone.

"Gaaaah...!" Shion slammed her face on her desk. "She's been at this for like 30 minutes! At least once every month, some dude she's dating breaks up with her in the middle of cla-"

"YAGH!" Yuna shouted angrily as she threw her phone at Benkei. It hit him squarely on the forehead.

"WHY ME?!" Benkei screamed as he rubbed his forehead.

Yuna ran to him, grabbed him by the back of his collar and then pulled him away along with his chair. She then said to the class, "Clean up the class while I'm away!"

A male student stood up and faced her. "Huh? But it's already clean."

Yuna grabbed a trash basket on the floor beside the door and threw it in the air, scattering whatever trash was in it all over the classroom. "Not anymore, clean it up!"

With that, she ran out of the class, dragging Benkei and his chair along with her.

Alice just stared awkwardly at what she had just seen.

"Get used to it Arisu." Shion walked to her and patted her head. "This happens every once in a while."

"O-Okay..." Alice looked down.

"It's in a meeeeeeess!" A raven haired girl stood up and screamed at the top of her lungs. Her hair was straight and she donned a pair of round glasses.

"Is your OCD reacting again, class representative?" Shion glanced at her.

"Yes...!" She replied.

Alice briefly wondered why she hasn't seen the girl before, despite her being the class representative. She shyly pointed at her and looked at Shion. "Uhm..."

"Oh, you haven't seen her before?" Shion glanced at the class representative. "She's like that, even I never see her sometimes. She's like a ghost... It's so hard to notice her... What was her name again? Uhm..." She looked back and realized that the class representative was gone. "Creepy. Aichi!"

"Yeah?" A blue haired boy replied as tinkered with his tablet on the desk.

"Uh, the class representative. What was her name again?" Shion asked him.

"She has a name?" Aichi raised an eyebrow.

"Then I guess I don't know." Shion shrugged with a sigh and took a step back. She was startled when her foot touched something lying on the ground. She then looked at it only to see the class representative passed out on the floor. "Her OCD must've reached its limit... I feel bad, we should clean this up."

The entire class proceeded to take out any sort of mobile device they had on hand and acted like they were really busy, typing and tapping on their machines.

"Sigh... Arisu?" Shion gave her a smile. "Think you can help me clean this up?"

"Where do we carry the class representative...?" Alice asked.

"Oh, not that." Shion shook her head. "Just clean the class, she'll wake up soon." Shion glanced at a corner at the back of the class. "Uh... Where's the broom?"

"We have a broom?" Aichi replied with a look of surprise.

"Sheesh..." Shion rubbed her forehead with her index and middle finger. "Arisu, would you mind fetching a broom from the janitor's closet? It's downstairs."

"O-Okay..." Alice stood up and left the classroom.

Shion sat down on Alice's place and let out a sigh. "Today's gonna be one boring day."

"Aren't you curios though?" Aichi asked as he focused on his tablet as he swiped rapidly at flying fruit on the screen, cutting them up. "Just what are Satomi and Yuna-sensei up to? If it's something sexual, Benkei would be boasting about it all night long, but he's pretty secretive on it. Doesn't it bother you?"

"Why would it bother me?" Shion responded. "I'd rather not know really. The guy's mind isn't a thrilling thing to understand."

"But aren't you worried?" Aichi swiped at a bomb, causing it to explode, giving him a game over. "Dammit!" He turned off the tablet and turned to Shion. "Isn't he your boyfriend?"

"I honestly hope that was a bad attempt at humour." Shion leered at him angrily.

"You guys are always together, so I assumed-"

"Enough." Shion shut him up. "We're friends. Nothing more, nothing less."

"But as a friend, aren't you curios as to what they're up to?" Aichi asked. "I mean, this is our TEACHER we're talking about. What would she want with a perv like Satomi? It could be quite a scoop..."

"Aichi." Shion stood up calmly. "Tell Arisu that I'll be back later."

She ran out of the class like a wild dog chasing a tiny kitten.

vvvvvvvvvvvv

Hallway

"(That feels better...)" Reiji thought to himself as he walked down the hallway. "(Should I go back to class? It wasn't that big of a squabble, but it would be pretty awkward to just waltz into the class after all that...)"

He noticed Alice running down the hallway, moving towards him. He assumed she was in a rush but she didn't seem to be slowing down one bit, despite him obviously being there.

"(Alice, what are you doing?)" He thought.

She was getting closer and closer.

"(Alice!)"

She didn't even seem to notice him and was about to crash into him like the first time they met.

"STAHP!" He shouted as he dodged her.

Alice was surprised when she heard him shout, causing her to trip and fall face-flat on the tiled floor.

"... Are you okay?" Reiji looked down at her. "Why are you running around? Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"I had to go to the janitor's closet to get a broom..." Alice pushed herself up. "But I couldn't find the janitor's closet..."

"I see." Reiji stared around. "I get lost a lot too. At the start of the year, I had to pee and I got lost when I tried to look for the toilet so I-" Reiji paused awkwardly. He pointed at the door right in front of him. "Alice."

Alice turned her head to the side and read the inscription on the door out loud. "Janitor's closet... Oh."

"What a coincidence." Reiji walked forward, twisted the doorknob and pushed it open. The moment he did, a gust of cool air blew at him. He then pulled the door shut. "What the hell was that...?! It was like Greenland there! I haven't been there, but I've read enough!"

Alice poked at the door. "It's quite cold... Why do you think they need to keep it cool?"

"Like hell I know..." Reiji scratched his cheek.

Alice opened the door. The gust of cool air blew her back a bit before she closed it shut. "Uhm..."

"You need to get that broom right?" Reiji sighed. "My class doesn't have one either..."

"Could you accompany me in?" Alice asked as she looked into Reiji red eyes.

"W-Wha?" Reiji blushed. "W-Why?"

"There might be a monster in there..." Alice puffed up her cheeks. "Maybe in needs a colder temperature to survive? What if it eats me if I get in there?"

"Your imagination sure is wild..." Reiji frowned at her.

"Please?" Alice asked nervously.

Reiji stared into her big blue eyes until ultimately; he gave in. "F-Fine. B-But don't get the wrong idea."

"Thank you." Alice smiled at him and opened the door.

The cold air felt like it could freeze their very beings. Mustering their courage, they paced themselves into the closet. They closed their eyes as they walked slowly. Anything could have been waiting for them. A demon. A monster. That Reiji from the special of Chapter 12. Anything at all.

When they felt they walked deep enough, they opened their eyes to be greeted by...

Nothing.

The closet had shelves aligned by the walls with various equipment stacked onto it. The shelves had some noticeable ice just lining on it. The floor was quite slippery and a simple misstep could make ne trip. There wasn't a single window and the lights were quite dim.

"That's a downer." Reiji muttered . "I was expecting something like, I don't know, me from the future."

"I was expecting a Kamen Rider monster..." Alice pouted. "Achoo!"

"Haha, it's real cold huh?" Reiji snickered upon hearing her sneeze, thinking it to sound rather cute. "Achoo!"

"I-I'll just get that broom!" Alice walked over to the broom that was leaned against a wall.

"I just don't get why they need to keep a janitor's closet this cold." Reiji shrugged with a sigh. "The ozone layer's probably destroyed at this rate."

"Oh, I didn't close this door?" A middle-aged man's voice was heard from outside the closet. "Whoops, the cold air's leaking out. That's not good." He closed the door shut and then locked it.

Reiji and Alice stared at the door awkwardly for several seconds...

...

...

...

"GET US OUT OF HERE DAMMIT!" Reiji was slamming his fists at door. "WHY DOES THIS DOOR LOCK FROM THE OUTSIDE?!"

"Achoo! Achoo!" Alice was shivering and sneezing rapidly.

Reiji slammed his shoulder against the door again and again. After twenty failed attempts at forcing the door open, he gave up. "We're trapped..."

"Yeah..."Alice sat down and held her knees against her chest. "It's freezing in here..."

Reiji screamed towards the heavens. "WHY IN THE WORLD IS A JANITOR'S CLOSET SO FRICKIN' COLD?!"

vvvvvvvvvvvv

Side Character Commentaries

Class representative: Trapped in a closet? Isn't that a cliché?

Aichi: A lot of things are a cliché in this story.

Class representative: Like the class representative being a girl...

Aichi: They're always a girl.

Class representative: Anyway, on behalf of the author, the next chapter will explore further on both Reiji and Alice's pasts! Look forward to it!

Aichi: When they're trapped together, they always reminisce...