Re: Shower Scenes
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:18 pm
Chapter 3
The Next Challenge
I got my first set of clothes back that evening and was able to return to class the next day. I spent that day being ignored or outright avoided by the girls from earlier. However, I did capture some other girls' attention.
The newspaper girls, whose names' I can never quite remember, questioned me a few times about how some girls had been seen around campus sporting sweater vest the previous day. I explained the obvious reason was because I had started a new fashion trend. I'm pretty sure they bought it.
The next day, some shaky girl with a cane who I'd never seen before came up to me saying that she headed the fashion club, sweater vests were NOT the latest thing, and I should stop telling people that they are. I argued that they were a perfectly acceptable fashion for girls with her for about an hour. I'm not proud of that. I got the feeling she didn't like me. The rest of the day was much closer to normal.
The third day, Hanako finally decided to come back to class. She arrived five minutes after the bell, which was still earlier than Mutou. It felt almost like business as usual until, rather than taking her seat, she walked over to mine.
"I-I'm sorry about the other day." She told me. Ah. This. I'm sorry. Please don't tell anybody about this. Thanks for letting me borrow your stuff. I hope this doesn't change anything between us. You know it doesn't mean anything, right? I've already had this conversation five or six times, depending on whether you want to count Shizune and Misha as one time or two. "W-Well?" she looked at me expectantly. Ah crap. I guess I should have paid attention to what she was saying.
I gave her a good-natured sounding "eh" that doesn't mean anything, a smile, and slight tilt to the head that isn't a nod or a shake. I felt safe with that answer. Very noncommittal.
"Either is f-fine with me," she replied to my non-comment.
"It doesn't really matter," I told her. I still had no idea what we were talking about.
"No. Really. Just which is … easier for you. I-I don't have any problems either way." I had the feeling that this conversation could last hours. I was saved from further conversation when the door to the classroom opened. Hanako sprinted back to her seat faster than I could ever hope to react. Sometimes I got the feeling she could outrun half the track team as long as it meant escaping from potential embarrassment.
Muto had begun his lecture as he walked through the door without the slightest hint that he was late when he was interrupted by music. It played a few lines about some girl blinding somebody with science then repeated them before Mutou reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "Mutou. … Yes… But I'm teaching science… But it's MY car… Well can't you tell them not to tow it? … Okay. I'll be right there." Mutou flipped his phone closed and pocketed it. "Do the problems at the end of chapter 23. You can work in groups." He said as he walked back out the room as abruptly as he entered it.
There was only one question at the end of Chapter 23 and it certainly didn't require group work. I knew this because we'd finished it in class a few days ago. I shook my head as some students pulled their desks together. Some of them were actually starting to work on the problem. Yeah. They'd been paying attention in class. The rest of the students seemed rather torn between whether they needed to redo the assignment or take this as free time. Not surprisingly, free time prevailed. Even Misha and Shizune seemed to be more interested in conversation than the assignment.
"Can I work with you?" I jumped as Hanako spoke. I hadn't even noticed her approaching. She’s normally fairly high strung so when I jumped back, she couldn’t help but be startled and quickly looked for the door to escape.
"Actually we already did this assignment in class," I said calmly trying to sooth things over.
"Oh. I guess I … missed … that day." She paused and looked down at the floor for a minute. "I looked at the problem and didn't really understand it."
"Well, I think I can help you on that," I smiled at her. "Go get your desk." I hoped I could also use this as an excuse to figure out what we were talking about a few minutes ago. Maybe I should just ask her…
"It looks like we're going to work together again, Hicchan!" Misha thundered. I turned to see her and Shizune had both pulled their desks to mine.
"Um... We already did this assignment," I said. "I'm just going to help Hanako because she missed that day."
"We're not going to do that assignment. We were supposed to do chapter 25 today, so that's the assignment Mutou probably meant for us to do. We're also going to do Chapter 32 just to be on the safe side. Really, Shicchan?" Misha seemed extremely disappointed by the last part.
Hanako had pulled her seat up by this point, but with Shizune and Misha there, she seemed reluctant to sit down.
"We're going to do the work at the end of Chapter 25!" Misha announced like it was something to be proud of. "and maybe Chapter 32." She added in a way that made it sound like somebody had just kicked her dog.
Nonstop.
For the last hour
I'm pretty sure she wanted an excuse not to do the work.
"I-I thought w-we… were…" Hanako stuttered. I know a cue to come to the rescue when I see one.
"Actually-" I began.
"So, private party or can anyone join?" Miki with a grin said plopping down in a seat I hadn't even seen her pull up. So much for my coming to the rescue. "So, what's up?"
"Shizune and Misha were doing the next chapter and chapter 32 for some odd reason and I was going to help Hanako with Chapter 23. She was out that day." I explained.
"Oh. You were actually doing work. I thought we were just hanging out." Shizune glared at Miki and signed a few things to Misha that she didn't bother translating. Miki in turn gave an over exaggerated smile and wave of her hand followed by a thumbs up.
Hanako reached over and gave a slight tug on my sleeve trying hard not to be noticed. Once she got my attention, she pointed over her shoulder. Hanako working in a group was rare enough, adding Miki to a group with Shizune and Misha had gotten the attention of everyone in class. Hanako… well, she didn’t look comfortable. I’m not sure if she was on the verge of total breakdown but it was close. Miki, Shizune, Misha, and I all exchanged worried looks, unsure what exactly to do. Misha was the first one to take action.
"We're discussion important Student Council activities! Come on over everyone! Pull your seats over here! There's more than enough work for the whole class!" she announced standing on top of her chair. This immediately killed any interest the remainder of the class had in our activities. Misha sat back down with a smile on her face. It wasn't her usual over enthusiastic grin. This was a proud, sly smirk. Hanako sighed in relief, Miki looked impressed, and me? I was terrified. Who knew Misha was capable of this level of deception. "We shouldn't have any problems now." She told us. Judging by Shizune's confused expression and the lack of signing Misha had done, I was pretty sure Shizune had no idea what had just happened. It was probably for the best.
From there, we all sat in a group and worked on our separate assignments exchanging random bits of chatter as we did so. Hanako seemed to take to the lesson quickly after only a minimal explanation.
"So, what we were taking about earlier…," Hanako started to say as she finished up the assignment. This drew some discreet looks from Miki, Shizune, and Misha, but nobody said anything.
"Sorry, what were we talking about again?" I asked. It's not like I was lying or anything. I really had no clue what we were talking about earlier.
"I've got your … things cleaned and pressed. Did you want me to bring them over, or…?" she said softly, her voice trailing away rather than finishing her sentence. Pressed? Nice. That was certainly much better than Misha returning my stuff wadded up into a ball and by far better than Rin. I remember her trying to explain how she couldn't remember if those paint splashes had been on my pants before she borrowed them or not. Nobody had brought me back stuff pressed yet.
"I'll be by later to grab them," I told her, "and thanks."
"And when can we expect a return of our belongings?" Misha said. This was where the conversation broke down. All eyes were on me again. I explained to them that I hadn't seen Kenji lately, but it really didn't seem to do me any good. They spent the next twenty minutes grilling me about their things and questioning when they would be returned to them. The assignment that may or may not have been due was ignored in favor of taking turns blaming me. Even Hanako was giving me the eye. Well, she tried after she saw everybody else was doing it, but gave up when she realized it really didn't work for her.
"Look, I promise I'll track him down after school and personally deliver all your stuff back to you. Okay?" I finally said. It was the only way I knew to get them all off my back. Thankfully, it seemed to work. I became "Hisao the nice guy" again instead of "Hisao that jerk that isn't even trying to get us our clothes back."
Thankfully, it was a short day. I soon found myself standing back in the dorms in front of Kenji's door. "Kenji, open up!" I said as I pounded on his door. I heard something that vaguely sounded like a language, followed by the familiar sound of far too many locks. Then he emerged with a slice of pizza sticking halfway out of his mouth.
"Yo! Just who I was looking for. I need some help stealing some microscopes from the science lab. You in?" I had to stop and ask myself, 'is this something I really want to know,' and sadly enough, this time the answer was 'yes'.
"Why do you need microscopes?" I asked cautiously.
"Fact gathering," he said as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "Are you ready for this?"
"I am."
"Are you really ready for this? You sure?" he asked again and leaned in closer.
"I am ready for this," I reassured him.
"You sure you're ready for this, because this is going to blow your mind." His voice had dropped into a cautious whisper.
"Can you just shut up and tell me already?"
"Man of action. That's why I like you!" He frowned for a second, quickly went to a smile, and then back to a more guarded and cautious expression before dropping his tone back to a whisper again. "The Feminists. They're expanding their forces. Just the other day I narrowly avoided capture by them and -- get this -- they had a robot with them that sounded nothing like you. You want to really know the scary part?" He leaned in a bit too closely as he spoke. I really wished he'd cut back on the garlic in is diet. "The scary part is that this time they were guys! Guys in women's clothing!"
Well, actually they weren't but I wasn't sure if telling him that would make matters better or worse. I settled on just saying, "Indeed" and trying to look interested.
He continued without a pause. “That's just diabolical. Like wolfs in some different kind of wolfs' clothing!" So, I stole the clothes to free them and now I need a microscope to examine the stuff and find out how the Nanomachines the feminists have implanted into them work. If I'm ever caught and forced to wear a cheerleader's outfit or anything, I need to know how to break past their mind control!" This gave me an idea, but I really wasn't sure if I wanted to try it. "and I checked these things. They weren't just making them wear the skirts and stuff. They were making them wear the underwear too. Can you just imagine being captured and forced to wear one of those tight thong things that goes up your butt? The ones more string than material? I can just picture it. I'm sitting there minding my own business, when next thing you know, some chick busts in with a string bikini that's got my name on it--" Okay. I was willing to try it. I was willing to try anything to end this conversation.
"So, Kenji, have you checked the clothes for listening devices?" I asked. His lips started to tremble and the color drained away from his face.
"Ho-ly shit." He said flatly before he burst into a panic and ranted about how he may have given away important secrets and ruined it all. "Hold up one second!" He said and ran into his door in panic. Then he picked himself back up off the floor, opened the door, and ran inside with a slight exclamation of “fuck you, door.”
It only took him seconds to return carrying a big box. It was covered in labels saying Toxic, Radioactive, Poison, Biohazard, and Do-Not-Open-Before-Christmas. "You've got to get rid of thins thing for me! Feed it some false data and then get rid of it!" he said pushing the box into my hands. With that done, he disappeared back into the room, closing the door with a hard slam as he went. "Don't even try to contact me again until that stuff is gone! I've got to run a complete sterilization process on my entire room now!" Well, that was easier than I thought it would be.
I carried the box back into my room and sat it down. The next step was to separate everybody's stuff so I could return it. If they had come here to shower, that meant they had one set of clothes they were wearing and another they were planning on changing into. So it was as simple as separating things into two sets of clothing per person.
…
Well, that didn’t work.
There were more tops than there were bottoms, more bottoms than there were panties, more panties than there were bras, and odd number of socks, and the sizes… the sizes on them didn’t even come close to making sense. I know some of them wear close to the same size in clothing as I do, but the sizes aren’t even remotely similar to the sizes on my outfits… and why aren't there enough things to go around? Did some of them show up naked or something?
A painful thump in my heart convinced me to calm back down. Thinking about it for a second, some of them probably just put back on the same things they were wearing when showed to shower. Not that the revelation helped me any.
I really wanted to call for help about right now, but the only numbers I actually had where Shizune’s, Misha’s, and Lilly’s. Shizune didn’t answer her text messages half the time and probably wouldn’t have helped if I asked. I told her I was going to bring the stuff to them, after all. She’d likely hold me to that. If I called Misha, she’d just ask Shizune. That left Lilly. I’m not sure Lilly would even be able to describe her stuff in a way I could understand.
For a moment, I thought about calling her and having her give the phone over to Hanako, but I couldn’t see that ending well either. I wondered how fast she’d hang up on me if I called her and asked her to start describing what her underwear looks like. Oh! Wait! Better idea! I could call Lilly and ask her what Hanako’s underwear smells or tastes like! That way I could alienate both of them at once and save time!
I guess I’m just going to have to do my best to make sense of this by myself.
God help me.
There's a part 4! Can you believe it?
The Next Challenge
I got my first set of clothes back that evening and was able to return to class the next day. I spent that day being ignored or outright avoided by the girls from earlier. However, I did capture some other girls' attention.
The newspaper girls, whose names' I can never quite remember, questioned me a few times about how some girls had been seen around campus sporting sweater vest the previous day. I explained the obvious reason was because I had started a new fashion trend. I'm pretty sure they bought it.
The next day, some shaky girl with a cane who I'd never seen before came up to me saying that she headed the fashion club, sweater vests were NOT the latest thing, and I should stop telling people that they are. I argued that they were a perfectly acceptable fashion for girls with her for about an hour. I'm not proud of that. I got the feeling she didn't like me. The rest of the day was much closer to normal.
The third day, Hanako finally decided to come back to class. She arrived five minutes after the bell, which was still earlier than Mutou. It felt almost like business as usual until, rather than taking her seat, she walked over to mine.
"I-I'm sorry about the other day." She told me. Ah. This. I'm sorry. Please don't tell anybody about this. Thanks for letting me borrow your stuff. I hope this doesn't change anything between us. You know it doesn't mean anything, right? I've already had this conversation five or six times, depending on whether you want to count Shizune and Misha as one time or two. "W-Well?" she looked at me expectantly. Ah crap. I guess I should have paid attention to what she was saying.
I gave her a good-natured sounding "eh" that doesn't mean anything, a smile, and slight tilt to the head that isn't a nod or a shake. I felt safe with that answer. Very noncommittal.
"Either is f-fine with me," she replied to my non-comment.
"It doesn't really matter," I told her. I still had no idea what we were talking about.
"No. Really. Just which is … easier for you. I-I don't have any problems either way." I had the feeling that this conversation could last hours. I was saved from further conversation when the door to the classroom opened. Hanako sprinted back to her seat faster than I could ever hope to react. Sometimes I got the feeling she could outrun half the track team as long as it meant escaping from potential embarrassment.
Muto had begun his lecture as he walked through the door without the slightest hint that he was late when he was interrupted by music. It played a few lines about some girl blinding somebody with science then repeated them before Mutou reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "Mutou. … Yes… But I'm teaching science… But it's MY car… Well can't you tell them not to tow it? … Okay. I'll be right there." Mutou flipped his phone closed and pocketed it. "Do the problems at the end of chapter 23. You can work in groups." He said as he walked back out the room as abruptly as he entered it.
There was only one question at the end of Chapter 23 and it certainly didn't require group work. I knew this because we'd finished it in class a few days ago. I shook my head as some students pulled their desks together. Some of them were actually starting to work on the problem. Yeah. They'd been paying attention in class. The rest of the students seemed rather torn between whether they needed to redo the assignment or take this as free time. Not surprisingly, free time prevailed. Even Misha and Shizune seemed to be more interested in conversation than the assignment.
"Can I work with you?" I jumped as Hanako spoke. I hadn't even noticed her approaching. She’s normally fairly high strung so when I jumped back, she couldn’t help but be startled and quickly looked for the door to escape.
"Actually we already did this assignment in class," I said calmly trying to sooth things over.
"Oh. I guess I … missed … that day." She paused and looked down at the floor for a minute. "I looked at the problem and didn't really understand it."
"Well, I think I can help you on that," I smiled at her. "Go get your desk." I hoped I could also use this as an excuse to figure out what we were talking about a few minutes ago. Maybe I should just ask her…
"It looks like we're going to work together again, Hicchan!" Misha thundered. I turned to see her and Shizune had both pulled their desks to mine.
"Um... We already did this assignment," I said. "I'm just going to help Hanako because she missed that day."
"We're not going to do that assignment. We were supposed to do chapter 25 today, so that's the assignment Mutou probably meant for us to do. We're also going to do Chapter 32 just to be on the safe side. Really, Shicchan?" Misha seemed extremely disappointed by the last part.
Hanako had pulled her seat up by this point, but with Shizune and Misha there, she seemed reluctant to sit down.
"We're going to do the work at the end of Chapter 25!" Misha announced like it was something to be proud of. "and maybe Chapter 32." She added in a way that made it sound like somebody had just kicked her dog.
Nonstop.
For the last hour
I'm pretty sure she wanted an excuse not to do the work.
"I-I thought w-we… were…" Hanako stuttered. I know a cue to come to the rescue when I see one.
"Actually-" I began.
"So, private party or can anyone join?" Miki with a grin said plopping down in a seat I hadn't even seen her pull up. So much for my coming to the rescue. "So, what's up?"
"Shizune and Misha were doing the next chapter and chapter 32 for some odd reason and I was going to help Hanako with Chapter 23. She was out that day." I explained.
"Oh. You were actually doing work. I thought we were just hanging out." Shizune glared at Miki and signed a few things to Misha that she didn't bother translating. Miki in turn gave an over exaggerated smile and wave of her hand followed by a thumbs up.
Hanako reached over and gave a slight tug on my sleeve trying hard not to be noticed. Once she got my attention, she pointed over her shoulder. Hanako working in a group was rare enough, adding Miki to a group with Shizune and Misha had gotten the attention of everyone in class. Hanako… well, she didn’t look comfortable. I’m not sure if she was on the verge of total breakdown but it was close. Miki, Shizune, Misha, and I all exchanged worried looks, unsure what exactly to do. Misha was the first one to take action.
"We're discussion important Student Council activities! Come on over everyone! Pull your seats over here! There's more than enough work for the whole class!" she announced standing on top of her chair. This immediately killed any interest the remainder of the class had in our activities. Misha sat back down with a smile on her face. It wasn't her usual over enthusiastic grin. This was a proud, sly smirk. Hanako sighed in relief, Miki looked impressed, and me? I was terrified. Who knew Misha was capable of this level of deception. "We shouldn't have any problems now." She told us. Judging by Shizune's confused expression and the lack of signing Misha had done, I was pretty sure Shizune had no idea what had just happened. It was probably for the best.
From there, we all sat in a group and worked on our separate assignments exchanging random bits of chatter as we did so. Hanako seemed to take to the lesson quickly after only a minimal explanation.
"So, what we were taking about earlier…," Hanako started to say as she finished up the assignment. This drew some discreet looks from Miki, Shizune, and Misha, but nobody said anything.
"Sorry, what were we talking about again?" I asked. It's not like I was lying or anything. I really had no clue what we were talking about earlier.
"I've got your … things cleaned and pressed. Did you want me to bring them over, or…?" she said softly, her voice trailing away rather than finishing her sentence. Pressed? Nice. That was certainly much better than Misha returning my stuff wadded up into a ball and by far better than Rin. I remember her trying to explain how she couldn't remember if those paint splashes had been on my pants before she borrowed them or not. Nobody had brought me back stuff pressed yet.
"I'll be by later to grab them," I told her, "and thanks."
"And when can we expect a return of our belongings?" Misha said. This was where the conversation broke down. All eyes were on me again. I explained to them that I hadn't seen Kenji lately, but it really didn't seem to do me any good. They spent the next twenty minutes grilling me about their things and questioning when they would be returned to them. The assignment that may or may not have been due was ignored in favor of taking turns blaming me. Even Hanako was giving me the eye. Well, she tried after she saw everybody else was doing it, but gave up when she realized it really didn't work for her.
"Look, I promise I'll track him down after school and personally deliver all your stuff back to you. Okay?" I finally said. It was the only way I knew to get them all off my back. Thankfully, it seemed to work. I became "Hisao the nice guy" again instead of "Hisao that jerk that isn't even trying to get us our clothes back."
Thankfully, it was a short day. I soon found myself standing back in the dorms in front of Kenji's door. "Kenji, open up!" I said as I pounded on his door. I heard something that vaguely sounded like a language, followed by the familiar sound of far too many locks. Then he emerged with a slice of pizza sticking halfway out of his mouth.
"Yo! Just who I was looking for. I need some help stealing some microscopes from the science lab. You in?" I had to stop and ask myself, 'is this something I really want to know,' and sadly enough, this time the answer was 'yes'.
"Why do you need microscopes?" I asked cautiously.
"Fact gathering," he said as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "Are you ready for this?"
"I am."
"Are you really ready for this? You sure?" he asked again and leaned in closer.
"I am ready for this," I reassured him.
"You sure you're ready for this, because this is going to blow your mind." His voice had dropped into a cautious whisper.
"Can you just shut up and tell me already?"
"Man of action. That's why I like you!" He frowned for a second, quickly went to a smile, and then back to a more guarded and cautious expression before dropping his tone back to a whisper again. "The Feminists. They're expanding their forces. Just the other day I narrowly avoided capture by them and -- get this -- they had a robot with them that sounded nothing like you. You want to really know the scary part?" He leaned in a bit too closely as he spoke. I really wished he'd cut back on the garlic in is diet. "The scary part is that this time they were guys! Guys in women's clothing!"
Well, actually they weren't but I wasn't sure if telling him that would make matters better or worse. I settled on just saying, "Indeed" and trying to look interested.
He continued without a pause. “That's just diabolical. Like wolfs in some different kind of wolfs' clothing!" So, I stole the clothes to free them and now I need a microscope to examine the stuff and find out how the Nanomachines the feminists have implanted into them work. If I'm ever caught and forced to wear a cheerleader's outfit or anything, I need to know how to break past their mind control!" This gave me an idea, but I really wasn't sure if I wanted to try it. "and I checked these things. They weren't just making them wear the skirts and stuff. They were making them wear the underwear too. Can you just imagine being captured and forced to wear one of those tight thong things that goes up your butt? The ones more string than material? I can just picture it. I'm sitting there minding my own business, when next thing you know, some chick busts in with a string bikini that's got my name on it--" Okay. I was willing to try it. I was willing to try anything to end this conversation.
"So, Kenji, have you checked the clothes for listening devices?" I asked. His lips started to tremble and the color drained away from his face.
"Ho-ly shit." He said flatly before he burst into a panic and ranted about how he may have given away important secrets and ruined it all. "Hold up one second!" He said and ran into his door in panic. Then he picked himself back up off the floor, opened the door, and ran inside with a slight exclamation of “fuck you, door.”
It only took him seconds to return carrying a big box. It was covered in labels saying Toxic, Radioactive, Poison, Biohazard, and Do-Not-Open-Before-Christmas. "You've got to get rid of thins thing for me! Feed it some false data and then get rid of it!" he said pushing the box into my hands. With that done, he disappeared back into the room, closing the door with a hard slam as he went. "Don't even try to contact me again until that stuff is gone! I've got to run a complete sterilization process on my entire room now!" Well, that was easier than I thought it would be.
I carried the box back into my room and sat it down. The next step was to separate everybody's stuff so I could return it. If they had come here to shower, that meant they had one set of clothes they were wearing and another they were planning on changing into. So it was as simple as separating things into two sets of clothing per person.
…
Well, that didn’t work.
There were more tops than there were bottoms, more bottoms than there were panties, more panties than there were bras, and odd number of socks, and the sizes… the sizes on them didn’t even come close to making sense. I know some of them wear close to the same size in clothing as I do, but the sizes aren’t even remotely similar to the sizes on my outfits… and why aren't there enough things to go around? Did some of them show up naked or something?
A painful thump in my heart convinced me to calm back down. Thinking about it for a second, some of them probably just put back on the same things they were wearing when showed to shower. Not that the revelation helped me any.
I really wanted to call for help about right now, but the only numbers I actually had where Shizune’s, Misha’s, and Lilly’s. Shizune didn’t answer her text messages half the time and probably wouldn’t have helped if I asked. I told her I was going to bring the stuff to them, after all. She’d likely hold me to that. If I called Misha, she’d just ask Shizune. That left Lilly. I’m not sure Lilly would even be able to describe her stuff in a way I could understand.
For a moment, I thought about calling her and having her give the phone over to Hanako, but I couldn’t see that ending well either. I wondered how fast she’d hang up on me if I called her and asked her to start describing what her underwear looks like. Oh! Wait! Better idea! I could call Lilly and ask her what Hanako’s underwear smells or tastes like! That way I could alienate both of them at once and save time!
I guess I’m just going to have to do my best to make sense of this by myself.
God help me.
There's a part 4! Can you believe it?
