"…Yukizome-sensei?"

Tsumiki nearly jumped out of her skin at the muffled sound coming from inside the classroom broom closet.

"It's- I'm Tsumiki! Sorry! I'm so sorry that I'm not sensei!"

A chuckle followed from the closet. "That's alright, just as long as someone's there. Hey, um, do you think you could get Sensei to get me out of here? You see, I was on my way back to the dorm, but then I remembered that I got a few drops of Dr. Hopper in my desk at lunch, so I wanted to grab something to wipe it up with and, well, here I am, locked in… Pretty bad luck, huh?"

"Oh um, I'm really sorry, but Yukizome-sensei went home already! I'm the only one left here!" Tsumiki's hands flew to her mouth. "Not to say that you aren't here as well! And…a person…also…"

"That's alright. I'm don't really count as a person anyway. Although, if you could get the keys from Sensei's desk, I'd really appreciate it. I'm mean, it's not as if I don't deserve to be kept in here, it's just that I'd…prefer to not be."

Tsumiki immediately scrambled for the desk, rummaging through the drawers, before reporting back. "It looks like…she took them with her. I'm so sorry!"

"Ah, that's okay," came the voice through the closet door. "At least you tried. …Say, you wouldn't have a phone on you to call her by any chance?"

"N-no… I don't have anyone to call, so I never asked my parents for one…"

"Hmm, same here. I mean, my parents aren't around any more to ask, but I don't think I'd really ever call anyone anyway…"

Komaeda blinked suddenly as Tsumiki held something up to the closet slats for him to see.

"A-actually, I don't think having a phone would help us much… Yukizome-sensei left her phone on her desk. I found it while I was looking for the keys… Eep!" Her words were followed by a squeak and a clattering noise.

"Um…Hello?"

Komaeda squinted through the slats. Apparently the phone must have began to vibrate as she was holding it, causing her to startle before picking it up. Was she always in the habit of answering other people's phones, he wondered.

"Yukizome?"

"Er, no, this is one of her students… I-is this Yukizome-sensei's boyfriend?"

The voice on speaker phone cleared his throat. "Can you put Yukizome on? A student shouldn't be answering their teacher's phone."

"I-I'm so sorry! Really sorry, but I can't!" She was beginning to tear up now. "She left her phone here and went home!"

"In that case, I'll stop by and get it for her. I was on my way to her place anyway. "

"Err, well… um…Is there anyway you could stop by her place first? You-you see, a student got locked in the broom closet and we need the key!"

"...We'll be right over." With a click, he had hung up.

The two students were silent for a time, before Tsumiki finally sank down to sit on the floor beside the closet.

"You know, you can go back to your dorm. You really don't have to wait with me," Komaeda offered.

"It's fine! I really didn't have anything else planned!"

"Alright, if you're sure. …By the way, what were you doing here so late yourself?"

"Well, um…I was organising supplies in the nurse's office. The smell of the rubbing alcohol, the feel of the cotton bandages…it helps to me relax sometimes."

"Hmm. Relaxing important and all, but are you sure that Saionji-san didn't bully you into taking on her turn for classroom clean up duty?"

Tsumiki's shoulders fell. "Yeah…"

"Next time, let me know and I'll stay back and help. It really is the only thing I'm good for."

"That's not true!" Tsumiki's words sounded louder than they were meant to in the nearly empty room. "You're good for… You're really good at…err…"

Komaeda let out a laugh. "That's alright. You'll see soon enough; everyone does."

Tsumiki frowned. "It's funny…Even though we're classmates, I don't think we've really spoken before now…"

"It's not funny at all, if you think about it. Excuse me if I'm wrong on this, but you didn't have a lot of friends growing up, did you?"

Tsumiki's shoulders sank even further to point where any lower and they would have hit the floor. "…No."

"I think that sometimes people get so used to not making friends that it becomes something of a habit. It's something like, you need to have friends before you can make them- kind of a vicious cycle, I guess. Not that I'm any better at it, of course."

"K-komaeda-san!" Tsumiki squealed. "Would you maybe like to um-"

Suddenly the classroom door burst open to the sound of jingling keys. "Fear not, my dear students! Your savior has arrived! Er, who is locked in there anyway?" Chisa asked.

"No one you need to concern yourself with," replied the voice inside the closet. "I really wasn't worth your rushing in here for."

Chisa elbowed Munakata in the side as he followed her into the room. "See? I told you we should have left them alone together a litte longer. I knew it must have been Komaeda-kun, what with his luck troubles and all."

She began to rummage through her apron pockets in search of the key.

"I can save you some time," Munakata offered, beginning to sound impatient as he slid a sword hilt from his sleeve.

"Kyosuke! You know I just only had the classroom repaired! The key's in here, it's just snagged on a thread."

Chisa began to yank at her pocket, until finally the offending fiber snapped, causing her elbow to jerk into Tsumiki who had just stood to move out of the way of the closet door.

The girl yelped as she fell forward, her face slamming into the very same door slats that Komaeda was currently pressed up against, attempting to peer out. Suddenly his view was replaced with that of Tsumiki's eyes nose…and lips, smushed up against his own, with only the thin wooden bars between them.

Tsumiki rubbed at her face as Komaeda was set free, both looking slightly pink, though for separate reasons.

After thanking and bidding goodbye to their teacher, Tsumiki turned to Komaeda. He remained patient as she opened and closed her mouth a handful of times before she finally managed to get some words out. "W-would you mind studying with me tonight? I mean, if it's not too much of a burden…and you're not busy…"

"Tsumiki-san, I would be honored to. You know, maybe today is my lucky day after all."

End