Second part, and conflict is already in the air. Hopefully this will retain being at least somewhat interesting as promised by the first part as it is not exactly easy to write about two characters being captive within a small enclosed space and think up stuff for them to do that is both entertaining and featuring enough variety to hold interest. Anyway, hope any possible readers enjoy regardless.
6:12 pm.
BANG BANG BANG!
"Help! Help us! We're in here! Help! We're locked in and can't get out! Somebody get us out of here! GET ME OUT OF HERE! I'M SUZUSHIRO HARUKA DAMNIT! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE ALONE WITH BUBUZUKEEE!" Haruka bellowed as she pounded on the door with both her fists and feet, the very personification of pigheaded and determined stubbornness.
Shizuru, on her part, was the complete opposite to the raging, panicking blonde, having vacated to sitting down on a chair next to a long, old table on the opposite wall from the door. Unlike Haruka, Shizuru was content to watch the blonde's pointless flailing without feeling the necessity to join in doing something she knew would not be of any use. And trying to dissuade Haruka seemed just as pointless an exercise to attempt.
BANG BANG BANG! THUD THUD THUD! "HELP!"
However… and this was a big 'however': Haruka had been at it now for almost 15 minutes straight, and Shizuru was frankly starting to get a major headache from all the banging and shouting. And seeing as Haruka didn't seem even close to having depleted her energy supply, this activity was likely to go on for hours if she was not stopped.
Sighing deeply Shizuru decided that, in order to save her eardrums, she'd really have to interject on Haruka sooner or later.
BANG BANG THUD SMASH!
The sooner the better.
"Haruka-san…" Shizuru started.
THUD THUD THUD!
Shizuru sighed again as Haruka obviously didn't hear her.
"Haruka-san," she tried a bit more audibly.
BANG THUD THUMP!
"HARUKA-SAN!" Shizuru screeched uncharacteristically loud, causing Haruka finally to stop her incessant banging and turn around to Shizuru with a stupefied look on her face that Shizuru would have laughed at if she wasn't feeling so frazzled.
"Wha…?" Haruka voiced incredulously. Did… did Bubuzuke just… shout?
Shizuru, on the other hand, took a long cleansing breath, cleared her throat for added effect, and steadied herself once more to her usual stateliness. Opening her eyes slowly, she said, "Thank you for stopping, Haruka-san."
This seemed to snap Haruka out of her stupor as well, "Oh…? What, you want something, Fujino?"
"No. I simply wanted to tell you that all that banging and shouting is not going to accomplish anything other than making me deaf," Shizuru stated calmly.
"Huh? Calling for help isn't going to accomplish anything?" Haruka asked incredulously, as if Shizuru had just suddenly decided to descend to the level of a retarded five-year-old. "What? You want to stay here the whole night, is that it, you tea freak?"
"No, that is not what I said," Shizuru said patiently, "I only meant that it is useless because there is nobody left in the school building to hear you."
Haruka stood stock still for a few second, absorbing the words, before a frown formed on her face, "What do you mean there's nobody left in the school?"
"Forgive me, I thought I was not being obtuse… I am only saying that everybody has already left for home. Students, faculty… everybody. We are the only ones left here," Shizuru said.
"Everybody's… gone? Really? Even… even the cleaning staff?" Haruka asked with bulbous eyes.
"Well, was it not you who decreed that you wanted to keep control of this floor for your own ease of supervision, and thus wanted your own Executive Committee members to do clean ups here instead of anybody else?" Shizuru asked, and after receiving a nod from Haruka, continued, "Well, I do believe they have already completed their duties quite a while back and have returned to the dorms by now. Also, I do think it is rather impossible for any of the other, actual cleaning staff, to hear us on the other floors. Otherwise I am certain they would have already come to free us."
Haruka looked as if somebody had just played marimba on her head with a wooden log for two hours as each word Shizuru had spoken in that smooth, infuriatingly calm and logical tone of hers had deflated her one syllable at a time. She indeed had made such arrangements and now she was forced to pay the price for her diligence, "Why? What am I being punished for? I've done everything by the book! I can't be stuck here with that blasted Bubuzuke! I haven't done anything prom…"
"Wrong…"
"Shut up! This is like a nightmare. No, this is worse than a nightmare. It's a freakin' apothecary!"
"Apocalypse, Haruka-san," Shizuru corrected Haruka again. "And I do think you are over-exaggerating the problem."
"Oh, am I now?" Haruka sarcastically barked back, imitating Shizuru's accent to further drive the barb home.
"Well, it is not as if we will be stuck in here forever. All we need to do is weather it out until tomorrow morning, and Tate-san, Kikukawa-san, or Reito-san will eventually let us out," Shizuru finished.
"Oh, aren't you the forever flower child of positive thinking, Fujino? You mean to tell me you'd rather sit here the whole damn night with no food, no bed and no toilet instead of trying to figure out a way to get out of here?" Haruka asked challengingly.
"Ara, then you have a plan to get us out of here on our own?" Shizuru asked.
"Umm… maybe…" Haruka said uncertainly when suddenly being questioned on it, but she quickly recovered, "I mean… Yeah, of course I do! You see I habitually like to use the one thing that you often tend to ignore completely: the brain!" Haruka said as she tapped the side of her head smugly.
"Well, in that case perhaps Haruka-san would like to share the results of her brilliant intellectual prowess," Shizuru said with a sickly sweet smile.
"Sure, yeah. Of course, yeah. Uhh… Ummm…" Haruka said stalling for time and looking desperately around the room for something she could use. She'd be damned if she'd look like a fool again in front of the bubuzuke woman, and indeed after searching for a solution for a while she nailed her eyes on something that gave her an idea, "Ah!"
Haruka quickly paced to another set of shelves and picked up a confiscated Swiss army knife in her hand, flicking out a spike-like appendix, "See this? Now to put my master plan into action! I'm going to pick the lock!"
"Ara? Really?" Shizuru said innocently.
"That's right, no problem. Piece of Cornflakes!" Haruka said proudly.
Shizuru looked on with a slight hint of amusement, but finally offered another sweet smile, "Well, then I shall leave everything to you, Haruka-san."
"Yeah, I'll show you the true power of the Suzushiro Executive Committee's excellence!" Haruka stated triumphantly.
- O -
6:33 pm.
"Gnnnh… Ummmhh… Grrr… Gaah…" Haruka voiced her frustration as she twisted and turned the spike in the lock. She had been at it for a good 15 minutes already without making a bit of progress, and she was getting frustrated and embarrassed. But just the thought of seeing that knowing and arrogant smile on Fujino Shizuru's face upon Haruka's newest failure was enough to spur her on despite the whole exercise seeming to be pointless and just not working. Damn it, open you stupid door! Don't do this to me, damnit!
Shizuru sat quietly with her eyes closed. She already knew how futile Haruka's toiling was, but she figured she'd just let the blonde catch on to that piece of fact all on her own. But still, seeing her keeping at it so tenaciously was just too much for Shizuru to bare, the elemental urge to irritate the loudmouthed girl getting impossible for her to resist in the end, "How is it going, Haruka-san?"
"Fine. Just fine…" Haruka grumbled, not even bothering to look behind her.
"Ah… I was only thinking on how much longer this is going to take. I could use a spot of tea, and I would appreciate if you would get the door open soon," Shizuru said as innocently as she could muster her voice to sound.
"You and your tea… stupid teabag… wonder it doesn't drip out of her ears… regular sponge head…" Haruka mumbled in irritation while continuing her lock twisting.
"Haruka-san?" Shizuru asked again.
"WHAT?" Haruka blared, whirling toward Shizuru extremely pissed off and frustrated.
"Is lock picking usually this time consuming?" Shizuru asked, not a slight bit perturbed by Haruka's stance.
Haruka glared at Shizuru as she breathed in and out like an angry bull, "Well, if you think you can do better, then be my guest! You're so perfect, so you get us out then."
"Ara, what makes you think I would know how to pick a lock?" Shizuru laughed.
"Well, considering how you're always loitering around that delinquent Kuga, I bet she's taught you all sorts of unsavoury tricks and criminal habits," Haruka barked.
"Oh, Natsuki has certainly taught me all sorts of tricks for sure, but I am afraid picking a lock has not been one of them," Shizuru laughed back.
"So in other words you're as useless as you were the day you were born. I should have known," Haruka said acidly as she turned back to the door.
"But I thought Haruka-san was an expert in this," Shizuru mentioned.
Haruka was quick to turn right back, "Do you really want to get punched that bad, Fujino?"
"Mmm… Haruka-san is so mean. I was simply offering you encouragement," Shizuru frowned.
"If that's your idea of encouraging then please don't bother. I'm not as saintly as I'm rumoured to be, and I wouldn't feel bad in showing you your place, so don't push your luck! Understood?" Haruka raged.
"Haruka-san should really calm down before she gets an aneurism," Shizuru said with a sunny smile, completely disregarding Haruka's words.
"AAARRRHH! Don't you listen to anything I say? Is there some kind of a mental barrier that makes you not understand plain Japanese, you Kyotoan freak of nature?" Haruka said, seeming ready to pop a blood vessel.
Shizuru just giggled at her in amusement, causing Haruka to hold her breath and turn around away from seeing the brunette's infuriating face. God, I have to get out of here! I can't possibly stand a whole night with Bubuzuke alone!
Haruka once more tried to pry the lock open with the pin, but she was already too frazzled to have much patience to continue. Thus only a few seconds later she gave up in a spectacular huff, "GAH! This stupid thing is broken or something!" and she promptly threw the knife hard on the floor so that it skidded to the other end of the room. "You stupid door, why won't you open?" she screamed as she started kicking and hitting it again, desperation starting to show in her actions.
Hearing the return of the ear-splitting thudding, Shizuru decided that in order to protect her precious ears it would be best to nip that action right at the bud, "Haruka-san, I already told you it is pointless trying to get help by banging on the door like that."
"I'm not trying to get help. I'm trying to bust down the door, that's what I'm doing," Haruka said back, not stopping her kicking.
Shizuru sighed, "Haruka-san, it is highly unlikely for you to be able to kick down the door. It is rather thick and not likely to break down even with all the brute strength you apply to it…"
"I don't care. I'll kick it until it yields, or opens up at the very least."
"Not likely as the door opens to the inside of the room. Trust me, you will only end up getting a sore foot, so you could do both of us a favour and just relax. Make the most of the situation," Shizuru reasoned.
"The most of the situation? You don't tell me what to do, Bubuzuke, is that clear?" Haruka growled, resuming her kicking once more.
Shizuru sighed in defeat, giving up trying to talk to the boneheaded girl, and instead proceeded to look around the room to find something with which to cover her ears. Haruka would quit when she had enough.
- O -
7:03 pm
"Oh, my poor feet…" Haruka moaned as she sat on a worn out couch opposite to the table and rubbing her sore toes.
"It would do good for Haruka-san to once in a while listen to other peoples warnings," Shizuru said with a 'you should have listened to me' tone as she played around with the wool fluffs she had used to block out Haruka's efforts from her ears with.
"Yeah, yeah…" Haruka grumbled reluctantly, not feeling too inclined to give Shizuru the satisfaction of admitting that, yes, she was right again.
Thus silence ensued in a stifling atmosphere, Haruka not wanting to have really any interaction with the red-eyed brunette, while Shizuru just leaned back in her chair, content to simply absorb the silence around her that had finally descended on the storage room.
However, as was to be expected, whereas Shizuru could well appreciate the state of silence and meditative contemplation, Haruka was finding it increasingly difficult to just sit back and not do anything. In fact, the whole sense of stillness around her was starting to grate at her already shoddy nerves. Haruka was by nature a getting-her-hands-dirty type of person, and this kind of inactivity just wasn't what she was built to tolerate for prolonged periods of time.
The big problem she was facing, though, was the obvious issue that she was now stuck in a fairly small space with no means to get out until somebody came and twisted the key on the other side of the door separating her from the rest of the world, meaning essentially one of two things: either Haruka would have to bite her tooth and sit still until she was let out of her accidental prison, or alternatively she'd have to think of something to do within the room for the time being to while away the, what seemed likely to be, hours to come.
The only question really was what could she possible do in this little prison of hers?
"Hey, Bubuzuke?" Haruka started.
"…Yes, Haruka-san?" Shizuru responded languidly, feeling somewhat mournful at the thought that the couple of precious minutes of peace and quiet she had managed to enjoy with Haruka in the same space would unfortunately most likely now be over again.
"I'm bored," Haruka stated.
Shizuru opened her eyes and turned to look at Haruka with a questioning expression.
Haruka waited for a moment for Shizuru to say something, but as the Kyotoan didn't seem to get the hint, she said in an exasperated tone, "Do I need to spell it out for you?"
Shizuru put on the most innocent face she could muster and stated, "I do not think that is necessary. I know quite well how 'bored' is spelled."
Haruka facepalmed.
"Are you all right, Haruka-san?" Shizuru asked concerned as Haruka cradled her head in her hands… or at least Shizuru sounded like what concerned people were expected to sound like.
"I… did… not… mean it… like… that," Haruka said testily, emphasising every single word as if she was talking to a toddler. Lifting her head from her hands, she continued, "I meant, do you have any bright ideas as to what to do to spend the time with?"
"Sitting around quietly is not enough for Haruka-san?" Shizuru wondered.
"No it is not! You can't expect me to just sit here for who knows how many hours without doing anything worthwhile, can you?" Haruka barked back.
Shizuru's only response was a slight tilt of the head, prompting Haruka to try and find something to do on her own since Shizuru was once more proving to be a complete waste of space. "There has to be something here to pass the time with…" she mumbled to herself before it hit her like a bolt of lightning. Snapping her fingers, she said, "I got it! Hey, Fujino, what's the one thing that this room needs the most?"
"A door with no lock?"
"Besides that!"
"A window?"
"…No!"
"Better lighting?"
"Will you shut up! It was a rhetorical question. All you needed to say was 'what', not give a dissection! I meant what this room needs is a good and proper clean-up!" Haruka finished emphatically.
"Ah. Well, you never specified the nature of the need, so it would have been rather difficult for me to have made an educated guess based on the facts you supplied, which is nothing to say you failed to point out your question was rhetorical in the first place," Shizuru said as she closed her eyes again.
"Yeah, whatever! …Anyway, this should keep us preoccupied and productive for a good few hours at the very least," Haruka concluded as she clapped her hands together and started rolling her sleeves up. "So, come on, Fujino! Get up and lets get to work forthwith so we'll get a good start with this."
However, Shizuru simply eyed Haruka a few moments before quietly, but firmly, stating, "No."
This was enough to stop Haruka square in her tracks. Did she mishear or -understand? 'No?' It took her a while to get her bearings back on course as she stumbled, "W-what? No? What… - what do you mean with 'no'?"
"I meant exactly what I said. I have no desire whatsoever to do anything about this room," Shizuru calmly continued.
Haruka could barely believe her own ears. The President was refusing to clean up? What kind of an attitude was that supposed to be? And she didn't even bother to hide her reluctance!
As Haruka continued to stare at Shizuru seemingly dumbfounded, the latter decided that perhaps a little clarification was in order, "Do not misunderstand me, Haruka-san. By no means am I denying you from the pleasures of cleaning this room, but to be clear there is no 'we' in this particular activity."
That was enough to pop Haruka back to her usual self, "Huh? Wait… you mean you're just going to sit there and make me do all the work on my own?"
"Mmm… I believe that is roughly the idea," Shizuru smiled back.
"I… I can't believe this! You lazy louse! What… what do you think gives you the right to treat me like some kind of a slave?" Haruka raged utterly flabbergasted.
"My prerogative as the Student Council President, of course. And was it not Haruka-san herself who wished to pass the time in this manner? Therefore I do not see any reason why I should get involved in any of this to begin with," Shizuru explained.
"Common decency perhaps? To help? To show you're actually a useful human being? That my low opinion of you won't get any lower? Perhaps?" Haruka reasoned. Shizuru, however, simply smiled back in that infuriatingly placid way, as if taunting Haruka for further action.
"Gah! What am I saying?" Haruka gave up, "Guess I should blame myself, really, for holding out hope that maybe you might actually have some value left in you I might have missed before. But no! You've definitely proved that error of judgement quite clearly."
"Mm… Haruka-san is so mean. I might think that she does not really like me," Shizuru lamented.
"Geh… You mean you just now figured that out? Talk about not listening to other people. You're worse than I am!" Haruka said exasperated.
"Maa…" Shizuru purred.
"Oh, how I sometimes wish I'd have as selective a filtering in my ears as you have so that I could escape from being so utterly frustrated every single time you open your god-forsaken mound!" the blonde moaned.
"Mouth," Shizuru unconsciously corrected, inwardly flinching at the sudden realisation that she seemingly was quickly becoming a Kikukawa-san 2 when it came to Haruka's malapropisms, before continuing with a sweet smile, "And I too often wish I could be as oblivious as Haruka-san is, but we cannot always get what we wish for, can we?"
"…That does it!" Haruka yelled a few octaves higher as she slammed her fist on the table next to her, "Come here, Fujino, so I can annihilate you!"
However Shizuru simply giggled softly at the threat as she said, "Haruka-san should really take it easy. If she continues to over-stress herself so much, her complexion will suffer and she will lose her precious youth all too quickly. And none of us wish for that, now do we?"
"See, see? This… this… this is exactly what I'm talking about! You completely ignore everything I say and change the topic to something totally irreverent! You… you are by far the most infuriating woman I've ever met in my life, and that's taking into account every slacker and delinquent I've ever seen! You… you Bubuzuke harlot!" the blonde let rip.
Shizuru on the other hand just looked at Haruka innocently, "So Haruka-san does not care about her beauty?"
That was enough for Haruka. That was really enough. Her brain simply cooked over and she could not even gather enough thought power for a proper retort. Therefore she just grabbed the sides of her head and shook it a bit in disbelief with a distantly fixed gaze in her eyes.
"Haruka-san?" Shizuru probed gently when Haruka had stayed frozen in that position for almost a full half-a-minute.
No change.
"Haruka-san? Are you all right?" Shizuru tried again.
In response Haruka leaned her elbows on the table while still cradling her head in her hands.
Ara… I wonder if I pushed her a bit too far… Shizuru thought, starting to actually get a little worried about the loudmouthed bullhorn's inexplicable behaviour, and soon came to a conclusion as to the best course of action this situation required. Well… desperate times need desperate measures, I suppose…
"Haruka-san? Do you still wish to clean the room?" Shizuru asked slowly so as to be sure her words carried into her colleague's ear.
"Clean?" Haruka distantly echoed, the familiar, safe and orderly word being enough to wiggle into her consciousness past her mind's catatonia.
"Yes, clean. Put everything in perfect order in this messy room. And if Haruka-san wishes, I will help her out, too," Shizuru said smilingly.
At that Haruka slowly turned her head toward the President and, after gathering her wits about her a bit, gave the brunette a slightly disbelieving stare, "…You… I mean, you would… help me?"
"Ara, is that somehow a strange thought to consider?"
"When it's you saying it, yes," Haruka said back straightforward.
"Haruka-san… so certain of herself…" Shizuru almost purred, causing Haruka to blush and vehemently turn away from the infuriating woman's thinly veiled insinuation. "Who knows… maybe Haruka-san will be taken by surprise…"
"Allow me to be doubtful…" Haruka grumbled in response.
"Have a little faith, Haruka-san! You just haven't seen me in action. Trust me, I am quite capable for this sort of work," Shizuru laughed.
Haruka turned back around with a deadpan impression. The brunette simply wore a placidly reassuring smile, looking perfectly innocent and sincere. Hmm… Is she being for real? Maybe Fujino's really not trying to be a slacker this time. Could she actually be serious about this? So hard to tell from that face, though… But can I really give her the benefit of the doubt with this? To… trust her?
"Haruka-san could use some cream on those lines under her eyes," Shizuru observed with her usual smile.
"BUCK YOU, FUJINO!" Haruka barked angrily as she nearly smashed her fist through the tabletop, whatever charitable thoughts she had entertained about the tea addict dropping away like ancient plaster.
"Fu…" Shizuru started.
"NO! Don't! …Don't… you… dare… finish that," Haruka hissed malevolently.
Shizuru closed her mouth and decided it was best she stayed quiet.
Second part done, and third will appear in due time. By the time I get further into this, I'm hoping to also introduce some more serious elements, as well as toning down Haruka a bit and perhaps doing something about Shizuru, too. But will just have to see how that'll shape up.