Post
by NoticeMeOppai » Sat Oct 26, 2019 11:11 pm
The following post was written in response to Stiles Long's writing contest. Each participant was given a list of KS character pairings and a list of locations. One of each was chosen for this fic.
There were a limited set of options available to participants in the contest and it may be that this fic resembles others. Any such resemblance is coincidental.
Hallways
It was nearly the end of year festival and as part of her student council work, Misha was touring the attractions each class had set up to make sure they were on target to be completed in time for the following day's festivities. Normally Shizune would join her in this but today she and Hisao were working on some other last minute preparations for the festival.
Flouncing down the third year corridor she spotted Hanako sitting opposite their homeroom door. "Hey Hacchan!~ Is everything ready in our class now?"
Her voice boomed down the hall and it was doubtful anyone in the rest of the building hadn't heard her but there was no response from her purple haired classmate.
It was nothing new for her to avoid social interaction, particularly with members of the student council so Misha didn't take it to heart and just carried on up to the door.
As she got there however, Hanako finally seemed to see her and raised her hand futilely towards the advancing girl as if to ward her away, "N-no, p-please don't…" she began but Misha waved her off cheerfully.
"Don't worry, it's my homeroom too!~ Even if it's not finished, I still need to check how far along we are!" she chirped, ignoring the other girl's protests.
Misha opened the door to find the familiar classroom replaced with a raging inferno. Flames licked around what was left of a double bed whilst on the floor was- her mind dragged itself away from thinking about what it was she was seeing even as the smell of scorched flesh filled her nostrils.
Slamming the door shut she retched against the cool hallway floor, eyes still stinging with smoke and tears. After a few moments she noticed the door she was leaning on wasn't even warm and no smoke was coming around the edges like you'd expect from a fire of that size. Come to think of it, the handle had been pleasantly cool throughout.
Yet her skin still prickled from the intense heat and a quick look at the girl behind her was enough to confirm she had seen it too.
"I'm so sorry Hanako, I shouldn't have ignored you." She began, not a trace of her former jovial self left.
The other girl didn't respond, just sitting there, arms wrapped tightly round her knees, looking like she was trying to curl herself up into the smallest possible ball.
"Was that…" Misha trailed off lamely.
Almost imperceptibly her classmate nodded once in response.
"Wow. I don't really know what to say."
Hanako just shook her head at this, face still tucked into her knees.
Dropping to her knees beside the traumatised girl, Misha gingerly wrapped her arms around Hanako. Initially stiffening in response, after a minute Hanako slowly relaxed a little and leaned into the hug as silent sobs cascaded through her body.
As they sat there, Misha's mind raced. What was going on? How was this possible? As she racked her brains, a sudden memory came to her. She'd already checked their class. Then she'd gone to class 3-2 and Kenji had invited her to test his haunted house. Next thing she was here. She needed to find her way out and then Kenji would face some serious questions about the appropriateness of his festival attraction.
Suddenly she smiled to herself despite the situation. That had been a distinctly Shizune thought.
Shaking her head as if to clear the unbidden thought, she slowly stood up and extended her hand to Hanako who by now had calmed a little. "Come on, let's find our way out of here."
Hanako climbed to her feet beside her and Misha led the way back down the hallway the way they'd come in.
Turning the corner to the stairs the girls found themselves back in the same hall they had just come from however, even down to the small puddle of stomach acid by the door where Misha had left it.
In a slight panic they sped up and once again turned the corner just to find the same hallway. Misha could feel the hysteria rising up inside her and knew Hanako was likely to be in worse shape still. She stopped, closed her eyes and forced herself to take a few deep breaths, forcing the feelings down.
Slowly, she opened them once more and nodded emphatically as if to reassure herself. Forcing her usual chirpy self back into her voice she turned back to look at Hanako, “Well~! If the hallway won’t let us out we’ll just have to try one of the other doors!”
The other girl didn’t look too reassured by this but Misha had been covering her bad feelings with cheerful confidence for years and wasn’t about to stop now. She stepped up to a door on the opposite side of the hall from the burning room and with a hearty “Tada!” flung it open.
Misha found herself in one of the upstairs hallways in Shizune’s house, right near the guest rooms that she and Hisao had stayed in when they all went to visit. Her stomach sank as she recognised it and realised where they were. Heedless, her feet kept stepping forward, taking her ever closer to the door of her room, and beyond it the one Hisao had stayed.
As she approached the first door, she could already hear the soft noises that had caused her such torment that day. Sure enough as she turned into the room she had stayed in, she could see herself lying on the bed. Her face was buried in pillows and another had been pulled over her head to try and muffle the sounds but the body and clothes were certainly hers and there was no mistaking the long pink drills that peeked out even dishevelled from being crushed under pillows.
As she stood in the doorway listening once more to the love of her life losing her virginity in the next room, she felt a soft hand on her back. In a daze, Misha turned to find Hanako looking at her with compassion in her deep purple eyes. Surprised that her normally flighty classmate had actively approached her, Misha tried to force a smile, but felt a single, traitorous tear roll down her cheek.
Hanako reached up gently with her good hand and wiped the tear away with a gentle brush of her sweater. “D-did you l-love him?” she asked softly.
Misha shook her head slowly, feeling the absence of her drills more keenly than ever now she was reminded of the reason she had cut them in the first place. “It was her. It was always her.”
If Hanako was surprised she didn’t show it, smiling shyly down at the shorter girl. “Thank you for before,” she said, one arm gesturing vaguely back up the hallway they’d come from, “The- the hug really helped. W-would one h-help you now?”
Slightly taken aback by her forwardness Misha just nodded dumbly and found herself enveloped in a pair of skinny but surprisingly strong arms. This sudden act of unexpected kindness finally broke past the last of her normally strong defences and she sobbed into the other girl’s shoulder.
What felt like an eternity later, her sobs finally subsided and she pulled away from the embrace gently.
“F-feel a little b-better now?”
Misha still didn’t trust her voice but nodded anyway, wiping the tears from cheeks puffy from crying. “I’m sorry,” she began but Hanako waved the apology aside.
“I’m j-just glad I could r-return the favour,” she smiled, “M-maybe one of the other doors will be b-better.”
Hope you enjoyed that - my prompts for this were "Misha and Hanako" and "Helping Each Other Out"
