The word of the day is Handie.
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Benzene Pt. 1
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Hanako slammed through the bathroom door and planted herself in the first stall she found with an open door. This was the second time today and Saturday classes have only just been dismissed. This was bad, really bad. She thought that finally getting a boyfriend would put an end to these sudden urges but it only seemed to make them worse.
Hanako reached into her backpack and opened up the resealable sandwich bag she had kept inside. She had stolen a pair of underpants out of the laundry yesterday and was going to use them as an aid for her quick afternoon escape. Usually she'd go for a release at night in the safety of her own room, but once in a while the urges would get so bad and so distracting that she'd have to take care of things on “bathroom breaks” between classes or during lunch.
"I'm so sorry." She whimpered, thoroughly disgusted at herself.
Eyes closed, Hanako held the underpants up to her face and inhaled deeply. They didn't smell dirty at all, but rather sweet and vaguely flowery. Well, they smelled that way to her anyway. Perhaps one person's stink was another one's perfume. She felt that what she was doing was wrong on many levels, but she'd worry more about feeling remorse and shame when she's finished. With her olfactory aid still in her face, Hanako reached under her skirt and pried her fingers into one of the leg holes of her own panties to get started with business.
“You shouldn't do that here, it's unsanitary.” Said the inquisitive green eyes that were now staring Hanako in the face.
“Ah-ah-o-occupied.” squeaked Hanako, who was too deep into shock to come up with anything other than the standard response to someone inquiring from outside a bathroom stall.
Rin stood back and cocked her eyebrows in curiosity. “You handies really ought to close the door more often. I'm not a hard person to evade, you know.”
“R-Rin Tezuka, right?” Hanako recognized the girl as being one of Hisao's friends from the art club. “Um, um, I, I like your paintings.” Rin's face tightened up with contempt.
“You're not one of those art critics, are you? I hate artists. And art critics. And art people in general.” Hanako cocked her head sideways, confused. Wasn't Rin one of those “art people,” herself? She straightened up on the toilet and stuffed the evidence in her bag, hoping that Rin would just think it's a handkerchief.
“N-n-no. Pleasegetout!” Hanako yelled, wanting Rin to leave the stall and go on with whatever business she had in the bathroom so that Hanako could leave without anyone watching.
“Aww. Okay then. I guess I got to see what I came here to see.”
“Wait, wait. What did you see?”
“I wanted to see why you go to the bathroom so often.” Rin said with a wink. “I was hoping to see something sordid and, my dear, you did not disappoint.”
“Omygod! Y-you noticed?! P-please don't tell my boyfriend about this!” Being caught by a near stranger was bad enough, but Hanako feared word of this coming back to Hisao like she would fear the end of the world.
“Mmm, maybe. Hm... Lilly Satou, huh? Your boyfriend has a pretty name. Reminds me of this one girl I think I know...”
“H-huhwhat? Thats not his name! Where did you hear that??”
“That's the name written on the panties you were sniffing. If that's not his name then would I right in assuming that your boyfriend gets his kicks wearing womens' underwear and for some reason he wrote that name on them? Maybe he's cheating on you. Or maybe that's his other name and he's living a secret life...” Hanako looked down at her bag and saw the panties were still hanging out of the zipper, with Lilly's name and dorm room number visibly written on the waist. It was not unheard of for clothes to get lost or stolen out of the laundry room, so Hanako labeled most of Lilly's undergarments to prevent mix ups and thwart thieves.
“I-i-its... not his.”
“Oh. ...Ooooooh.” Rin's eyes widened as she added it all together. “This... is scandalous indeed. I think I shall add you to my collection, Ms. Not-Lilly's-Girlfriend.”
“Collection??” Hanako's face winced in terror at the ominous use of the word “collection.” She began to hyperventilate at the thought of Rin holding onto this dark secret of hers to blackmail her with later.
“Whoa whoa whoa, Ikezawa. Don't cry. Here. Since I know a secret of yours, would you like to know a secret of mine?”
Hanako shook her head and choked out a barely audible “why?”
“Because if we know something about each other, then we could be friends.”
“K-k-kay.” Hanako was still convinced that she was being extorted and was caving into Rin's apparent demands.
Rin looked around to confirm that the bathroom was in fact empty and straightened her face, as if she was going to reveal the universe's darkest secrets.
“I like gloves. I collect them.” She flapped her arm stubs a little to emphasize how shocking this confession really was. Hanako's choking fit broke and her eyebrows furrowed.
“That... that's notta secret. That's just ironic and weird.”
“Is it?” Rin thought it would be shocking. “Okay then ask me something and if the answer is a secret then you'll know one.”
“Why were you watching me?”
“Oh, that's easy. Because I can't do what you were doing. Not like that anyway.”
“Can't you use your foot or something?”
Rin kicked off one of her slip-on shoes and lifted up her foot to show Hanako how cracked and filthy the back of her heel was from frequently walking barefoot and using her feet for everything.
“Then, how do you, you know, t-take care of things?”
“At this rate I'm going to run out of secrets when I only know one or two of yours. But yeah, one of my friends helps me with that. In return, he gets to practice being with a girl. Oh! Now you can tell me something else about you since we're secret-friends. Why don't you just screw your boyfriend instead diddling yourself in public bathrooms?”
“I'm s-scared and I-I-I don't want him to see me.” Hanako said, covering the right side of her face with both hands. Rin had a hard time understanding why a complete girl would be so ashamed of her looks.
“Then what about the owner of those panties?”
“Sh-she wouldn't do things with me anymore. Not since we've got b-boyfriends.”
“Ohh. Hmm. Well then Ikezawa, how about this? How about once in a while you help me get off and you can pretend that I'm this Lilly person? If she is who I think she is, then I'd be a good substitute, right?”
Hanako shook her head. Rin looked nothing like Lilly, but her proposal was intriguing. If fooling around with her could get Lilly out of her head, Hanako was willing to give it a shot.
“Sh-sh-sure. H-how about tonight?” It was rather crude to jump into such a proposition so soon, but she still hadn't gotten her satisfaction for the day.
“Wow, so eager. I'll tell you what. Meet me in the common room by the entrance of the girl's building a half hour before curfew and we can get to business. I'll tell the dorm mom that you're gonna sleep over and help me brush my teeth or something.”
“Can we do this with the lights off?” Hanako's request was two-fold. First she didn't really want a girl she didn't know to see her body, second it would make pretending that Rin was Lilly all the easier. Hopefully things would be more enjoyable if her partner in role playing was rendered visually impaired.
“I'm okay with that. Oh hey what's your boyfriend's name anyway? Is it pretty too?”
“It's Hisao.”
“Oh. Darn.” It wasn't a very pretty name at all. After that, Hanako kicked Rin out of the bathroom stall for good so she could actually use the toilet. As Rin left the building to look for Emi at the athletic field, some of her cognitive gears clicked into place belatedly.
“Wait. THAT Hisao??”
===============================================TO BE CONTINUED!===================================================================
That was glorious! Thanks for that!