Absolutely nothing, leaving her resigned to the towel, and searching elsewhere

(chapter originally by Phantom Pen on writing.com)

"I've had nightmares that started just like this..." Chihiro mumbled to herself. "At least I won't end up in front of the Diet in reality."

With nothing in the locker room that could fix her current predicament, Chihiro had **** but to brave the hallways as she was.

With nothing on her body but her towel and her glasses... With the halls about to fill with students any minute now... And a bit of a walk to the nearest solution to her troubles...

This predicament would be difficult for any student, let alone Chihiro. Even as the timid girl grasped the handle of the door that would lead her out into the hallway, she had to take a moment to steady herself. The normally trivial task of pulling open the door was suddenly a herculean undertaking, and Chihiro had to focus to gather the inner fortitude necessary to take this big step. Finally, after an internal pep talk, Chihiro pulled the door open and hurried out into the hallway before she could let her nerves fail again.

With that, the first leg of Chihiro's arduous journey had begun. The one upside to Chihiro's hesitance to leave the locker room was that she had time to think about where to go next. As far as she saw it, there were two options available: a shorter journey that didn't guarantee success, and the longer journey that just... it just had to work.

The shorter path would be for Chihiro to try the different rooms on the first floor. Classrooms were out of the question, but maybe, just maybe, she'd find something in one of them.

The longer path would be to go down the length of the school, all the way down to the faculty room. One of the teachers was sure to help Chihiro, after all. A student in such obvious distress was something any responsible faculty member couldn't ignore! Right?

In either case, Chihiro would first have to travel through the atrium connecting the gymnasium and its facilities to the rest of the school. Out into the open sunlight, past the persimmon tree, and then into the school halls proper. Having already made her decision, Chihiro pushed open the atrium doors, ready to make her trip to-