Hifumi assesses her situation

With every passing second, Hifumi felt her chest tighten even more as the reality sunk in. Her gaze locked firmly ahead to the empty street, casting out a thousand-yard stare.

She was completely naked, locked outside, and far from home. For now, she was alone at least, but who knew how long that would last? At any moment, someone could happen upon her like this. Her mind raced in circles, grasping for any kind of solution. What could she even do in this situation?

Her first impulse was to break a window, but that carried a lot of risks. Would it trigger an alarm? Would it draw someone's attention and they investigate or call the police? Could she even get through the broken window without injuring herself? And what if, after breaking it, she still couldn't reach her clothes before someone else arrived and caught her here. She could imagine the headlines.

The thought of trying to sneak home also came to mind, but it was almost laughable. She didn't live close by. And trying to sneak all the way home completely naked would be a marathon of terror. One wrong turn, one passerby - especially someone that knew her, even one overlooked security camera that happened to catch her face... and she could be ruined...

And then there was the matter of her clothes. Her very identifiable clothes. Even if by some miracle she did make it home unnoticed, someone would find her clothes in the morning. The pastor. A volunteer. A member of the congregation. A fellow student... Someone. Her blazer and shoes might've been excusable. She could try to claim that she'd taken them off and forgotten them in her rush, but not the rest. Her shirt and skirt? Highly unlikely. But her white, silky bra and panties? There'd be no explaining that away. Especially not with the rest of the pile there.

Hifumi's cheeks burned at the thought of someone finding the pile and her panties. Her white, silky panties. The fabric so light and delicate.

And they'd know. There was no way to pretend otherwise. No reasonable person would think those panties were unrelated to the pile they were found with. Anyone would be able to tell. They weren't just any panties - they were hers. Sleek, mature, trimmed with lace, and chosen to match her bra. The same bra that was also left discarded by the pile. An elegant pair of underwear she'd worn confident no one would ever see them. Not the kind of thing one accidentally leaves behind. And certainly not something a respectable girl misplaces in a church.

Her stomach twisted in a knot.

The moment they were found, it would begin. The speculation. The assumptions. The gossip. The smirks and whispers, leering comments and private jokes.

Would they hold her panties by the waistband, stretching them between their fingers with curiosity? Would they turn them over in their hands? Run their fingers along the delicate lace? Hold them up to the light like a specimen to examine or a trophy? Or worse... would they inspect the inside of them...

She could already imagine a pair of fingers holding them up to the light, letting the silk flutter slightly... imagining what she looked like in them, imagining her sliding them off and what she looked like without them, imagining why she'd done it, and what kind of girl that made her. The kind who sneaks off in the night to bare herself in sacred places? The kind who left her lingerie behind like a signal?

Would it be the pastor that found them? A classmate? Or... Ren? Her pulse spiked at the idea of him discovering them - she imagined his teasing, sultry voice, and that suave grin plastered across his face for a moment before shaking the thought away.

It didn't matter who found them. And once they were found... it would be too late. There'd be no salvaging her reputation. No undoing the thoughts planted in people's heads. The pastor would tell her mother. The church staff and congregation would spread the gossip amongst themselves, which would spread from there. Her fellow students would undoubtedly hear about it and the gossip would fill the school. The tabloids would catch wind of it, and it'd make front page news, spreading throughout the shogi community and the world at large...

She was beginning to hyperventilate.

And waiting where she was wasn't a viable option either. Sitting there like this, waiting, was a disaster waiting to happen. Even if the pastor or a random passerby didn't come around, her mother would come looking for her eventually if she took too long to get home. And, if she arrived and found her like this... or caught her in the act of breaking in... or trying to sneak home naked... she didn't even want to imagine what would happen.

Hifumi hugged her knees tighter. The war drum in her chest pounding even faster. Somehow, a chill still ran up her spine despite the burning embarrassment emanating from her body.

She was paralyzed with indecision, but time wasn't on her side. She needed to do something and quick.