An Evening Most Chocolotastic.

I kinda felt like crap.
I mean, there I was. Watching the Tournament. Taking a bath. Just chilling in my room...
And my friends? Locked up in the Snake Lady's room like prisoners all that time.
True, that's far better than the tentacly fate that befell Her Slitheriness, which I'm sure they'd appreciate. But they'd appreciate it a lot more from the safe confines of their well-earned freedom.

Rest assured, I had no intention of stalling indefinitely. I couldn't, even if I wanted to. I had a hard time as it was bullshitting the Tournament Officials into keeping Snake Lady under detention. All of a sudden they came with all these questions about how my tests work, and why I can tell I don't have the virus but she does.
The sooner I got Snake Lady out of quarantine, the better.

That's fine though. I just had to keep her there until the evening, when the dorms had settled down. Out of the 128 contestants who entered the Tournament, only seven remained. The dormitories were hardly the bustling chicken coup it was on the first day. Almost everyone who first enrolled moved out to look for greener pastures elsewhere. So we had the entire ten storey building to ourselves.

No surprise then to find the fifth floor empty. Except for a one muscly biker kind of guy standing around looking scary. But as luck would have it, he was standing around looking scary right in front of Snake Lady's door. Luck probably had very little to do with it. I'm guessing it was Ojou Sama anticipating the kind of stunt I was trying to pull off and stationed someone there to keep watch.

He wasn't the kind of biker who saw any need to fashion himself as a biker. He didn't need to try and look intimidating. That's just what he was. A black leather jacket was enough for him, but he kept his brown hair short and rugged. He had a clean-shaven face with strong, cute-ish features that could work just as well with a reassuring smile, but currently sported a contemptuous scowl. He leaned his back against the wall, slipping his hands into the pockets of his khaki cargo trousers. His eyes locked on to me the moment the squeaky wheels of my trolley started moving. It was draped in a fanciful white cloth where a large tray with a shiny silver cover rested.
He just stared at me as I made my way through the corridor, without even acknowledging my adorable little French maid outfit.

When I approached, he stepped right in front of me with his open hand held up. He looked like the thought of grabbing my boobs hadn't crossed his mind, which I figured nigh impossible for a guy striking a pose like that.
I answered him with my most customer friendly smile.
"Scoot over, won't you lovely? Food's here for our little guests! Oh, they must be positively famished!"

He didn't answer, but stepped up and opened the cover at an angle, inspecting what lay underneath. The tasty treat didn't leave much of an impression on him, but he did sniff cautiously. Satisfied that the dish was not poisoned, he closed the cover.
"Leave it there and move along, missy. I'll be taking it to them." He pointed behind his shoulder with his thumb.
"Oh, no no!" I raised my hands defensively, shaking my head, "I insist! I've been oh so looking forward to see their blank expression when they finally get to enjoy their meal!"
When I tried pushing the cart forward he grabbed the handle on the other side.
"Sorry. Boss's order." He looked square in my eyes, "I'll take it from here, missy. "
"No way no how! This is absolutely unacceptable! This food cart is mine! I had to pay for myself! From a Tournament maid's salary! I will not simply hand it over to any air-brained ruffian!" I crossed my arms, sending him a fiery glare.
"I said scram! You'll find it here outside when I'm done and can pick it up. Not in the mood for arguments right now."
"...If I see so much as a scratch on this trolley, I'm gonna make you pay through your pretty earrings!" I huffed and turned around dramatically.

He didn't respond, just yanked the trolley out of my grip. He turned around, rapping lightly on the door with his middle finger.
"Open up. Your mistress commands it."

The door clicked shortly after, whereupon it opened wide. There stood Katey, wearing nothing but an expression void of thought and introspection. More so than usual, I mean.
Huh, so Ojou Sama realized the same trick as me for getting into Hebi-san's room. Well damn.

He pushed the food cart past Katey and entered the room.
I tried to step inside after him, but the door slammed shut before I could get the chance.

I sighed in resignation.
Seriously? I was a beautiful young woman in a maid outfit. Who was gonna question that?
Well, I guess that's Ojou Sama for you. Always twenty steps ahead of everyone.

So, that's Operation Chocolotastic, everyone. What do you guys think? A little bit of an anti-climatic ending, but was fun while it lasted.

Guess that's all I could do for my friends. Yeah, it sucks, but friendship can only get you so far.

Say, you ever wonder what Estelle is up to when I'm not around? Just cause she didn't make it through the third round doesn't mean she's got nothing going on. As far as you know, she's up to something really interesting. So why not check her out?
Can't hurt, right?

And who knows, maybe following her adventure along for a while will turn out to be exactly what we need to cheer me up after my failed breakout attempt.