It was open, but still out of reach.

(Chapter originally by Teraton on writing.com)

Toriumi was briefly very relieved to see that she had left her window open. This feeling of relief was dashed, somewhat, when she looked at its position on the wall. Her apartment wasn't that high off the ground, certainly not the highest in the building. Still, it was high enough that simply standing on tip-toes wasn't going to cut it. Well, Toriumi wasn't the sort of person to give up so easily! She'd get up to that window and back into her apartment without anyone even knowing she left the apartment!

The loud scraping of the mostly-full trashcan as Toriumi pulled it over to the wall was not something she had considered in her plan to go undetected. It was a small consolation that her own huffing and puffing as she pulled, and her wincing as she walked barefoot between the buildings were disguised in the noise. To make things worse, the sweat she was working up was starting to show in how her t-shirt was clinging to her chest.

Okay... Toriumi thought between pulling the trashcan, Once I'm back in that apartment... I'm blasting the AC. If Tatsuya isn't online... I'm calling it a night.

Toriumi exhaled as the trashcan was finally in a decent position. Well... maybe it could be a little bit closer, but it was probably fine. If Toriumi expended all her energy there, she reasoned, she wouldn't have any left to pull herself back through the window. Speaking of which...

Isako gingerly climbed onto the lid of the garbage can, wobbling slightly as the lid fought against the uneven pile of refuse within. Slightly **** as she was, Toriumi ignored her impaired sense of balance. The window ledge above her was so close! But still, just slightly out of reach. Going on tip-toes here would send her sprawling to the ground in a pile of garbage, that much she could tell. No, she'd have to make a jump for it.

Oh... here goes nothing! Toriumi muttered encouragingly to herself, before making a leap for the window sill...