Head to the next bathroom

(Chapter originally by MidnightWisher at writing.com)

Makoto does another sweep around the room with her eyes just to make sure she didn’t miss anything before she walks toward the entryway. When she approaches the privacy wall, she stops. If she thought the wall had been a nuisance before, it is even more so now. From outside, the wall prevents you from peeking in on whomever is inside, but, from within, the wall prevents you from seeing out into the hallway. She can’t see who’s out there without walking around the wall and peeking out into the hallway. And if she does that, she will be visible to anyone out there.

The thought gives her pause, and her pulse and heartbeat begin to quicken just thinking about the different possibilities. It dawns on her that the excuse she thought up earlier of her accidentally entering the wrong bathroom was half-baked. If anyone who might be out in the hallway now were out there for more than half a minute, they would know she didn’t just walk in here and turned around once she realized her mistake. All they would know is that their Student Council President had spent who knows how long in the boys’ bathroom during class… She could only imagine how far Shujin’s rumor mill might take that one… She shakes her head, trying to clear all the what-ifs away, “If I keep standing here, eventually someone actually will see me…” And, like that, her legs suddenly start to move again.

She rounds the inside corner as quiet as a mouse. The hallway immediately in front of the bathrooms enters her field of vision but that is all. She finds that she still can’t see anything down the hall. Subconsciously, she holds her breath as she steels herself to enter the hallway. Her foot moves forward, finally touching down in the hallway after what feels like an eternity. The rest of her joins it not a moment later, and Makoto finally releases her captive breath. “That’s one down,” she mumbles under her breath. Her eyes scan down the hallway, and much to her relief there is no one else out and about. Quickly recomposing herself, she pivots on her heel, taking a sharp left and walking with purpose. Her next target already in mind.