Nothing. The room was empty save for the two of them.

(chapter originally by doragom333 at writing.com)

"Haaa..." Fuuka sighed once more. The room was empty, just as she thought it would be.

In mere minutes, Minako and Fuuka had gathered their gym clothes from the lockers. It felt a bit odd wearing the T-shirt and shorts without anything underneath, but it would have to do.

"Phew, finally we're wearing clothes again," said Minako. "I still can't believe I put us through all that, though,"

"It's fine, Minako-chan," said Fuuka. "I think I'll just stay away from cooking for a while,"

"Hey, for what it's worth, even though it made me crazy, the stew was delicious, Fuuka-chan."

"Oh!" Fuuka blushed. "Thanks, but, seriously, I am never making that again."

The girls snuck back to the main lobby of the school, and up to the second floor, where they separated to their respective classes. Fuuka stood in front of the door, gathered her resolve, and went inside.

"Yamagishi," the teacher addressed her. "You are quite late, young lady. And apparently you missed the earlier period as well."

"Yes. I am sorry," Fuuka apologized, trying to play it as cool as possible. "I... wasn't feeling well at lunch, so I lay down on the roof to feel better. Next thing I knew, it was almost 2:00."

"And you appear to be... out of uniform?" the teacher narrowed his gaze at Fuuka.

"R-right!" Fuuka stammered. This was the tricky part. "Y-you see... I also, um, threw up while I was up there, and completely covered my uniform in it, unfortunately. I couldn't wear it in that condition, so I had to change into my gym clothes and get it cleaned."

"Vomiting?"

"Yes," Fuuka continued, "It was probably something I ate for lunch, now that I think about it. It... it didn't agree with me."

"And you didn't think to go to the Nurse's Office? Or let anyone know of your condition?" the teacher asked incredulously.

"I-I'm sorry!" Fuuka bowed her head. "I was alone up on the roof, and I felt too weak to move! It won't happen again, sir!"

The teacher sighed. "Just sit down already," he said, turning back to the class. "Now, for today's topic..."

Fuuka carefully walked to her desk, aware of the gazes from her fellow students. Taking her seat, she tried to focus on the lecture, to no avail. She kept replaying everything in her head. So many things could have gone wrong, so many chances for them to be seen, but somehow, they both made it through okay. It was quite an adventure, all right. Fuuka took a deep breath and shook her head. There would be time to reflect on everything in detail when she was safe in her room, right now, she just had to focus for the rest of class, and then head on home when the period ended.

The lecture continued, but as Fuuka tried to pay attention to the class, she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. Was that girl looking at her? Fuuka glanced at her, only for the girl to turn back towards her workbook. Then, she saw two boys sitting in front of her whispering to each other. But just as she noticed, they too, turned back to their work. Fuuka grew nervous. What could they have been talking about? Was it about her?

Fuuka's unease continued until ten minutes before the bell, when-