Refuse to give them anything, offering to find them something again.

(Chapter originally by doragom333 at writing.com)

"Ann," Makoto began slowly, not wanting to agitate her friend who looked to be at the end of her patience. "I'm sorry, but I can't just give you the clothes I'm wearing-"

"But-!" Ann interrupted to protest again.

"Ann, think for a moment!" Makoto cut in to Ann's interruption with her own. "There's still a couple hours left in the school day. I can imagine you'd want to get dressed as soon as possible, but you'd still have to show up to class, unless you want to try sneaking home through the city and skip school."

"Ah! Shoot, that's right..." Ann gasped in shock. It was clear she hadn't thought that far ahead.

Makoto took advantage of the pause to continue speaking. "Also, the teachers would immediately notice you out of uniform, and if they discovered that that jacket and my pantyhose (if I did actually give it to you) was all that you were wearing, it would be a lot more trouble than just waiting a little while here for me to actually get you something decent. And heaven forbid that any students see you like this..."

"I... would appreciate that too, honestly," Haru added meekly over Ann's shoulder. "Even if we borrowed some of her clothes, one of us would be left only wearing underwear down below."

"Urgh... you're right, dammit..." Ann groaned. "I guess I just thought if we were going to be seen anyways, it'd be better if we were at least not naked, you know?"

"Hey, enough of that!" Makoto said sternly. "Nobody is going to be humiliated on my watch. You two will be safe here because," she fished into one of her pockets and picked up a key. "I will lock the door so no one can get inside."

"Wait, we can just hide in here!?" Ann asked in surprise.

"Makoto, you're a lifesaver!" Haru beamed.

"With no one able to accidentally burst in here, that should give me plenty of time to get you enough clothes. We can figure out an excuse for you missing class after that," Makoto said, starting to form a plan "Although I should probably already be thinking of an excuse to use in case I am spotted getting some tracksuits from the gym. It would be easier if I could just find your usual outfits though."

"Mmph! You're really not going to just let that go, are you?" Ann winced.

"Your outfits are pretty distinct among the student body," Makoto stated. "If your missing clothes are found by someone, there's bound to be rumors about you regardless of whether they catch you in the act. And I think we've all been the subject of enough rumors already."

"Yeah..." the others agreed.

"So, what happened?" Makoto asked. "I promise I'll try not to laugh."

An awkward pause passed between the girls. Just as Makoto was wondering what could've possibly happened to warrant such secrecy, Haru spoke up first. "It all started at the rooftop during lunch!"

"Haru-! Ugh..." Ann piped in, then sighed. "Fine... go ahead."

"I had asked Ann to help take care of the plants today," Haru continued. "Everything was going fine until it was time to water the new seedlings. Ann was in charge of the hose , but after pulling the hose over and was ready to start, she didn't realize she still had one foot on it."

"So then when Haru turned on the water, it knocked me off balance and sprayed all over me! I was soaked!" Ann said with a grimace.

"It wasn't just you who got sprayed, you know," Haru noted sardonically.

"Yeah, Haru ended up getting soaked too since she rushed over to me as we wrangled that crazy hose. It was pretty bad... but at least the plants got watered in the end!" Ann tried to end it on a cheerful note.

"Though in hindsight, I probably should've just turned the water off first," Haru said, looking very embarrassed.

"Look, it was pretty crazy up there, and I can't stay mad at you. It's all water under the bridge now," Ann said with a smile, then grimaced after realized she used a water metaphor after water had gotten them into this mess.

"I... see..." Makoto said, taking it all in and seeing the scene in her mind. Crazy as it was, it certainly was something that she could see happening to her friends. "But that doesn't explain how you lost your clothes. Wait, no...! You didn't try drying them with the ventilation fans did you?"

"What!? No! Even I'm not that dumb!" Ann snapped back, clearly insulted. "We just hung them on the ladder to dry. It was better than spending the rest of the day in wet clothes and getting sick."

"Still, stripping naked on the roof? I'm surprised the two of you were okay with that!" Makoto asked, incredulous. "A-Anyways, didn't you think someone would see you, from the school or otherwise? Shujin Academy's surrounded by the city, in case you forgot!"

"Well, as you know, the area with the planters is very secluded, surrounded by a fence and a higher roof on one side," Haru explained. "Also, I have a key to the rooftop door to use for my planters, so I locked the door so we could have some privacy."

"Oh, right, that ladder is on the side with the higher roof," Makoto nodded as the picture became clearer. "But how did your clothes get lost from such a secluded place?"

"Well... they were... stolen," Ann said, her cheeks starting to turn red again.

"Stolen...? When the door was locked?" Makoto asked, suspicious.

"Stolen... by the wind," Haru finished, her eyes closed and her cheeks also now bright red.

"The wind?" Makoto blinked, confused.

"Apparently it can get really windy on that the roof. Like, way more than other parts in the city!" Ann burst out. "It just blew all our clothes around, spiraling up over the fence and out into the city!"

"When that happened, we tried to catch them, but this is all we could manage to retrieve," Haru said gloomily, looking down at the bulging jacket they were wrapped in.

"I see..." was all Makoto could say at their story. It was quite the tale to be believed, but she knew the two of them would have no reason to lie about something like that. "Well, thank you both for telling me this. It certainly is hard to believe."

"And embarrassing!" Ann said, somehow even more flustered than before. "It's like a plot from some cheap comedy anime."

"Quite," Makoto gave a nod. "Still, It's clear that getting you some tracksuits is our only real option here. Just sit tight, I'll be back in about 10 minutes."

"Please hurry, and you stay safe too, Mako-chan," Haru said as Makoto made her way to the door.

Carefully opening the door to make sure that no one was loitering nearby, Makoto slid outside and locked the door behind her. It was time to go to the gym and get some suits. "Student Council business" should be enough of a reason to procure a couple, even if it was outside her normal class hours. She may as well make use of the authority she had to bring a swift end to this.

Still, as she headed to the stairwell, Makoto was rather tempted with the idea of checking out the rooftop herself. Sure, it was rather windy today, but for there to be a gust so strong that it could carry away all of their clothes? That just didn't seem possible. Maybe the wind just knocked the rest of their clothes somewhere they couldn't see. They probably would've been too panicked to take a real look around, after all.

As Makoto thought it over, she reached the stairway and...