The audience suddenly bursts into applause, distracting her!

(chapter originally by Phantom Pen at writing.com)

The unexpected sound of an entire room bursting into applause completely broke Yukari's concentration, making the poor girl flinch in surprise and lose her grip! Thankfully, it was at this moment that all Yukari's time in Tartarus truly paid off. Her reflexes, honed as they were from combat with Shadows and amplified by the sudden burst of frightened adrenaline, sent Yukari's legs into action, quickly wrapping around the bar before she could fall completely.

Hanging upside-down, the vice grip of her legs keeping her in place, Yukari couldn't help but look down (or up, in regards to her positioning) at the audience. Aside from a reminder of how high up she was and how close she was to pretty much all her peers, Yukari saw that she was directly above her own class! Falling anywhere into the crowd would have been bad, but to fall into the people she'd have to share a classroom with all day? That would have been the worst. Thankfully, something had finally gone right today and Yukari had managed to save herself from that embarrassment.

Carefully, Yukari rocked back and forth, building up momentum to hoist her torso back up to the bar. Yukari could already feel blood rushing to her head, and the last thing she needed now was to get lightheaded. After a few pendulum swings, Yukari had enough **** to reach the bar once more, gratefully wrapping her arms around the bar once more. Regaining her bearings, Yukari realized another bit of good luck; her near-fall had been near one of the vertical beams she'd have to shimmy around. As it was, Yukari could simply inch her way across the underside, no need to shift her weight. Perhaps she should continue across the room like this, she mused.

Slowly inching her way down the bar, Yukari carefully unhooked her legs to get them past the support beam. Planting each foot on opposite sides of the bar, Yukari awkwardly shuffled her feet down the bar's sides. As her feet were almost past the bar, however, Yukari felt something that made her heart miss a beat: her feet were tangled in something!

With mounting dread, Yukari craned her head to look towards her feet. Between her ankles were Yukari's panties, snarled on one of the bolts connecting the beam to the bar! Yukari must have been too focused on inching her way across to notice the snag and feel of her panties sliding down her legs, and once they reached her long socks, she wouldn't have felt them at all. Now, thanks to her failure to notice, Yukari was completely naked!

There was no way Yukari was going to abandon the last piece of real clothing she had. She had to get her panties free! Carefully, Yukari pulled at the snagged panties with her feet, hoping to get them unstuck from the bolt. Thanks to her slow and deliberate movements, her efforts torn between keeping her balance and freeing her panties, it was slow progress. However, it was still progress. With one last push of one of her feet, Yukari's eyes lit up as she saw her panties pull free of the bolt!

The joy quickly left Yukari's face, however, as she saw-