Elevator Killer Ibuki Mio (cont.)

Asakusa Toru sincerely hoped that no one would continue to disturb his AFK (away from keyboard) life.

Class D has Sato Maya, although she doesn't actually need the Voice Recorder at all. Besides her, Horikita Suzune also diligently keeps her teachings in mind and works hard to record Class D's life every day.

At the very least, he could ask Kushida Kikyo and Sakura Airi directly.

Class A is where he attends classes every day, and the Voice Recorder on his body automatically records all the audio.

So it seems the only place that wasn't covered was Little Princess Sakayanagi Arisu's class.

After all, those top students wouldn't have thought of 'maybe I should buy a Voice Recorder as a backup' until they were tricked by the Voice Recorder realized that it was an essential item for Advanced Nurturing.

Asakusa Toru was initially a little worried about how to place wards, but it was only a few days after his advertisement was released that he was able to figure it out.

The renowned God-man from Class A approached him.

That's right, it's Morishita Ran, who's good at 'listening to the sounds of nature'.

"Give me one." Morishita Ran stretched out her small, fair hand, begging for the Voice Recorder like a freeloader.

Honestly, it's kind of cute.

The girl who had shouted "Are you crazy?" at the recruitment fair was now blinking and asking for a black, stick-like object.

Pretty cute.

At this point, all four classes (A, B, C, and D) were filled with Asakusa Toru's Voice Recorder.

Although the recording cannot achieve full coverage, it all depends on whether the holder starts recording and whether Asakusa Toru selectively copies the recording into his own body, which has no storage limit, before the recording is deleted.

But to some extent, this can be considered an achievement.

Of course, Asakusa Toru didn't know that the Voice Recorder he sold to Morishita Ran Ai had been given to Kamuro Masumi Morishita Ran for use, but in any case, it was definitely a good idea to sync the Voice Recorder from other classes first.

"... ah."

That's what he said, but when he got to the school building, he remembered something.

Today is Sunday.

The students are not attending classes.

For large-scale transcription and recording, weekdays with students gathered in the classroom are obviously the most convenient.

Otherwise, I'll just have to wander around and scan the whole campus.

"--Ding." A crisp sound rang out along with the slowly opening elevator doors.

Asakusa Toru didn't plan to wander around, so he decided to slack off for a day.

So, I'll go back to the dorm first.

Press the corresponding floor button and then wait for the elevator doors to close automatically.

"..."

Just before the elevator doors were about to close, a girl with short blue hair flashed past the crack in the door, and then the doors opened again.

"... Ah, it's you." With an expression that looked like she was about to die, Ibuki Mio stepped into the elevator without even looking up.

"It's me." Asakusa Toru glanced at the floor Ibuki Mio had pressed and said casually, "Unexpected. This is the first time we've bumped into each other here in the past two months, isn't it?"

Since we had nothing else to do, we chatted for a bit.

"It seems so." Ibuki Mio thought for a moment and nodded.

She had intended to keep quiet and not respond to him, but then she suddenly remembered something.

"Hey, you..." She hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but then stopped.

Asakusa Toru: "Hmm?"

"Are you still selling your crappy Voice Recorder?" After hesitating for a moment, Ibuki Mio finally asked the question.

Her awkward words and expressions clearly show that Ibuki- chan is indeed quite bad at communicating with others.

"Sell, definitely sell, as many as you want, do you want one?" Asakusa Toru first affirmed, then changed the subject, asking, "But didn't I give you one before?"

On the very first day of school, he slipped a large, thick, black Voice Recorder into Ibuki Mio.

"No, I don't want it. One is enough." Ibuki Mio shook her head.

Then why are you asking this?

As if hearing what Asakusa Toru hadn't said aloud, Ibuki Mio muttered:

"Just asking casually."

Silence fell over the elevator.

The atmosphere in the elevator was so tense that no one wanted to stay there any longer, Ibuki Mio tapped her toes in slight annoyance.

"... Why aren't we there yet?" she said, turning her head to look at the floor display screen.

Upon closer inspection, it seemed as if something had been triggered; the elevator, which should have reached its floor and opened its doors, made a low creak and then stopped.

The elevator didn't stop because someone pressed the up button; it malfunctioned.

The elevator lights flickered twice and then went out abruptly. Immediately afterwards, the emergency lights came on, preventing the elevator from being completely dark.

The sudden stop of the elevator made Ibuki Mio's heart skip a beat. She bent her knees slightly, but outwardly remained calm as she leaned against the wall behind her.

"... It's malfunctioning." Ibuki Mio's vision went black.

What a coincidence, why did it malfunction here?

"..." Yes, what a coincidence, why did it malfunction at this time?

Looking back at Ibuki Mio leaning against the side, Asakusa Toru had the same thought in his mind.

Who would have thought that after two months without a single collision, the one that happened was due to an elevator malfunction?

Baby Ibuki is said to have some special physical constitution.

Seeing that Ibuki Mio didn't seem to be going to look for the emergency phone, Asakusa Toru reluctantly stepped forward and approached the button.

He quickly found the emergency phone button.

As the dormitory elevator is the most frequently used, even if this button isn't pressed, some students would probably notice it anyway.

But Asakusa Toru pressed it anyway.

Although he was quite confident in his current physical condition, Asakusa Toru still didn't plan to experience the feeling of an elevator falling.

Call for help if you can.

Unfortunately, it seems that even after pressing the button, the elevator doesn't respond at all.

Is it a wiring problem or a lack of power?

Asakusa Toru didn't know, but now all that was left for him was to dial a number.

Hopefully, the emergency number in the dormitory hasn't been vandalized or smeared.

If Asakusa Toru remembers correctly, in a secluded elevator next to the shopping mall, some thief used a black pen to cross out the emergency number.

"... Thankfully, it's still there."

Take out the terminal, enter the number, and make a call.

There were no unexpected issues with signal loss or device power failure; Asakusa Toru received a response quickly.

"They said it would take about half an hour." After hanging up, Asakusa Toru turned to Ibuki Mio, who seemed to have unconsciously crouched down. "So, let's wait."

"Half, half an hour?!" As soon as she said this, Ibuki Mio's voice sounded off.

"Impossible, I can't do it." She suddenly got up, squeezed past Asakusa Toru, and got close to the floor buttons.

It was quite obvious that Asakusa Toru smelled the scent of the girl's shampoo.

Frustrated, Ibuki Mio repeatedly pressed the buttons for each floor, but no matter what she did, the elevator remained unresponsive.

Even the air conditioning, which was supposed to keep the elevator cool, was turned off due to the elevator malfunction, and the gradually heating up caused the temperature inside the elevator to rise.

Sweat trickled down Ibuki Mio's neck.

"It's no use... Ah, I remember there should be an emergency exit up there, but..." Ibuki Mio raised her head and looked up at the top of the elevator.

Normally, she would have nimbly jumped up, opened the exit, and climbed up.

But not now.

Now, let alone opening the exit, she feels like she's going to leak even if she jumps up.

... That's right, Ms. Ibuki Mio, your bladder is absolutely overflowing.

The waiting time for rescue is half an hour, but given her current physical condition, she simply cannot hold on for half an hour.

If she were alone, perhaps she could try to cover up the camera that wasn't working, and then... embarrassingly take care of it in a corner.

But Asakusa Toru was there.

I want to die.

I should have known better than to rush him on this elevator and let him wait for rescue.

My legs were pressed together, but a strong sensation urged me to open them.

Meanwhile, the rising temperature inside the elevator was also urging her body to break out in a sweat. Under the physiological urge and the pressure of the high temperature, Ibuki Mio felt as if she was about to faint.

"... Hey, are you alright?" Suddenly, Asakusa Toru's voice rang out in her ear with emphasis.

Asakusa Toru Tetsu didn't think much of it at first; if it was a chance encounter, so be it; if the elevator was malfunctioning, so be it.

Although the opportunity to be alone was rare, he didn't intend to do anything bad since Ibuki Mio had no intention of provoking him.

But after only a few minutes, he noticed that Ibuki Mio's reaction seemed a little off.

Her standing posture was quite strange, her pretty face was subtly flushed, her neck was covered in sweat, and even her eyes were somewhat unfocused.

... Is she about to get heatstroke?

So fast?

Even though only a few minutes had passed, there was still some cool air left in the elevator. Although it was noticeably warmer around us after the air conditioning stopped, it was still absurd to think that someone could get heatstroke so quickly.

"...Something's wrong." Ibuki Mio wanted to reply firmly that nothing was wrong, but the words softened as soon as they reached her lips.

She pursed her lips, remained silent for a moment, then her toes began to fidget, pacing back and forth trying to distract herself.

Asakusa Toru: "?"

Why didn't you tell me what was wrong?

How could I possibly say that?!

Ibuki Mio's head was about to explode.

Why does Asakusa Toru next to me?!

Was she going to say, "I need to pee, so turn your head away right now!"?

But wouldn't it feel even stranger to just let things drift if I didn't say anything?!

If we get caught...

Ibuki Mio was experiencing a fierce internal struggle. Every second that passed now would bring the rescue closer, but it also made her bladder urge on even more.

Time ticked by, sweat soaked her shirt, and Ibuki Mio felt she had reached her limit.

She can't take it anymore.

"...You, turn your head away." Through gritted teeth, Ibuki Mio's words seemed to leak out from between her teeth. "I... need to use the restroom."

The words echoed in the elevator, and Asakusa Toru finally understood the root cause of her strange condition.

But instead of turning around decisively, he glanced at the camera beside him and said softly:

"How about you change your angle, and I'll block it for you?"

That's a very kind suggestion.

Forcibly suppressing her rebellious feelings, Ibuki Mio responded in an extremely soft voice:

"... Um."

The two switched positions, with Asakusa Toru turning his back to her and blocking her view.

The rapid breathing and rustling sounds echoed in the elevator. Ibuki Mio knew very well that this could only block the view, not the sound, but she had no choice.