Editing A Simple Survey:Volume1 End2 (section)

===Part 1===

“What a coincidence. That’s the same as me,” said Hotaru.

She was tall and had long, black hair. She was beautiful, but it was the type of beauty that brought words like “shudder” or “scary” to mind. To be blunt, Anzai felt she would be the hardest to find anything to speak about with.

“You would probably like the same movies,” said Harumi.

“It is not like anyone is wrong, but it would be annoying for everyone else if you talk about it. Well, it is still better than talking about baseball.”

“Aisu, you need to do something about your habit of grabbing strange guys with one arm in the diner while watching TV and holding a beer mug in the other hand…Oh?”

Kozue trailed off.

As they left the auditorium, she looked up into the night sky and held up her palms as if to catch something.

Hotaru frowned.

“Is it raining?”

As soon as she muttered that, Anzai felt a large drop fall on the top of his nose. That drop was followed by what seemed like buckets of rain. The school building was a good distance from the coffee shop and none of them had an umbrella. The five of them frantically ran back into the auditorium.

They had turned off the lights when they left, so it was pitch black. However, it was not locked. Or rather, it had been left unlocked.

“Hyaahh!! The rain is really coming down!”

“With rain this heavy, it probably will not last all night.”

“I’m soaking wet.”

“Unfortunately for you, boy, it is pitch black. If the lights were on, you would have gotten a fanservice scene out of all four of us.”

Anzai ignored Hotaru and instead checked on his things. He did not carry much in the way of school supplies in his bag, but it seemed the water resistant spray the department store clerk had talked him into buying had been effective. He unzipped it and stuck his hand inside, but nothing felt wet.

Next, he checked the cell phone he had in his pants pocket.

Anzai pulled out the phone and turned it on. Luckily, the usual passcode screen came up. It did not seem to be broken.

As Anzai focused on his cell phone, the cabaret club-looking girl named Aisu screamed.

“Gyaaahhhh!! Just as I thought our wet and see-through clothes had been protected by the defense of darkness, he brings out that backlight!?”

“?”

“As requested, I shall perform the safety blindfold security!” shouted Harumi from behind Anzai who had instinctually turned in the direction of Aisu when she had screamed.

In the next instant, his eyes were covered by two wet hands. His vision was suddenly cut off and at the same time he felt something soft press against his back.

Something like an electric current shot through the core of Anzai’s body.

It went beyond simply seeming like her guard was too low.

“Aisu, you tried to make it look like you were embarrassed while letting out that shout to draw all the attention to yourself, didn’t you?”

“No, that was my real response! And with the way she is clinging to him, I think Harumi has won the most points here!!”

“She is just smiling and keeping that same position!?”

“What? What? What are you getting so worked up about?” asked Harumi.

“Honestly, what are you people doing?” said Hotaru in exasperation.

Anzai then felt someone take the cell phone from his hand. When Harumi removed her “blindfold” from him, all light sources were gone. Someone returned his cell phone to him in the darkness.

“The cell phone is off limits. Got it?”

“I was just checking to see if it still worked, so that’s fine by me.”

“Aisu, you failed to draw enough attention to yourself. Harumi overshadowed you,” commented Kozue.

“We’re always like this, aren’t we?”

Anzai could hear them speaking in the darkness, but he did not try to join in. The best he could manage was nodding in the direction he thought Hotaru was in.

“This rain is lasting longer than I expected,” said Hotaru’s voice. “With how strong it was, I assumed it would end quickly.”

“If it’s going to last until morning, we’re going to have to prepare ourselves,” replied Anzai offhandedly.

He of course was not talking about staying there overnight. He was talking about running home through the rain.

Aisu continued, “This auditorium is pretty big, so there might be an umbrella stand with an umbrella left in it.”

“Taking things that are not yours is wrong, Aisu.”

“We can return it tomorrow. It is at least worth looking into.”

But they could find nothing of the sort near the entrance of the auditorium. They were forced to search by feeling around with their hands, but the umbrella stand appeared to be empty.

“Just like car demolitions, the teachers might periodically remove any left behind.”

“But this means we have no way of leaving.”

“I know!” said Harumi. “This is an auditorium, so they must have lots of trash cans. If we can find the office, maybe they will have new trash bags.”

“If you put one of those over your head, walk through the metropolitan shopping district, and ride the bus or the train, I say they should make a statue honoring your bravery to put at the school gate.”

“Huh?” said Anzai.

Because of the small bit of illumination from the outside lights, the path was faintly lit just outside the entrance to the auditorium. He spotted something shiny there. The girls seemed unwilling to let him see them with their wet clothes making their underwear visible, so they were not approaching the light. However, Anzai was in a different position. He approached the glass door to check and he figured out what it was.

“There’s a plastic umbrella on the ground there.”

Two or three pieces of the metal framework were broken, so the plastic sheet was fluttering. A strong gust of wind or something else must have broken it, so its owner had thrown it away. However, it would likely still keep the rain off of them.

Anzai laid his bag and phone down on the ground, opened the glass door, and headed back outside. He picked up the broken plastic umbrella and hurried back.

“To the victor go the spoils. It looks like we can move on to the next step. …Wait, what is it?”

The area within the auditorium was even darker than the area right next to the glass door where Anzai stood, so he could not see them. However, he sensed a tenseness in the atmosphere.

Hotaru broke the silence.

“For future reference, girls do get embarrassed when they see the underwear of a member of the opposite sex.”

“? More importantly, I got us an umbrella…”

“No, not more importantly! Argh, just come here!!”

“Aisu, are you going to embrace him because you are unable to restrain yourself?”

“What!? I’m saying guys need the defense of darkness as well!!”

At their urging, Anzai headed back into the darkness.

“Anyway, I found an umbrella.”

“Yes, yes. An umbrella.”

“…It is physically impossible for all five of us to fit under this half-broken umbrella.”

“Kozue, did you just gulp in anticipation?”

“No, I would think that was Aisu.”

They were ignoring Anzai as they continued the conversation.

“Anyway, can’t we just have one person use this to head to the convenience store and buy some more umbrellas?” he suggested.

“Oh! Nice one! Nice idea!”

“Well, that is at least realistic.”

“Wait, young ones! You are suggesting one of us heads out into those lights while soaking wet!!”

“This could become a night to remember.”

Anzai decided it would be a bit harsh to force that on a girl when her underwear was clearly visible.

“Well, I suggested it, so I’ll go.”

“Wait, boy!! Personally, I think you would be the most dangerous option!!”

“?”

“If one of us must have embarrassment brought upon us, I think we should decide it using rock paper scissors.”

“I suppose, but I’m the guy. I might as well…”

“No, that is the very reason! It is because you are a guy that you must not, you idiot!!”

Anzai was stopped by logic he could not comprehend. It might have been some kind of special rule of groups of girls.

Even so…

“But we have to head through the shopping district to get home. And you mentioned using the train or bus. We’re all going to have to head out into the light eventually.”

“…!?”

“!”

“!!”

“…!!”

His casual comment received four gasps in response. It seemed to be a matter of life or death for the girls.

“H-how long does it take for clothes to dry?”

“It would take all night for them to air dry. We might need a hair dryer or something.”

“No, that won’t cut it. We need a proper clothes dryer.”

“Give this proper thought,” said Kozue. “Are you suggesting we use a laundromat without a change of clothes? What are we supposed to do while our clothes tumble around in the dryer?”

“You say that, Kozue, but you actually think this might be your chance, don’t you!?”

“C-could you stop projecting your own thoughts onto me, Aisu?”

As the conversation started derailing in a strange direction, Hotaru tried to correct its course.

“Anyway, we first end to acquire enough umbrellas for all of us to have mobility. We must decide who will head to the convenience store using rock paper scissors.”

“Okay, let’s start! Rock, paper…”

“No, wait,” cut in Anzai. “We can’t see each other’s hands in this darkness.”

They all fell silent.

In the end, they chose themselves to abandon the defense of darkness that had protected them all. The four girls were forced to expose their forms by approaching the glass door through which illumination from the outside lights entered. The state of their clothes was less of an issue for Anzai than the way they embarrassedly wriggled their bodies.

“Rock paper scissors!!!!!”

They swung their arms half in desperation, but once the game was over, a thought came to Anzai.

“…I just realized. We could have just called out our hands in the darkness.”

In the next instant, four “rocks” flew his way.