Grinning, Chidori waved and trotted up to the corner where her friend was waiting.

"Merry Christmas," Akiha called out with a little giggle. Chidori returned the Holiday greeting and the two girls started their walk to school together, joining with the flow of students in identical uniforms that was gradually growing less sparse as they approached the high school. "Did you have a good time with Takagi-san the other day?" Akiha continued.

"Well of course. It was totally romantic and everything," Chidori replied. She'd only been with Takagi for a few months, but he had put a real effort into their special Christmas Eve date.

"Did he give you that? It looks pretty fancy," Akiha motioned at the hairclip holding back Chidori's hime cut. It was black and shiny, set with a row of deep green stones.

"Uh-uh. He got me a necklace, but I thought it was way too flashy to wear to school. This is from Uncle Jojo." She turned her head to let Akiha get a better look at the jewelry.

"Oh yeah, that's your uncle who went overseas. Wasn't he an archeologist or something? And what does this writing here say?" Akiha asked, peering at the letters engraved in the polished black surface.

"I can't tell. It looks almost like English but not quite, and I don't even recognize the second character. Uncle Jojo likes strange foreign things, so I was thinking about asking Kirika about it later today. Oh, and it says something else on the other side, but the writing there looks even weirder. Here, can you see?," Chidori stopped walking and lifted her hair so that Akiha could look at the underside of the clip, turning so that it caught the sunlight.

Akiha examined the strange and unfamiliar characters, saying, "this side is all shiny. Is it silver? Or do you think it's just-" then she was cut off by the rumbling noise of a subway passing under the street.

Standing there and waiting for the noise to subside, something at the edge of Chidori's vision caught her attention, and she glanced ahead down the street to where a pair of girls that looked like first-years were walking together. Her mouth popped open with an inaudible gasp of surprise, because one of the two girls had just carelessly stepped onto the corner of a subway grate, and the updraft was blowing her uniform's skirt all the way up to her hips and completely exposing her cute little light blue panties. Behind her, a few boys were standing and gawking shamelessly, and one of them was trying to pull his phone out in time to take a picture. He wasn't fast enough, though, and just a moment later the girl stepped off the grate and her skirt settled back into place.

Chidori closed her mouth and shuddered in sympathy. That poor girl! And those awful boys! Thank goodness they didn't manage to get that picture. She watched anxiously to see how the girl in the light blue panties would react to having them seen like that, but she didn't even seem to have noticed at all. She was still staring at her phone along with her friend, both of them apparently engrossed in something or other and walking just as placidly as before. And on top of that, Chidori saw with a fresh jolt of surprise and dread, they were both headed straight for another subway grate!

She gasped again as she noticed that and realized what that meant, and the boys seemed to realize too. In just a few seconds and just a few more steps those poor oblivious first-year girls were just about to give them a double pantyshot, and now all three had their phones out and ready for it. It was happening, there was nothing to stop it, someone had to do something!

I gotta do something!

The thought flickered through Chidori's mind and she took off running, the sunlight catching her hairpin with an almost audible glint. The three boys gave a brief shout of surprise as she shoved past them, which she ignored, focused entirely on reaching the two girls before it was too late. She tried to call out to them but her voice was lost completely beneath the mighty roar of the subway. Instead she concentrated on running, her vision locked on the fluttering fabric of the girls' skirts and her mind on reaching them in time to stop those skirts from taking flight.

Just in time she reached out and grabbed one girl's shoulder, the one with the blue panties, drawing a little exclamation of surprise that was hardly audible even at this distance. But even as that girl stopped her friend kept walking, just about to take the last step and still completely oblivious to her own imminent exposure. Chidori tried to reach across to grab the other girl's shoulder too, but she was too far away, so instead she leaped out past them both, twisting to land in front of the pair with her hands held out in an unmistakable "Stop!" gesture. It worked, and the second girl stopped just short of the updraft, so near to the updraft that the edge of her skirt ruffled restlessly but not quite near enough for it to rise up.

Chidori gave a sigh of relief and lowered her hands before she saw the looks on the girls' faces. They looked very surprised, which was perfectly understandable, but they also looked alarmed and they were both blushing, and most strangely of all they were looking down. Chidori felt a pang of rising dread as something awful occurred to her. She slowly looked down herself, only to freeze at exactly the sight she was afraid of. She was standing right on the subway grate, the updraft was still blowing as strong as before, and her skirt was billowing high above her waist, leaving her cute blue-and-purple shimapan completely exposed.

Horrified and all but immobilized by shock, she raised her head and snapped her eyes forward to look past the girls at the trio of boys behind them. They were all staring at her with big goofy grins, and all three had their phones pointed right at her too. Behind them, Akiha was wide-eyed with her hands over her mouth, horrified at the sight of Chidori's horrible accident.

After long seconds Chidori's shock passed enough for her to push the front of her skirt down and cover her panties. A moment later the subway completed its passage, the wind stopped, and her uniform settled back into place. Her whole face felt hot as she blushed bright red with helpless embarrassment, and for one more second there was only stunned silence. Her hairpin, meanwhile, sparkled and twinkled like a starry sky, but nobody there could see it.

Akiha broke the silence, crying out, "Oh no! Chidori! Are you..." as she rushed over to try to help. Drawing up alongside the pair of gaping first-years, she quickly realized that it was much too late, the disaster was over and the boys had seen the whole thing. So instead, she whirled about and turned her attention on them, shouting "You!" in voice as stern and piercing as any teacher's. "Just what exactly do you think you're..." she trailed off, however, upon seeing that the boys were already scattering like a group of rats at the first syllable of her accusation, each one disappearing in a different direction.

"Umm... th- thanks! Thanks for, um... h- helping. You really saved us, senpai," the girl on the left offered with equal parts gratitude and sympathy, having worked out what just happened and why. Seeing that her words did little to assuage Chidori's embarrassment, she continued, "And um... it could be worse, you know?" with a nervous little laugh. "I mean... um, at least you're wearing normal panties, and not anything too embarrassing. L-like with goofy pink hearts... or a tiny little thong..."

At that moment, the girl on the right gave a big gasp, and the three others looked at her in time to see her glance straight down and blush, turning not quite as red as Chidori. The significance of the girl's sudden surge of embarrassment was just beginning to dawn on Chidori when the girl on the left put it into words. "Mioko-chan... are you... did you... are you wearing a..." Her meaning was clear enough to everybody already, but she didn't stop there. "Did Eiko dare you to wear that thong to school again!?"

Eiko hadn't dared her to wear it this time, as it turned out, but Mioko was wearing it today anyway, as she stammeringly explained while the four of them resumed their walk to school. "It's just... see, since I still had it and everything. After the last time I mean... and since it turned out just fine back then I just... I thought it would be a waste to never wear it again, you know? And besides, it's... um... it's kinda... comfy."

The other girls just stared at Mioko for a few seconds before Natsumi spoke up again. "Thank you so, so, SO much Chidori-senpai! If you hadn't stopped us then we... and then she... I mean, it's bad enough what happened to you and me but... but if that happened to Mioko-chan too then those boys totally would have seen her whole... um... I mean..." she trailed off, belatedly noticing the way Mioko was quivering with embarrassment and blushing so hard that her face was briefly even brighter than her long deep red hair. Mioko was the one who'd been walking on the right earlier, and who'd narrowly avoided flashing anybody thanks to Chidori's intervention. Her friend Natsumi had short black hair and had already been informed by Akiha, once they all introduced themselves, that she accidentally flashed her panties without even noticing. She was taking it pretty well, possibly because it wasn't nearly as embarrassing as what happened to Chidori only moments later.

Chidori herself had also needed Akiha to inform her of the full extent of that panty-flash. Specifically, the way that she'd run right over the first subway grate on her way to stop Natsumi and Mioko from stepping on the second, and the way it lifted her skirt right up to expose the back of her shimapan even before she exposed the front. "But still," Akiha pointed out to comfort her friend, "you did the right thing!"

They all knew what she meant by that. As bad as it was for those boys to get to see Chidori's panties, it would have been far FAR worse if they got to see Mioko's panties instead. Based on Natsumi's unnecessarily and uncomfortably detailed description, the thong she was wearing today was so teeny-tiny that from behind it was almost impossible to tell she was wearing any panties at all, so if Chidori hadn't come to the rescue she would have ended up flashing her entire practically bare butt! All four of them just had to shudder at the thought.

Eventually they arrived at the school gates, where Chidori and Akiha parted ways with their kouhai. Once they'd left, Akiha sighed and said with an air of regret, "I'm just sorry I didn't realize what was happening sooner. If I'd noticed what those boys were doing in time I could have confiscated their phones on behalf of the student council." As the student council secretary, Akiha might not technically have had the authority to punish those boys for being perverts while not on school grounds, but she definitely had the force of personality to make up for it. Akiha could be really scary when she wanted to. "I mean, they still would have, um... seen... But I could have at least deleted the video before anyone else saw it. Maybe if I can figure out their names I'll try to track them down later and do something about it. Let's talk about this some more after class, okay?"

With that out of the way, she tried to take Chidori's mind off the morning's embarrassment by changing the subject. "Oh, and maybe later we can talk to Kirika-senpai about what that writing on your hairpin says." With that, she headed off to her first class in building B, leaving her friend standing at the entrance to the main building.

With a sigh, Chidori passed through the doors and entered the hallway, which was quickly becoming crowded as students streamed in and hurried to class or stood around chatting or chatted on their way to class. She found herself contemplating what was going to happen to her next. Those boys totally saw her panties, and even if Akiha did somehow manage to confiscate their phones before the pictures of it reached anyone else's eyes they were sure to talk about it, and the story would be all over the school in no time. Just like before, she could only comfort herself by repeating over and over the thought that it could have been way worse, which inevitably brought to mind Mioko and her very daring choice of underwear. The thought of doing something as risky as wearing a thong to school was bad enough by itself, and thinking about it after what happened just now it made her shudder yet again.

At that moment, Chidori's thoughts were interrupted by the faint but distinct sound of a rising disturbance behind her, and she looked back to see what it was. The hallway was getting even more crowded now, and at least a dozen students occupied the short distance between her and the main doors. She noticed right away that every one of those students looked surprised at something, and she noticed next that they all seemed to be looking at the same thing. Following the line of the crowd's collective gaze, Chidori's eyes reached the door of the girls' room directly across the hall from where she stood, and the girl who was standing in front of that door, tapping at her phone.

The girl was a total kogal stereotype: long and curly bleached hair, dark tanned skin, gaudy glittering lipstick and eyeshadow and fingernails. She looked so flashy like that it was no wonder she was drawing the attention of everyone around her, although it didn't explain their surprise. Chidori was about to turn back when the gal started to walk away, suddenly revealing to Chidori what was really drawing everyone's attention: her butt. It was plump and perky and just as tanned as the rest of her, and most shocking of all it was totally exposed. The kogal was wearing a tiny little miniskirt and a tiny little bright pink thong, and just now her daring choice of underwear was extremely unfortunate because she seemed to have carelessly tucked the back of her little skirt into its little pink waistband. So when she stepped out of the girls' room like that, with her underwear covering almost nothing and her skirt covering even less, the careless girl's generously proportioned and well-toned rear end was completely uncovered, and the way it gently jiggled with every step she took was drawing more and more attention as she walked down the crowded corridor. And with her attention occupied by the phone in her hand and her ears occupied by a set of sparkly earbuds, the poor exposed kogal remained completely oblivious to the spectacular show she was giving everybody in sight, even as the hallway behind her filled with exclamations of surprise and the bright flashes of phone cameras going off.

Chidori's mouth dropped and her eyes popped wide open as soon as she saw it all, and after a moment of shock she sprang into action. Her hairpin, already shining and twinkling in the fluorescent light from above, gave a quick glint and a soft ping as the thought "I gotta do something!" once again flashed through her mind.

She started toward the girl at the center of everyone's attention, shoving her way between gawking students with every step and making such slow progress that she was hardly catching up at all. Instead she cupped her hands to her mouth and called out, "Hey!... uh, Kogal-san!" That didn't quite work. Her shout drew some attention from farther down the hallway, where the crowd had yet to notice the general commotion and couldn't see its source, but the music pumping into that kogal's ears rendered her completely deaf to the warning. Chidori's heart sank as the exposed gal marched along, turning more and more heads and exposing herself to more and more eyes by the second.

Unable to get any closer or to think of anything else but desperate to help the poor girl somehow, Chidori called out again, louder, "Heeeyy!! Your Skirt!!!" Even more heads turned from even farther down the hall at the mention of that word, and Kogal must have noticed something too because she finally raised her eyes and stopped in her tracks. Grasping at this ray of hope, Chidori took a deep breath and shouted with all her might, "Heeeeeeeeyyyyyy!" This time it worked. Practically everybody in sight was staring their way by now, but Chidori smiled as the gal looked around and then finally looked over her shoulder.

"Wait up," she called once more, with a quick wave. "Your... um, I mean, you're..." she gasped, and even though she couldn't hear it the girl saw her waving and turned. Chidori's smile of relief and gratitude turned into a wince as she saw that. Because when Kogal turned around she ended up pointing her exposed butt right at the half of the hallway that hadn't seen it yet, and since they were already looking in the direction of Chidori's shouting they all ended up seeing it at once. The wave of surprise and excitement that passed over the crowd at that sight mostly died down just as the girl reached up to pluck out one earbud.

"Yeah? You want something?" she said with a twang of disdain and annoyance, never even noticing the flurry of activity behind her as the crowd hurried to get out their phones and take their pictures.

"Oh, um," Chidori started, a bit unnerved at that tone and still quite a bit distracted by the scene. "It's... it's your skirt," she began awkwardly, still gasping slightly and fumbling for words to explain the embarrassing situation without attracting even more embarrassing attention. "You're... I mean, it's, um... You need to-"

"My what?" the Kogal snapped, fixing Chidori with a sharp glare before reaching up to flip her hair with one hand and placing the other on her hip. The well-practiced gesture of arrogance along with her sour expression and the irritation in her voice gave Chidori pause for a moment, particularly coupled with the fresh little murmur that pose drew from those behind her and the smattering of flashes from the first phone cameras to get into position. Kogal seemed to take her apprehension as a sign of weakness, and pressed the advantage. "Now look here, missy!" she spat, pointing at Chidori in flamboyantly dramatic fashion. "If you got a problem with the way I dress or whatever then you can go ahead and tell it to the Principal." Every word dripped with disdain, and she punctuated the suggestion with a dismissive snicker. "'Course, I dunno if he'd appreciate it much. That old dude's already tried to chew me out over some stupid crap like that a buncha times," she strode forward as she spoke, walking with a confident sway of her hips that seemed to be getting the crowd behind her more and more excited with every step. Chidori quailed before the sheer contempt in the gal's voice, along with the mental image of what those swaying hips must look like from behind right now. That seemed to encourage the girl even more.

"I got great legs, and I know it," Kogal continued, bending to stroke her glittering fingernails down her smooth, toned thighs and cast a pointed glance at Chidori's paler and slightly less slender legs, all with the little thin smile of a snake staring down at a cornered rat. "and if I wanna wear a little cute miniskirt that shows off my legs..." for emphasis she brushed both hands over her skirt, starting at the front and moving around to the sides, "then I'm gonna show off my..." then she stopped, with her mouth open in mid-sentence and her hands behind her, at the moment that her fingers touched bare skin instead of fabric. "my..." she repeated, her eyes going wide and her voice faltering as her hands felt around, trying to deny but only confirming what everyone else had already seen. "my..." her voice dropped to a feeble squeak and her hands dropped limp to her sides as she looked around the hall and at last realized just why so many eyes and so many camera lenses were pointed right at her. Chidori could only watch with horrified sympathy as the awful truth dawned on the other girl's face in a veritable crimson sunrise of embarrassment, and she concluded with a plaintive squeal, "my butt!"

At that moment another voice cut through the clamor, and a figure shoved its way through the gawking crowd that surrounded the two girls. "Eiko-chan! Is that you? I... What's going on?" It was Mioko, from earlier. She burst past the last rank of onlookers directly behind Eiko and drew up with a gasp of surprise at the sight that greeted her, placing her hands on her cheeks as she stared right along with everyone else at Eiko's thong and everything it didn't cover. "Oh no! Eiko!! What happened to your skirt!?"

Eiko made no reply but only stood there, motionless aside from the slight trembling that was beginning to take hold of her and the tears welling in her eyes. "Oh no!" Mioko repeated, quickly glancing around at the crowd of staring faces and their cameras and then back to what they were staring at. "H- here, just let me fix- eep!" Mioko bent and reached down to finally free the back of Eiko's skirt from where it was trapped by the waistband of Eiko's thong, only to be cut off with a squeal when Eiko's trembling legs gave out.

There was a soft thump, and then it was Chidori's turn to gasp once again at the sight before her eyes. When Eiko fell, she went straight down and landed on her butt. But her sudden descent dragged Mioko down too, and Mioko had toppled forward to land on her knees, with her face on the floor and her rear end sticking up in the air. And worst of all her skirt had flipped up and draped itself over her lower back, so that even from where Chidori was standing her little bright green thong was completely exposed. Just like Natsumi said earlier, it was teeny-tiny, every bit as colorful as Eiko's and even more revealing. There was a renewed commotion and another surge of camera flashes as everyone that had been staring at Eiko's highly exposed butt suddenly got to see Mioko's even more fully exposed butt too. For a few seconds Chidori was too stunned to do anything but stare right along with them, and once she recovered she knelt to tug Mioko's skirt back into place. After taking a second to recover Mioko got Eiko's skirt back into place too and dragged her to her feet and away down the hall, muttering something soothing about getting to the nurse's office where she could be alone for a while to calm down. The crowd of onlookers, realizing the show was over, began to disperse while Chidori just leaned back against the wall, drained.

"I couldn't do anything..." she muttered. "I couldn't save her... I couldn't save either of them... I just couldn't help at all..." She knew it wasn't her fault. She knew perfectly well that Eiko had nothing to blame but her own carelessness and her very risky choice of underwear for exposing her butt to dozens and dozens of students. And she knew perfectly well that Mioko had nothing to blame but Eiko's sudden collapse and her own equally risky choice of underwear for accidentally exposing her butt when she tried to help. But after watching the whole totally embarrassing thing and especially after her own embarrassment earlier, Chidori just felt so sorry for both of them that she couldn't help feeling a little guilty too. "If only I could have done something..." she muttered again.

The hairpin was shining steadily now, just as bright as before. Struggling to push her sorrow and guilt aside, Chidori took a deep breath and got to her feet. "There's gotta be something I can do. Maybe it's not too late to contain the damage somehow. Thinking back now, she remembered that Akiha mentioned something earlier about tracking down those boys who took the pictures of her panties on the way to school. What happened to her earlier didn't really seem so important anymore, compared to what happened to Eiko and Mioko just now, but if Akiha could do something about the pictures of her then maybe she could do something about the pictures of them too. If there was even a chance of destroying the evidence and keeping their embarrassment to a minimum, she had to at least try it. Akiha said to see her after class, but with how many people saw what happened to the girls just now and with just how much of the girls they saw, the story and the pictures were just sure to be all over school by then and it would be way too late. Fortunately, the student council office was just a short distance away, so if she hurried there right now she could still get there in time to do something.

Buoyed somewhat by that thought, Chidori pulled herself together and set off at a brisk trot. She tried to think of a plan on the way, but every time she tried she could only picture the awful sight she'd just witnessed of poor Eiko walking down the hall, with her cute perky butt bouncing and jiggling for everybody to see and Eiko herself completely oblivious to it. She shuddered again at the thought of what things would be like for Eiko's once everybody at school found out about it, let alone what she'd have to go through if they all saw the pictures... or even worse, a video! She was trying to push the image from her mind for what seemed like the thousandth time when she slid open the student council room door and hurried inside.

"...just setting up the whole big "Birth of Venus" background when we got there, and Izumo-sensei told her to start changing right away so she took her skin-colored leotard and went behind the big curtain thingy we always set up in front of the supply closet for getting changed, and then she asked if..." the voice sounded sort of familiar, but Chidori couldn't quite place it until she walked around the file cabinets to where Akiha's desk was and saw Natsumi, the girl from earlier, gearing up for what was clearly going to be a lengthy story. Akiha, sitting at the desk, looked up with apprehension at Chidori's arrival.

"Oh, Chidori-san, it's just you," Akiha exclaimed, her expression quickly changing to relief as she saw who it was. "I was afraid there was another... um... well anyway, if it's not an emergency I'll just be a second, ok? I'm real sorry, it's been just one disaster after another all morning!"

"Huh?" Chidori blinked in confusion. "Disaster? You mean you already heard?" she could only think that the disaster Akiha was referring to was the same one she herself had just witnessed. "A- about what happened to Eiko and-"

"It's like I was just telling her! Sakaki-senpai was right in the middle of getting changed and I guess Kyoko-san must have bumped into the stand for the curtain or something because all of a sudden it totally fell over and everybody saw everything!" There was a soft whimpering from the other side of the room, and Chidori looked that way to see Sakaki huddled in a chair in the corner, staring down at the floor and trembling slightly as Natsumi's description brought the horrible memory flooding cruelly back. Natsumi didn't seem to notice this, and continued, "Sakaki totally froze just like that with her panties halfway down her legs and everyone staring right at her, and then when a couple girls started laughing she shrieked and ran out into the hall, so I grabbed her clothes and followed her and there were all these people taking pictures and stuff so I-"

"Alright, Natsumi-san, I think I get the idea," Akiha quickly interrupted. Just like earlier, Natsumi seemed to be talking a lot faster than she was thinking, and Sakaki didn't need to repeat her whole ordeal from another perspective. "Anyway, for now don't you think it might be best if you take her to the nurse's office so she can lie down for a bit? I'll do what I can to deal with the situation properly, but in the meantime it seems like-"

"Oh!" Natsumi exclaimed immediately, as if the idea hadn't even occurred to her before now. "Good idea! I'll take her there right away! I probably should have thought of that earlier, it's just after I got her into the bathroom and got her dressed again I didn't know what to do next, and all these people were standing around outside and I saw the student council office just down the hall and so I just thought you'd know what to..." then she caught herself and repeated "Anyway, I'll take her there right away!"

Natsumi set about getting Sakaki back on her feet and guiding her out the door, and Chidori felt her heart twist as she got a better look at the girl's tear-streaked face. Sakaki was a fourth-year, and she was tall and slender and graceful and always so sweet to everybody, and from what Natsumi said what just happened to her must have been unbelievably awful! "Ohhhh... that's even worse than what happened to Eiko..." she moaned once the other two had left.

"I'll say," Akiha slumped into her chair, looking drained. "At least Aiko-san had her towel on the whole time. And I'm sure everyone's attention was on Shizuoka-senpai anyway, so even if-" she caught herself and looked up in alarm. "Wait... did you say Eiko? Not Aiko, from the swim team?" Chidori nodded apprehensively, and Akiha moaned with despair.

She described all about what happened with Eiko's skirt in the hallway and how she ended up showing her butt to everybody there, and how Mioko tried to help and ended up showing everybody her butt too. She tried not to go into quite as much uncomfortable detail as Natsumi did a moment ago, and she didn't bother to mention her own ineffectual attempt to help.

"Oh no..." Akiha moaned again, "that's... that's the fifth one so far. This can't be a coincidence..." At Chidori's look of wordless shock, she explained, "Shizuoka from the disciplinary committee was the first one, right after she finished practicing with the swim team. She said they were just getting in the showers when she heard a scream, and she just grabbed her shinai and ran right outside without thinking, and everybody from class 3-2 was there setting up in the gym and they all saw her... apparently the big scoreboard fell and almost landed on Chiaki-chan. Nobody was hurt or anything, but Shizuoka-senpai said as soon as she came out and saw everybody there she totally froze until Aiko came out and wrapped a towel around her.

"Oh no!" Chidori managed at last, picturing the tall and athletic third-year Shizuoka dripping wet and completely naked in front of a whole class. That was way worse than what happened to Eiko and Mioko in the hall... and it might be even worse than what happened to Sakaki in art class.

"Like I said, there's no way that all of this is a coincidence. Somebody must have planned it somehow. I just can't figure out who! I mean, who could even set this sort of thing up? I guess the scoreboard and that curtain in the art room could have been sabotaged or something, but how would anyone predict exactly when they'd fall over? And I can't even think of a way someone could have made something like that happen to Eiko-san's skirt, not to mention what happened to the Calligraphy club..." Akiha gave a dejected sigh and seemed to collapse into her chair yet again. "Shizuoka-senpai wanted to personally discipline everybody who saw what happened to her, but I convinced her that wouldn't help so she went off to sulk instead. I mean, she said nobody took a picture of it or anything, so the only thing we could do is try to make sure nobody tells anyone what they saw, and it's probably too late for that already. Anyway, I'm more worried about how poor Sakaki-san must be feeling right now. And Eiko-san too, come to think of it, since she's just a first-year after all. If only there was something we could do for them, you know? I mean, we can't very well make people forget what they saw, but that doesn't mean they need to be all cruel about it and everything. If only..."

"That's it!" Chidori suddenly exclaimed, her eyes glimmering with renewed determination, "We can still help someone!" Akiha looked up at her, confused by her friend's apparently baseless optimism. "Because, see, the people in the gym didn't have a chance to get any pictures, but the people in the hall and outside the art classroom did! So if the disciplinary committee wants to discipline somebody, they can get to work confiscating everybody's cameras and stuff. And that way everybody who didn't take any naughty pictures will hear about how we're cracking down on the ones that did and they won't want to make trouble by talking about what they saw! And most important, if there's any other disasters today there won't be a bunch of cameras all over the place!"

Akiha took a few seconds to think it over, and agreed. Even if they confiscated every phone in school right now they were probably too late to get rid of all the pictures, but they could at least stop some of them from spreading and maybe discourage some others, and anyway it was the best idea of something they could do right now. Chidori smiled with relief at finally finding a way to dispel her helplessness and guilt, and didn't notice at all the slight tingling feeling of warmth at the back of her head.

The first step was to let Shizuoka know the plan, but she didn't seem to be answering her phone so Chidori went to find her. The sooner they got this plan started, the better their chances of saving Eiko and Mioko and Sakaki and who knows how many others from an even worse embarrassment than what they'd already endured, and after that they could maybe try to figure out what the heck was actually going on. The disciplinary committee headquarters was right around the corner, so she went to check there first, just in case Shizuoka was busy or her phone wasn't working or something. She arrived to find Kana, the head of the library club and also a member of the disciplinary committee, already standing at the door and looking in at the empty room.

"Nobody... hmph," Kana declared, then slid the door shut and turned, her deep green ponytail swishing as her stern sharp eyes fixed Chidori with her usual piercing glare. "Chidori-kun," she said by way of greeting, "You are here for Shizuoka-taichou as well, I presume."

Chidori nodded, "Uh-huh. I was just talking to Akiha-chan and we decided to ask the disciplinary committee to start confiscating cameras and phones and stuff before anyone else... um... have you heard about it? About what's going on I mean?"

"Of course I have. Come along then," Kana whirled about and started briskly away. Chidori hurried after her, trotting to catch up with the other girl's long quick strides. "Shizuoka-taichou has already conferred with me regarding this morning's improbable spate of prurient incidents. That is why I too am seeking her out at this time - she instructed me to inform her at once should I witness any more lascivious behavior. Fortunately, I have another idea of where she might be found." Chidori trotted to keep up with the other girl's rapid steps even as she struggled to keep up with what she was saying. "I expect she will approve of the student council's decision to commence confiscating mobile phones, as she seems quite eager to take direct action in this matter. Given that Akiha has informed you of what transpired earlier, I trust you will readily apprehend her reasons." They were leaving the main administration building now and crossing to the next building over, where the gym and most of the athletics clubs' rooms were. Chidori saw two PE classes warming up on the track nearby and briefly wondered if anyone out there had heard about what was going on today yet. Then with a pang of dread she wondered if anyone out there had experienced firsthand any of what was going on today, and decided she was better off trying not to think about it.

"Good. It seems that we've found her," Kana announced as they entered and approached the first door on the left, where a muffled, vaguely rhythmic thumping could be heard. "Taichou!" she called out, throwing the door open with a clatter. Chidori, trailing a few steps behind, came up beside her and saw Shizuoka inside wearing a kendo helmet and gloves, her personalized shinai still pointed at the battered training dummy in front of her. This was the room where the kendo club met when they couldn't use the gym, the one they'd appropriated after the ballet club lost most of its members and disbanded last year. One side of the room still had a barre affixed to the wall below a row of mirrors, while the other was carpeted with worn-out tatami and had a few equipment racks and training dummies. Shizuoka lifted her helmet's mask and fixed Kana with the kind of look that could have sent any of the wannabe delinquent boys in school running away scared. Chidori shrank back slightly before the armored girl's eyes, but Kana didn't even twitch.

"Officer Kana. You've something to report, I trust," she said with a quick nod as she leaned her sword against the wall and started swiftly removing her gloves.

"Indeed. I observed a pair of boys behaving voyeuristically toward one of my library volunteers, whose undergarments became briefly visible and were in a state of some disarray," Kana commenced her summary of the event in the same steady, deadpan voice that a train conductor might use to describe the regular schedule... or a military officer to relate a battlefield report. Chidori was always a little uncomfortable with the way the disciplinary committee acted, especially how Shizuoka addressed the other members as 'officer' and made them call her 'captain'. According to Akiha she considered making everyone nervous to be part of the disciplinary committee's job, to make sure students didn't get careless about the rules.

"They took notice of her as soon as she entered the library," Kana continued. "She was wearing a sweater over her standard winter uniform, presumably due to the cold outside, which she removed upon entering the library, presumably due to the warmth inside. In removing it, she inadvertently lifted the rear portion of her skirt sufficiently to entirely reveal the left half of the seat of her undergarments. Without being sufficiently familiar with the girl in question to speculate as to her state of mind, I can only attribute the incident to carelessness." Chidori winced in sympathy at that incongruously dispassionate description of the embarrassing accident, even as she found herself clearly picturing it. "The right half of the seat of her undergarments were not similarly visible only because they seemed to be hidden within her, ah..." Kana paused briefly, searching for a suitable phrasing, and settled on "her gluteal cleavage." Chidori winced again as her mental image suddenly shifted from a half-pantyshot to an even more embarrassing half-wedgie. "The sight appeared to excite her observers, who immediately hastened to produce mobile devices in order to photograph it. Their intent now unmistakable, and the use of mobile phones in the library being prohibited as well, I confiscated both devices and escorted the culprits to the faculty office, where I remanded them into Kaori-sensei's custody and requested that she keep them there until you could arrive." With that she produced a plastic baggie two newish-looking cell phones in it. "I have not attempted to inspect the contents."

"Yes, excellent work, officer," Shizuoka declared as she finished removing her helmet, rearranged her long black ponytail and set about returning her kendo gear to its rack. I'll speak with Kaori-sensei and then take the whole matter back to that Akiha. Perhaps she won't be so reluctant to act once she hears a little more about what the trash has been up to." The ferocious look that crossed her face as she said it made Chidori flinch slightly. Akiha had told her once that Shizuoka and her disciplinary committee wouldn't be satisfied until they could catch every boy that ever did anything perverted and lock them all up. "And tell the girl I'd like to speak with her, too. That business with her skirt might seem like carelessness under ordinary circumstances, but after all that we've seen happen today I won't simply believe that it's a coincidence. Maybe she can tell us something useful."

"Yes Taichou, I concur. Now I believe this person also has something of immediate interest to tell you," Kana suggested with a wave of her hand toward Chidori, and Shizuoka seemed to notice her standing nervously in the doorway for the first time.

"Yes!" Chidori started. "Um... we've, uh, decided... that is... we thought it would be a good idea to start taking away all the camera phones in school, in case all the, uh... stuff that's happening... uh, keeps happening." She tried to sound as formal and self-assured as Kana did a moment before, but nervous and unprepared as she was it seemed to have the opposite effect.

Shizuoka looked down for a moment, her lips pursed in a thoughtful expression. "Yes... that kind of proactive approach would protect most of the students, at least for a while. I suppose we can deal with the perpetrators later, once the danger is minimized." She sounded somehow disappointed, and Chidori recalled what Akiha said about how Shizuoka had wanted to "personally discipline" everyone who saw what happened to her in the gym earlier. It seemed that Shizuoka might be just a bit less interested in protecting other girls from embarrassment than she was in personally avenging her own embarrassment.

"Taichou, stay back!" Chidori turned at the shout in time to see Kana coming at her with a fierce and determined look. She took a stumbling step backward and then the taller girl was on her, with one arm around her neck and the other hand on the back of her head. She tried to scream, but between the chokehold and her own panic she could hardly even breathe.

"What is that!?" Shizuoka demanded, standing well away and reaching for her shinai and looking at her with alarm and determination. Kana grunted with what sounded like exertion. Chidori just gawped in helpless confusion and more panic. "There!" Shizuoka pointed her shinai, "What is it!" Chidori looked that way, saw that she was pointing at the mirrors on the wall and at their reflections. Kana was straining and gripping something on the back of Chidori's head, and when she twisted a little Chidori saw that it was her hairpin.

And it was glowing.

Bright orange-red, like the color of a guttering candle or a smoldering chunk of coal. She wasn't close enough to the mirror to see more clearly than that, and with another grunt Kana pulled it free and it clattered to the floor. Chidori slumped, then backed away, even as Shizuoka and Kana both moved closer to carefully examine it. The light was shimmering, she could see now, shifting on the black surface like the shadow of something big moving slowly under still water. As she looked the light seemed to twist, gathering together until it almost had a shape, then sliding apart again, and whenever it crossed behind the three green stones, they seemed almost like eyes looking back at her. She trembled, her mouth coming open, and let out a tiny terrified squeak.

"She doesn't know anything," Shizuoka announced, apparently satisfied by Chidori's reaction. She pressed her lips together, then after a moment's thought nodded decisively. "Here," she took the baggie that Kana had dropped moments earlier, dumped the phones out and used it to scoop up the hairpin. "We should hurry. I absolutely won't believe that this is a coincidence." They were already at the door when Shizuoka paused. "Can you stand?" she asked, and with a start Chidori nodded and got unsteadily to her feet. Then they all swept out into the hallway, Shizuoka and Kana talking in low voices and Chidori trotting to keep up with their swift, purposeful strides. She hardly had time to catch her breath, let alone wonder where they were going, and just when she was starting to think about asking they were at the library.

Shizuoka pushed through the doors, with Kana and Chidori close behind her. A large group of students at the study tables looked up as they entered, but Shizuoka and Kana ignored them and headed straight for where Kirika sat behind the librarian's desk. After a quick nervous glance toward that cluster of tables, Chidori trotted after them.

"We need to know what this is right away," Shizuoka ordered as soon as Kirika looked up from her computer screen, holding up the hairclip in its baggie. Kirika pushed her glasses up a bit and dutifully leaned over to peer at it, frowning in concentration.

"It seems to be made of onyx. The green stones may be peridot, but gems of that size would normally be faceted. They could also be tinted glass," she intoned, her face impassive. "Do you know where it comes from?"

Shizuoka glanced sharply at Chidori, who gave a start and began to sputter, "Oh! It... um, it's from my uncle Jojo, and he's an archeologist... uh, somewhere overseas... I think it was in... um..." she struggled for several seconds to recall, then it came back to her, "Oh yeah! Oman. I remember because it sounds like... um, anyway, that's where he was last I heard, but it was a couple months ago..."

If Kirika was irritated at this vague answer she didn't show it, but merely nodded and turned back to the computer. "I will start with presuming it originates in that area or elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula. The writing on the obverse is Greek, which would indicate an approximate age if it is indeed Arabic in origin. Shall I translate it?"

"May as well," Shizuoka suggested. Kana and I should remain here, at least until the others arrive. You should remain as well, Chidori-kun. She may have further questions." With that, Shizuoka laid the hairpin on the desk and turned to march back to the tables where most of the gathered students were still looking at Kirika's desk and trying to figure out what was going on, to ask what they were doing here. Kana, meanwhile, took up a position by the desk, scanning the rows of shelves as if analyzing potential avenues of attack.

After a few seconds Chidori remembered something. "Oh, that's right. There's some writing on the other side too. I mean I think it's writing. I can't tell what language it is or anything, and it doesn't look like any writing I've ever seen." Kirika nodded, then carefully turned the baggie over and peered at the hairclip's silvery side.

"Hebrew," she declared, her face still impassive. "That tells us little more by itself, but it could help estimate the object's age. Hebrew and Greek only coexisted in that region during certain-"

Then the door burst open, and Chidori turned to see Akiha rush in, with Natsumi and Mioko close behind. "Chidori-san! Are you okay? We came as soon as we- Oh! Senpai!" Seeing Shizuoka, Akiha drew up with a start and addressed the taller girl in a more even tone, "I... ah... we came as soon as we received your text. I see that you have the situation largely under control, then?"

Meanwhile, Natsumi trotted over to talk to Chidori. "Are you okay?" she began, "The text Akiha-senpai got just said something about an emergency. We were talking in the nurse's office, see, since she came over to check on Sakaki and Eiko and everybody there after Miyu... I mean after President Mitsuka got back. Anyway we didn't know what was going on or anything but Mioko and I wanted to help out any way we can so we all came straight here, since Shizuoka-senpai said it was an emergency and if she says it's an emergency then it's just gotta be..." she was getting rolling now, and at the mention of Mioko's name Chidori glanced away to where the other first-year was standing next to Akiha and Shizuoka at the tables with the big group of students. They seemed to be asking what everyone was doing here, and Chidori was just about to look away when she happened to notice something that made her eyes pop wide open.

The clasp of Mioko's skirt had come undone somehow, and it was starting to slip. The waistband was already very low on her hips and sliding down lower and lower by the second. But before Chidori could even gasp in surprise she saw something else that made her eyes pop even wider.

Akiha's skirt and Shizuoka's skirt were coming undone too, both of the clasps opening all by themselves right before her eyes. Akiha was still talking to the students at the tables, and nobody had noticed anything.

"Like I said, Morooka-sensei just told us to come down to the library and do whatever," a girl with dyed auburn hair sitting on the nearest table explained with a hint of annoyance, "And he actually used the words 'just do whatever', so I'm pretty sure we're doing exactly where we're supposed to. And he won't be happy if we just show up back at class now, ya know?"

"Yeah, and he's so hung over there's no way he could try to teach anything anyway," one of the boys sitting nearby added with a snicker.

Akiha just sighed at that, "Well I suppose we can talk to Morooka-sensei about it later, but in the meantime why don't you use the library study rooms instead of just sitting out here. I'm not trying to cause any unnecessary inconvenience, but there are other people trying to use the library just now, so if you could please..." she went on, sounding reasonable and looking perfectly calm, even as her skirt began to descend alarmingly. All three girls' skirts were slipping down now, slowly but steadily and just far enough to let the waistband of each girl's panties peek into view one by one - first Mioko's little bright green thong, then Shizuoka's pure and proper plain white, and finally Akiha's quite mature lacy black.

That sight shocked Chidori into action. If those skirts slipped down any more they'd be too low to stay up at all, and that meant any second now they were going to fall right off and leave all three girls standing there with their panties completely exposed right in front of everybody. She couldn't just let that happen... but she especially couldn't let it happen to Akiha! Propelled by the need to save her friend and the guilt of having failed to save Eiko earlier, she sprang into action and darted over and reached out and caught Akiha's skirt before it could slip any lower and expose any more.

She smiled in relief at having made it in time, even as Akiha started to turn her head in surprise. Then there was a squeal from behind her and a shout of "Mioko! Your skirt!" and she turned her head just in time to see Natsumi spring into action, reaching out to catch Mioko's skirt and save her friend like Chidori saved Akiha. But as soon as she took the first step her own skirt fell right down, reaching her knees just in time to get caught there as Natsumi took a second step. She squealed again and flailed helplessly for a moment and toppled over, landing with a big thud, her face on the floor and her rear end sticking up in the air.

Chidori and Akiha gasped, staring along with everyone else at Natsumi's completely exposed cute little light blue panties, and Mioko exclaimed, "Oh no! Natsumi! What ha-" as she turned around. The sudden motion of turning was more than enough to make her skirt completely release its precarious purchase upon her hips, and it came loose and fell down too, reaching her knees and getting caught as she took the first step. She too flailed helplessly, her words of concern disappearing in a squeak as she fell, hit the floor with another thud and came to rest in the same position as Natsumi.

Chidori gasped again, even louder, while Akiha clapped her hands to her mouth in horror at the sight. Mioko's rear end was sticking up in the air just like Natsumi's, and it was pointed right at the tables where everyone was sitting, giving everyone there the same view that everyone in the hallway had earlier. This time Chidori could see it for herself, and it was even worse than she ever imagined. Because from here just about all she could see of Mioko's teeny-tiny thong was a slender green string, nestled so deep within Mioko's 'gluteal cleavage' that it really was covering practically none of Mioko's plump and perky butt.

For a moment everything was silent as everyone stared in disbelief at the unbelievable sight. Natsumi was the first to break the silence, with a little whine of "Owwie..." as she raised her head. Mioko raised her head with the same "Owwie...", and started to brush away the red curtain of her hair that had fallen to cover her face. That made her practically bare butt jiggle gently, which seemed to snap her audience out of their shock. There was a clamor of dozens of voices as girls expressed surprise and sympathy and boys expressed surprise and excitement and the urgency of taking a picture right away, until Shizuoka's shout cut through it all.

"Get out!" the captain bellowed, reaching for her shinai, "All of you get out of here!! RIGHT NOW!!!" She waved the weapon at the crowd of students and pointed it toward the library door, not noticing at all the way the movement made her skirt slip. "I don't care where you go or what you tell that drunk geezer Morokin! Just get the hell out!!" The objects of her tirade, already getting up and fleeing before her fury, did seem to notice when Shizuoka's skirt descended enough to reveal a glimpse of her pure white panties. That seemed to undercut her authority, because they paused briefly to watch in apprehension or eager anticipation at what was about to happen. But before Shizuoka's skirt could join Natsumi's and Mioko's skirts in falling off completely, Akiha noticed it too and reached out in a flash to grab the waistband just in time to save Shizuoka from ending up with her underwear on display.

The class was back to running for the doors by the time Chidori looked back up, leaving the three of them behind looking like a little conga line or something, with Chidori holding up Akiha's skirt and Akiha holding up Shizuoka's skirt while Shizuoka stomped to the doors and slammed and locked them. Then there was silence once again, and Akiha cried out in despair, "What the heck is going on around here today!"

"I may have found something," Kirika called out in reply, her calm and even voice in stark contrast to the commotion of a few moments earlier. It was like a gleaming ray of hope, and everyone hurried over to look at what she had found, pausing on the way to help Mioko and Natsumi to their feet.

"Here. I've translated the inscription," she pointed at the screen before adjusting her glasses slightly. Chidori's face fell. She didn't see any way that knowing what it said would help anything right away. Kirika went on, "The same word seems to be on both sides, although their pronunciations diverge significantly and the Hebrew on the reverse is written in a script which is not used in modern variants. It is a personal name. Presuming that both are original to the artifact, that should allow us to estimate both its time and place of origin as one in which Greek and Hebrew were simultaneously in use-."

"Is that all?" Shizuoka cut her off with a hint of annoyance. She must have been hoping for something more immediately helpful too.

"Before pursuing that avenue of inquiry, I did also attempt to discern where and when it was unearthed by way of searching the records of recent archeological finds for artifacts matching its description. The results were of little use themselves. However, a depiction of..." she went on like that, even though Akiha and Shizuoka had already lost interest.

"Here, let's take a look at what happened to our skirts," Akiha suggested, taking the others away back to the tables. "We might be able to at least figure something out that way." Chidori wasn't listening, however. She was staring at the screen, where Kirika was quickly and methodically typing out her findings as she described them. Something there seemed very important, although she couldn't tell why. After some moments of scanning her eyes settled upon three lines written in three different languages with three different scripts.

Αστιν
ושתי‎
ワシュティ

She stared at the words with a strange recognition even though the characters of the that second line might as easily have been the scratches on a scuffed floor as writing for all she could tell. The third was clearly a foreign word written in katakana, and her eyes fixed themselves on it. It was an important word, and she felt her lips moving to form the sounds, "Vuah-shu-tee..." That was wrong, though. She tried again, "Vah-sh-"

"No," Kirika interrupted her ongoing explanation, glancing up briefly. "The transliteration is somewhat imprecise in this instance. "Here. The English rendering may be helpful." With a series of brisk keystrokes she added a fourth word, and this time Chidori recognized the characters from years of English classes.

"What is it? Did you find something else?" Akiha called over. Chidori didn't look up. She was staring at the words, her eyes widening slightly and her expression turning blank.

"Vv-... V-... Va-..." she started, still staring at the screen with glazed eyes, her heart pounding for some reason. It didn't feel wrong this time. The foreign sounds were still strange, but somehow her lips seemed to know just how to make them. She looked down at the hairclip in its baggie on the desk, and the writing upon it. She still didn't know what it meant, but now she knew that it was a name, and she knew she was going to say it.

"Vashti"

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Pub: 16 Jan 2021 22:42 UTC
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