Locked in Storage Room

### Summary

After class about a week into the semester, Satoru sends Rin to the storage room to find some papers. Noticing she's taking a while, Satoru goes to look for her and accidently locks the two of them in for the night. Rin confronts Satoru on checking his emails, and from there they bond while locked in together. In the morning, Kairi finds them trapped and helps them out. Nana sees them get into Satoru's car. Satoru gives Rin a ride home, and she agrees to let him regularly give her rides after his evening classes.

### Script

September 9th, about a week into their time working together, on a Wednesday evening, [Rin marking papers at a desk in the front row, Satoru reluctantly checking hundreds of unread emails at his desk. Both are quiet, Satoru feels awkward with the silence.] Satoru asks Rin to fetch a box of paperwork for him after class (8:45pm-ish). She goes, and looks around for it. It’s taking her a while, so he goes to check on her. He sees the storage room door is propped open with a fold out chair, but doesn’t question it.

[Rin’s standing on a step stool, on her tippy toes. She looks cute and dainty to Satoru, reaching up to feel around for the papers on the shelf. She doesn’t hear Satoru come in, so he puts his hand on her shoulder. Startled, she turns to him.]

“Oh, professor!”

[He pulls his hand back]

“Sorry if I startled you, Rin. And you can just call me Satoru.”

[She steps down from the step stool to face him.]

“Oh, alright, Satoru.”

“Are you having trouble finding the box of files?”

“Yeah, I can’t seem to find it.”

“Here, let me see if I can help,”

[Satoru grabs the chair propping the door open to use it as a step stool to look on the top shelf.]

“Wait, Prof- Satoru-!” Rin starts. The storage room door slams shut.

“Hm?” [Satoru turns to Rin with an inquisitive expression once he fully gets on the chair.]

“Th-that was propping open the door…” Rin says, referring to the chair Satoru’s on. [She goes over to the door and tries turning the door handle, but to no avail. Satoru looks confused and steps down from the chair. He walks over to the door, Rin steps to the side. Satoru tries jiggling the door handle, but it’s stuck.]

“What the…”

“It’s broken,” Rin looks worried. “Maintenance sent a schoolwide email saying not to use it since it only opens from the other side,” Satoru’s face goes pale as he realizes that they’re stuck.

“R-Rin, do you have your phone on you?” [She shakes her head no.] “Fuck, me neither. Excuse my language.”

“You’re excused,” Rin replies, without a beat. Satoru unfurrows his brows and snorts, amused.

“Well… I guess we’ll just have to wait by the door for someone to pass by.”

“The email sent out this morning said all staff and faculty could leave a half hour before campus closes, and campus closes at 9.”

I hadn't gotten to today’s emails yet... Satoru checks his watch. It’s 8:59pm. He sighs and furrows his eyebrows again. “That’s just about now.” The hallway lights shut off. “Ah, so someone is here! Help! Hello!??”

Rin puts a hand on his shoulder. “S-Satoru, the lights are automatic.”

Satoru checks his watch again, it’s 9:00pm. He turns his head to Rin and gives her a defeated look, like a sad puppy dog. He flips the chair around and sits on it, rubbing his temples. Rin realizes there’s no way out of this situation, so she just sits down on the ground against the wall. She flinches at how cold the polished concrete flooring is.

Satoru starts up some conversation. “Rin…” She looks up at him. “...I wanted to apologize for the way I spoke to you the other day, regarding my emails. You had a valid point, and if I had listened to you, we wouldn’t be in this situation. I’m sorry.”

For a moment there’s silence, then Rin smiles. “I was wondering when you’d come around.” Her smile shifts into a smirk. “I graciously accept your apology.”

Satoru gives her a playful grin and shakes his head. “Is that so?”

“But just this once, Professor. I will show you mercy.”

“My, my, gracious indeed! Doth mine ears deceit me? THE Rin Miki hath forgiven such a man as me?”

Rin laughs at his silly yet embarrassing Shakespearian speech.

“I like your laugh, Rin.” Satoru says. Rin blushes and immediately turns away from Satoru’s gaze. “I- um, I…” Rin stumbles over her words.

Satoru laughs, “Oh how the mighty hath fallen!”

“I- I like your laugh too, Satoru.”

The two look at each other for a beat before starting up another conversation, getting to know each other a bit on a superficial level. They compare height and age, they laugh about how large the gaps in each are, and overall they click pretty well.

When the conversation starts to trail off, Satoru notices Rin shivering. He takes off his blazer and gets up to put it over her. She looks up at him.

“You looked chilly,” he says, putting it on her.

“Thank you,” She reaches to adjust it and brushes past his hand. “Ah, your hand’s so warm..!”

“Oh, um... here,” Satoru says as he sits down next to her. He holds out his hand for her to touch. She grabs it and holds it with both hands.

“Oh wow, you are really cold,” Satoru says. Actually, this whole room’s a lot colder than the classroom, now that I think about it. Poor Rin, she's only wearing a short sleeved blouse and skirt. “It’s a shame there’s no spare blankets in here."

"If you’re not uncomfortable with it, could I scoot in closer to you? For body heat I mean.” Rin looks up at him, and they lock eyes for a moment.

Satoru looks away and blushes. "S-sure! Of course, I wouldn't want my TA to freeze to death, who'd grade my papers then? Haha!" ...He cringes.

“Thank you,” Rin says quietly, and releases his hand so she can scoot closer. As she does, Satoru puts his arm around her.

“D-do you mind?” Rin shakes her head no and leans into him. He’s blushing a little, looking up and away and he rubs the outside of her arm to heat her up. She has her eyes closed and has a soft grin. He smells good. She thinks. Satoru thinks about how small and cute she is, but then shakes the thought away, since she’s his student. He starts to drift off to sleep, but suddenly jerks awake. “I totally forgot!” Rin looks up at him. “I left the files in my car,” he says, groaning. He starts to laugh. “Ahhh, I’m sorry Rin. It looks like this situation was completely avoidable.” She dozes back off to sleep.

“Mmm, it’s okay, Satoru,” she says in a sleepy voice. Satoru looks away and covers his mouth. Fuck! That was too cute!! He looks back at her sleeping against his chest. He blushes. ...Knock it off, Satoru! She's 20!

Meanwhile, Rin is also blushing.

“Goodnight, Rin.”

“Mhmm...” Rin replies, too sleepy to respond with words.

They drift off to sleep.

When Satoru wakes up, he realizes that Rin fell asleep against him and ended up with her head resting in his lap. Satoru’s face flushes. He tries to think of his elderly grandfather to prevent any sudden “feelings” from arising. Satoru gently rubs Rin’s shoulder. “Rin…” She lifts her head. He plays it cool. “Good morning.”

She sits up as well and adjusts her skirt. “Good morning, Professor Satoru. Er, just Satoru.” He chuckles and checks his watch. It’s 6:24am.

“Ah, campus is open,” Satoru says, and stands up. He shakes his hair and brushes through it with his fingers. Lord, I hope whoever gets us out of here doesn’t get the wrong impression. Satoru starts banging on the door and flashing the light off and on. Rin flinches and covers her head with Satoru’s blazer. She hears the banging stop and the door open. It’s Kairi.

“Thank you so much for opening the door for us, it won’t budge from this side,” Satoru thanks him. Kairi looks inside and sees Rin on the floor with Satoru’s blazer over her. Kairi looks back at Satoru with wide eyes. Goddamnit.

“Y-yeah no problem!” He says and quickly walks away. Satoru turns to look at Rin. She’s nodding off again.

“Well, when’s your next class, Rin?”

She looks up, sleepily. “Tomorrow morning.”

“Oh, then you’ve oughta get home. Do your parents know why you haven’t come home yet?”

She shakes her head no. “I don’t live with my parents.” Thank god, I would hate having to explain the situation to them.

“Ah, alright. Do you live nearby? I can drive you home.”

“It’s alright, I’ll walk,” she says with a yawn.

“Ah, come on Rin, you're falling asleep. Let’s head back to the classroom to pick up our things and then I’ll take you home.”

She nods. Back at the classroom they pick up their bags, he gets his car keys and twirls it around his finger. They fly off and land in the next aisle over. Rin giggles. Satoru chuckles too, embarrassed and walks over to grab them. Rin walks from the other side of the aisle and squats down to grab it too, not even noticing Satoru there. Satoru sees Rin reach for them, but still goes to do it himself regardless. He goes down on a knee and grabs them after she does, and they look up at each other with the keys in hand. Rin’s eyes get wide and she lets go, stands up, and brushes her skirt off. Satoru smirks and stands up too. “Sorry about that. Let’s go.”

As they walk to his car, Nana and a couple of other girls are standing outside talking, assumingly waiting for their class to start. Nana notices Rin and Satoru walk by and stares at them until they get in his car. Nana stands there with her hands over her mouth, shocked, even after the rest of the class, including the other girls, have already been let inside the classroom. Kairi comes jogging over and notices Nana staring at them. He taps on her shoulder and says something, but the reader doesn’t know what. It zooms out and over to Satoru’s car, where Rin and Satoru just arrived.

As Satoru and Rin approach the car, Satoru jogs to the passenger side and sweeps some empty cans/papers to the backseat, then steps back and holds the door for Rin. She thanks him and he gets in the driver’s seat.

“Where to?”

“114 North Elgrove Street, Yanagi, Japan.” (change to Japanese mail address later)

Satoru chuckles at Rin giving the full address and starts the engine. “Elgrove it is.” They’re driving in silence for a while, then they arrive at her house.

Satoru asks, “Do you walk to campus every day by yourself?”

“Yes.”

“From my evening class as well?”

“Yes.”

“...Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Why would it be?”

“W-well, bad men tend to target attracti- uh, young women walking home by themselves at night, that’s all. As your professor I’d feel more comfortable if you had someone to drive you home.”

“My roommates work, so they’re not available to drive me anywhere.”

“Ah, well. Since we both have to stay late together anyway, how about I take you home?”

“Hmm, I like to walk though.”

“Just at night, I won’t drive you in the mornings if you want to walk to school. Do you have any evening classes Tuesday/Thursday?”

“Um, no…”

“Alright, then I’ll drive you home only after my evening classes from now on, is that alright with you?”

“I...I don’t see why not.”

Satoru smiles. “Great. Well, have a restful day, Rin! I’ll see you Friday.”

Rin exits the car and pauses. “Um, Satoru,”

He leans in to hear better.

“Thank you.” She says quietly.

Satoru smiles. “You’re very welcome, Rin.”

Rin bows/nods slightly and shuts the car door. She turns to go inside. Once inside, she puts her hands on her red cheeks and looks at the floor concerned/confused. “Why does Satoru… make me blush so much??”

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