As the elevator doors slid almost shut, the girl lunged forward, hand slamming the Open button over and over.
"Come on, come on—ugh!" she muttered, jabbing the button like it owed her money. Despite her efforts, the doors gave a stubborn chime and continued closing.
Inside, Shirogane stood stiffly, watching her frantic button mashing.
'Is she seriously trying to break it...?' he thought, eyebrows twitching.
With one last press, she slipped inside—just barely—and caught her breath. Their eyes locked.
Her smile of success immediately dropped.
"...You again!" she barked.
Shirogane just blinked. "Uh... hi?"
Before she could snap back, the elevator gave a sudden jolt, then a heavy thunk. The lights flickered once.
Both of them looked up.
Silence.
Then—nothing. The elevator wasn't moving.
"...Did it just—?" Shirogane started.
"No no no no no!" she hissed, slamming the "Door Open" button again. Nothing happened. She tried the emergency call button. No answer.
She turned to him, accusatory finger pointing. "This is your fault!"
"My—?! You're the one who went berserk on the buttons like they were some fighting game controls!" he shot back.
Her face flushed, not from embarrassment, but pure frustration. "I was late, okay?! If you hadn't made me waste time in the canteen—"
"You shouted at me in front of a hundred people!" Shirogane fired back. "I was trying to apologize!"
The elevator stayed unmoving.
She backed up, pacing in the tiny space. "Oh no... I broke it... I broke the elevator. My sister was right. I am reckless. They're going to fine me for this. What if we're stuck here for hours?!"
Shirogane stepped closer to the control panel. "Hold on... it's not you. Look."
He pointed at the flickering floor indicator—it was stuck between levels. Then he noticed the faint smell of burnt plastic near the ventilation slits. A soft clicking noise echoed above them.
"This isn't because of the button," he muttered. "Something's off with the mechanism. Could be a power relay issue or... maybe a faulty floor sensor."
She blinked. "You know that stuff?"
"I read... a lot," he said simply but in his thought 'Probably because of my analytical skill, hmm, who knows''.
She leaned against the wall, exhaling hard. "Great. Now I'm stuck. In an elevator. With a weirdo who analyzes people's eating habits and lectures about faulty relays."
Shirogane looked at her. She was still panting slightly from her run earlier, her hair sticking slightly to her forehead, but her eyes were sharp—annoyed, but sharp.
"You're... not scared?" he asked, half expecting her to freak out more.
She crossed her arms. "I've been through worse. This? Just annoying."
The silence lingered again.
Until her stomach growled.
Shirogane slowly turned to her, trying not to smirk. "That... diet working out for you?"
Her glare could've killed a man.
"I will throw you into the elevator shaft," she said flatly.
Shirogane leaned back against the cold elevator wall. The dim emergency light bathed everything in a reddish hue, giving the space a weird kind of tension—like a scene before something serious happens.
Across from him, the girl sat with her arms around her knees, staring at nothing.
He cleared his throat. "Sooo… this is fun."
She didn't even look at him. "Shut up."
Still, the silence stretched, and honestly, it was starting to mess with his head.
Her eyes flicked toward him. "You always this annoying in enclosed spaces?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Only when I'm trapped with someone who nearly beat the elevator panel into submission."
That got a small exhale. Not quite a laugh, but a crack in the tension.
Another stretch of silence.
Then—
JOLT.
The elevator shuddered violently. Both of them grabbed the handrails. A deep groaning sound echoed from above, like metal grinding against metal.
"Okay... that's not good," Shirogane muttered.
Her eyes darted upward. "What was that?"
"Not just power," he replied. "That sounded mechanical."
The lights flickered again. The elevator didn't move.
She stepped forward and hit the buttons, rapid-fire—Open, Close, Floor 2, Floor 3—nothing. The panel stayed dark.
Then—another drop.
Not far, just a single jolt downward—but enough to throw her off balance. Shirogane moved without thinking. He caught her and pulled her into the corner, shielding her with his body just as the elevator slammed to a stop.
Dust fell from the ceiling. A low creak echoed through the shaft.
Neither of them spoke.
"…You okay?" he asked after a moment, still bracing her.
She gave a small nod, voice barely audible. "Y-Yeah."
But she didn't let go.
Shirogane kept his arms around her, bracing against the wall. The elevator was tilted, humming faintly like something in the system was struggling to hold.
He scanned the corners of the ceiling, spotting the emergency brake light flickering. That wasn't good. Emergency brakes were supposed to lock the car in place if the main cable failed.
"What's happening?" she whispered.
"The elevator's safety system kicked in," he said, voice low and calm. "Probably the hoist cables lost tension, and the brake shoes are holding us in place right now."
Her eyes widened. "That means… it could drop?"
He nodded slightly. "If the emergency brakes give out, yeah. But these things have secondary counterweights and a buffer at the bottom. We just have to ride it smart."
Before she could ask what he meant—a loud pop rang out above them.
Then the worst happened.
The brake gave out.
The elevator dropped—fast.
Her scream barely escaped her lips before—
Darkness.
To be continued...