“Took you long enough.” Sakiko said, “Did you find anything out there?”
Darren turned beet red and turned around, away from Sakiko.
“Sakiko.” Yuki said, “Can you please put some clothes on?”
“Do you know how hot it is in here?” Sakiko said, “Especially when you’ve been cleaning?”
Darren peeked behind himself. A bunch of rags were piled in a corner by the door. A bucket of some type of cleaner beside them.
“Put a shirt on at least,” Yuki said.
“Darren can look.” Sakiko said, “If it’s okay with you Yuki.”
Yuki was silent for a moment.
“It’s not like we’re dating or anything.” Yuki said, “I suppose that a bra and panties are no worse than you walking around in a bikini.”
Darren turned around. Sakiko had rubber gloves on, in addition to her red bra and panties.
“Where did you find that underwear?” Darren asked.
“Why?” Sakiko asked.
“Cause when we pulled you out of your house, you had nothing but a pair of pink panties on,” Darren said.
“They’re Yuki’s.” Sakiko said, “We’ve been trading clothes since we were young, so they fit me.”
The boxes were all stacked to the back of the storage unit. It left the entire front of the storage unit clear and empty of boxes. On the floor of the unit was a blanket with their bags on top of it.
Sakiko placed her hand on Darren’s chest.
“Stop right there.” Sakiko said, “I spent all afternoon cleaning this unit to make it livable. Take your shoes and your dirty clothes off right here.”
“But my pants are filthy…” Darren said.
“And I’m in my underwear.” Sakiko said, “Strip.”
Yuki laughed and smiled. She took her shoes off as she closed the sliding door behind them.
“You too.” Sakiko said, “You’re just as dirty.”
Darren’s face turned red again as he took off his shoes, pants, and shirt. He felt nervous and uncomfortable wearing nothing but his boxers. But then Yuki and Sakiko were in their underwear too.
“Happy,” Yuki said.
“Very.” Sakiko said as she looked at Darren with a grin, “I didn’t actually think you’d listen to me.”
Darren walked onto the blanket and sat down. Yuki followed him and sat beside him.
Sakiko took the rubber cleaning gloves off and threw them into the rag pile. She sat down in front of them. Her legs crossed.
“The unit is getting homey,” Darren said as he kept his eyes averted from Sakiko.
“Did you find the toilets?” Sakiko asked.
“Yes,” Darren told her about them.
“There’s a tank at the top part of the wall,” Sakiko said, “Is it full of water?”
“Yes.” Darren said staring at the ceiling, “But water will be an issue with them, we’ll have a limited amount of flushes.”
“What else did you find?” Sakiko said.
“The building is empty,” Darren said.
Darren then proceeded to tell her about the office and the thugs.
“So the office is barricaded by a steel door and then a pile of boxes,” Sakiko said.
“Yes.” Darren said, “We came back to get some food and then we need to find all the other entrances to this place to secure them.”
“Did you want me to come out with you two?” Sakiko asked.
“Yes actually.” Darren said, “I don’t think that’s a bad idea.”
“Definitely.” Yuki said, “We should all learn the quick ways through this building. I think this is going to be home for a while.”
Sakiko gave Yuki a questioning look.
“What?” Yuki said, “We need to get out there and get this building secure.”
Yuki walked over to a pile of MRI’s, and they split it between them.
Darren spent the time looking at either the floor, the boxes, or the ceiling.
“Darren.” Yuki said, “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” Darren said, “Why do you ask?”
“Cause you won’t look at us,” Yuki said.
“I don’t want to seem rude.”
“Act as if we were guys,” Sakiko said.
“Guys don’t walk around each other in their underwear,” Darren said.
“Well.” Sakiko said as she crawled up to him, “Then don’t act as if we were guys, but I wouldn’t walk around in my underwear if I didn’t want you to look at me.”
Darren looked at Sakiko’s face. He made sure he didn’t look down at her chest.
Yuki grabbed Darren’s chin and pulled it down so he was looking at Sakiko breasts.
“What do you think of her?” Yuki said.
“Umm…” Darren said.
Yuki kissed Darren on the lips.
“Its okay to look.” Yuki said, “Its how Sakiko copes with stress. She gets grabby and bubbly.”
“Oh,” Darren said.
Darren gave Sakiko a look. She did look pretty in the red bra and panties. Yuki looked good in her underwear as well.
After the three of them split the MRI, Darren got dressed in his grubby clothes.
“We should get out there,” Darren said.
They left the storage unit and used the flashlights to light their way as they walked down the hallway.
“So we have the big set of overhead doors to secure somehow.” Darren said, “Then I’m assuming that there’s going to be at least one or two other ways to get out of this building.”
“Fire escape routes maybe,” Yuki said.
“Exactly,” Darren said.
Darren, Yuki, and Sakiko walked through the building. Darren showed Sakiko where the washrooms were. Warned not to flush them unless they had to. He also showed her the pile of boxes that blocked the door to the office.
After fifteen minutes of walking, Darren found two fire escape doors. Each one had an overly broad door handle meant to set off a fire alarm if pushed. Darren was sure that if he pushed it, nothing would happen.
“I was wondering.” Darren said, “Why isn’t there any emergency powered lights on?”
Yuki laughed.
“My dad picked this one cause it was substandard in certain things and generally shunned by the rich people.” Yuki said, “Its behind on its safety features, but its very secure.”
“So no rich clients means that no real risk of it being robbed or looted in this situation?” Darren asked.
“Exactly.” Yuki said, “Notice that those thugs grabbed the money from the front, but they didn’t try very hard to get into the storage part.”
“Out of curiosity,” Darren said, “Why didn’t we just go a shelter? Have them help us?”
“I’ve been skirting that question for a while, haven’t I?”
Darren and Sakiko both nodded.
“In the last disaster, we weren’t prepared at all. And after my dad and I had been picked up by our rescuers, we were stuck in a shelter for a few months while we waited to be told to do stuff. Dad’s work was destroyed, and he was laid off. We had no money to leave and go to a hotel. We were absolutely helpless. We were stuck jumping at the whim of those bureaucrats. It was the most horrible experience we had ever experienced. My dad vowed that if we were ever to get into a similar situation, we would be prepared. We wouldn’t go to the shelters to be treated like cattle.”
Sakiko gave Yuki a hug.
Darren nodded.
“Well.” Darren said, “I’ll help you any way I can. But first, how do we secure those doors?”
“We could pile boxes across these two doors.” Sakiko said, “But how do we secure the overhead doors?”
“Let’s worry about the overhead doors later,” Yuki said, and she turned to Darren, “Where was that locker that you broke into?”
“This way,” Darren said.
Darren led them down the hallway to the opened locker.