Kitagawa Ryo pulled a beautifully wrapped box from his pocket.
"Here. Take it as a token of appreciation from the audience for your acting."
"Perfume?"
Karuizawa Kei accepted the box lightly and ran her fingers over the delicate, elegant pattern engraved on it.
"Isn't rose scent a little too mature?"
"If you don't want it, I'll throw it away."
At Kitagawa Ryo's grumble, Karuizawa Kei quickly tucked it into her bag. Her bright blue eyes crinkled into crescent moons as she smiled.
"Of course I want it. This is the first present my senior has given me, isn't it?"
"I said it's a reward for helping me today, and compensation for getting cornered by someone."
Kitagawa Ryo stood up and walked downstairs alongside Karuizawa Kei.
"Kei."
She heard him call her name and turned around.
"Thank you. I mean it."
"Was that part of the act?"
"Of course not."
"Hehe, I believe you, senpai."
[Story CG: Actor, reading complete.]
I'm sick, so I'm taking a day off.
My stomach's been bothering me since yesterday. I took some medicine and managed to write yesterday's update, but I still felt awful when I got up this morning. After thinking it over, I decided to take today off. If I feel a little better this afternoon, I might still update. In any case, I hope all my readers stay healthy. By the way, it's probably best not to leave the air conditioner on all night while you sleep. If you do, I hope you don't have the bad habit I do of kicking off the covers. _(:з"∠)_
Chapter 15: Hair Clips, Hot Cocoa, and Getting Sick
[Day Nine: Today is Ichinose Maki's birthday. Last night, Ichinose Maki secretly sent you an email. In short, she said she would sneak out after having dinner and cake with her mother and older sister, and hoped you could come meet her. After all, because Ichinose's mother is prejudiced against you, you're basically forbidden from setting foot in the Ichinose home. Especially since you moved out of that apartment a year ago, you haven't even gone back inside the building.]
[The idea was tempting, and it seemed feasible, but you still refused Ichinose Maki's request. You told her that birthdays were indeed a special day when children could ask for presents, but she should also remember that this was the day her mother had gone through the pain of giving birth to her. You had never meant to disrespect Ichinose's mother because of her prejudice against you. After all, having lived there since childhood, you knew that mother better than anyone except Ichinose Honami.]
[You knew that Ichinose Honami wasn't the only one working hard to make this long-awaited birthday gathering happen. Ichinose's mother, who had never been good at expressing herself, had also suddenly taken on more work this month. If your guess was right, she wanted to save enough money to buy her daughter a present before her birthday.]
[And from what you'd looked into, the item she'd bought was probably the same thing Ichinose Honami planned to give Maki: a hair clip that had become fashionable last year because of a certain idol. They'd both noticed Ichinose Maki's wish long ago.]
["Then won't the presents clash??▽?"]
[Ichinose Maki sent you that puzzled message. Although she had always been sensible, Maki really did want that present. It would feel a little disappointing if her mother's gift and her sister's gift turned out to be the same.]
["Like the story we read in class last semester. '(°ー°〃)"]
["The Gift of the Magi?" You'd read O. Henry's famous short story, of course. It was about a wife who sold her beautiful hair on Christmas Eve to buy her husband a platinum chain for his treasured heirloom watch, while he sold his watch to buy her the combs she'd always wanted. It was a warm, dramatic story.]
["You can give Honami the hair clip she gave you, since her birthday is in two days, right? As for the hair clip your aunt gave you, you can put it on her yourself and tell her, 'Thank you for all your hard work.'"]
["That sounds good! (≧?≦)ノ"
"But then I won't have a hair clip, will I? 〒▽〒"
Her belated realization made you chuckle. You could almost picture Maki's expression through the screen, and you smiled as you continued typing:
"I'll get one for you."]
["Will you put it on me yourself, big brother? (* /ω＼*)"]
["Put it on yourself. And go to bed early."]
[The two of you tacitly avoided bringing up what had happened that day. After wishing each other good night, you both logged off.]
[When you opened your eyes again, it was already nine in the morning. It was rare for you to sleep in. After stretching in bed, you picked up the phone that had finished charging beside you and saw a message from Karuizawa Kei.]
["Good morning, senpai! Hi~ o(*￣▽￣*)ブ"
"Maki-chan invited me to her birthday party, but I don't know her exact address. Could you take me there? (つω｀)~"
"You haven't replied, and it doesn't say you've read my messages. Are you still asleep? (o???)"]
[Although you felt like you were only a year older than Karuizawa Kei, you barely used emoticons. Getting bombarded with messages like these right after waking up made you think about how Maki also used emoticons all the time in her chats. Honami, on the other hand, didn't have that habit.]
[You checked the time. The latest message had arrived half an hour ago, at eight thirty. Just as you were about to reply, another message from Karuizawa Kei came through first.]
["Are you awake, senpai? Your messages show as read now. (o???)"]
[You sighed and rested a hand against your forehead. You didn't know if she watched her phone around the clock, but one thing was certain: Karuizawa Kei had changed since the day you met her a few days ago. After yesterday's mountain-climbing incident, the two of you seemed to have gotten along better? You searched your mind for a while, but couldn't find the right word for it.]
[You weren't sure whether this progress was a good thing or a bad one. In truth, you'd known Karuizawa Kei for only a few days. You'd always lived by the principle, "Don't get too personal with someone you barely know," but that principle had been effortlessly broken when it came to her. Being trusted unconditionally by someone was certainly something to be proud of, but it also meant...]
[Thinking of that, you called Karuizawa Kei. You preferred talking with someone face-to-face rather than through text, judging them by their expression, movements, and tone of voice. It was a skill you'd learned and mastered from childhood as the heir to the Kitagawa Family.]
[Perhaps she really never put her phone down. Just two seconds later, you heard the lively, slightly nervous voice of a young girl through the earpiece. A television news broadcast played in the background, so she was probably still at home and hadn't left yet. You skipped the small talk and directly asked Karuizawa Kei to meet you at the café where you'd met Maki. She'd only been to the place once, but her memory was good enough that she'd remembered exactly where it was.]
[You got up, washed up, and grabbed a quick bite of bread, all in one go. Half an hour later, you were ready to leave. Since your family's car took you there, you arrived ahead of the agreed time. You ordered an iced Americano, sat by the window, and lazily watched the crowds moving back and forth through the shopping mall. Today, though, there was no one sitting beside you, making up stories with you to pass the time.]
[The morning wasn't too hot yet. After taking a couple of sips of your iced Americano, you set the cup down and looked up just as Karuizawa Kei entered the café. You waved her over, and she sat down across from you with a cheerful smile. Since you didn't know what she liked to drink, you hadn't ordered anything for her without asking. Once she'd taken her seat, you asked what she wanted.]
["Cocoa. Hot."]
[Karuizawa Kei answered, and a steaming cup of cocoa was brought over soon after. Only then did she seem to notice the iced Americano in front of you.]
["Isn't iced coffee first thing in the morning bad for your stomach, senpai?"
She pointed to the untouched hot cocoa in front of her.
"I think you should have something warm in the morning."]
["I've barely had any," you said with a shake of your head. You stirred the ice with a straw as you watched the girl across from you sip her hot cocoa. She seemed afraid of burning herself, and the way she blew on it between sips was rather cute.]
["What are you planning to get Maki as a present, Kei?"]
[At your question, Karuizawa Kei awkwardly pinched a strand of hair and said she didn't have much money to spend, and there wasn't enough time to make anything intricate. She'd simply stayed up late folding more than a hundred little stars for Maki. As she spoke, she took a clear glass bottle from her bag. Sure enough, it was filled with a great many colorful five-pointed stars, all the same size. They rustled when she shook it.]
[After that topic came to an end, you and Karuizawa Kei fell silent. The café was nearly empty in the morning, and the only sounds were the two of you idly stirring ice with your straws or tapping the sides of your cups.]
["Come to think of it, the Fireworks Festival is in a couple of days. Are you going with Ichinose, senpai?"
The way Karuizawa Kei struggled to find something to talk about made you smile.]
["If you'd asked me a few days ago, I would have said yes without hesitation."
You took a long sip of your iced Americano, its cold, bitter taste bursting across your tongue.]
["If you can't find anyone then, you could try calling me! I'm really good at catching goldfish, shooting targets, and ring toss!"
Karuizawa Kei rattled off a long string of words around the straw in her mouth, not even daring to look up at you. She stared so intently at the outside of her hot cocoa cup that it was as if a treasure map had been etched there. Of course, maybe she was watching your reaction in the shiny tabletop.]
[Karuizawa Kei was a girl who knew exactly how to maintain boundaries. Every so often, when she cautiously stepped across that line, she looked like an abandoned little animal, staring up at you with big, watery eyes as if to say, "Awooo." But if you turned her down, she wouldn't actually cry. That kind of feigned bravery in a girl her age was a special attack against men.]
[You stirred the ice in your cup. The cubes clinked together, making a crisp sound. A strange thought suddenly crossed your mind: would drinking iced Americano and hot cocoa together upset your stomach? How many degrees apart were their temperatures?]
["You're spacing out, senpai. Are you feeling unwell? Or did you leave the air conditioner on all night again?"]
["I'm fine." You only snapped out of your daze when Karuizawa Kei leaned forward and placed her fair right hand on your forehead. You caught her wrist in your right hand and gently pressed her back into her seat. When you saw the concern in her matching blue eyes, you felt inexplicably irritated.]
["Whoa, your hand is so cold, senpai." Seeing you return to how you'd been earlier, Karuizawa Kei smiled and slipped free of your grasp. That made sense. Your right hand had been holding the iced Americano, so it would feel especially cold against her skin.]
["My hands are warm. It's the power of hot cocoa!" You felt her warm, soft little hand take yours again, her palm pressed against yours. The huge difference in temperature made the warmth feel unexpectedly real. Karuizawa Kei looked up at you earnestly and said:]
["If you drink iced coffee in the morning, your tongue and hands will get cold, and then your stomach and blood will get cold too. Girls don't like cold boys, senpai. Next time, you should have hot milk or hot cocoa in the morning."]
["There." Once your palm had warmed up again, Karuizawa Kei let go. She drank her hot cocoa with a satisfied look.
"Even though everyone's body temperature is between 36 and 37 degrees, you can still feel the difference clearly when you hold hands. Isn't that amazing, senpai?"]
[After that, you talked with Karuizawa Kei about your plans for the coming days. By the time she'd finished her hot cocoa, your conversation had ended too. Unlike before, you still had about half a cup of iced Americano left.]
[That entire day, aside from liking the birthday photos Maki posted on social media that evening, you didn't contact Ichinose Honami at all, which was unusual for you. You'd really wanted to tell her that the new hair clip on her head suited her perfectly, but in the end, you didn't send the message.]
[Day Ten: When you got up early, your head felt a little heavy. You'd turned off the air conditioner before going to sleep the night before, so thinking back, it was probably because you'd sprinted through the woods two days ago and then came home and sat in the air conditioning. The iced Americano might have made it even worse. You rummaged through the cabinet for a thermometer and tucked it under your arm, then waited in a daze for a while. When you blinked and checked it, you saw it was 37.9 degrees. It was only a slight fever.]
[You lived alone in this fairly spacious house. Although you hadn't spent much time with your parents growing up, you'd always maintained a respectful, close relationship with them. They worked overseas year-round. You called them every three days and video-chatted once a week. At your insistence, apart from the housekeeper, who now worked as your full-time driver, no one else lived in the house.]
[You were used to looking after yourself anyway, and the house was stocked with the usual medicines. After washing your face with warm water, you took cold medicine according to the instructions. You could put up with the bitterness of coffee, but for some reason you were surprisingly averse to medicine. After finally finding a sweet-tasting powder, you drank it down in one go, not noticing that it was past its expiration date.]
[After taking the medicine, you climbed back into bed. Your throat had started to hurt too, and you felt weak all over. You'd always thought you were at least in better physical shape than ninety percent of your peers, but even so, you didn't last much longer than anyone else against this sudden cold. When you woke again, thirsty, it was already three in the afternoon.]
[You realized you'd only eaten a little bread that morning. Swaying as you got to your feet, you planned to call the housekeeper. Never had you thought the iced Americano could be so hateful. When you opened your phone, you noticed messages from Ichinose Maki and Karuizawa Kei, but you had neither the energy nor the strength to open them. After forcing yourself to text the housekeeper to say you had a cold, you staggered out of your room to find something to eat.]
[You'd clearly overestimated both your willpower and your current physical condition. Your foot slipped, and you fell beside the bedroom door. Your arm seemed to knock something over as you fell, and a crisp sound came from behind you.]
[Only when the next gentle breeze blew in through the open window did you vaguely see colorful origami cranes flying around in front of you, before they landed on your head, your back, and even before your eyes.]
[How pretty.]
[That was what you thought in the instant before you lost consciousness completely.]
Chapter 16: The Approaching End
["Yes, the young master still hasn't woken up. He's on an IV, and his condition isn't particularly serious. He just took expired cold medicine and hasn't been getting enough rest. Yes, once he wakes up, I'll have him call you."
"It was my failure to do my job. What? Have the young master come over early? I believe the original date was August 9. Two weeks early? Understood. I'll pass it along once he wakes up."]
[You gradually began to feel your body again, and your six senses returned one by one. First, your nose picked up the distinctive smell of disinfectant and medicine that always lingered in hospitals. Since childhood, you'd stubbornly called that indescribable smell "medicine." It was as if you could come to the hospital without getting a shot or an IV, and simply smell that peculiar scent to kill off every germ in your body.]
[Next came your hearing. You seemed to hear someone making a phone call outside the hospital room. Although the man had deliberately lowered his voice, you immediately recognized him as Mr. Izaki, the butler who had worked for your family for twenty years. Judging by his tone, he was probably speaking with your father or mother.]
[The other four senses returned to you all at once. You could feel the softness of the bedding beneath you. When you looked up, you saw a white ceiling. There seemed to be a bitter taste lingering in your mouth. Your right hand, sticking out from under the covers, had an IV in it. One drop after another fell from the bag, traveling down the tube and into your vein.]
[At last, you remembered what had happened before you lost consciousness. You remembered getting a fever, calling the housekeeper, and then collapsing, knocking over a whole mess of... what was it? Your head began to grow heavy again, and your eyelids drooped. You bit the tip of your tongue to force yourself to stay alert, swallowed to moisten your parched throat, and tried to call for the butler outside.]
[Just then, the butler came in. Mr. Izaki was already in his early fifties, but he looked a few years younger than his age. Unlike the stereotypical image of a butler, he didn't wear a suit at all times or keep his beard perfectly trimmed. Aside from having smoother skin than most old men, he looked like an ordinary elderly man.]
["Young master, you're awake."]
[When he saw your eyes open, he immediately came over, pouring you a glass of warm water while pressing the call button for the doctor.]
[You could hear the patter of rain against the window, along with the occasional rumble of thunder. You realized it might be storming outside. Summer rain never paid attention to the weather forecast, and even the Fireworks Festival was deliberately scheduled to avoid days with a high chance of rain.]
[Mr. Izaki stepped over and pulled the heavy curtains more tightly shut. After a rustle, the sound of wind and rain was completely blocked out. Once you'd finished the water, you looked at the clock on the wall. It was already seven in the evening. That meant you'd been unconscious for about four hours.]
["Cough, cough." Your throat felt as if something were stuck in it, an irritating, prickly sensation, and you couldn't help coughing a few times. Turning to the butler beside you, you asked:
"Did anyone come by?"]
[You asked because there was an umbrella on the small cabinet beside your bed that clearly belonged neither to you nor Mr. Izaki. You always used the same old black umbrellas. Even the one you'd once given Ichinose Honami was a big black one. As for Mr. Izaki... you shot him a strange look. From what you knew of him, he wouldn't use this little pink umbrella covered in flowers and plants.]
["Miss Karuizawa Kei."]
["And she arrived at your house before we did, young master. She was the one who called the ambulance too. When I arrived, they seemed to be about to break down the door. I opened it with the spare key, and then we brought you to the hospital."]
["I see. Where's my phone?" Feeling a little better, you struggled to sit up. Mr. Izaki knew he could never talk you out of doing what you wanted, so he dutifully propped up the pillow to help you sit as comfortably as possible.]
["What you need now is a good rest. Otherwise, someone might take an early flight straight to your hospital room tomorrow."
You understood what Mr. Izaki meant. Like a kitten caught by the scruff of its neck by a grown cat, you tugged at the corners of your mouth and didn't ask for your phone again.]
["I heard something about leaving the country early just now. Is that right?" You remembered overhearing the call and tried to confirm whether it was true.]
["That's only Madam's preference. If you feel you can persuade her one-on-one over the phone, I can bring you your phone right now. Or have you already thought of what to say?" Hearing Mr. Izaki's answer, you drank your warm water gloomily. You knew the condition you'd agreed to when persuading your parents to let you live alone was that you could look after yourself. Your mother's request wasn't unreasonable, either. In her eyes, you were about to go overseas in early August, so leaving a couple of days earlier wouldn't make much difference.]
[The doctor's arrival gave you time to think. As you answered the questions the doctor in a white coat asked, you began to consider how to talk to your mother. In the end, if she wanted you to go earlier and spend a few days with them, you didn't have much reason to argue.]
["If your condition remains stable and you recover well, you can be discharged in a couple of days." After examining you, the doctor gave that answer. Mr. Izaki got up to see him out. The two of them talked for a while in the hallway, but you were too focused on thinking up an excuse to notice.]
["Senpai?" When you came back to your senses, you found yourself looking directly into a pair of blue eyes. Their color matched her own, and for a moment it made you feel a little dazed. A fair little hand waved in front of your eyes as Karuizawa Kei spoke, sounding both a little proud and a little worried.
"That's why I told you not to drink iced coffee in the morning! And you shouldn't leave the air conditioning on so late at night."]
[She was sitting on the edge of your bed. Maybe it was because you were in a deluxe room, but the bed was a good deal larger than usual. There was enough room for her to sit beside you, and it seemed there'd still be plenty of space for another person to lie down. Even so, you instinctively shifted toward the other side, though your legs were still about thirty centimeters away from her, with the blankets between you.]
["Mr. Izaki said you were the one who called the ambulance." For some reason, you looked away. But since you were sick, anything you did could be forgiven. No one would pay attention to your little gestures. Was that a privilege of being unwell, or a privilege you had when you were with her?]
["Yeah. You didn't reply when I messaged you this morning. At first, I thought maybe you'd slept in like yesterday, but by noon your messages still hadn't been marked as read. I asked Maki, and she'd called you too, but you didn't pick up. So I asked her for your address and went over."
"Your bedroom window was open, so I spotted you lying on the floor right away. I called out to you several times, but you didn't answer, so I called 120. The ambulance arrived a few minutes later, and then that old man drove up too. After he opened the door, I came to the hospital with you."
"The doctor said it was probably just a mild fever at first, but taking the wrong medicine made it worse. You weren't keeping to a regular routine or eating properly, either, so you suddenly fainted at home. Your clothes were soaked with sweat when you got here."]
[Karuizawa Kei sat beside your bed and spoke softly. Your head began to feel heavy again, and her gentle voice turned into something like a lullaby. It wrapped around you in wispy strands, layer upon layer, until you were enveloped in it. Lying inside that thick cocoon, you felt a tipsy sort of comfort rise from the depths of your soul.]
["Could you turn on the TV for me?" You didn't want to fall asleep here so easily. Or rather, you'd already slept too long today. So you forced your eyes open and pointed to the television on the opposite wall.]
Before you continue