Episode Twenty: Interlude
“…So hot.”
Hot, or feverish? I can’t quite tell which.
The pounding headache that had been hammering from the inside has eased off, but there’s still a kind of haze hanging over everything in my head.
Light is leaking in through the gap in the curtains, so it’s morning or midday. Somewhere around there, probably. I went to wipe my forehead and felt something strange against my arm, and looking down, I found a hand a little smaller than mine pressed against my own.
Yuna is asleep, slumped face-down against the bed, still holding my hand. It looks like an uncomfortable position to sleep in. I hope she’s all right.
Dark shadows are sitting under her eyes, heavy enough that even the thick frames of her glasses can’t hide them, and every so often something like a small groan slips out of her.
Seeing her like that, it felt like my own temperature climbed a little higher.
I should sleep. I think that, but I’ve apparently been lying down since yesterday and my drowsiness has run out.
Still feeling Yuna’s warmth against me, I pushed myself half-upright and looked around the room, and saw a small cushion and a towel blanket scattered near her feet. Did I even have these in my room? I tried to dig through my memory, but with everything still hazy I couldn’t quite place it.
My head hurt, breathing was hard, my thoughts wouldn’t come into focus. It’s been like that since yesterday. It’s been awful — but there was something different about it this time, compared to other times I’ve been sick. Like I was wrapped in something. Like there was something mixed in with the awfulness that wasn’t just awfulness.
I want to hear Yuna’s voice. I don’t remember much from yesterday onward, but I think her voice was close by the whole time. When it was bright outside, when it was dark. Whenever I said her name, she came right over.
I checked the phone by my pillow and found a pile of notifications waiting. Rikka, Kazuha, Fuuka. Even messages from classmates I don’t talk to that much. Where did they even hear about it. It’s a hassle, I’ll just answer them all together later.
A message from Yuna caught my eye and I opened it. The first one was sent Thursday. Splitting something that could have been said in one line into three separate messages is so like her that it pulled a small laugh out of me.
“…Thursday?”
I left school early on Thursday. Now it’s… just before noon on Saturday.
So what happened yesterday? I have the feeling Yuna was in this room the whole time.
“…Ah.”
I think we talked about her missing school, something like that. Making me porridge. Helping me change. Thinking back on it now, she only ever seems to have seen the embarrassing parts of me.
In my hazy memory, Yuna kept wearing a pained expression the whole time. For someone who cares so much about her grades, missing a day of school must have hurt — and she chose to stay by my side anyway.
Today’s Saturday, so… Golden Week has already started. Did Yuna have plans? If she did, I feel like I’ve done something terrible. Making her spend her precious time off on me.
But I’m glad she was here with me. I don’t really want to see Yuna spending time happily with someone else. If getting sick means she stays close the whole time, then maybe catching a cold isn’t so bad after all. Yuna should be by my side. Yuna likes me, so she must think the same thing too.
I let my head fall back against the pillow and stared up at the slowly spinning ceiling.
Why did I just think that? Maybe the fever’s making me strange.
Imagining Yuna leaving me behind to go see someone else made me feel sick. I must have taken my medicine, but the fever’s probably creeping back up again.
I want to get better quickly and spend the rest of the holiday with Yuna. To do that I need to sleep soon — and yet the sound of her breathing right beside me kept catching my attention, and sleep wouldn’t come easily at all.