“Is Rekka Namidare here?” an upperclassman asked from the doorway.
“That’s me. What can I do for you?” I responded, unable to raise my hand or wave since both my arms were occupied.
“...What are you doing?”
The upperclassman took one look at me getting pulled from side to side by three different girls and immediately adopted a dubious expression. I guess anyone would feel that way about seeing someone in this kind of fray.
“You’re as much of a problem child as the rumors say.”
“Er, ahem... So, uh, was there anything you needed?”
She had no idea how much what she’d just muttered hurt me, but I tried to keep a straight face as I continued the conversation.
She shook her head in resignation and said, “The president is calling you. Could you come to the student council room?”
▽
If President Momone was calling, I had no choice but to go. Breaking free from Satsuki and the others, I made my way from the classroom to the student council room. But I was definitely only going because President Momone had called and I had to. Totally.
“Hm? Why do you look so relieved?” President Momone asked when I entered, one eyebrow raised.
“No reason,” I replied with a wave of my hand.
“He was surrounded by three girls and grinning like a maniac.”
I’d tried to brush it off, but the upperclassman who’d escorted me here—the VP of the student council—dropped the bomb. And hey, I wasn’t grinning!
“Hahh... I see you’re still up to your usual antics, problem child.”
“President, should we get the disciplinary committee to keep an eye on him?”
“Hey!”
President Momone laughed, but the VP looked dead serious. I hadn’t expected her to have such an exaggerated reaction to witnessing a single scene like that... Maybe it was because President Momone was feeding her lies about me? This sucks.
“You look pretty sour there, Rekka. You know lots of people would kill to be in this position, right? Check yourself.”
R, everybody! Here to make things sting worse!
Just moments ago, I was thinking about how school was my last refuge... What is this sense of utter disenfranchisement? What did I have left? The bathroom at my house? Is that the only place people would leave me alone?
“Hm? What’s with that faraway look in your eye?”
“No... It’s nothing...”
Unable to admit that I was having trouble coming to grips with reality, I buried my face in my hands and lied.
“Well, whatever.” President Momone readily ignored my plebeian student troubles and got straight to the point. “Are you free today?”
“Huh? Well, I guess, but...”
“Good. Then stop by Midori’s house on your way home.”
“Wha?”
It felt like the conversation had progressed several stages in the blink of an eye.
“Wh-Why? What do you want me to go to Tokiwa’s house for?”
“Apparently she’s caught a seasonally late summer cold,” President Momone explained.
“Yeah? Well, it does still kind of feel like summer.”
“That girl keeps the air conditioner running nonstop. I’ve told her countless times to set the timer when she goes to sleep, but... Anyway, that’s not the important part.”
With an exasperated sigh, President Momone waved her hand as if to sweep her grievances aside for the moment.
“Both of Midori’s parents work full-time, so they get home late. Normally I’d go take care of her myself, but as you can see...” President Momone indicated her desk, which was decorated with a mountain of papers. “The cultural festival is next month, and I’ll be busy with preparations for the foreseeable future. I won’t be going home until late this evening myself.”
“Whoa, that’s quite a stack you’ve got there. Does the festival really take all that paperwork?”
“Well, there’s a lot involved... But to get back to the topic at hand, I’m sure you’ve figured it out by now, but I want you to go and look after Midori in my stead.”
“Yeah, I figured that’s where this was going, but... Why me?”
Firstly, I was a guy. Secondly, we weren’t even in the same grade. Lastly, Tokiwa was home alone, and her parents would be late. I couldn’t help feeling there were more appropriate candidates than me...
“You’re a member of the light literature club, aren’t you? You should gratefully accept the opportunity to go visit your sick club president.”
“Th-That’s not the issue...”
“And you still owe me, remember?”
“Ugh...”
That, I couldn’t argue with. I’d had to rely on President Momone to handle the conflict between Yulia and Ai the other day. And that wasn’t the first favor she’d done me, either. So, knowing I was in her debt, I sighed and nodded reluctantly.
“Understood... I’d be happy to go.”
“You should have just said so from the beginning,” President Momone said smugly before cracking a grin. “Oh, that’s right. Let me tell you something that’ll get your blood going a little.”
“What?”
“Midori’s three times more sensual when she’s down with a cold.”
I nearly fell straight to the floor.
▽
President Momone gave me Tokiwa’s address, and I made my way there after school.
“So, uh... What are you guys doing here, Satsuki? Tsumiki?”
They had somehow heard that I was going to Tokiwa’s house to look after her and decided to tag along.
“I can’t let you be alone with Tokiwa.”
“Yeah! Who knows what you might do to her in her compromised state?”
“Wow...”
I thought I was going to cry. They trusted me so little...
It turned out Iris and Rosalind had also heard I was going to Tokiwa’s, but they had other things to do that afternoon... Nevertheless, it didn’t stop them from saying similar hurtful things before we all left school.
My shoulders slumped as I pressed the doorbell to Tokiwa’s house listlessly. Maybe it was broken? I couldn’t hear anything from inside.
“Well, President Momone said she’d let her know we were coming, so I guess we can just go in?”
I used the key I’d gotten from President Momone to unlock the front door.
“Hello? Anyone home? We came to visit you, Tokiwa!” I called from the front entrance, but there was no reply. “Is she asleep...? I guess we should be quiet then.”
We took off our shoes and did our best to keep the noise to a minimum. President Momone had told me Tokiwa’s room was on the second floor, but I figured we should stop in the kitchen first to drop off the ingredients we’d brought for porridge. Wait...
Whap... Whap...
Uh, what was that? It sounded like wet footsteps...
“Hm?”
“Huh?”
Satsuki and Tsumiki noticed it too, and the three of us stood there listening carefully. The footsteps seemed to be coming from down the hall? I turned to look... and saw a shuffling shadow creeping towards us with long, wet hair dripping behind it.
“KYAAAAAH!”
The second Satsuki saw it, she let out a high-pitched scream and turned to bolt, banging her forehead against the half-open front door.
“...!”
Tsumiki went pale and stiff. It seemed she was frozen with terror.
While it did look like something straight out of a horror movie, I’d been through this before. I knew it was probably...
“Tokiwa?”
“...”
Her voice was too soft to hear, but I could see her nodding. I knew it had to be her underneath all that hair. It was so long that it covered her almost completely. Only her toes were visible.
“What are you doing? Your hair’s sopping wet.”
After realizing it was Tokiwa and regaining her composure, Satsuki was ba
ck to her normal self. Truth be told, this wasn’t the first time she’d mistaken Tokiwa with her hair down for a ghost.
“...”
Tokiwa was saying something, but her voice was still too quiet to hear.
“Come again?”
“...”
I tilted my head slightly, and Tokiwa seemed to hesitate for a moment before darting down the hallway towards us at a good clip. Her long hair swayed as she ran, exposing a glimpse of bare skin underneath.
“Wait, Tokiwa, are you naked right now?!”
Had she been in the shower?! That would explain why her hair was wet, I guess... But wait! Why was she coming at me?!
“Tokiwa! Don’t you dare hug Rekka in that state!”
“Nice save, Satsuki!”
Satsuki jumped in front of Tokiwa at the last second, successfully averting what would have been a disaster. I praised my childhood friend with a thumbs-up.
Whenever people couldn’t understand Tokiwa, she would cling to them so she could whisper directly into their ear... Her hugging me with clothes on was bad enough. I could only imagine how much worse it would be naked.
“As for you, mister, you should be looking the other way!”
“Hey—bwuh!”
I’d taken a moment to breathe a sigh of relief after avoiding that potential catastrophe, but it was a mistake. Tsumiki slapped me with all her might, turning my head a perfect 180 degrees.
“Otomo and I will help Tokiwa get dressed, so you wait here!”
“Yes, ma’am...” I held a hand against my stinging cheek and responded pathetically.
“Too bad for you, Rekka. You were so close,” R jabbed.
▽
Apparently, Tokiwa heard we were coming over and decided to take a shower to wash off all the feverish sweat on her from being in bed all day. But she’d forgotten to bring clothes to change into when she was done. After drying herself off some, she was going from the bathroom to her room to get them, aaand... That’s when we showed up, of course.
For the record, her long hair had been (thankfully?) covering the view, but she was at least wearing underwear. On the one hand, it was a relief. And on the other, it was still pretty...
“It’s important to dry yourself properly, especially if you have a cold.”
“...”
Tokiwa gave a meek nod from where she lay on the futon. I knew she had a penchant for being absent-minded, so it wasn’t like this was totally out of character. I couldn’t help the small sigh of resignation that escaped my lips.
“So, why are you two curled up in the corner? Satsuki? Tsumiki?”
“They were huge...”
“And so soft...”
They sat facing each other, hugging their knees to their chests and muttering. Had something happened when they were drying Tokiwa off?
“Ack...” Tokiwa coughed weakly.
“Jeez, this is all because you acted without thinking.”
I dunked a washcloth in the basin and wrung it out before laying it over her burning forehead. Tokiwa lifted herself up to whisper in my ear...
“Thank you.”
“I, uh, yeah... You’re welcome.”
“...”
Tokiwa smiled gently and carefully laid her head back down on the pillow so as not to disturb the washcloth. Because of her fever, her face was flushed... While it hurt my pride to admit President Momone was right, she did look more sensual than usual.
“Goodness me... The ‘oh, take care of me’ event is pretty standard romcom fair, but I had no idea you’d be so weak to it, Rekka.”
“...!”
R was as deadpan as ever, but I could swear she was grinning beneath it all. I quickly glanced around the room, trying to find any excuse for a conversation to change the subject and hide my embarrassment.
“You sure have a lot of books, huh?”
The walls of Tokiwa’s room were lined with bookshelves packed with manga, novels, and thick reference books. There were even more stacked high on the floor. It was clear just how much she loved books and reading. She must really want to become an author...
Perhaps the fact she’d always been sickly contributed to that. Maybe she’d spent her childhood reading in bed rather than outside playing. But... did she read a lot because she wanted to become an author, or did she want to become an author because she read a lot? I guess the order didn’t really matter. Both aspects had played a big part in making Tokiwa who she was today. As I was reflecting on all that, Satsuki and Tsumiki finally emerged from their gloom and came over to us.
“Are you hungry, Tokiwa? If you are, we can make porridge for you. Would you like that?” Satsuki asked, and Tokiwa nodded her head once. “Then we’ll go make you some right now. We’ll just borrow your kitchen for a bit.”
“It’s gonna knock your socks off, so just you wait!”
At that, Satsuki and Tsumiki left the room and went downstairs together.
“I don’t think they’ll take too long. Oh, would you like something to drink in the meantime?”
Tokiwa nodded, so I handed her the vitamin-packed sports drink I’d picked up on the way... and managed to spill some of it.
“I’m sorry. Here, let me wipe—!”
Urk! Some of it had splashed right on her neckline!
“U-Um, Tokiwa...”
“...?”
I desperately tried to communicate without words, but Tokiwa just tilted her head and waited for me to take care of it. I reached out hesitantly and wiped the sports drink off her collarbone, careful not to go any lower than that.
Whew... What was I doing while Satsuki and Tsumiki weren’t around? Man... If they’d been here, they could’ve done it for me or helped her change her shirt.
“Hm...?”
Huh? Belatedly, I realized something felt off. Like I had forgotten something extremely important...
▽
About ten minutes later...
“Sorry for the wait. Here’s your porridge.”
Satsuki came in carrying a tray with bowls of porridge and a salt shaker on it. The white gruel was standard homemade porridge, but I gotta say, it looked pretty good.
“Eep!”
“...”
Tokiwa hugged Satsuki and whispered something to her. Probably a word of thanks.
“Can you eat it yourself? If you don’t think you can manage, I’ll feed you.”
“...”
“All right, leave it to me. Sit back a little and open wide.”
At Satsuki’s request, Tokiwa scooted back in her futon and opened her mouth.
“Here, let me cool it off for you.”
After blowing on the hot porridge, Satsuki moved the china spoon to Tokiwa’s waiting mouth. It really did look good, and seeing Tokiwa eat it only made it look tastier. But...
“Tsumiki... what is this?” I pointed to the bowl in front of me and asked.
“...It’s porridge,” Tsumiki, the person responsible for making my portion, replied sulkily.
Porridge, huh? Well, she had said she was going to the kitchen to make porridge, so that was probably what she at least intended it to be. At first, at least.
However, no one in the world would have guessed what was in my bowl was porridge. In fact, if it had been served to me without context, I would have just assumed it was toxic sludge and called a hazmat team... Okay, maybe that was going a little too far. But the short of it was that my porridge looked more like poison.
Ah, so that’s what I’d forgotten... Why hadn’t I stopped Tsumiki when she said she was going to make porridge? She’d left the room with Satsuki, so naturally, it hadn’t even crossed my mind. But I’d dug my own grave now. What was I going to do with this... this goop she’d served me?
“J-Just eat up already!”
“Are... Are you sure this is my portion?”
“Even I wouldn’t make Tokiwa eat that. N-Now, go on! If you can’t eat it yourself, I’ll feed it to you!”
That was practically what
Satsuki had just said to Tokiwa... So why did it feel like a threat coming from Tsumiki? And why did I have to eat her cooking in the first place? I mean, I guess she did go to the trouble of making it, and it would be a waste just to throw it out... Oh, well, here goes nothing.
“I’ll try it...”
I prepared myself and picked up the spoon... Oh, God, it was thick. I scooped a spoonful of the sludge that was still bubbling like a swamp and lifted it to my mouth, an oddly gooey string trailing behind it.
“...Hom!”
I figured it would be better to get it over with and shoved the whole spoonful in my mouth all at once.
“Hrk! Urgh!”
I couldn’t do a spit take in a room full of books, but damn if I didn’t want to! I desperately clamped both hands over my mouth and tried not to spew what I’d just forced myself to swallow. I hadn’t had something this bad in a while. But what was with the strangely medicinal taste...? Had she tried to make something healthy? The taste of ginger was overwhelming... I couldn’t even identify all the other spices.
You’d think someone would’ve had to try to make food this wretched. Tsumiki’s desire to make something good was sincere... The results were just bad. If you fed something like this to a sick person, it might just kill them. The only reason I was still standing was because I’d had the pleasure of trying Tsumiki’s failed cooking multiple times before.
“Tsumiki...”
“What?”
“I acknowledge your efforts... But please just stick to salt for seasoning.”
“...Okay...” Tsumiki’s shoulders slumped as she nodded.
There were plenty of different ways you could season porridge, but she would need to master the basics before getting creative. People’s lives were at stake here.
Tokiwa eventually finished eating Satsuki’s porridge, and I somehow managed to suffer through eating Tsumiki’s. I then helped take care of the dishes.
“All right... 37.2 degrees. Has your fever gone down a little?” Satsuki asked as she looked at the thermometer.
Tokiwa nodded. She seemed to be getting better bit by bit. Dare I say we were succeeding at the nursing mission President Momone had assigned me?
“It’ll still be a while before your parents get home...” Satsuki said as she eyed the clock on the wall.
I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 11 Page 8
