Ch 45

POV Shinji Makoto

"Ugh." I grunted as I got my body to move and switch off the alarm on my phone.

Why is it so difficult to move? I took a step out of my bed but-

*Crash*

-but collapsed on the ground when I tried to stand up.

*Beep-Beep-Beep. Beep-Beep-Beep*

I was woken up by a very familiar beeping, but I couldn\'t remember the source of this sound.

When I opened my eyes I was back in my bed and the layers of blankets on me had doubled.

"Finally awake?" My mother\'s voice came from beside me.

"What happened? Cough-cough" I croaked out of my dry throat making me cough uncontrollably as my mother took out the thermometer from my mouth. Ah so that was what made the beeping.

"Here water." She passed me a glass filled with water and continued speaking. "You fainted because of your fever this morning. Just stay at home today."

I was too tired to reply to her. I just drank the water, and lay back down and closed my eyes again.

"You sleep for now. Everything you need is on the bedside table." Seeing me not respond she got up and left the room shutting the door softly.

After she left I sneakily opened my eyes and opened my phone up.

To hell with sleeping. An unexpected holiday is the prime time to enjoy and have a great time relaxing.

The first thing I did though was send Nishikawa a text telling him to take a copy of any worksheets and stuff like that for me and also to inform me if anything important was done in class.

Now that the important stuff was over. It was time for the truly important stuff. I dragged my body to my laptop that was sitting on my desk. The problem was, when I switched it on I realized I didn\'t know what I wanted to do. I looked at all the game icons on my screen but wasn\'t especially attracted to anything in there.

After spending five minutes moving my mouse across the screen I finally gave up thinking and booted up Genshin Impact. In just fifteen minutes I did all the daily stuff and had nothing to do anymore. On top of that my mind was also feeling sluggish. In the end I just quit trying to play anything and just went to my bed with my phone.

I tried opening up a light novel to read but even that was too much effort for me at the moment. Finally, I tried the easiest thing watch YouTube. I lay on my side on the bed and propped the phone with the wall as support. This is the ultimate form of relaxing. You don\'t have to move any part of your body and just watch what is shown on the screen. The problem with this however is that it is too comfortable. And sure enough, in just a few minutes I lost my consciousness.

The next time I woke up I was feeling much better than before. I looked at the digital clock at the table that read 12:30.

Crap. I slept all the way to afternoon. Now the whole morning is gone up in smokes.

The good thing was that my mind was feeling way more agile when compared to the morning and the sluggishness was also gone.

I took my temperature again it showed a temperature of 99.5℉. It is still a little high but its much better than the morning.

I spent the next few hours just passing time enjoying my otaku hobbies when the doorbell rang. I took a look at the clock in my room which read 3:30. Since it was the time for school to end I was expecting either one of my siblings to be at the door but when I opened the door, the one standing in front of me was somebody else.

Am I hallucinating because of my fever? No, I am not that much off in the head for something like that.

At first I was confused seeing Nakano at my door. A few questions did arise in my heart like why was she here and how she knew where I lived but seeing the stack of papers in her hands and the person standing beside her made everything clear.

"What are you not going to let me in?" Nakano said seeing me standing there with a dumbfounded situation.

Her words woke me up and I hurriedly moved out of her way. "Ah of course come in. Shimabukuro do you also want to come?"

"Ah no. I am going to my house. Nakano san will be enough to take care of you."

Her very mechanical response sent my alarm bells ringing. Although I was sick I could still distinguish a forced sentence like that without even trying. That sentence was clearly rehearsed. But then the question remains what is she planning? Of course, I didn\'t forget to notice that her words made Nakano\'s face tinge slightly with redness.

Seeing her walk away and into her own home I also shut the door and led Nakano inside to the living room.

"Umm. Thank you." I said to her after we sat down. I mean. I didn\'t know what she really came for. If she came for delivering the class notes she could have already left by now. In such a case I should start from the things I do know so thanking her for making the effort to deliver me this is fine, right?

"For what?" It seems Nakano didn\'t understand what I was thinking.

"For delivering the sheets."

"Oh that. Yes."

We fell into momentary silence.

"Umm-"

"Umm-"

We both decided to speak at the same goddamn time.

"You go on." I hurriedly motioned her to speak before another cringy interaction took place.

"Are you fine? I heard you were sick."

She went quiet after saying this. Like dude, I didn\'t give you the initiative for you to drop it short like this. But at the same time, I understood why she stopped. She probably realized the ambiguity in her words and was too embarrassed to speak further.

"Oh I am sick but definitely better than what I was in the morning. But why are you here?"

"…"

Frick. I probably shouldn\'t have asked that. I hurriedly tried to salvage the situation.

"Don\'t worry it was probably Tsukumo san who made you come, right?"

There was no way I would believe a person could have a change of heart so fast, but the way her face turned frigid made me doubt myself.

"Yes that\'s right." She said in marked colder tone than before.

Although she said that what I understood from her behaviour was the exact opposite. I could still be wrong, maybe I was being too hopeful, or maybe my senses were just off because of the sickness, but if I was correct…

"Have you eaten?"

She asked me out of the blue.

"I have… not. I haven\'t even eaten lunch. Nope. Nope. I was just going to make something when you came."

What a joke. If I said I was full I would be killing my own chances. Of course, I had only eaten the reheated leftovers of last nights dinner for lunch so I am not lying completely.

Hearing my response her face brightened a bit.

"Is that so? Then seeing you are sick person, I will cook for you."

Wow. I had though she bought some food for me from somewhere. Nakano cooking something for me was definitely something I was not expecting to happen.

Is it my lucky day or something? Seeing Nakano\'s figure move around the counter made me doubt if what I was seeing was my imagination. I would be willing to be sick everyday if I was treated like this everyday.

"Where is the salt and spices?"

Nakano\'s sudden question snapped me awake.

"Oh I will help", I said getting up.

"No need just tell me where the spices are."

I took the spices out of the cupboard and handed the containers to her.

"Here are the spices and salt as well."

"Thanks. Now you quietly go and sit at the couch. I will be the one cooking."

The fierce look in her eyes made me realize that she wouldn\'t take no no for an answer and I was forced to retreat.

Bah. All I wanted to do was show off my cooking skills. Don\'t women like men who can cook? These thoughts gave rise to a crucial question in my mind.

"Nakano. You know how to cook?"

She looked over her shoulder and replied in a confident voice.

"That\'s right, I do. I have been cooking from the time I was in 5th grade. Although I stopped in middle school I still know enough to cook some basic stuff."

That\'s good. I didn\'t want to end up eating a half poisoned and be forced to complement it. Although, if things came down to it I probably would have to.

"Then what are you making?"

She said she only knows basic stuff so she isn\'t making something out of her skill level right?

"That\'s a secret." She replied as she winked at me.

She isn\'t making something out of her skill level right?

I had a bad feeling in my stomach.

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