25th December, Christmas.
I caught a cold.
I woke up with a terrible chill even though my whole body was covered by the blanket. My body temperature was high, my nose was stuffy and it was hard to breathe.
I felt that every possible cold symptom that ever existed in this world was ailing my body.
…Crap…
My current temperature was 39.5 degrees C, it was really high.
Actually, some of the symptoms appeared last night, but I was having dinner with Umi, my lover, so I completely brushed them aside. I was too happy to feel sick, you see.
Well, this was to be expected. I have been busy for the past three weeks. Both my body and mind were exhausted because I didn't have the time to relax. Yesterday, everything was resolved and since I had nothing to worry about anymore, all my tension was replaced by the fatigue I had accumulated.
And since I was sick, I decided to just take it easy and take my medicine. Or at least, that was the plan.
"Here's your medicine, Maki-kun, take it slowly and sleep afterward, okay? I'll be in the next room, if you need something, don't hesitate to call me, okay?"
"C'mon, Maki, put your hands below the cover too. I know it's hot, but you need to keep your body warm! Oh yeah, I'll go get your ice pack."
I was lying on a futon in the guest room in Umi's house. Both Umi and Sora-san were currently nursing me.
"…Sorry, for troubling you, Umi…"
"Hm? It's fine, I don't mind~ I don't feel troubled at all… Rather, I'd be troubled if I were to leave you alone when you're like this."
I'll summarize what exactly happened prior to this situation.
-> I woke up and found out that I caught a cold, so I took some medicine and went back to bed.
-> The fever didn't go away after a while and suddenly Umi came.
-> Apparently Mom gave her a duplicate key to our house, so she just barged in. I told her to go home, but she insisted on helping me.
-> Umi called Sora-san over and told her about my fever. She came to my house and drove me to the hospital. The result of the check up was that I caught a severe cold and they gave me some IV drip.
-> After that, Sora-san brought me to her house instead of bringing me back home.
And here we were.
By the way, mom canceled her months long break and went right back to work. It seemed like the company treated her absence as paid leave so there was no problem in that regard, but because of her work, she wouldn't be able to come home today. That was the content of the note she left at the table this morning.
'You don't need to look for me, okay?
-Sincerely, Mom.'
Since she was able to joke like that, I assumed that she would be okay even if I were to leave her alone.
Still, her timing couldn't be worse… But, whatever, she was okay now, that was the only thing that mattered.
Because of that, Sora-san suggested that I stay in the Asanagi's house in the meantime. At least until I completely recover from my cold.
I felt like I've been troubling the Asanagis a lot lately, but since Sora-san insisted and I didn't have enough reason to reject her kindness, I couldn't help but agree to it. Sora-san and Umi aside, I felt that I would be troubling Riku-san by staying here for too long.
Well, I couldn't do anything about it except for praying that my cold will go away soon.
While I was worrying over things like that, Umi came bringing some ice packs.
"…Umi, have you told Sora-san about–"
"Yeah, she knew about our relationship… Rather, she thought we've been dating this entire time, so yeah, you don't need to worry about that."
"I see."
They approved our relationship, thankfully. I guess I could say that I got lucky. Families like the Asanagis who easily accepted the fact that their daughter was dating someone were quite rare after all.
But anyway, we struck a surprisingly good balance. I had no problems with my friends while Umi had many with hers, and Umi had no problems with her family but mine was pretty much in shambles.
"Maki, don't worry… I'll do my best so that we'll be able to be together forever…"
"Yeah, I got it, but first we have to cure my cold, Umi…"
"Hehe… Don't worry about that. With the power of love, I'll nurse you back to health in a blink of an eye! So, give your body to me, Maki~"
This girl in front of me was no longer just a friend, but my girlfriend.
"…Yeah sure… I'll be in your care."
"Alright, now let's spoil you with my chest–"
"No, not now, please…"
I felt like it would be counterproductive if she did that. Instead of trying my best to get rid of the cold, I would end up making zero effort so that I could bury my head in her chest for as long as I could.
I could say this with confidence because I'm speaking from experience.
Well, I'll ask for it on another occasion.
"Umu… Well, I can see that you look better already. By the way, can you eat? You're hungry, aren't you?"
"Actually, yeah, I'm starving…"
Now that I think about it, I haven't eaten anything since I woke up. It's almost lunchtime and I could smell something good coming from the kitchen. Sora-san seemed to be cooking.
"Got it! I'll make something for you! You'll be fine with porridge, right?"
"Eh? …Y-Yeah… B-but…"
"Don't worry, mom is here so all is fine. Besides, it's just porridge, what could go wrong?"
This girl casually raised a red flag like that. But, since Sora-san would be there, maybe…
I decided to nod my head to her suggestion for the time being.
* * *
"…My bad…"
Sure enough, she triggered the flag successfully without much effort. The porridge was a complete failure.
At first, Umi was asking for advice from Sora-san, but after Sora-san gave her advice, Umi kicked her out and went to make the porridge by herself. Apparently, she thought that it was easy enough and there would be no way for her to mess up. But, like they said, overconfidence was a slow and insidious killer, she somehow burnt the rice in the process.
And so, in front of me there was a lump of matter that resembled porridge, a box of pizza and a gloomy looking Umi.
I've heard that she was bad at controlling the heat, but I didn't know that she was this bad. By the way, Sora-san scolded her because the rice she burnt was the last rice available in the house. Because of that, she went to the convenience store to buy more rice.
"Well, I'll eat everything before it gets cold… It's fine, everybody makes mistakes, at least you've learned your lesson now."
"Ugh… Sorry… I'll eat them–"
"Nah, you made them for me, so I'll eat them."
I pointed to the soggy matter, the failed porridge.
"Eh? But it tastes really bad though…"
"Like I said, you made it for me, so might as well."
Even she admitted that it tasted bad. Well, it was the first dish she ever made for me, I didn't want it to go to waste. At least this will make a good memory for both of us.
"O-Okay… But, don't force yourself…"
Umi brought a spoonful to my mouth. I opened my mouth and swallowed it without hesitation.
It tasted bitter. She took the burned part away, but the bitterness was still there.
It wasn't flavorless though, so it was still edible.
"…Ugh…"
"…How was it?"
"…It's bad, sorry… Man, you're really bad at this…"
The morally correct answer here was to praise her, but I found no reason to do that.
Still, even though it was bad, it was still something that she made for me.
"It's fine though. I'm glad that you tried at all. So, thank you, Umi…"
"…Maki, you need to stop spoiling me, jeez… I'll become a lazy woman if you keep this up, you know?"
That was a tall order, Princess.
We were lovers after all, I had to spoil you whenever I could.
"Forget about the porridge, let's just eat the pizza together! Here it is, Aah~"
Also because we were lovers, it was natural that we're doing this kind of thing.
"Aahh… Mm! Yeah, this one tastes much better than whatever that was. Actually, I'm glad I ate that thing first because it somehow enhanced the taste of the pizza."
"So you have chosen death."
"…Go easy on me."
I should avoid food-related jokes for the time being.
…Also…
I did it behind everyone's back to make Umi feel better. I learned that her lips tasted like coke.