CK 27

Chapter 27…

To Fight Together

Fever

The day after our battle with the Fly Constellation.

It was lunchtime, and I was finally enjoying a quiet moment on the rooftop.
The sunlight was a bit hot for this season, but it wasn’t unpleasant.

However, that peaceful time came to an abrupt end with the sound of the door opening and a voice calling out.

“Hey, Masato. Is that message true?”
“Probably. But she was fine yesterday evening when we were together.”

The one who appeared was one of my childhood friends, Hiyori Mizusaki.
She was slightly out of breath, probably from hurrying over from class.
Even for calm, reserved Hiyori, it was clear she was shocked.

After hearing my reply, she murmured “I see…” and sat down next to me on the bench.

The message she referred to must have been the one from Yui this morning.
It was sent to our three-person group chat:

“I’ve got a bit of a fever, so I’ll be skipping school today…”

Normally, that wouldn’t be anything unusual—but when it’s Yui, the girl who’s never gotten sick in her life, saying she’s taking a day off because of a fever… well, that’s enough to surprise anyone.
I was skeptical too, but since she really was absent, it wasn’t a lie.

“So, what are you going to do after school?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re not just going to ignore her, right?”
“Don’t make it sound like I’m the bad guy. …Sure, she seemed to be pushing herself, but I did tell her not to overdo it.”

After a brief silence, Hiyori murmured, “Yeah… that’s true.”

“So what’s the plan?”
“I need to drop off the handouts from class anyway, so I’ll check in on her. What about you?”
“I’ll come too. I’m worried.”
“Alright.”

And that was that—the conversation ended, and silence returned.
That’s what it’s like when Yui’s not around.

I tore open the wrapper of the nutrition bar I’d brought for lunch and took a bite.

It was a rare quiet lunch break.
After how hectic things had been lately, this was a nice bit of rest.

Yet, for some reason, I felt a gaze on me.

When I looked over, Hiyori had her lunchbox on her lap—but her eyes were fixed on me.

Our gazes met.
Then she muttered, as if to herself:

“Masato… I thought you’d changed, but you really haven’t.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“If you don’t realize it yourself, that’s fine.”

She turned back to her lunch, opened the lid, picked up her chopsticks, and began to eat.

…What the hell was that supposed to mean?

☆☆☆

After school.
As we’d discussed at lunch, Hiyori and I went to check on Yui at her house.

I placed my hand on the doorknob of the Shirakami residence.
She’d messaged, “I’ll leave it unlocked!”, so I tried turning it.

Sure enough, it opened easily.

“Excuse us,” we both said as we took off our shoes and stepped inside.
Just then, we heard footsteps coming down from the second floor.

A familiar cheerful voice followed.

“I’ve been waiting for you guys! Come on in!”

“…She sounds healthier than I expected.”
“Yeah. Guess we worried for nothing.”

At our comments, Yui pouted slightly.

“You two are so mean!”

She was wearing pajamas, but honestly, she looked pretty energetic—so it was hard to take her “sick” claim seriously.

“What’s your temperature now?”
“Hmm… last time I checked, it was about 37.2°C?”
“That’s still a fever. Go lie down.”
“No way! I’m fine already!”
“It’s exam week. The faster you rest, the faster you’ll get better. Go to your room.”
“You two are so cold!!”

Ignoring her complaints, Hiyori spun Yui around and gently pushed her toward the stairs.

Since coming back to this town, I’d visited this house a few times—but not Yui’s room since elementary school.
Thinking that, I followed behind them.

By the time I entered the room, Yui was already sitting on her bed, guided there by Hiyori.

“So, did you catch a cold?”
“Hmm… maybe? I think I just overdid it. That’s what Mom said too…”
“Figured as much.”
“But I slept all morning, so I’m totally fine now!”

She said that proudly, as if she’d achieved something.

Even so, we really should’ve made sure she rested properly.
I’d overestimated her stamina, just because she always seemed full of energy.

I sighed lightly and took off my bag, pulling out today’s handouts.

“Here’s what we got in class. I’ll send you pictures of the notes later.”
“Thanks~!!”
“And here’s your special request… Wait, don’t tell me you’re planning to eat all three of these?”

Hiyori placed a convenience store bag on Yui’s desk and pulled out three pudding cups.
They were Yui’s “get well soon” request from earlier.

“No way! I bought extras so we could eat together! These are simple but sooo good.
Especially since someone here has never even tried one, right?”

She gave me a pointed look.

I ignored it.
She wasn’t wrong though—I’d never eaten that kind before.

Still chatting away, Yui started rummaging around.

“Oh, I’ll pay you back! Where’s my wallet…”
“I knew you’d say that. Stay in bed. Masato and I split the cost, so don’t worry about it.”

Yui tried to stand up, but Hiyori gently pushed her back down.
Yui pouted, but they were so used to this back-and-forth that neither of us paid it much mind.

“Alright, we’re heading out.”
“Already!?”
“We came to drop off your stuff and check on you, that’s all.”
“Aww… I bought three puddings so we could all eat together…”

Typical Yui. I almost sighed aloud but swallowed it and replied calmly instead.

“You still have a fever. Rest.”
“But—no one’s home tonight, and it’s kind of lonely…”
“You mean boring.”
“No, I don’t!”
“If we stay, you won’t sleep.”
“T-that’s not true!”
“You’ll see us tomorrow at school. Go to bed.”

Hiyori started to tuck Yui back in, but Yui resisted weakly.

…Please, just go to sleep already.

“But if you’re leaving, someone has to lock the door.”
“…Good point.”

We gave up on trying to put her to bed and turned to leave.

“Okay, okay! I’ll sleep! But take the puddings with you!”

Right—the puddings. I’d completely forgotten.

We packed them into our bags and finally headed downstairs.

“Get some real rest, alright?”
“I knooow…”
“See ya.”
“Bye! Thanks, you two!”

With her cheerful words behind us, we stepped out the door and left the Shirakami house.
After parting ways with Hiyori, I made my way home.