Chapter 35

The next morning, she woke up with a fever and a stuffy nose. Takumi walked into the room.

"Oh good, you're awake. The power's back, but it looks like we'll be staying inside today; it's still raining heavily."

She didn't get up and only hummed in response.

"Something wrong?"

"I feel like a massive pile of shit."

He put his hand on her forehead.

"So, Miss. I-never-get-sick, it looks like you caught a cold."

"Tis doesn't want to heal me. She said something about learning my lesson, but it's a bitch move, in my opinion."

"I can't say that I don't agree with her. I'll go make you something to eat."

"No, I don't want to eat anything. I just want to sleep."

"Wow, you must be seriously sick if you don't even want to eat anything. But you still have to if you don't want to get worse."

"Geez, is this what being sick feels like? I feel like I'm dying."

"You wouldn't feel like this if you had listened to me."

The next morning, Takumi woke up and found the other side of the bed empty. He went into the living room and found her lying on her arms on the coffee table. He picked her up and carried her back to bed.

"Where are we going?"

"Back to bed."

"Wasn't I already in bed?"

"No, you were in the living room. You know; sleeping on the coffee table won't help you get better."

"I don't remember doing that."

"Well, you did. Now stay put, I'm going out to get you some medicine. Any specific kind I shouldn't get you?"

"Nope. I highly doubt there's flu medicine with silver, oestrogen, progestin or Wolfsbane in it."

When he came back, he found her sleeping on the kitchen floor. He bent down next to her and stroked her back, waking her up.

"Sleeping on the floor won't help you either. You look worse than before. At this rate, you'll never get better."

"But it looked so comfortable."

He sighed and picked her up, carrying her back to bed.

"Don't go anywhere. Just lie in bed, get plenty of rest and eat your food so you can drink your medicine."

"But..."

"No arguing," He firmly stated.

"Ugh, fine."

"I don't want to be harsh with you, but I will if it means you'll get better, ok?" He kissed her forehead.

"Won't you get sick?"

"Don't worry about me; I've been careful. And if I do, it'd be worth it when you're better."

The next day...

"You look a little better, but not enough to let you go to school. No sleeping on floors or tables."

"Yeah yeah."

Later that day, Takumi called her.

"Yeah?"

"I'm at the store. Should I get tampons?"

"No. Why?"

"I thought you wanted to switch. Don't most women switch after some time?"

"Not really. Personally, I'm not comfortable with sticking something up my vagina during my period, so I'm not switching."

"Ok."

The end of the day...

She bumped into Takumi just when she walked out.

"Crap, you scared the hell out of me. I wasn't expecting you to be back so soon."

"Is there something wrong?"

"No. Just a little surprised."

"Anyway, I see you're all better now. Where are you going?"

"To pick up some stuff. Nothing to see here."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Nothing important."

"Ok, but you could've asked me when I was at the store."

"I didn't think of anything at the time."

He was about to go in, but she blocked the door.

"Don't go in."

"Why not?"

"I mean, don't you wanna come with?"

"Are you hiding something?"

"Who, me? Pfft, no. I just wanted you to come with me. You know, to get some of that refreshing fresh air. Nothing wrong with that."

"You're definitely hiding something. Let me in."

"No."

"C'mon."

She shook her head.

"You left me no choice."

He picked her up like a little kid and set her down, away from the door.

"No fair."

"You're the one who left me no choice."

He was about to go in, but she hugged his leg, stopping him.

"Don't do it."

"Why?"

"You might get mad."

He opened the door anyway. When he did, a puppy ran out past him and into Twilight's arms, wagging its tail and licking her face.

"So, this is what you were hiding. You got a dog?"

"It's a funny story. You see, I was killing some time at the park when this little guy ran up to me. I played with him a little and tried to get him to shoo before I headed back. But he wouldn't and ended up following me all the way. And I couldn't say no to this face. Please let me keep him."

She gave him the puppy dog eyes, and the dog did the same thing.

"Fine," He sighed. "But he's your responsibility."

"You hear that, boy? You get to stay. Yes, you do."

"I'm guessing the stuff you were talking about is for him."

"Yeah."

"He's an actual dog, right? I'm not sure how I'd feel if I woke up tomorrow to find a baby."

"Yep. Pups can't shift. And his name is Oreo. And for the record, babies are cute."

"Is that your way of telling me you want to have one?"

"No. Don't be ridiculous. We've barely started adulthood. Sure, my parents had me when they were 18 and 19, but I don't want to follow in their footsteps in that department."

"Never expected to find out that your dad is a lot younger than my parents. They're already in their late 40s."

The next day, when Twilight entered the school's gate, she was immediately dragged off somewhere by Ayaka and Atsumi. They dragged her off to behind the school, and they did not look happy.

"Am I missing something?" She asked them.

"How could you not tell us?" Atsumi asked.

"Not tell you what?"

"That Rengoku is your boyfriend," Ayaka answered. "And to think that you said it's not important who it is."

"It's kinda not."

"Really? The guy rumoured to be gay for the last three years is your boyfriend, and you say it's not important?" Atsumi said.

"Now that you put it like that, I guess it was kinda important. Should I even ask how you found out?"

"Most of the school saw him kiss you last Friday," Ayaka replied.

"Right." She facepalmed.

"And rumours travel fast around here, so now the whole school knows," Atsumi added. "You might wanna start watching your back because his fan club definitely isn't happy about it."

"I'm sure it's not that bad."