Rely on me to help

"" Himari-can stop resisting and stay in bed it is not going to help if you keep on doing this.""

"" I can't be here so let me leave I can take care of myself now.""

"" Come on just stay there and rest let me take care of you. You won't have the strength to resist if I get forcefull in handling you.""

"" Please don't do this Satoshi-kun.

"" Just stay in bed I insist you are sick right now are you still going to be stubborn when you fainted earlier your temperature is still high so rest right now. You can return to your apartment tomorrow when you get better.""

To explain the situation right now I am currently taking care of Himari in my room who just fainted in front of me when I was about to get into my apartment. How did it come to this? Well, let's start from the beginning.

"" Himari-san? Hey, wake up Himari-san.""

I held the unconscious Himari supporting her body from falling down the floor calling out to her continuously. It seemed like she won't be waking up for a while so I started to think about what to do.

I could leave her in her room but the fact that she is unconscious makes me worried and I would need to rummage through her belongings which would be an invasion of her privacy plus coming inside a girl's room uninvited would be not good. I could leave her here but well that is a bad decision to make as there is a chance she might die if not given any treatment.

I sighed, there really is no other way for me to solve this without sacrificing my time since we both live alone.

I opened the door to my apartment carrying the unconscious Himari and the books I bought inside. I set Himari on my bed placed the books on the shelf nearby while grabbing the thermometer as well. As I checked Himari's temperature I was surprised to see that it reached 40 degrees.

"" Oh dear, that's too high how long has she been in this state, did she not take care of herself yesterday?""

I went out of the room finding some cold medicines and brought back a pan full of water with a handkerchief to the room. When I opened the door I saw that Himari was starting to wake up from her sleep.

"" Hey, are you awake now Himari-san?""

I called out to her.

Himari slightly opened her eyes as I called her after seeing me and scanning the room she was in she opened her eyes wide in surprise.

"" Eh, Satoshi-kun why are you here, where am I?""

She asked me trying to pull her body up.

"" Please don't move too much Himari-san you got quite a high cold right now and you are currently in my room since I don't really want to go in your room as it is rude for me to do that. Since you're awake right now here use this to clean yourself and here is a change of clothes. Sorry, I don't really have anything that fits you I have these new clothes that I bought yesterday.""

"" No, you don't need to take care of me I'll take my leave now. She tried to stand up after saying that but she immediately fell back on the bed.""

"" Himari-san stop resisting and stay in bed it is not going to help if you keep on doing this.""

"" I can't be here so let me leave I can take care of myself now.""

"" Come on just stay there and rest let me take care of you. You won't have the strength to resist if I get forceful in handling you.""

"" Please don't do this Satoshi-kun.""

"" Just stay in bed I insist, you are sick right now, are you still going to be stubborn when you fainted earlier your temperature is still high so rest right now. You can return to your apartment tomorrow when you get better.""

"" Here take this and wipe yourself with this I'm leaving the water here use that to rinse the handkerchief again, also these clothes will help circulate the heat your body produces. I'll come back later to give you dinner before you go back to sleep so rest after you finish.""

"" Okay please knock later before you come in.""

I left the room and started to prepare to cook dinner. Since she is sick then I guess some easy-to-digest food is a must for today. With the leftover rice earlier, I mixed it with the cold broth of ramen that was left in the freezer and added plums to add a little sweetness to the dish before heating the pot in which the end product is rice porridge. There was some leftover pork from last night's dinner I chopped it into fine pieces and spread it above the porridge.

I went back to my bedroom in which Himari was in knocking first to check if she was done.

"" Come in.""

I heard Himari's voice on the other side of the door which confirmed that it was okay to go inside.

"" How is your cold doing I extended my hand grabbing the thermometer from her hands which displayed 39.8 degrees on the screen.""

"" Here, you should eat first then take this medicine and rest I'll watch over you until your condition gets a little bit better. You can return to your room tomorrow morning since you will take the medicine right after this.""

"" Wait, where are you going to sleep now that I am occupying your bed?""

She asked me with a sorry look in her eyes.

"" You don't need to think of me, I can sleep on the couch later after confirming that your condition is better.""

I sat down on the floor near the shelves taking a book out and started to read as I waited for Himari to sleep.

Himari looks at me with her face containing mixed feelings. It was a long time until she managed to speak out her thoughts to me.

"" Why are you so nice Satoshi-kun? You should have not helped me, I could have done this myself.""

"" I'm not the type of person that leaves someone I know suffer, besides I have a conviction that if you can lend a hand to others then why not lend a hand?""

I looked at her with a serious face which made her widen her eyes.

"" You are a nice person Satoshi-kun, although you don't have anything to do with me you still help me thank you.""

She looked at me and smiled bitterly it was as if something was bothering her.

"" Don't mind it, just rest for now I will take care of you for now, so you just sleep.""

I said that as I gave her the cold medicine and took the plates out with me leaving Himari alone in the room to rest.

I washed the dishes after eating the leftover porridge I cooked earlier as my dinner, it was perfect for the occasion since it was raining outside. I sat on the couch thinking about what to do with the time that I have before finally settling by playing video games to kill time.

After 45 minutes I went inside my room to check on Himari's temperature again checking if it went down. I opened the door to see a peacefully sleeping Himari on my bed I moved closer placing the back of my hand on her forehead to gauge her temperature which was still high.

I took a clean cloth, rinsing it with cold water then drained it before placing it on her forehead. This will transfer the heat inside her body to the cloth, so I need to keep rinsing the cloth many times to help her cool down.

I set a 30-minute timer on my phone to remind me of this. I went out of the room to let time pass by playing another round of the game, but I became bored playing the second one since none of my opponents posed a challenge.

I again changed the cloth on Himari's head restarting the routine I've done but I went ahead by cleaning the kitchen letting half an hour pass by again. I did the cloth again then went back to cleaning the living room, then the bathroom, and then the balcony of my apartment dorm. By the time I realized what time it was the sun was already starting to rise.

"" Morning already huh?""

I went inside my room seeing Himari who was still asleep. I checked her temperature again. the screen displayed 37.9 degrees which were good since a little more rest would help her recover completely.

Just then, she started to open her eyes waking up from her sleep, she looked like an "Angel" rising from her slumber as the rays of light emphasized her entire being.

"" Good morning, Himari your temperature has fallen too close to normal again you can return to your room today if you want but I suggest you keep on resting when you return back to your room. I cook your food this morning so please continue resting.""

"" Good morning Satoshi-kun.""

She rubbed her eyes stretching her body which was mesmerizing to eyes of a man.

"" Hey, don't just stretch in my room you look like you are inviting me to attack you.""

When she heard that her face immediately became red her hand moved and she threw a pillow at me hitting my face.

"" Y-You don't say those things in front of me!""

"" Well, I was warning you because if you do that in front of a boy especially in their house, they might get the wrong idea.""

"" S-st-stop it you're making me more embarrassed.""

Her eyes became teary, and her body was shivering looks as I said too much.

"" Since you understand that, please don't let your guard down when you're in front of someone, you never know what they are thinking"".

I reminded her again before extending my arm to help her get up. She calmed down and took my hand after a minute passed but her ears were still red.

"" You can return the stuff that you borrowed to me later I need to clean my room today and disinfect it since I might catch a cold if I leave it uncleaned.""

I led her to her apartment door and placed her stuff in front of her door so she can easily get them.

"" Thank you Satoshi-kun I can handle myself now you can leave me alone now.""

She bowed to me before going inside her appartment.

I went back to my apartment and cooked breakfast for the both of us. I chose to cook a healthy meal since I have to cook for a person recovering from a cold which I decided to be chicken soup. It took me about an hour to finish cooking the dish, I placed Himari's share inside a container and gave it to her after. I went back to my apartment and started to clean my room which housed Himari last night.

I swept the floor and dusted the tables after finally spraying the room with a disinfectant to kill the bacteria inside the room. Before leaving the room I took with me several books of the light novel Elites and placed them in front of the couch. I went in the bathroom taking a bath before eating my breakfast then settled down on the couch as I grabbing the next volume of the light novel.

Hours passed since I have started to read yet I managed to finish until the 4th volume which left me in a cliff hanger.

It was already night time and since it was Saturday I wanted to lay around.

I guess it is time for dinner. I muttered as I stood up and fell back on the couch. I felt my consciousness fade as my vision started to to darken.

I woke up checking the time which was 8 at night, I started to think about why would I suddenly lose consciousness. I remembered that I couldn't rest yesterday since I had to take care of Himari.

Just then I heard a knock on my front door I wasn't expecting someone to come but I clearly knew who was behind the other side of the door. I opened the door and there I saw Himari with some of the stuff I gave to her earlier.

"" Good evening, Satoshi-kun sorry for the late visit but here is the stuff you gave m— Wait Satoshi-kun why is your face like this what happened to you!?""

Apparently, she was surprised to see me in a bad state but was it really that bad, but I haven't seen myself in the mirror, so I'll trust her words.

"" Sorry, I am really tired right now I still haven't eaten a proper lunch, yet I was thinking of making dinner, but I wanted to rest first you don't need to worry about m—""

"" Satoshi-kun even though you took care of me when I was sick you didn't take good care of yourself.""

She sighed and looked at me again.

"" You haven't had your dinner yet, right?""

"" Well, I was gonna eat a quick meal right after thi-""

"" Then wait here I will get some leftovers from my lunch earlier you should eat proper food before you sleep.""

She cut me off before I could finish my sentence.

"" You don't need to do that but are you really sure you want to give me the leftover dinner?""

I didn't want to trouble her too much since she had a hard time last time waking up to cook breakfast.

"" It's fine, you helped me earlier did you not? Consider this me returning a part of my favor to you for taking care of me yesterday. I am also at fault since you weren't able to rest well while taking care of me.""

"" Thanks, I guess you really saved me some time. Then can I suggest me cooking breakfast tomorrow? I don't really want to cause you to wake up early to cook for your breakfast.""

"" If you want to then you can I'll visit you tomorrow morning, then.""

Surprisingly she accepted my proposal.

"" Alright then look forward to tomorrow Himari-san.""

"" Please rest well later Satoshi-kun, thank you for yesterday again.""

We gave each other's thanks as she went to her room to get the leftover dinner. While washing the dishes after eating dinner I thought to myself.

So, she opened up to me huh? I noticed that she was talking to me in an informal way earlier.

I unconsciously smiled seeing that she was just like a normal girl living and proceeded to go to sleep earlier than usual.