Chapter 17

A/N: Yo am I goated or not? my 5th chapter with like barely any gaps in between. I being writing for 4 straight hours. Like I'm wondering why I can't do this for coding man…

Hikigaya Hachiman POV.

When he had entered the Cruise Ship, he had immediately went to the infirmary.

It wasn't because of his head or anything, but his leg was legitimately killing him.

He had held it in using one of his 108 Skills: Ignoring Pain but it had reached a threshold where it felt like every step he took was a stab in the leg.

He didn't want to worry Ichinose, so he decided to hold it in until he got to the cruise ship. He thought she would feel guilty if she realized what he was doing.

Inwardly he was grateful that it started raining that evening. He was starting to wonder how in the world he was even going to do another 14.5 kilometers 2 more times.

His feet and ankles were already swollen to the point where his shoes were unbelievably tight, his shins splints getting worse with every round he was doing.

It was with sheer fucking will that he prevented any shaking from his knees after the 10th round.

Now all he had to do was make it to the infirmary and he could finally rest.

Sometimes, he wondered if the money was this worth it.

Maybe it was.

He was more concerned about the next Special Exam. What if he had to move often?

He would be cooked.

Arriving at the Infirmary, his legs finally gave out.

The Nurse there was of course Hoshinomiya-sensei.

There was another person in the room, looking at him on the floor while laying down on a bed, cold compress on her head.

Was Horikita the original Class Leader?

"Yo, Hoshinomiya-sensei?"

Hikigaya weakly waved from his position on the floor.

"What are you doing?"

Hoshinomiya-sensei asked, contemplating whether it was a prank or if it was real.

It made sense, it was impossible to tell if Hikigaya was healthy or not, as he was wearing a long sleeve with long pants, minimal skin revealed.

"I can't walk."

Hikigaya plainly said, ignoring the throbbing pain from his waise down.

"Are you joking or not? I can't tell,"

Hoshinomiya jokingly said, approaching Hikigaya before poking his shin.

Hikigaya winced, hissing in pain.

That quickly jumped Hoshinomiya into action, expression shifting from a smile to a serious frown.

She lightly raised his pants legs, to reveal swolling on his shin, causing the observing Horikita and Hoshinomiya to audibly breathe in.

Normally shin splints didn't swell, despite being painful. If Hikigaya's shins were swelling, that meant that it wasn't just a light shin splint. It implied that he had done severe trauma to the bone, causing the surrounding skin to swell in response.

Hoshinomiya looked at Hikigaya in worry.

Despite being a teacher that liked to joke around with her students, even she knew the right time be serious.

"What did you do to get shin splints this bad?"

Hikigaya didn't care about revealing it despite Horikita being there. As long as Ichinose didn't know, everything would be fine.

"I sorta jogged around 42 kilometers for 4 days in a—"

"WHAT?!"

Hoshinomiya and Horikita both exclaimed, rapidly paling at the implication.

Hoshinomiya quickly ushered Hikigaya to a bed, before carefully taking his shoes off.

Both Horikita and Hoshinomiya winced, while Hikigaya sighed in relief, as the shoes were getting way to tight for him.

What was revealed was Hikigaya's swollen foot, burning red, and his Achilles tendon was extremely inflammed.

Hoshinomiya looked at Hikigaya when he sighed in reliefl, an eyebrow raised. As if asking

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

Did someone read her mind?

Turning to the voice, Hikigaya met eye contact with Horikita.

"Why would you do something so stupid? Look at your foot!"

Horikita's red face from her fever showed extreme concern, despite the two not being on the best of terms.

It was his first time running that much, so he hadn't gotten Morton's neumona, which was a good thing.

Hoshinomiya sighed once more, raising Hikigaya's leg so that the blood would circulate back to the heart.

"I'll be back with a cold compress."

Hoshinomiya went into her office rummaging for a compress.

"I mean, money?"

Horikita looked at Hikigaya like he was insane when he responded.

"So you did all of that, for what? Extra money?"

"Yep."

Hikigaya sagely nodded, like he had found the answers to the world.

"I can't with you. I don't know what my brother sees in you."

Hikigaya shrugged.

"I don't know either."

Hoshinomiya came back with a cold compress before applying it to his ankle and foot for both, along with his shins, before covering it with some gauze.

"So when can I leave?"

Hoshinomiya and Horikita looked at him like he was insane once more.

"Young man, you are not going to be walking until we get back."

Hoshinomiya resolutely said.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Then how am I supposed to enjoy the cruise?"

Hikigaya asked. He was even looking forward to it despite knowing about the possible special exam.

"In a wheelchair. You should be glad that there's elevators in this Cruise Ship."

"What about when I use the restroom and shower?"

"Those are the exceptions."

"I'll text you when to come in for a change in the compress too."

Oh that wasn't that bad.

"So where's the wheel chair?"

"Oh. You're not leaving until tomorrow and we find someone to roll you around."

Damn. That meant that Ichinose was going to see him in a hospital bed.

"Can't you at least bring me to see my classmates get back on the boat tomorrow?"

Hoshinomiya went deep in thought.

"I guess that's a bit reasonable."

—+—

Hikigaya waited on the top of the boat, waiting for his classmates to come up.

Behind him was Hoshinomiya, who had abruptly woke him up 4 hours before the exam even ended, and told him to drink some water and eat some more fish.

He was getting sick of fish.

It wasn't like he was dying either. He was just crippled…

That sounded pretty bad now that he thought about it.

He looked over the railing to listen to the point count.

He was surprised when Class A get 730 Points. He had originally assumed that he would get 712 Points. Where did the extra 18…

Oh, he forgot to count the home base spot in his calculations.

Hoshinomiya looked surprised when they had announced the point count, before giving a glance at Hikigaya's condition, before sighing again.

"Why's nobody cheering?"

Hikigaya asked Hoshinomiya.

"Are you looking at yourself?"

Hoshinomiya asked Hikigaya, glancing at his legs, which were wrapped in gauze and tape.

"Hey I already told Ichinose… I just realized I didn't tell anyone but Ichinose."

Hoshinomiya sighed. She felt like she was doing it way to much recently, but it wasn't even her fault. It was the person she was wheeling around!

"You dumbass."

She gave Hikigaya's head a soft chop.

"What was that for?"

Hoshinomiya gave him a glance that read: "You serious?"

"…Nevermind."

Hikigaya looked back, seeing Class A walk up.

Hikigaya waved at Class A, but they didn't really look in the mood?

Ichinose had noticed Hikigaya, and looked in worry and concern written all over her face.

His other classmates had similar expressions, some with… guilt?

What would they feel guilty for? Did they talk about him behind his back?

Ichinose approached Hikigaya before stopping right in front of him.

She glanced at Hikigaya's wrapped legs with concern, before looking Hikigaya in the eye.

"I knew from the beginning you know?"

Hikigaya winced. Damn.

Ichinose looked at his expression, before sighing.

"What should I do with you?"

Like a wife chiding a husband after he had done something worthy of the couch for bed.

The rest of his classmates had caught up with Ichinose. Some gave thanks, and one walked up awkwardly and apologized.

"I'm so sorry, Hikigaya. I talked behind your back because everytime I came back to camp, you were sleeping and eating. I was even a little jealous!"

Some other students had followed his example, apologizing.

This was something he was not used to.

So he just waved them off.

"Nah it's fine. I forgot to tell you guys anyways,"

He glanced at Ichinose who looked at him with an unsatisfied expression.

"…Nevermind, I accept your apology. Aren't we the students of the same class?"

The students that were apologizing rose and some were even awed at his magnanimity. But despite his intentions of ending the awkward encounter the people apologizing apologized once more.

"It is precisely because we are students of the same class that I shouldn't have talked behind your back. I apologize once again."

The other students followed in his steps apologizing once more.

He glanced at Ichinose, who looked satisfied.

'Wasn't she unsatisfied that I was ignoring their apology? Why is she happy?'

Hikigaya thought.

"…Thanks. Well all of us just came from a Deserted Island, so let's just rest."

There were sounds of agreement, and the class separated after thanking him once more.

He looked around for Hoshinomiya but she had disappeared in the commotion.

He started moving, startling him and prompting him to look behind him to see Ichinose, sporting an unsettling smile.

"So, what do you say?"

"…Sorry."

Ichinose smiled.

"But don't you need to rest up or wash yourself or something?"

Ichinose smiled.

"Are you trying to avoid me, Hikigaya-kun?"

"N…Nope."

This Ichinose was frightening.

Ichinose started rolling Hikigaya to God knows where.

A/N: The Deserted Island Arc ends here!

Lowkey, I thought it would be annoying to write but I got some motivation out of my ass to finish this by sacrificing sleep.

Next chapter should be the special chapter celebrating ichinose's birthday, and the normal chapter after that is something similar.

But I'm done writing for today, so you guys enjoy what yall have.

But like 6 straight hours of writing. That's lowkey cooked. My mind aint burnt out but my eyes certainly are. Wrote from 3am to 9am.

I hope you enjoyed.

Thanks for reading.