CHAPTER 1 : A Surprise Visit!

He decided not to think too much and munched up on his food, and gave a grumble of complaint, 𝘜𝘨𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘦… he thought as he used his fork to move some of the food away, only to be interrupted by an angelic, calm voice.

"You should eat everything on your plate and don't be picky if you want to get better." the girl on the half opened the door said as she knocked twice on the door after finishing her sentence.

"Shouldn't one be knocking first?"

"Well, I did knock, but there wasn't any response, so I just decided to come in, only to see someone practically dying but still being picky."

"Who's dying here…" Yuu replied as he averted his gaze to the window, opposite from the door. His ears were obviously red and his voice was softer than usual.

The girl who entered the room was an undeniable beauty, even with a simple long-skirt and frilled shirt with a few exposures, her beauty was clearly astonishing. She is a girl that Yuu know too much of— Higabana Aoi, a 3rd year as well on Asahi Gakuen.

"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥." Yuu said as he closed his palms and thanked the meal which was now empty of any trace of food. There would probably be little left if the unexpected guest didn't arrive. But she was especially staring at him while he was eating, keeping watch to empty his plate, which he had no choice but to.

"See? You can eat everything if you want to!" Higabana said as she smiled at him innocently, yet teasingly.

"It's not that I didn't. Besides, I'm a big eater…"

"Well, if you can lie like that…"

"I'm not lying…." Yuu interjected her words, which left her surprised.

"E-Eh? Well, either way, if you can boast like that, then you're completely fine it seems."

Higabana wasn't completely wrong about being Yuu being fine. Yes he was feeling better, but he's still slowly recovering the blood lost, in fact, he's recovering it slowly than a normal person would. As for his body, he still couldn't move his legs much from the fatigue of the impact. He could only do so much as to sit down his bed.

"So? Why are 𝘺𝘰𝘶 here?"

"Why?! Of course I'm worried! You're a precious friend to me, no way I wouldn't be worried!" Higabana said with a slightly louder voice. It was clear she became angry at what he said.

𝘐𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 that, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵…

"Awagami-kun? What's wrong?..." she pondered as she stared at his blank expression.

"Eh?!... Ah, sorry. Dozed off for a second. N-Nothing's wrong…" he flustered as he came into realization only to see her face practically next to his already.

"Really?" she said as she sat back down, and moved her chair closer to the bed. "Well, it would be faster for you to recover if you rest right?" she said as she pulled a book from her bag, "I'll be here for a long while, probably all day, even. So feel free to ask me if you need anything…"

As he followed her order to rest, he decided to lie back down, and came to surprise on what he heard.

"Eh? W-Why?! I don't need someone to watch over me for a whole day!"

"Eh?! You don't know?! Well, doesn't matter if you don't, either way, I'll be staying here!" Higabana said with a serious face and tone that Yuu couldn't even fight back. He didn't have the strength to do so anyways.

"You don't have to push yourself that much over someone like me. Geez…" he pushed his face under the blanket, only to leave his eyes peeking out.

On the other hand, Higabana wasn't clearly looking at him, but her cheeks were obviously ever so slightly red as she whispered the words, "...all the more reason…." The voice was soft enough to the point that Yuu can still hear it if he focused on listening to the words, in which the flustered him clearly wasn't.

"You said anything?" he twisted his whole body which was still under the blanket and faced her side.

"It's nothing. Anyways, rest up for a bit. Just ask me if you need anything. Water, food, or even a call with someone, anything that I can provide…" she said in a clear voice. At the same moment after finishing her words, Yuu hid his face completely under the blanket.

"Then…" he said in a voice that was still heard by Higabana even while being under the blanket.

"What?" she replied in her soft and kind voice.

"Can I… be assertive this once?..." his voice was softer, but she still heard it fairly clearly. Yuu was completely and obviously embarrassed in saying those words. But red as her cheeks were, she replied in her same soft and kind voice.

"Sure."

"Then…" he slid his hands under the blanket and grabbed her wrist, and eventually placed it on the bed, and held it tightly with both hands. "Can I…"

He couldn't see Higabana's face, so he didn't know how she reacted. Nor did Higabana see his completely embarrassed face in doing that, but Higabana interjected his words, or rather finished what he wanted to ask for her answer.

"Yeah, of course. I'll hold your hand until you can sleep." Higabana said, and followed with a softer voice, so soft that he didn't get to receive it. "...for now…."

𝘚𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘮…

Yuu had thought as he clearly felt the sensation on Aoi's arms, which made him really happy, which had made him sleepy.

After a few minutes, Yuu had pulled his head off the blanket with his eyes closed, probably half-asleep already, in which he fell asleep only a few minutes after pulling his head out.