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She was starting to regret ever going to school today.
The headache that had been growing in intensity since this morning was, in simpler terms, absolutely killing her. She couldn't even move her head without feeling nauseous, and it felt uncomfortably hot in the classroom as all she could do was try to sit still and not move her ailing body.
She knew better than to ignore the signs. But lately trying to balance her normal school life and her work as Hanako's assistant had been, well, difficult to manage. There were important tests coming up soon and she wanted to study for them, however at the same time there would always be supernatural hurdles being thrown at her at seemingly inconvenient moments.
Why, oh why did I just decide to ignore it?! I'm such an idiot! Everything hurts!
She could hear the teacher call her name. Something about the lesson…? It was useless trying to focus on the matter when there was a horrible headache preventing her from doing anything.
Aoi seemed to notice her unease, and worriedly she put a hand on her shoulder. "Nene-chan? Are you alright?"
"Huh? Uh…" Nene tried to turn around to face her friend, instantly regretting it. Everything before her began to spin around, and the last thing she heard were shouts before completely blacking out.
The moment Hanako heard those shouts from Nene's classroom, a feeling of dread gripped upon him.
He dropped whatever he had been thinking of doing today and sped towards her classroom, seeing Aoi and Akane taking an unconscious Nene out, presumably to the infirmary. The dread only kept creeping up, crawling up his throat seeing her in that state.
No. It's too soon.
He followed them to the school's infirmary, watching them consult with the nurse. "She has a high fever. It's better for her to rest for a while and let her temperature drop before she can go home. It might take a while, but she'll be fine once it goes back to normal again."
"Oh, thank goodness…" Aoi breathed a sigh of relief, looking back at Nene as she laid asleep on the bed before them. Even Hanako found himself doing the same.
Akane nodded. "It's okay, Ao-chan, I'll take it from here, since the nurse will be a little busy dealing with the school athletics team for their practice today, anyway."
"Are you sure? I don't mind helping out."
"It's fine! Yashiro-san is your dear friend, and that makes her my friend as well. Don't worry, Ao-chan! I'll make sure to keep a close eye on her." The redhead declared. Aoi smiled, and Hanako rolled his eyes.
Showoff.
Once Aoi had left the infirmary, Akane removed his glasses, face forming a frown. "I know you're there, Honorable No. 7. Stop being a slimy perv and show yourself."
"That's rich, coming from the guy who won't hesitate to please his Ao-chan whenever he gets the chance." Hanako appeared right before him, going over to Nene's side. He held her hand, eyes widening at how unusually hot it felt.
"Her fever's really running high…"
"Obviously. We need to lower her temperature, if not back to normal then enough to send her home to rest more. I think the nurse left some towels around here…" Akane didn't get to finish his sentence when the door of the infirmary suddenly swung open.
"Amane! Are ya here?!" Tsukasa's voice made the two cringe from its loud volume. He saw them gathered around Nene, who miraculously still slept through the noise.
"Eh? What's wrong with Nene? Is she dead?" To Hanako's annoyance, Tsukasa immediately went to Nene's side, curling up next to her like a cat and attempted to poke her cheek. Attempted, as the eldest twin grabbed his wrist before he could do so.
"Don't do that. She's sick and the last thing we want is trouble for her." He hissed, and Tsukasa shrugged, settling for nuzzling his head on her shoulder.
This irritated Hanako. This blatant display of affection his brother would give Nene... It wasn't fair at all! No one else had that right but him! She was HIS assistant first!
Ah… He shouldn't let it get to him. He was No. 7, for goodness sake. Never mind all of that stuff, for now he had to worry about Nene's wellbeing.
Akane bit back a chuckle, seeing the two brothers silently have a war with one another. It was kind of interesting seeing them act around the girl, he admit. Though he had no idea what brought the whole thing up between them in the first place, he couldn't deny it was pretty entertaining to watch. "Well, since you two weirdos are soooo worried about her, why don't I leave you in charge?"
"Huh—" Hanako was cut off when Tsukasa pushed his face aside, grinning widely.
"Great idea! I'll take care of Nene!"
"Hey! Who says you're gonna take care of her?!"
"Says me!"
"Hey. Just because I'm letting you guys look after Yashiro-san doesn't mean you're allowed to mess around. If anything bad happens, Ao-chan won't be pleased at all…" The dark look on Akane's face made the twins shut their mouths. Well, mostly Hanako. Tsukasa didn't really give a damn about what he had to say about the matter.
"What do you take me for, No. 1? Yashiro's my assistant, obviously I'll take her wellbeing seriously!"
"Whatever. I'll go fetch Minamoto-kouhai though, just in case. I don't really fully trust you two with these kinds of situations." Akane didn't even get that far through the doorway when Hanako's hakujoudai blocked his way.
"N-no need to call the kid! We'll handle things here!"
Narrowing his eyes at the twins, Akane sighed, shoulders shrugging. "Geez, okay. There's stuff around the infirmary with labels on them so you should use those. Assuming your brother knows how to read." He mumbled the last part to himself, before leaving them be, for real this time.
Hanako let out a breath, leaving Nene's side and going towards the high shelf near the bed. "Well, let's just try to lower her temperature like he said. There should be a basin around here… ah, found it." He pulled out a small, round basin, fortunately sitting next to some clean towels.
"Oh! I'll get water! Let me do it!" Tsukasa snatched the basin from his hands and left for the sink. Hanako shook his head, taking the towels instead.
He thought back to the time he got sick himself, remembering Nene and Kou's attempts at taking care of him. The experience honestly felt rather nostalgic, which was strange to admit, even out loud.
After all, it had been so long since he experienced catching illnesses. It was one of those times where he felt… normal, somehow.
Normal. Now that was a word for him that overtime, got twisted a lot into many things, in many places.
Right now, this was the kind of normal he was dealing with.
"Here ya go!" His thoughts were interrupted by Tsukasa pushing the basin towards him, almost splashing the water all over.
"Ah—come on, be careful with that! You'll get her all wet!" Hanako scolded, careful not to let the volume of his voice disturb the sleeping girl.
"Sooorry. For realsies." Tsukasa pouted, making his index fingers touch each other.
"It's fine. Just… don't get too excited. We need to let her rest." The elder twin soaked one of the towels in the water, wringing it before placing it on top of Nene's forehead.
I'll have to find out her temperature afterwards. Where did they put that thermometer again?
"Look after with Yashiro for a bit, I gotta check the cabinets again for the thermometer."
"Kay!"
While Hanako busied himself rummaging through the cabinets, Tsukasa sat down by Nene's side, keeping his eyes on her intently, unblinkingly. He put a hand on her cheek, feeling the warmth underneath his cold palm.
It was fascinating to him how very warm humans can get, especially when sick.
He saw her stir a little, leaning her head more towards where his hand was. There was a hint of a smile on her face when she nuzzled her cheek into his palm, resuming her sleep.
There was a choking noise that almost left his mouth. His own face was turning red.
Crap.
"Okay, I found it. I guess it's one of the battery-powered ones… Tsukasa?" Hanako saw his brother sitting there petrified, head down and fiddling with his hands, avoiding his inquiring gaze.
"What the… why's your face red?" He asked. This was a very new sight for him. Tsukasa, flustered? That was rather… concerning.
Tsukasa lifted his head at him blankly.
"... I think I'm sick too."
"...Right." Hanako raised an eyebrow at him, but quickly dismissed his strange reply. Not that thinking about it would do any good, anyway.
He slipped the thermometer into her mouth, waiting until it made that repetitive beeping noise to take it out. "38.3. We'll need to lower it down a little more."
"What do we do?" Tsukasa tilted his head, while his older brother put a hand under his chin, a thoughtful look on his face.
Then came an idea.
It wasn't really something he was looking forward to, being that Tsukasa would want to get involved, but for now, he'd let it slide for Nene's sake.
He made his way back to Nene, as his younger brother watched him sit to her left side and lifted the blanket so he could slip in. "That should do it."
"Wow Amane, I never took you to be that kind of guy!"
"Shut up, it's not like that. I figured that I'd use my own body temperature to lower her fever down." Hanako shot him a glare, yet he felt flustered at the same time. He was always in close proximity to her on a daily basis anyway, so why did he feel so nervous just lying on the same bed with her?
Crap.
"Ooh, that's a great idea! I wanna do it too!" As expected, Tsukasa joined him, taking his place at Nene's right side. Like a cat, he nuzzled his nose into her hair, a little satisfied grin curling up his lips.
Hanako rolled his eyes, lifting a hand to brush off some of her hair from her face. His palm lingered a little longer on her cheek, gently stroking it with his thumb.
He could have sworn he saw her smile at that.
Must have been a trick of the light.
Nene woke up, still feeling a little under the weather, but she felt better enough to turn her head around, looking at where she was.
How did I get in the infirmary? How long was I… eh?
She suddenly realized she couldn't move her arms. Actually, she couldn't move her entire body at all. She was trapped under something cool and heavy, and when she looked at her left—
"?!" She held back a squeal when she was met with Hanako looking back at her. What the heck was he doing so close to her face?!
"Huh? Nene, you're awake?" On her right, Tsukasa spoke. The two were lying on either side of her on the bed.
W-w-w-what's going on?!!
"Wait a minute, Yashiro. I think you're getting another fever." Hanako put a hand on her forehead, and she remained still, hoping that her blush would have subsided by then. She knew very well it wasn't a fever this time.
"Alright, looks like it's beginning to settle down now. That's a relief."
"Um… Hanako-kun? How did I get here? And how long was I out?" She finally managed to ask.
"Oh, No. 1 and Aoi-chan brought you here. He put us in charge since the nurse apparently was busy at the moment. So we took it upon ourselves to take care of you in their stead~!" He grinned proudly at her, making her blink in response.
They… looked after me?
"Have you guys… been here for a while?"
"Not really—"
"Yep! We stayed with you the whooooole day! Amane was especially super worried cuz you didn't wake up at all at that time! Sleepyhead!" Tsukasa interrupted Hanako, leaping right in between their conversation unexpectedly.
Nene couldn't help but sink lower down into the covers, her blush threatening to come back. Aah, my heart's beating so fast right now! But…
She peeked out a bit, seeing Hanako trying his best not to look back at her. He was worried for me, huh? He… never left my side at all. The same goes for Tsukasa-kun… Did they really…?
"Are you really feeling okay now? Want anything to drink?" Hanako asked her, and she shook her head.
"I'm feeling fine now. You guys weren't really that cold, actually!" Not that she'd tell them out in the open, but she had gotten so used to all the clinginess that their body temperature didn't even bother her anymore. Or maybe because their thick layers of clothing didn't make it too cold for her to start shivering. Either way, she didn't mind the slightest.
"I even had the weirdest dream…" Nene muttered to herself, but Hanako unfortunately managed to hear it. He leaned closer at her face, catching her off guard.
She did not like that curious look he was wearing.
"Hmm? And what was that dream about, Yashiro? Care to tell?"
She glared at him the best she can. "No way! That's none of your business! Besides, if I told you, you'd only make fun of me!"
"It can't be that bad!"
"Still no!"
"Was it a dream about elephants?" Tsukasa blurted out, more to himself than to the conversation at hand. Nene sighed, moving her gaze to the ceiling instead.
I wish that were the case.
"Hey, Nene." She turned to Tsukasa looking at her with a smile that if you excluded the fact their eyes looked different, would be mistaken for Hanako instead.
"I'm really glad you're feeling better now."
"O-oh, thank you…" Hearing that from him, it's… oddly sweet.
"Don't get all chummy in front of me, I'm right here, you know." Hanako grumbled, burying his face in the crook of her neck. In the end, he couldn't really stop himself from feeling a bit jealous.
"Amane's jealous, Amane's jealous~!" Tsukasa chanted, though there was that hint of irritation in the midst of it. It couldn't be that he himself was also jealous, right?
"Guys, please don't fight." Nene fortunately brought their little argument to an end, managing to be able to move her arms around, giving them pats on the head, just like she would to a cat.
She heard purring noises coming from them, and she sighed once more, resuming her headpatting.
What was weird was this was exactly how her dream was like before waking up. It was all becoming a blur, but she remembered feeling those gentle touches and knew just how much comfort they gave her.
Nene once again felt heat rise up to her cheeks, looking at the two boys, who were too occupied with cuddling her to notice.
It couldn't be that they actually…?
Crap.