Chapter Text
The strange feeling came out of nowhere.
One minute Akira was sitting in the classroom pretending to listen to Kawakami-sensei’s lecture while making a list in his head of the Metaverse supplies to procure afterschool before heading for his nighttime job at the convenience store, the next a sense of lightheadedness hit him, throwing him off balance even though he was sitting still.
Closing his eyes and taking several deep breaths, he willed the dizziness to go away. Could he be coming down with something? But that was usually accompanied by headaches, chills and coughs among other symptoms. And he was completely fine just moments ago. Tired, sure, but not a single warning sign of imminent sickness. Plus this swinging feeling wasn’t like anything he experienced before. It was as if he was getting motion sickness, which he never did in his seventeen years of life.
Minutes passed and the giddiness refused to leave him alone. In fact Akira could feel it got worse, like he was on a boat in the middle of the roaring sea. He pressed his forehead into his palm, but the slight change in pose did nothing to soothe his illness and rising panic except sending his head another round of vertigo. Even with his eyes closed, Akira could still feel Kawakami and some of his classmates eyeing him. He was lucky it was Kawakami’s lesson since she was the only teacher who would turn a blind eye to him slacking off, not that he was doing it on purpose right now. He could only concentrate on holding himself together and getting through the nausea.
At one point he risked opening his eyes and looked up at the wall clock. Twenty more minutes until lunch. He could do this. Just needed to take slow, even breaths while staying as still as possible to avoid tilting his head lest triggering another dizzy spell. It was with sheer willpower that he made it through the rest of the class without making a fuss by fainting or worse, throwing up. Akira felt like applauding himself when the bell rang at last.
“Hey…Akira?” Ann’s voice, softer than usual, cut through his trance. She must have noticed his distress. “Are you feeling okay? You look pale…”
Akira peeled his eyes open. Yup, concern was written all over her face. He hated making his friend looking like this so he mustered up a weak smile.
“Just a bit d-dizzy, nothing to worry.”
Ann didn’t seem convinced. If anything, her frown deepened as she turned to Morgana, who now had his fuzzy head poked out from the desk drawer. “Mona, has he been sick this morning?”
“He was perfectly fine then. Hey, you should take the rest of the day off.” The cat nudged his elbow with his muzzle.
“Can’t. Got English test in the afternoon…and then, n-need to head to Shibuya to pick up our equipment and work the night shift.”
“Dude, screw the test ‘n’ work--you’re like one second from keelin’ over! Just call in sick!” He must have been more out of it than he thought because he hadn’t noticed Ryuji coming in and hovering. “And don’t worry ‘bout the shoppin’, we got it covered. Right, Ann?”
“Yeah, leave it to us.”
“But guys--”
“No buts, Akira, listen to Lady Ann!” Morgana made his point by slightly digging his claws into his arm. He groaned weakly.
“At least go lie down somewhere? You can decide whether to take an early leave after lunch.”
Guess there was no point in arguing when he was outnumbered. “Okay…but where?”
“How about the Student Council’s room?” Ann suggested. “Makoto’s usually there alone around this time. I’m sure she won’t mind letting your rest a bit.”
Climbing up one floor to where the Student Council’s room was sounded like hell in his current state, but he would take Makoto’s mother-henning over the school nurse’s non-existent bedside manner any day. So Akira reluctantly removed his head from his numb hand to get up. The world started spinning and his legs buckled as soon as his butt left the chair, and Ryuji—God bless his best friend—was quick to steady him by grabbing onto his arm and maneuvering it over his shoulders, just in time to save Akira from smacking his face into the desk.
“Easy, man,” the blond said as he shifted to support more of his weight. “Ya okay?”
“Dizzy…” Was this his voice? But it sounded so frail and pathetic…
“Take all the time ya need, ‘Kira. I gotcha.”
His field of view stabilized somewhat after a while. With Ryuji practically half-carrying him and Ann grabbing his bag with Morgana inside, they made their way to the destination in a painstakingly slow pace. The short trip that normally took less than two minutes felt like a life time, during which Akira had to stop twice and wait until the attack of giddiness receded. Never did he ever image walking could be such a challenge. He wondered what would happen if he had this while doing spins and twirling around in the Metaverse; the thought alone brought an urge to empty his stomach.
When the trio finally made it to the Student Council’s room, Akira was sure he looked dead on his feet given Makoto’s alarmed expression upon seeing him and how she simply led them into the thankfully empty room without a question. Another wave of lightheadedness struck as he lied down on the couch in the back. He couldn’t help the groan that escaped his mouth again.
“What happened to him?” He heard Makoto asking quietly and Ann took the initiative to explain. Taking off his glasses and placing his arm over his eyes, he tried to ignore the conversation and concentrate on his own breathing, flinching as something cold was put into his ear.
“Sorry Akira, I’m just taking your temperature.” He relaxed at Makoto’s words, hearing a beep after a few seconds. “Hmm, no fever. It doesn’t look like you’re coming down with a cold.”
“Wanna hear my theory? Someone put a voodoo curse on him.”
“Not helping, Ryuji,” Makoto chided, even though Akira would’ve laughed at the faux blond’s joke any normal day.
“Regardless, you should rest up. There’s a glass of water on the table by your side. Just call us if you need anything, okay?”
He weakly mumbled a ‘thanks’ with his eyes still shut, not trusting himself to not vomit if he nodded. The light dimmed before his eyelids as he heard curtains being pulled, quiet footsteps faded as they settled on the chairs on the far side of the room, somewhere he could still hear them chatting in a hushed, concerned tone. It was one thing Akira got sick but another to worry his friends. Not just one, but four of them. He was their leader; he should be the one taking care of his team.
Akira drifted in and out of consciousness amid his train of thoughts. It felt like only ten minutes had passed when the bell chimed loudly above his head, startling him wide awake. He knew the vertigo didn’t go away as he had hoped even before opening his eyes, and when he did so the world looked somewhat blurry. Propping himself up gingerly, it took all of his will power to not whimper, the change in orientation immediately turning his head into a spinning wheel. He was immensely thankful for the sets of hands reaching and holding onto his arms and back as he struggled breathe through the ordeal once again.
The surroundings settled at last, and Akira was greeted with the same concerned faces of his friends.
“Guess there ain’t no point asking how ya feelin’…” Ryuji said with a sympathetic grimace, his hand still supporting his back. Akira could only grumbled miserably to that.
“So, school or home?” Morgana asked from the nearby table.
“…Home.”
“Good call.”
“I don’t think you should go home alone in this state though, and you need a guardian to sign you off…” Makoto said. “Do you want me to call Sakura-san?”
The idea of Sojiro coming to school to pick him up like he was a kindergartener was less than inviting but at least better than the option of him collapsing in the subway. Plus he couldn’t possibly ask them to take him home since his friends still had classes in the afternoon, so he agreed to Makoto’s suggestion.
The walk from to the school’s front gate was, to say the least, grueling. His vision was swaying so much that he had to keep his eyes shut most of the time, relying on Makoto’s gentle words of guidance—“mind the steps ahead”, “be careful” , “we’re almost there”—and Ryuji who was once again carrying half of his weight. Beads of sweat covered his ashen face by the time they reached the destination. At that point he had long given up on upholding his cool leader image, leaning heavily on the blond to keep himself upright while Ann’s hand kept rubbing soothing circles on his back. He swore inwardly to treat his team to something nice if he were to survive this somehow. (Yeah, he knew he was being a little melodramatic but it actually felt like dying when your organs wouldn’t stay in place.)
“Jesus kid…what’ve you done to yourself?” Suddenly Sojiro’s voice came from the front. Without waiting for his response, Akira felt another pair of rough, warm hands gently guiding him to settle into the front seat of the car. Finally seated, he dared opening his eyes, just in time to see Ann placing Morgana in the bag on his lap.
“Get some rest, Akira? We’ll see you later,” she said with a smile.
“Thanks Ann…” He would have hugged her if moving wasn’t the worst idea right now, instead he could only convey his gratitude through words. “Ryuji and Makoto too.”
“No sweat, dude!”
“Text us when you feel better?”
“'kay...” Akira smiled weakly. Seeing their caring faces were almost enough to make his ailment go away, but the slight jolt he felt as Sojiro got behind the wheel caused him to grimace.
“I’ll take care of him, kids. Now head back in before they accuse you of skipping class.”
“Oh, right!”
The last he saw as the vehicle drove him away was his friends waving at him.