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To think that he would have to spend the rest of summer vacation in a hospital… Rintarou let out a heavy sigh.
It can’t be helped since his injuries were severe, thanks to that old hag, and he couldn’t even move because the pain was running through his whole body. It’s hurt…It’s painful…but this is the price he had to pay, Rintarou would accept this pain.
The price he had to pay for sacrificing someone…for his own selfish wish.
That certain someone who would smile so brightly at him… Too bright.
The chains that bound Rintarou for so long, imprisoned his own heart in solitude, were melted by the warmth of that bright smile like a shining sun. His hands reached out for him. Rintarou let himself be taken, to the other side of the world filled with happiness.
“So…”
“This time, will you officially…be my friend?”
It’s too bright.
This fool is truly….incurably soft.
Well, Rintarou must admit he doesn’t hate that. He was saved by this guy’s softness after all.
So, if these pains were a punishment for deceiving such a good friend, Rintarou would be more than willing to bear with them.
The white ceiling was dull nevertheless, of course it’s too boring to watch. Rintarou closed his eyes. It had been three days since Rintarou was admitted to the hospital, and he was about to die from boredom. Luckily there was Hatanaka as a bed neighbor. That poor guy was Doctor Takahashi’s favorite specimen. The lively screams could be heard from time to time, to Rintarou amuse.
But nothing would liven up Rintarou's mood—except the familiar footsteps he heard from afar.
“Rintarou-kun, Izuna-kun, how are you~”
Followed by someone’s cheerful voice as always.
It’s Haruaki who came for a visit, with Marshmallow, the mandragora, clung onto the human’s shoulder lovingly.
Even though Rintarou was hospitalized in Yokai general hospital, the one in Hyakki Academy island, quite far away from Abeno shrine where Haruaki resided, this human still came to visit, calling Yanagida’s ittan taxi, and always brought a lot of get well gifts for them. Rintarou remembered that he and Hatanaka scolded him for bringing too much that they couldn’t accept. Seriously, just visiting without bringing any gifts was fine! They were already grateful.
Since then Haruaki stopped bringing the gifts, but instead, he brought them a story to tell.
Today’s story was one about Noriko growing a blue rose. It was quite an impressive one, Haruaki told him so proudly. As he was going on about his beloved mandragoras, the tiny one was rubbing his face against his arm, as if to express his affection toward the human.
It might be too late to feel the curiosity, Rintarou couldn't help but be intrigued by how Marshmallow is attached to Haruaki.
“You two are quite close, huh? I have never seen mandragora be this clingy”
Haruaki tilted his head, “Isn’t it normal?”
“Well, I would say it’s not”
His distinctive antenna hair moved slightly. “Really?”, questioned Haruaki, since he could not tell if this was weird or not. Mandragoras loved him, but was it just him alone? Haruaki wondered.
Then Marshmallow said this, as if to answer his question.
“It’s because Seimei-kun is Marshmallow’s Papa~”
“!?”
Innocently, the tiny one smiled, but those words made the human’s face turn red.
“P-P-P-Pa…Papa!?”
Haruaki quickly turned to Marshmallow, eyes widening in embarrassment, where does this Papa come from!? Marshmallow was oblivious. The plant yokai was so pure and innocent like a child.
“Seimei-kun’s mom said that~ Marshmallow is like Seimei-kun’s cute little baby~”, Marshmallow said happily, “Seimei-kun looks like Papa. So he is my Papa”
“M-Marshmallowwww~”
Gosh! Marshmallow’s so cute!
The cuteness was too hard to resist. Haruaki cuddled a marshmallow body with all his love, rubbing his cheek against another’s. That made Marshmallow tickled, letting out a small giggle.
What is this? A doting father?
Rintarou sighed. But that “Papa” stuff gave him some idea for teasing. Rintarou secretly smirked. It would be amusing to see Haruaki’s whole body turn red. He’d already seen it in his mind. That’s why Rintarou would ask him this question.
“Hm…Then what’s about your Mama?”
“He doesn’t have one!!!”
As expected, Haruaki replied immediately with an embarrassed face. This human had zero experience with love, so pure that he was easy to tease. His reaction was hilarious. That’s why Rintarou couldn’t help but tease him from time to time.
But…Rintarou never expected that he would be dragged into this kind of situation…
Marshmallow tilted its head when the word it didn’t know piqued its interest. As plant yokai, mandragoras didn’t have a concept about parents. Of course, Marshmallow had never heard of Mama.
“Mama?”
“Seimei-kun, what is Mama?”
“You see, I have mom and dad, right?” Haruaki explained, still blushing from Rintarou’s teasing, “Dad is Papa, and mom is Mama”
“But Haruaki-kun doesn’t even have a girlfriend, let alone a wife”, Once again, Rintarou teased, “So you’ll never have Mama, huh? Marshmallow”
“Ngh!”
Marshmallow puffed his cheeks angrily. Rather than being intimidating, this tiny plant yokai was considerably cute to Haruaki and Rintarou. His small limbs shook his papa’s hands, Marshmallow shouted adorably.
“Seimei-kun! Marshmallow wants Mama!”
“Wha!? It’s not something you could find just because you want to!”
The human retorted. Oh gosh, his Marshmallow was so cute that he couldn’t help but want to dote on him. But Mama? How on earth could he find one!? That’s impossible! The father-son interaction between them was so amusing that Rintarou couldn’t hold the laughter. Haruaki truly never bored him.
Well, it was amusing until Marshmallow turned to him though.
“Then, Rintarou! Why don’t you be Mama?”
“Huh?”
And now he got the taste of his own medicine. Rintarou’s eyes widened because of this unexpected outcome.
“Wha-Huh!?”
As Haruaki’s face got redder from that statement, Marshmallow clung onto Rintarou’s arm, rubbing his cheek like he did from time to time. Well, that’s cute. Rintarou didn’t hate it.
“Marshmallow loves Seimei-kun and Rintarou~”, the mandragora said cheerfully, “Marshmallow wants Rintarou to be his Mama~”
“W-wait! Wait!”
“Why? Rintarou, you don’t like Seimei-kun and Marshmallow?”
“It’s not that!”
“Then be Marshmallow’s Mama~”
Marshmallow pretended to cry, this little devil…, thought Rintarou. Sometimes Marshmallow was as mischievous as that papa of his when the sailor uniform was involved. Rintarou had no chance to win.
“Ugh…Okay, you win”
“Yay~”
And he said it now…both Rintarou and Haruaki’s faces are bright red from embarrassment. The antenna on the human’s head was shaking like crazy. Gosh, how did it end up like this!?
“W-we’ve just been best friends three days ago! And Now we’re—f-f-fa—”
“Don’t take it so seriously! It’s not like we’re dating!”
It seemed like those two had forgotten that they were in the hospital. The bed neighbor, Hatanaka, rolled his eyes, envious. Seriously guys…don’t act so lovey-dovey here! He wanted to be lovey-dovey with his wife too!
Of course, his wife wasn’t here. Hatanaka could only cover his ears, so he wouldn’t hear his best friends flirting. Takahashi next to him only smiled.
“These guys are so noisy…”
“Haha, they’re so lively, aren’t they~”
The doctor laughed happily. His patient looks so healthy, so this is great, right?