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It was a suffocating night of tossing and turning for Nagito when he came down with a irritating cold. He was worried that he wouldn't be able to attend his beloved Hope's Peak Academy.
Up until this point, he never missed a day of school. This minor sickness would ruin his perfect attendance. His love for Hope's Peak was questionable. His body felt hot, hotter than a volcano.
Unfortunately, his luck was definitely not on his side tonight, as the moon shined brighter, his fever worsened. He couldn't sleep, and his pounding migraine took over his thoughts.
Why at a time like this..?
It was all too convenient that his fever began to worsen literally an hour before he had to get up and get ready for school.
His body eventually gave out, he fell asleep in a pool of his cold sweat. It was tiring for him to keep fighting it off. It was a silent night, alone by himself in his apartment and suffering by himself.
~
The following morning, Izuru walked towards the entrance of Hope's Peak Academy approaching the main doors. He usually spent his time alone since interacting with others was proven to be quite boring to him.
He walked inside the building taking the his usual, quick, calculated route to attend his first class of the day. Nagito would be hiding near the wall to greet him then cling onto him like an annoying parasite. Surprisingly, the boy wasn't here today, which was odd since Nagito always came to school early. That was one of the common habits Izuru picked up about him.
He walked across the hallway filled with various chatter amongst students, he thought about what he'd usually be listening to Nagito talk about if he were here right now. He would spout things such as "Just what I expected from the Ultimate Hope!" or "I'd do anything to help you improve your talent Izuru!"
Even so, it felt unusual that Nagito was not at school today. Izuru had grown used to Nagito's constant presence. Predictions already danced across his mind. Izuru brainstormed scenarios where people would question him about Nagito's disappearance, or others celebrating his absence.
When he got to his class, he took a seat in the back. The classroom filled up with his talented classmates and endless conversations.
The Ultimate Moral Compass stood in front of the class. He was very attentive and scanned across the room making sure everyone was here. He then noticed an empty desk in front of Izuru.
"Izuru! Where is Nagito today?" Kiyotaka was already onto Izuru. Naturally, if one was absent from school, their closest friends should be the ones to know their whereabouts.
Of course his prediction was correct. He was the one being interrogated and questioned about Nagito's absence. It was very annoying indeed.
Well, Nagito did talk to Izuru often, even if he did ignore his presence sometimes.
"I have no idea where he is. I do not intend to be his established watch dog." He answered bluntly.
Even though he did respond to Kiyotaka's concern, it was extremely obvious the boisterous individual wanted to pry more information out of him.
Kiyotaka dramatically pointed at the long haired individual. "You should always worry about your friends' well-being Izuru!!" Kiyotaka lectured Izuru for the remaining period of time they had until their teacher came in and took away his spotlight so class could actually begin.
~
After the painfully slow-paced class was over, Kiyotaka's words still lingered in his head. He felt it was pointless to check up on Nagito. Even if he was absent, he was most likely either sick, or an important situation came up in which he had to miss school.
He attended his other classes by himself. Nagito would usually accompany him and walk him to his classes. His P.E class was easy and boring, by the end of it, he would have Nagito spouting nonsense such as, "There's no way trash like me could keep up with someone as fast and agile as you Izuru! There's just no limits to your talent is there!"
He was changing out of his P.E clothes and let out a sigh. He realized just how painfully slow the school day went by. He just started to notice how the absence of his hope obsessed friend was taking a toll on his sanity. It felt way more boring then usual.
He was walking along the desolate hallway beside the walls with the huge windows that emitted bright sunlight. He walked past Hajime and Chiaki carrying bags of the sort. It looked like they were filled to the brim with medicine and gifts.
Chiaki then approached Izuru with Hajime behind her. "Izuru, do you know where Nagito lives? I heard he was running a fever. We want to bring this to him."
The Ultimate Gamer. She was very caring for her classmates. It intrigued him sometime. "I do not recall knowing where he lives. He must live somewhere close to this school."Before he could walk away, Chiaki shoved the plastic bags into Izuru's hands.
"Sorry Izuru, Taka did tell me that you should be the one to check on Nagito." She stretched out her arms and let out a yawn accompanied with an apologetic looking Hajime behind her.
He didn't see why Taka would go out of his way to teach him such a pointless lesson. Nagito was only gone for one day.
He silently stared at the multitude of bags he was holding while Chiaki and Hajime were making their escape!
It's not like Izuru had anything planned. He wasn't in any after school clubs since the members would probably leech off of his talents.
He took a look inside the bags. It was full of random, cheap medicines. Do they even pay attention to labels? Who would feed this to a sick person..? Izuru would have to make a stop to the pharmacy store.
~
It was already midday when he left the school premises. He did spend some time getting external information as to where Nagito lived, it appeared he lived in the luxury apartments that wasn't that far from Hope's Peak.
Inside the nearby pharmacy store, he was looking aisle through aisle to deduce which medicinewould be the best for someone with a high fever.
While he was putting stuff into his basket, a woman lost her balance and tumbled right into Izuru. He caught her on time and let her regain her balance.
"I'm sorry!! Please don't hate me..!" It was Mikan. The Ultimate Nurse working at a pharmacy store. Very odd place for someone of that talent to be. She had a surprised look on her face when those red orbs were staring her down. "Izuru..! It's you!!" She found his presence intimidating.
"Oh, it's you. Good afternoon, and goodbye." He walked away about to go check out his items not wanting to waste more time. He was then stopped by her voice. "W-wait!! Is there anything I could help you with?" She wanted to repay him for his help.
"Are you tending to a sick person Izuru..?" Mikan noticed his tiny shopping basket was filled with medicines and ingredients for soup. "Maybe I can help you..?" She awkwardly played with her fingers while trying to stay professional.
"I've already acquired what I came here for." He said with a sigh. "You should consider asking customers if they need help with anything. There is no meaning for you to pry into others' personal business." He bluntly educated her on conversation like it was the easiest thing to comprehend.
After a pointless talk, Izuru made his way to the checkout after leaving the poor girl dumbfounded. He paid for the items and left the store with ingredients to create his own recipe for medicine.
Izuru did possess the Ultimate Pharmacist talent, so it would be no problem for him. Some people would find his actions questionable.
~
It wasn't long after Izuru made his way to what it seems be a luxurious apartment complex. He did remember the pessimist saying he inherited his family's wealth after they died in a plane crash.
Going up the stairs, he found Nagito's apartment fairly quick. When he rung the bell, what opened the door could be compared to the likes of a shriveled up zombie. Nagito looked like he hasn't been out in the sunlight for an entire century.
Nagito couldn't believe that Izuru was at his door. It was unexpected for him to visit. He didn't tell anyone except Chiaki and Hajime he was feeling under the weather.
He gets to spend more time with the embodiment of hope himself.. It was his lucky day! "Oh my.. you wasted your precious time checking up on worthless trash like me-" Before Nagito could finish his sentence, Izuru ushered him inside the onto the couch.
The first thing Izuru noticed was how the temperature in the apartment was fairly high than normal.. "I see now. You caught a fever and you didn't do anything about it yet. You lack the ability to take care of yourself." He got straight to the point. As usual, he was always so direct..
Sinking into the couch, Nagito forced a grin and in a joking sounding tone, "I wasn't expecting anyone to come over today.. I'm sorry, it's a bit of a mess. As you can see, I'm not in the right condition to clean up right now." He laid down on his side, trying to muster up more energy to keep talking.
Izuru placed his groceries on the shopping table. "You're wasting your time with this pointless rambling. Focus on resting, and you will recover quickly." Nagito let out a quiet chuckle while Izuru was taking out stuff from his grocery bags.
With that, he made his way into Nagito's kitchen and started on mixing different ingredients to make him medicine. Hand crafted medicine made by Izuru himself. Nagito didn't deserve such a luxury..
There was a silence between the two as Izuru was doing his work. It was a comforting silence to Nagito at the least. "Izuru.. you're taking the time to—"
"You should stay quiet, your voice is very hoarse and you'll strain your throat." He didn't take his eyes off of his concoction while he responded to Nagito's tomfoolery. "If you're going to speak, do make it interesting. It's boring to listen to you rambling on about your pessimistic fantasies." He then continued adding in various ingredients into the bowl.
"Haha... I'm sorry that I annoyed you." His throat felt drier than a desolate desert. He watched as the boy made his way to Nagito with the soup. Nagito sat up making space for Izuru on the couch.
With glisten shining in his eyes, Nagito happily began indulging in Izuru's special soup. "Wow this is amazing! Just as expected from the Ultimate Hope himself that embodies all talents!" His voice sounded raspier than usual. Every last drop would be finished
"It's not a problem. This isn't as complex as you make it out to be. I do possess the Ultimate Chef talent, it's child's play to make an appealing dish." He always had that monotone remark about that always made Nagito like him so much.
Then, Nagito decided to ask the question weighing on his mind. "Izuru, why are you doing all of this for someone like me? I know someone as special as you would never take time out of your day to care for someone, especially me.." Izuru's deep red colored eyes moved to stare daggers into Nagito. His eyes spoke many words.
"I'm here because the Ultimate Moral Compass lectured me about stop lecturing me, so I'm focusing on getting you better." He leaned backwards a bit, sinking into the couch. "I merely deduced it was the quickest way to avoid his ramblings tomorrow."
It was such a blunt response. He doesn't sound interested at all. Nagito wondered how much Kiyotaka pestered Izuru that he's forcing him to do all of this. "You don't have to do it because Kiyotaka forced you to. I can take care of myself for now."
"If you really could, you'd be in bed resting. You're highly energetic for someone who has a fever." Izuru got off the couch and took the bowl. Right now, the best thing for Nagito would be getting him into his room and rest.
The wispy haired boy took another weak glance at Izuru walking off to return the bowl, he then stumbled off the couch to head to the bathroom. He wouldn't admit it out loud directly, but he wished that his sickness lasted longer so he could hangout with Izuru longer.
Thinking he was probably going to throw up later, he grabbed a small bucket under his elegant sink. Bad luck for now, then the good luck would cancel it out, right? Exiting the bathroom, he opened the door to find Izuru leaning against the wall beside the door.
The taller boy's face seemed flushed and had a tint of pink to it. The next thing to do was to bring his fever down. While Nagito was in the bathroom, Izuru tampered with Nagito's A/C.
Cool air immediately greeted Nagito's warm skin. He couldn't fix the temperature himself since he was felt too lazy to get up and turn on the A/C.
Without realizing it immediately, his vision began to darken. It must be the effects of 'something' out of the ordinary. He looked up to a Izuru which had a slight hint of worry on his stoic face, it seemed like it cracked a little.
"I'm passing out...?" He mumbled before he suddenly lost his balance his legs giving out on him and acting as jelly. The bucket dropped onto the wooden floor with a loud "THUNK".
Then everything suddenly went black. The last thing he saw was Izuru trying to hold him upright. He couldn't remember anything that happened after that point.
~
Waking up alone in a dark room, the only light source was the moonlight spilling out the window that the slightly opened curtains weren't blocking. Nagito must've been out for sometime if it was this deep into the night. He sat up and averted his gaze to his side. He noticed a silent Izuru in a chair reading a tiny book on his left hand side.
The book wasn't that interesting. It was a poorly written murder mystery book. Nagito had such strange tastes. Their eyes locked onto each other as Izuru scanned the now messy, cloud haired boy from head to toe like a professional detective investigating a crime scene.
"You're finally awake. You passed out suddenly while standing up. I expected this to happen sooner or later." His logical thinking strikes again! Nagito felt bad that he probably made Izuru do extra, unnecessary work by carrying him all the way to his bedroom.
"This is troubling.. I've became an inconvenience again to Izuru. This brings me so much despair I could die." Nagito thought to himself.
"I'm sorry, did I increase your workload by passing out on you?" He stared down at his calloused hands. "You shouldn't have had to go out of your way to bring someone like me comfort.." When he finished his monologue, Izuru picked up his head from the book.
"I don't expect you to be useful as of right now. Your condition will stabilize if you stay quiet and rest." The bored Izuru brought another cooling pad to replace the already warm one then gently placed it on Nagito's warm forehead.
The bored boy gently pushed Nagito by the forehead in a laying position. Nagito baked into the feeling. His hands felt so soft against him. A rare opportunity that trash like him got to experience.
Nagito blushed a little from the thought he gets to spend such quality time with a being like Izuru. Not many people get to have such a luxury.
"Someone like me being able to get this gentle treatment from a Symbol of Hope .." It was truly surreal.
He wanted to be a stepping stone, sure but this wasn't the way he wanted to accomplish that goal. He didn't want to make the Ultimate Hope his personal maid. The dead silence was comforting at least.
Izuru finally cut through the silence after mere minutes. "How long will it take you to fall asleep?" It was dark outside. He had to leave eventually so he could go to school tomorrow. "Ah.. maybe you should watch over me and wait till I fall asleep." Izuru didn't seem like he was laughing at the crappy joke he made.
Leaning back on the chair, he finally set a designated time in his head where he was going to be leaving Nagito's side. "I'll be here watching over you until you fall asleep." He then proceeded to adjust Nagito's cooling pad. Oh, Izuru's hands were so cold and soft.
"What? Is this starting to bore you?" Nagito let out a big, sleepy smile. "I can't say for certain." He finished applying a new cooling pad onto the sweaty boy's forehead.
Nagito turned his head away from Izuru's direction. Sleep was already near and prepared to take him away. Izuru already noticed this distinct feature. He allowed the tired hope-deprived man to rest in silence.
Once sleep got it's hold on Nagito, Izuru stood up and prepared to leave the room. His job being Nagito's temporary maid was finished. All that was left was to leave Nagito to recover.
It wouldn't be a problem for Izuru to make his exit since he knew the pessimist would be up and running by the next day. He did have the Ultimate Nurse talent, so he knew that anyone under his care would be feeling better quickly. He gently closed the door that led to Nagito's room and silently made his exit like a spectral entity.
~
It was dead into the night when he was to his so called "home". It was a tiny apartment that was funded by Hope's Peak. Izuru made his way inside his empty room that contained nothing but a bed and a few empty shelves.
He laid on his bed staring at the ceiling. This was something he never did. It definitely wasn't boring. He got to use his studies for nursing and it was a new experience for him. Hopefully Nagito should be well enough to attend school tomorrow so he can avoid another lecture from Kiyotaka.
~
The next day at school, Izuru walked inside the building, many other students were chatting with their friends and hanging out near the entrance doors. Izuru noticed his tall 'acquaintance' waiting for him near the entrance. Nagito stepped towards the dull boy's path ready to interact with him.
As per usual, Izuru tried to walk past him and ignore him like Nagito was a statue. Unfortunately for him, Nagito was a persistent person and tagged along Izuru to go to their shared class.
"I'm truly sorry you had to spend the entire day caring for trash like me. I'm grateful I got to see your talents Izuru! You're so kind." Izuru didn't respond to his blathering.
"You're not going to ask me if I'm faking my sickness, or if I'm alright now..?" Nagito asked in his joking dramatic tone.
Izuru finally made eye contact with the taller boy. He took a good look at his now normal, pale looking face. "Judging from your complexion, you seem fine. You shouldn't ask questions you already know the answers to. It's pointless and a waste of time." He continued walking until they found the door that led to their first period.
There were already some students inside the class in their assigned seats. Izuru and Nagito sat in their spots at the back.
Hiyoko, sitting in the middle of the room with a pulled up chair that was next to Mahiru's desk spoke up about Nagito's appearance. "You're back already? I was just getting used to the nice atmosphere without you going on and on about hope and despair!" She rolled her eyes looking at Nagito.
"My apologies Hiyoko, I recover fairly quickly. Maybe I might catch a disease again and I'll be absent longer.." Hiyoko would never know if he was being sarcastic or serious. He was such a weirdo.
~
Even though it was loud once the classroom started filling up, Izuru found it normal that Nagito was here. It dawned on him that would be even more boring if he were absent.
While Izuru was submerged in his thoughts. Chiaki and Hajime came up to him. Ah, they were here to apologize for pushing their responsibilities onto him.
Chiaki's attention was fully focused on her switch. Hajime didn't look him in the eyes but managed to let out his apology speech. "Hey uh.. sorry Izuru for yesterday. We were really busy and Kiyotaka kinda let us in his plan." He didn't expect Izuru to be so straightforward and forgiving.
"Not a problem. I had little plans yesterday so it didn't pose much of an issue." Izuru didn't even look in Hajime's direction. Just straightforward staring into Nagito's fluffy hair as he interacted with Hiyoko.
When the school day ended, Izuru realized how much Nagito changes his day. Even if it was boring sometimes, he did have to admit that they school day is several times more uninteresting without him around.
He planned on giving Kiyotaka his regards for making him realize such a vital fact!