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That day, Sugishita thought his days would go on as usual. He helped Umemiya water the plants early in the morning, handed out plastic cups for his seniors to drink coffee from, and exchanged a few words with Nirei, just making small talk. That blonde-haired boy really wasn’t afraid of him anymore, and his other classmates were also starting to talk to him more often.
He ate his packed lunch, did his practice exercises as the teacher had instructed, and napped for the rest of the time. It seemed he’d overslept a bit, because when Sugishita woke up, the sky he saw through the glass window had turned completely red. Wow, had the others left him on patrol? Sugishita yawned, then his gaze fell on Suo Hayato, whose desk was a few rows ahead, in the middle section.
Usually, it was Suo who woke him up for patrol. In the two-person teams, they were often paired together, since Sakura was usually with Nirei and Kiryu was usually paired with Tsugeura. Of course, Suo had thought the pairings through wisely, realising that Nirei needed protecting and that Sakura and Sugishita were prone to arguing if left alone together.
Be that as it may, Suo usually woke him up at the end of the school day, so why was he now burying his face in the desk? Sugishita wondered, and eventually tapped Suo’s arm to wake him.
“Hey.”
No response.
Sugishita snorted, feeling awkward, but instead shook Suo’s shoulder harder. To his surprise, Suo slumped sideways, nearly falling off his chair had Sugishita not been quick to catch him.
“What the—” Sugishita’s protest died in his throat as the back of his hand finally touched Suo’s forehead, and he felt just how feverish the boy’s body temperature was.
“Sugishita-kun…?” Suo finally woke up. He blinked in confusion at first, scanning his surroundings to figure out exactly when and where he was. The row of desks, the light reflecting off the glass window, Sugishita’s presence—it gave him enough information even though his head was spinning and his muscles felt weak.
Sugishita froze, still holding Suo’s shoulder, the bones of which he could feel distinctly. What should he do? At this hour, there were no teachers around, so taking Suo to the infirmary wouldn’t be much help. Even Umemiya had gone home, as Sugishita recalled that today he had a promised to take the children from the orphanage to ride bikes in the park.
Suo muttered briefly in a language Sugishita didn’t understand, and forced himself to stand. At first he held on from desk to desk, but his grip ended when he was standing at the very front, and there was a distance of about two metres to reach either the exit or the nearest wall. Suo bit his lip with a determination that didn’t always help. He took one more step, and his knees gave way.
Sugishita caught him from behind before he fell, and easily lifted the boy onto his carry before slumping back down to the floor. Suo furrowed his brow, but had no strength to protest. Sugishita hurried out of the classroom, down the stairs and on to the front gate, where there was already no one.
“The station…?” Suo whispered, half-delirious.
“No.”
Sugishita now knew that Suo lived a two-hour journey from Makochi, so of course he couldn’t just leave the boy at the train station and hope he’d make it home without any trouble. He might end up at the final station, or faint on the bridge whilst crossing the river. He didn’t want to risk being given a telling-off by either Bofurin or Red Chanpuru, and what’s more, Sugishita actually regarded Suo as a friend more than Suo himself realised.
So, after walking for a few minutes, Sugishita arrived at his front yard. His grandparents were visiting relatives in another town, and they wouldn’t be back until tomorrow morning at the earliest. Sugishita laid Suo on the sofa for the time being, whilst he made up a spare futon in the living room. Suo was babbling in a foreign language again, weakly clutching Sugishita’s loose hair as he was moved onto the futon to prevent him from rolling off.
Sugishita fetched some water and a washcloth for a compress. He rarely got sick, but he remembered how his grandmother had made him drink little by little to prevent dehydration. He remembered how his grandfather had patted his head until he fell asleep, and he knew which shelf the old couple kept the thermometer and paracetamol on.
Suo finally woke up at eight in the evening, aware enough to hold a conversation without falling asleep mid-sentence. His fever had gone down, but Sugishita kept checking on him periodically and was ready to contact Umemiya if necessary.
“Wow… is this your house, Sugishita-kun?”
“Usually, the first thing someone says when they wake up is ‘where am I’, isn’t it…?”
Sugishita wasn’t a fan of dramas, but his grandmother sometimes watched films late into the night, and he’d heard scenes like that when he’d woken up needing to go to the toilet.
Suo chuckled softly. “I often wake up in strange places, so I’ve got used to figuring out where I am as soon as I wake up.”
Sugishita didn’t want to probe the implications right now. However, given his friend’s history as a high-ranking officer in Red Chanpuru, it was highly likely that Suo had been through some tough times, far beyond anything he could imagine.
“Sometimes I wake up with my hands tied… or my feet chained…”
Sure enough, Sugishita didn’t want to hear it, especially since he knew that Suo, when in a good mood, wouldn’t want to talk about it.
“Canned soup or instant porridge?”
“Tea.”
Sugishita raised an eyebrow, but headed to the kitchen anyway. His grandparents had a supply of tea, but he didn’t know if it was the sort Suo usually drank. Besides, how many spoonfuls of sugar should he put in? Was it okay for someone with a fever to drink tea? He grabbed his smart phone to look up a quick reference.
When Sugishita returned to the room, Suo was still lying down, but his hand was holding the morning paper and his eyes were scanning line by line.
“Can’t you just rest…?”
Suo gave a faint smile. “I’m bored.”
“Your tea’s ready. Be careful, it’s still hot.”
Suo complied, setting the newspaper aside and taking the cup Sugishita offered. He had taken off his Furin jacket as well, leaving him in a white changsan that was not the slightest bit creased despite having been worn all day.
"I think... I’m well enough to go home now." Suo muttered this after taking three sips. Sugishita looked doubtful. He disappeared briefly into his grandmother’s room to fetch a hand mirror, and held it up to Suo simply to make the boy realise just how pale he looked at the moment.
“Just sleep here.” Sugishita stated. “Tomorrow morning, it’s up to you whether you want to go home or to the clinic.” Fortunately, tomorrow was the weekend, so Suo didn’t need to worry about school matters, not even something as simple as patrol team distribution.
Suo sighed, pondering for a long moment before finally nodding slowly. “Thank you, Sugishita-kun.”
Sugishita didn’t reply, merely taking the round mirror back from Suo’s hand and moving to fetch an extra blanket. It seemed he wouldn’t be sleeping in his room tonight either. Perhaps the sofa was a good option, or he could drag his own futon over next to Suo.
Omake
“Why didn’t Sakura and Nirei realise… that you were sick? You’re always with them, usually.” Sugishita asked, lying with his back to Suo.
"Oh, that. Actually, they had to leave class early because they had to attend extra tuition with Mizuki-san," Suo said calmly. "Their maths marks are quite worrying, you know? But they didn’t want me to teach them because they were worried it would make me get home later. I felt rejected, though~"
"That makes sense...."