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Chapter 159
I can have a little more faith in Sendai-san — 159
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
「You’ve been punished. You do a lot of weird stuff.」
I put a cool towel on Sendai-san’s forehead, who was looking unusually listless.
「Miyagi’s terrible.」
「You took your medicine, didn’t you?」
「I took it.」
What I hear from her lying on the bed is a gravelly voice.
It has been several days since the rainy night, and Sendai-san’s body temperature is over thirty-eight degrees.
She looked out of shape in the morning.
She wasn’t coughing, but she said her throat hurts and she looked a little pale. She still said she was fine and went to college, but when I returned, she was slumped in her room. And now she was lying in bed, not quite a zombie, but far from healthy looking.
I’m not a doctor, so I can’t say for sure, but I can only assume it’s a cold.
「Was it hot enough to turn on the air conditioner yesterday?」
I ask Sendai-san, who barely moves with her eyes closed.
「I feel as if I am.」
「If so, I’ll turn it off and you go to sleep.」
「I’m sorry.」
Sendai-san, who slept without turning off the air conditioner, says in a voice devoid of power.
I know she likes the heat, but yesterday was not the kind of temperature where she would sleep with the air conditioner on. Even though July is near, the nights are not so hot.
「First of all, let me tell you, I can’t make porridge or anything like that.」
I probably don’t need to tell her that I am useless in these situations, but I’ll say it anyway. Although I have started to cook since I came to live with Sendai-san, I didn’t have the skills to make food for the sick.
I wish she would have called me if she was feeling this bad. If I had known she had a bad cold, I would have bought something on the way home.
「You don’t have to make it. I don’t want to get burned. I also don’t want you to burn the pot, so don’t do anything.」
「It pisses me off to hear you say that.」
In fact, if I were to make porridge, I would probably burn myself and scorch the pot. But when Sendai-san says it, I get angry.
「I don’t have an appetite, and you really don’t have to do anything.」
「I’ll get something. Do you want yogurt or retort porridge?」
I can’t cook, but I can at least go shopping. I would also like to buy a cooling sheet to replace the towel on her forehead. There is not much I can do, but I cannot leave the sick behind. If she doesn’t eat anything, her health will get worse, surely not better.
「I don’t need one.」
「If you have something you want to eat, just tell me. I’ll get you some of that.」
「I don’t need one, but you have to stay here for a while longer.」
She opens her eyes sluggishly and blurts out. Then she quickly said,「Sorry, not now,」and dismissed the words out of her mouth.
「Not now, you say, why?」
「I don’t want to give you a cold. Go back to your room.」
I hear a clear voice, unlike the one I heard earlier.
Certainly, if I were in the same room with Sendai-san, the probability of catching a cold would increase. But I ventilated as soon as I came into this room and there is nothing to do when I leave here. I don’t care if my dinner is a retort or a cup of noodles, I can prepare it quickly and finish it. I don’t have many assignments.
「I’m not busy, I’ll stay here a little longer. I’ll go shopping later.」
I would rather be by her side than in my room worrying about how Sendai-san is doing in her sleep.
「You should go back. You’ll catch my cold.」
「I’m the kind of person who doesn’t catch a cold. I’ll stay here until Sendai-san goes to sleep.」
「
Does that mean, you’re worried about me?」
「I would at least be concerned if you were sick.」
「Miyagi is so nice and weird.」
Sendai-san looks at me and says something rude.
「Hurry up and sleep.」
I tapped the edge of the futon and Sendai-san closed her eyes.
「After you go to sleep, I can go back to my room.」
「Okay.」
When she replied, the room suddenly became quiet and I flipped the towel over her forehead.
I once went to Sendai-san’s house in high school when she had a cold, but she was in better spirits then than she is now.
Today, Sendai-san looks as if she’s suffering so much that I can tell her body temperature is high even without touching her. Her breathing is also disturbed, though not as much as when she exercise.
Sendai-san is so weak that she doesn’t seem to be able to resist no matter what I do.
She would never do anything strange to me, and she doesn’t need my earring to swear by me.
I sit with my back against the bed.
I said I was here because I was free, but there was nothing to do if Sendai-san fell asleep.
I pick up a fashion magazine that has been left on the floor and flip through the pages. As I turned the flimsy sheets of paper one by one without looking at them, I heard a breathless「Mhm—」mingled with the sound of his sobbing in her sleep.
When I looked at Sendai-san on the bed out of curiosity, I saw that the towel had fallen off her forehead. I knew I should get a cooling sheet.
「
Are you alright?」
I don’t mean to wake her up, but I put the towel on the table and ask her. I thought she wouldn’t reply, but then I heard a muffled voice and could not understand what she was saying.
I think she was not sleeping well.
If I keep talking to her in these situations, will she dream about me?
「Sendai-san.」
I’ll call out a little in her ear.
I hear a voice that sounds neither “yes” nor “mmm”.
「Sendai-san.」
「
Mhn.」
She still responds to my voice. I don’t think it’s something someone do to a sick person, but she responds so dutifully that I have to call her again and again. Although pitiful, the quiet Sendai-san is rare and cute.
And then.
It may be inappropriate, but I think that the sound of a person in pain is very similar to the sound of a person feeling good. Sendai-san’s breathing is disordered, which makes me think about such things even more.
Perhaps it is not the right place.
This is the kind of place where I might think that, and dishonesty comes to mind because I once wanted to know what she would sound like. I know I am thinking terrible thoughts in front of a sick person, but I can’t help it.
I know it sucks at times like this, but I’m starting to think things that I wouldn’t have thought before. That’s because a new circuit was formed in me that Sunday. I am not convinced that Sendai-san has always taken my thoughts without my permission, but the inexplicable circuitry is making me think about her more easily than ever before. But it’s not something to complain about until I wake up a sleeping Sendai-san.
She is a sick person.
「I’m going back to my room.」
I stand up to speak to her, knowing that even if she can hear me, she should only be able to hear me and not come close to understanding what I mean.
I’m sure I’ll think of more inappropriate things to do in this room.
I should go shopping and cool my head.
「
Where are you going?」
As I put my hand on the doorknob, I hear a voice behind me.
I turned around and saw Sendai-san looking at me.
「Shopping. I’ll be back soon.」
Earlier she had responded even in her sleep, but this time she said nothing.
「Just say something.」
「Be safe out there.」
Sendai-san says quietly and closes her eyes.
I walk over to her side and sit on the bed.
「Miyagi, you’ll catch a cold. You’d better get going.」
「I’ll go back to my room after Sendai-san goes to bed, right?」
「I was asleep earlier.」
「You’re awake right now.」
「I don’t know if you catch a cold.」
Sendai-san closes her eyes in disgust. My hand reaches out depressingly to tug at her sweat-streaked bangs and slaps my arm.
「If you’re down, I’ll nurse you back to good health.」
I sit back down on the floor and call out to the bed.
Yes, I stroked her hair with a short reply.
She could brush my hand away, but Sendai-san has a fever. I can’t do terrible things to a sick person, so I leave my hand stroking her hair untouched. I decided to stay in her room until my hands stopped.