He first realized what was happening near the end of class. His concentration was constantly being broken by short coughs. He frowned when one cough began to lead into another and attempted to stifle said annoyances but only succeeded in muffling them behind tightly closed lips. The class was beginning to look his way--as if they needed more reasons to stare at him.
Upon realizing she'd lost the class's attention, the teacher's eyes landed on him, "Something wrong, Hakuba-kun?"
He stood up, putting a fisted hand to his mouth. "For-forgive me. I just n-need some--(COUGH!)--water?"
Those eyes narrowed at him. "What you need is the nurse's office," she stated coolly while Saguru could only stand there and cough meekly. "Nakamori, could you escort him to the nurse?"
Nakamori Aoko stood. "Of course, sensei," she answered, her eyes darting to the half-British boy with a small amount of concern.
Colds weren't taken lightly in Japan.
Saguru managed to get out another apology before Nakamori caught him by the arm and led him out of the classroom. The detective couldn't help noticing the way Kuroba Kaito watched them go, expression closed but eyes serious and studious. A rare thing to see with the class clown, which only made Saguru all the more certain that his classmate was, indeed, the elusive Kaitou Kid.
-
-
Once he was dragged into the nurse's office (literally dragged at one point when the young man tried to have Nakamori believe he was perfectly fine after he'd gotten some water only to go into a coughing fit in the middle of his explanation), the school's nurse looked him over, took his temperature, and pronounced it as the beginning of a cold. Given a mask to wear, Saguru was then told to rest and drink plenty of fluids to make sure he wouldn't get fever. Nakamori had given him quite a pointed look as she walked him back to class.
Which he wished he didn't have to go back to.
One look from Kuroba had the magician howling with laughter that wasn't even partly stopped by the severe beating and lecture he got from Nakamori. Saguru just sighed and took his seat, swallowing coughs so that no one would have to look at him.
He felt as ridiculous as Kuroba's laughter made him out to be, wearing the mask. Of course he knew that it served a purpose, but his Western upbringing was making it hard to treat this like an every-day thing. He'd never gotten sick in Japan before.
Class was resumed after a quick mop chase, and students diligently worked on their assignments. As class ended and Saguru packed his things, however, he was acutely aware of the looks he was getting. Girls' tittering laughter seemed to be achingly louder than normal--the same with the snickering of the boys in the back of the class.
Saguru pushed passed Koizumi Akako as he swiftly left the room and then school, wanting to get home as soon as possible so he could get rid of the stupid cold.
He was forced to stop at the entrance, however, because of the heavy rain that was coming down. He closed his eyes, wondering if there was any way his day could be any worse.
"Na, Hakuba." He spun around to see Kuroba opening a pink umbrella--probably Nakamori's--hopefully. "Didn't you read the paper? There's going to be rain all today and tomorrow."
The blond struggled to keep his calm. "I didn't have time," he gritted out, though the effect was muted by the sick mask, "because I was out late last night trying to understand why the forensic scientist Fujimura--"
"Fujiyama," Kuroba corrected idly.
"--'s wife was saying her husband was quitting his job for the Kid Taskforce. And then! Two o'clock in the morning, a dove dive-bombs me while I was sleeping to return a jewel from a HEIST THAT HAPPENED TWO WEEKS AGO!"
The Japanese boy stared at him for a long moment before cocking his head to the side. "You could have just said you didn't, you know."
Saguru's eye suddenly developed a new tic.
Bonk!
Kuroba held his sore head, tears leaking at his eyes while Nakamori scowled at him. "Enough, you. Hakuba-kun's sick and you're picking on him!"
"I'm not a bully!" Kuroba objected only to have his childhood friend snatch the pink umbrella from him. "O-oi! Aoko! Where are you going?"
She spun around and glared at him. "I'm going home!" she exclaimed, lifting the umbrella over her head and walking off. "I don't want to be seen by others around a jerk like you!" That said, she stomped off, feet splashing in puddles as she went.
Both Saguru and Kuroba stood there silently, staring out into the rain.
The Brit then stated quite calmly, "So you didn't know about the weather either until you met up with her this morning."
"Shuddup," Kuroba said lazily, putting his hands behind his head and looking up at the dreary sky.
Saguru watched him out of the corner of his eyes and was puzzled why the normally vivacious and energetic Kuroba Kaito would suddenly appear so pensive. Well, of course people had ot be introspective at some point, but people like Kuroba didn't fit the category of standard humans.
"Oi," the shorter boy said without looking over. "Won't you get sicker standing out here like this?"
"Do you have a phone?" Saguru asked.
"No."
"Then I have no way not to get sick," the detective reasoned. "I don't have an umbrella and I don't have a ride home." He paused before shrugging. "Unless you have something hidden up your sleeve."
Kuroba snorted. "Sleeves are for beginners," he said cockily. "But now that you mention it..."
FOOM!
Saguru took one looked before he answered, "Hell no."
"Oi," Kuroba said with a frown as he fiddled with an umbrella that was suspiciously colored white. "If Aoko hears you've died of pneumonia or something, she's going to blame me. So get under the umbrella and let's walk."
It was the worst, Saguru decided then and there. There was only so many times Murphy's Law could be called into play, right?
With resignation, Saguru then snatched the umbrella from the other's hand.
Kuroba blinked at him in surprise.
"I'm the taller one," the blond explained dully, "so it would be better if I held it. Don't get any funny ideas from this."
The magician's face purposefully twisted up comically as he retorted, "You're the one thinking weird thoughts," before he huffed and then sighed, shaking his head. "Well, then, let's go. Your house is nearby, right?"
"Near the police headquarters."
"...yeah, how 'bout we go around that place?"
"Getting nervous?"
"For the last time: I'm not him, you pervy kaitou fancier!"
In the morning, Saguru would wake up with a fever of 38 degrees and miss the next two days of school and a Kaitou Kid heist. He would have been even more upset about the latter event if said thief hadn't decided it would be fun to have a merry chase through town, around police HQ, and then parade through Saguru's bedroom.
Before any of that, however, the rain stopped during the walk to Saguru's home. Kuroba took the umbrella back and wished his classmate good health and a good day.
Saguru had a sinking suspicion that it hadn't been Murphy who had been creating his day up to that point.
.
.
-fin-
Author's Notes: ...well, I thought it was time to tease Hakuba summore. ...he's twitchy...and fun to tease. Also I protest that Hakuba is not on the character list on this blasted website. XP
...okay, I have no real excuse for this fic except it made a good repsonse for the manycases1truth Weekly Challenge of Aggravations. ...and I need to pick on Hakuba more. -snerk-
Hope you all enjoyed!