Your name is Kaede Akamatsu.
You're a freshman in a fancy, prestigious high school.
Well, you would say that if you were in class. But this is Saturday afternoon, and it's freetime!
Of course, you spend it with your best friend, Shuichi Saihara.
Who's totally not super cute and totally not super adorable and totally not the SHSL Cutiepie.
At least, according to your opinion.
You decided you would spend the afternoon together to forget a bit about classes and homework and piano pratices.
Not that you don't like playing it, or that he doesn't like listening to you playing it, or that you don't like playing it for him.
You were going downtown when you saw this really pretty clocktower.
You asked him for his opinion, and he agreed to visit it with you.
After all, you had all the afternoon ahead of you.
He seems to be a little cold.
You look at the sky to see if the weather has changed so badly.
Black clouds are approaching fast.
You grab his arm and you rush with him inside to be safe from the upcoming pouring rain.
Once inside and at the summit, you see how bad the weather has turned.
A full-fledge thunderstorm is now raging outside.
You're both soaked despite spending so little time under the rain.
You dry yourself up as well as you can, and so does he.
It gets a bit awkward as you just look silently at the rain, trying to guess when it's going to calm down.
But at least, you're together, and that's all that matters.
"Saihara," you ask him, "can you also guess when the rain could calm down?"
He looks on the side.
"I'm a detective," he replies, "not a meteorologist Akamatsu... Sorry..."
You put your hands on your hips.
"That's alright! At least we're safe from this flood in here!"
He sneezes. His embarrassed look is so cute.
"Make a wish!"
You were about to giggle when you notice he seems dazey.
"Hey, is everything alright? You seem a bit shaken... I didn't shake you too bad, did I?!"
You're feeling a bit bad now...
He shakes his head in a no.
"It's okay Akamatsu, it's nothing big. I think I'm just a little tired"
He does have dark rings under his eyes.
"You want us to come back to the dorm? I may have an umbrella in my bag...
You clutch your bag as soon as possible to search your salvator in there.
He shakes his arms around awkwardly.
"It's okay Akamatsu! I'm totally fine!"
He sneezes twice in a row and you're really starting to wonder if he hasn't caught something.
You clutch your umbrella and put your bag back on your back.
"You're sure of that? You're a bit pale, Saihara..."
When you get closer to him, he steps back, and you have to stop getting nearer if you don't want him to fall in the stairs by accident.
You stand there, creeped out but worried.
Something is really off with him today.
"What's wrong Saihara?" you ask, trying to get an answer to your worries.
He coughes in his sleeve and clears his throat.
"I'm just a bit tired, that's it... L... Let's go back to the dorm, please..."
You grab him by the arms when he isn't focusing too much on you and put him as gently as you can on the other side of the flight of stairs.
Only then do you grab his arm and bring him outside, this time sharing the umbrella with you.
He's shivering and you feel so compelled to squeeze him to heat him up, but for now, you have a roof to hold over both of your heads.
The way home is silent. He looks at the ground and you look at him.
The only sounds are the rain, your footsteps crunching rocks on the path and his occasional coughing.
You absolutely hate one of them, and it doesn't sound like you not to be upbeat.
The road is so, so long when you're both quiet, even if you try to ignore his cackling teeth.
It's not so cold around here. It's raining, but the air is quite warm for the season and you can't help but wonder if you're just not as soaked as him or if it's something else.
"Hey, huh... Saihara?"
"Y-y-yeah...?"
"Is everything okay? You're shivering quite a lot... You want my jacket?"
"N-n-no, it's fine... Keep it, you're gonna c-c-catch a c-c-cold..."
Sure, as if you were the one sick.
You get closer to him, and now there isn't even one inch separating you.
Usually this kind of closeness would make you at least a bit uncomfortable, but you know it's for a good reason you do it.
Not that you mind of course.
He clutches his cap, but you know he's blushing.
You are too, but you don't have anything to hide it anyway.
"A-Akamatsu, i-it's not... Needed..." he whispers, shakier than ever.
"Shush, you're cold, so I'm warming you up. I've heard that penguins to it all the time!"
He doesn't add anything else. He must not mind as much as he's pretending to do.