Warning: Japanese suffixes, cliché.
To be completely honest, Karma isn't feeling particularly good today.
Scratch that, he feels like he's dying. He is sweating buckets. It's as if he's being roasted personally by satan in his oven. To top it off, his nose is stuffy and runny at the same time.
Which is just great.
There is no way he's going to school today.
He slowly reaches out for his phone on his nightstand and curses when he accidentally knocks it off before finally grabbing it from the floor.
The octopus might come and check up on him if he didn't notify his absence. Even if the octopus is most likely going to nurse him back to health in insane speed (competently, he will admit), he really doesn't feel like being seen in his weakest state. Purely because his brain is incapable to produce a smart retort and he's almost sure that the octopus will not let this opportunity of teasing him slide. After all, although the octopus is technically an adult, he's still mentally a child.
With his blurry sight, he taps on his messenger application and texts the last person he texted. He doesn't care who it is, he just needs to get his message through. And it's most probably Nagisa or Terabaka anyway.
[Dpwn w feve r. No schoopl today]
After tapping the send button, he drops his hand to the side and falls back to sleep.
Karma doesn't know how long he's been asleep. All he knows is that there's someone at the door.
His parents are, as usual, out travelling. He's all alone so there's no one to answer the door for him.
To hell with that, he's too sick for this shit.
But this person is insistent. The doorbell is starting to irritate him.
He gets up from his bed and steadies his wobbly lanky self before slowly dragging himself to the door. When he reaches the front door, he presses on the intercom.
"Who is it." His voice is hoarse and he can even feel hot air coming out from his mouth as he speaks.
"It's Okuda. Karma-kun is that you?"
Well that is unexpected. What is she doing here? Ugh... His temple starts to throb. He better lay off the thought process for now. His journey here from his room has caused his head to go on one of those intense teacup rides you find in theme parks.
He immediately unlocks the door to greet the girl. Even if he feels like puking his guts out, he manages to send a grin to her anyway.
"Okuda-san! This is certainly unexpected! What are you doing here?"
The petite girl stands in front of him and is clearly nervous. She's still as cute as usual, Karma thinks to himself in amusement.
"Um, I received your text this morning. I told Korosensei about your absence and he suggested me visiting you after school to give you today's class notes, so..."
Oh, so he sent it to her?
"A-Also I'm sorry for ringing your doorbell for so many times, because you're sick and there's no one answering so I'm really worried that you fainted or something..."
"It's fine since it's you." Did he just say that last part out loud? Sick Karma is a no-filter Karma. But Manami is still Manami, she won't read too much into it anyway.
The two of them stand there for another minute before he realises it and steps aside, "Come in, Okuda-san"
"Oh, I'm sorry for intruding." She mutters to herself before taking her shoes off and enters.
The both of them proceed to the living room and Karma flops down on the sofa.
He then hears the rustle of plastic bags and turns curiously at her. He didn't even realise she was carrying a plastic bag in.
"Ooooh what is that?"
"Oh um, I bought some fruits and medicine. I also bought some of your favourite strawberry milk and snacks...but please only eat those after your recovery."
"Whoaah! Thanks Okuda-san, you're the best!"
"You're welcome!" She replies with an enthusiastic smile, "I don't really know which brand of medicine I should get, but after consulting with Takebayashi-kun, he recommended," she trails off as she rummages through the content of the plastic bag and pulls out a common cold medicine, "..this brand! He said that it's good for cold and fever and such."
At this point, Karma is no longer listening, he can't concentrate and just lays his head on the sofa and hums here and there in response.
"...yet, Karma-kun?"
"Hm? What?"
"Have you eaten yet? It said on the label that the medicine should be taken after meal."
"No, not yet."
"What? It's this late and you haven't had your meal? This is not good! You should rest up in your room, I'll try to make something," she stops and notices his sweaty state, "and you should change your clothes too, your clothes are soaked. Is it okay if I use your kitchen, Karma-kun?"
"Huh? Sure."
She seems chatty today, he thinks to himself. But he gets up from the sofa and does as he's told anyway.
He opens up his dresser and pulls out a random T shirt and changes into it before collapsing into his bed.
He dozes off again.
A soft nudge wakes him up. He slowly opens his eyes and sees the familiar pair of glasses and braids. He can also smell a faint delicious aroma even with his stuffy nose.
"Karma-kun? It's time to eat. I made some chicken soup and porridge from your leftover ingredients."
"Thank you, Okuda-san. You're such an angel."
She blushes slightly at his compliment. Karma slowly gets to a sitting position and Manami places a tray with a bowl of soup and a bowl of porridge on his lap. She hands him spoon and he starts eating slowly.
She notices his discarded T shirt and gets up from her seat to pick it up and puts it in his laundry basket outside his bathroom.
All the while, Karma watches her absentmindedly.
She returns shortly after and stays quiet to let him eat his food.
However, because of the silence, Karma almost falls asleep again. Noticing it, Manami starts a conversation.
"Where are your parents, Karma-kun?"
"They've gone travelling again."
"Oh? Do they travel a lot?"
"Yeah, they do. They always go to interesting places and bring home the most interesting things too. Last time when they went to Vietnam, they brought home some snake wine. They didn't actually bring home a whole bottle with snake in tact though, I think they said it's illegal or something, but they took pictures and it looks really cool."
"Oh! That sounds scary to be honest...did you drink it?"
He chuckles, "Of course not, I'm underaged. As irresponsible as they may seem, my parents are actually quite strict."
Manami smiles in response.
Karma takes another mouthful of the porridge. Seeing that his food is almost halfway finished, Manami feels slightly proud of it.
"How about you, Okuda-san?"
"Hmm?"
"What about your parents?"
"Oh, they don't travel a lot. My dad is a common salaryman and my mom is a nurse at a local hospital. They're quite busy, so they don't get a lot of vacation days."
"I see." Karma says, "I'm full now, Okuda-san, thank you for the meal."
He left a little uneaten, but that's good enough, Manami presumes. She then picks up the tray and places it on his bedside table.
"Okay now it's time to take your medicine, Karma-kun."
Now that he's slightly more energised, he feels like teasing her a bit.
"Naaah. I don't like medicines."
"B-But you have to, Karma-kun! It's so that you can get better soon!"
"Well, if you're so persistent about it, then why don't you try and make me, O-ku-da-san." With every syllable he leans in closer and closer to her. She backs off in reflex and knocks over the tray containing the unfinished food. As a result she is completely soaked in chicken soup.
"Oh no! I-I'll go get cleaning rags from the kitchen to clean this up!" With that, she gathers the dirty dishes on the tray and goes to the kitchen.
Karma most definitely doesn't feel guilty at all. Most definitely not. Nope. Not at all.
He hopes she's not mad at him.
After a moment, she comes back and cleans up the spilled broth. She then goes back to the kitchen to wash the rag and dishes before returning to his room.
She then sits back on her original position beside his bed, "Please take your medicine, Karma-kun."
"Alright, alright." Karma then plops a tablet into his mouth and downs water with it. With that Manami gives a satisfied smile.
"You know, you're drenched in soup right now." He comments, "maybe you should go take a shower." He adds offhandedly.
After considering for a little while, Manami nods and asks, "Can I borrow your bathroom, Karma-kun? And a change of clothes too?"
Karma doesn't actually expect her to agree so easily. Well, since she's a girl and he's a boy after all.
He then tells her where he keeps his spare towel and a couple of his old clothes which had grown too small for him now.
She then walks into his bathroom after gathering the items. A few minutes later he could hear water running.
He's getting sleepy again, but he grabs his phone and fiddles around with it.
This girl is too naive for her own good.
Fifteen minutes later, she finishes showering. And all this time Karma has tried his best to not nod off before seeing her off.
He hears the sound of the door unlocking and turns his head to the source.
Manami walks out in one of his old shirt and pants. His clothes are obviously too big for her. She didn't wear her hair in her usual braids; she lets her slightly damp and wavy hair down.
"Going home soon?"
"Ah, yes I am."
"Text me when you arrived home."
"Okay, but first let me check your fever first."
She proceeds to walk towards him and places her palm on his forehead. He could smell the faint familiar scent of his shampoo and soap on her. Her hand feels so cool and comfortable on his skin. It's making him feel all weird inside.
"You're too trusting."
"Huh?" She takes her hand off of him and looks at him in confusion.
"You're too trusting towards males. You shouldn't be, it's not safe."
"Um, I don't understand what you meant by that, Karma-kun.."
"I meant this."
With a tug, Manami fell on top of him and in a brief second he flips their position and he's now hovering over her.
Slowly, he inches down towards her, his eyes never taking off from her lips. Manami could feel her heart pounding very loudly but couldn't do anything in response.
He gets closer and closer, and now he's only a hair away from touching her lips. Manami holds her breath. She doesn't know what to do. And then-
-he collapses on top of her. The medicine seems to be knocking him out.
Manami breathes out a sigh. Karma proceeds to snuggle with her. She tries to wriggle free but he's too heavy.
He then mumbles in his sleep.
"Okuda-san?"
"Y-yes?"
"Please don't be too reckless around other guys, you seriously worry me too much" he speaks sleepily.
"O-okay..I'll try.."
"Especially Terasaka. He's dumb."
Manami lets out a small laugh, "I'll remember that."
He's really cute, she thinks to herself and smiles softly.
"Okuda-san?"
"Yes Karma-kun?"
"Please don't leave me."
Her heart wrenches when she hears that. She pets his head softly and hugs him back, "I'm here, don't worry."
He hums sleepily and sighs deeply before his breath evens out as he falls into a deep sleep.
Slowly wriggling as to not wake him up, she successfully slips free from his hug. She tucks him in and goes home after leaving a note for him.
Karma wakes up later, finds his fever completely subsided and sees Manami's note on his bedside table beside a cup of water and the medicine.
It reads:
'Karma-kun,
There is leftover of the porridge and soup from earlier and I've placed it in the fridge, please reheat it and eat it before taking the medicine. I've also placed the strawberry milk in the fridge, but please don't drink those before your full recovery! The class notes are on your desk, I've highlighted a few areas that Korosensei stressed on, I hope it helps.
Wish you a speedy recovery.
Okuda'
He chuckles to himself because the note is so very Okuda that he practically could hear her voice while reading it. His memory of her visit is rather blurry but he seems to faintly remember that she took a shower before she left too.
That girl, really, he has to explain to her why she needs to be more careful around males.
He then checks his phone and sees her text which says 'I've arrived home, please don't forget your medicine.'
He writes a quick reply and walks into his bathroom because he needs to pee and then notices that she left her clothes on the laundry basket. He grins to himself at her forgetfulness. He then gathers her uniform along with the rest of the laundry basket and loaded them into the laundry machine. He'll put them into the dryer later.
The next day, he hands her clothes back to her nonchalantly, earning a ton of EHHHHHs and WHAAAATTs. Amused by his classmates' reactions, he further fuels them by saying "Sorry for making your clothes dirty, Okuda-san, I just couldn't control myself very well yesterday."
The commotion continues, Manami is confused by their classmates' reaction since she couldn't understand the implication of Karma's words well and replies, "It's okay, Karma-kun, I don't really mind, I'll bring your clothes tomorrow, I'm sorry."
"It's okay, you can keep them actually. You seem really comfortable wearing them anyway."
"Yes! They're really comfortable to wear. But I feel bad for taking them, since it's yours."
"No, it's okay, really, take it as my thanks for..." he pauses and looks around to see how their classmates react. Even Korosensei is fully pink right now. They really don't disappoint, this is so satisfying. He waits 10 more seconds to add more suspense and continues vaguely, "...for yesterday."
"Oh it's really fine! I learned more things too since I never did that before."
Karma swears he's in heaven right now. He's so glad that Manami is not good with words and instead said very ambiguous things like that.
"I could teach you more if you want to." He grins at her and leans down to whisper in her ear. "But please keep it a secret, Okuda-san..I don't want them to find out about it."
Manami thinks to herself and assumes that Karma doesn't want people know how he's like when he's sick. "Okay, don't worry about it!"
"By the way you finished my shampoo, Okuda-san."
"I did? I-I'm sorry!"
Megu, with her face red, interrupts at last, "Alright! That's enough. You two save your domestic discussion for later, we have class today. Korosensei, please start the class."
The octopus fumbles around and does as he's told. He clears his throat, "Alright, but first, Karma-kun! I'll have you know that impure relationships are not advisable!"
"Yeees~"
"With that, let's begin homeroom..."
The class begins and Karma flicks a small paper note to Manami's table.
He makes sure to write an extra note on his table addressed to Korosensei for the octopus to mind his own business and that they're not actually doing anything.
Because, the nosy octopus is, for sure, going to travel in his mach speed and reads his note.
A minute later his note is back on his table. He reads the content and grins to himself. Life is good now.
"Accompany me to buy shampoo after school?"
"okay :)"
A/N: for shipping purposes, let's pretend that she never takes care of anyone sick before okaaayyy?
"Terabaka" is intentional.
As for the Vietnamese souvenir, I found out about it through google, so apologies for any inaccuracy m(_ _)m