Trapped
Kahoko was running home, as she was scared that it could rain harshly any minute. As she thought, it rained.
As she was turning a corner, she slid. And twisted her ankle.
"Mou! Not now!"
She pushed herself upright again, and tried to walk. Instantly, she slipped, again. Thankfully, she didn't twist the other ankle – but it seems that her already twisted one became worse.
She slowly sat down on the wet concrete, and took out her mobile phone. She was slowly punching in the house's phone number when she heard a voice.
"What are you doing again?"
She sat up, and looked in the direction of the voice. Tsukimori-kun. Why did she always have to bump into him?
He noticed that one of her ankles had swollen up.
"Did you try to run in the rain, and slipped?", he asked, pointing to her swollen ankle.
She nodded.
"My house is nearby here. Do you think you can walk?"
She nodded again, and allowed herself to be lifted by Len upright. He slowly gave his hand out, for Kahoko to take as support. She accepted it gratefully, and the two of them walked (and hobbled) the short distance to the Tsukimori mansion.
|~-~|
Len hurriedly grabbed some old clothes of his mum's, and gave them to Kahoko to wear so that she could dry her uniform.
When Kahoko walked out, Len could've sworn that he didn't know her. She looked completely different in his mum's clothes.
He silently escorted her (with her clutching onto his arm for dear life) to the living room, where he placed an extra chair for her ankle to be supported by. He also put an ice-pack and wrapped a towel around her swollen ankle.
"Thanks, Tsukimori-kun. I really owe you."
She smiled at him, and he looked away.
"If you owe me then don't do stupid things like that again."
|~-~|
Len's caretaker was busy in the kitchen cooking dinner. She was surprised at the sudden guest, and how much Len tried to care for her. She chuckled to herself. She thought to herself: I can't wait until Misa comes home tonight, she'll have a great surprise.
|~-~|
Meanwhile, Kahoko and Len had turned on the TV in the living room, to see a news report saying that there was extremely bad weather on the way. It seemed like a snowstorm was heading for them.
"I... I was wondering if I could stay here – for the night", Kahoko asked Tsukimori-kun, "You know, with this bad weather coming up... and all."
Len sighed.
"As long as this means you don't injure yourself, then it is okay by me."
Kahoko was surprised that Len had caved in so easily. She didn't show it, though. She pretended to check on her swollen ankle, and was happy to see that it was less swollen than before.
The caretaker entered the living room.
"Len-bocchama and esteemed guest, dinner is ready."
|~-~|
After dinner, they made polite conversation, until Kahoko saw Len yawn.
"Oh – am I interrupting your sleeping patterns?", Kahoko said, until she realised how stupid it sounded, "I mean, shouldn't we sleep now to get ready for school tomorrow?"
He looked at her like she was an odd thing. Kahoko instantly felt herself becoming defensive.
"I'll show you to the guest bedroom."
Kahoko's defensive demeanour dissipated, and she followed Len slowly to the guest bedroom.
At the door, she looked back at Len.
"Good night, Tsukimori-kun."
He nodded. Kahoko stepped into the guest bedroom, and Len walked along the long corridor to the next room on the left. Coincidentally, the room that Kahoko was sleeping in was right next to his. Len walked into his room, went to the ensuite bathroom to get ready to head off to sleep, and then walked groggily over to his bed and instantly fell asleep.
And then woke up almost immediately, feeling a dizzying sensation in his head and eyes.
The caretaker had heard the commotion, and went up to see Len with a hand on his head looking extremely puzzled.
"Does your head hurt?"
The caretaker instantly went over and put her hand on his head. It was burning up.
The caretaker sighed.
"Len, you're sick again. Come on, try to sleep. Don't move around in your bed too much or you'll get dizzy."
Before he fell asleep though, he tried to say three words to the caretaker.
Don't tell Kahoko.
|~-~|
Kahoko was always a light sleeper kind-of person. When she heard the commotion in the room next to her, she was awake as well. She got out of bed and went out the door, and met the caretaker in the hallway.
The caretaker looked at her with a kind face.
"Len-bocchama seems to be a bit under the weather."
Kahoko instantly woke up from her half-asleep state. The caretaker, noticing this, put a hand on her shoulder.
"Leave him to rest."
Kahoko calmed down. The caretaker seemed satisfied that her job was done, and bid Kahoko good night.
Kahoko looked behind her to see if the caretaker was gone yet. As soon as she couldn't hear any more footsteps, she silently sneaked into Len's room.
If she knew Tsukimori-kun like she thought she did, he wouldn't rest. He'd just push himself more.
|~-~|
Len Tsukimori was stuck in a nightmare. He wanted to escape, but he didn't know how. He began to say things in his sleep.
Kahoko immediately went over to his bedside and shook him gently until he woke up.
"Kahoko?"
She looked at him, and he looked right back at her. They kept each other's gaze for quite a while. She put a finger to her lips to silence him. She then whispered:
"I'm going to take care of you. To thank you for taking care of me."
|~-~|
The caretaker was in the guest living room with Misa Hamai, who had just come home for the night. They were talking about Len's visitor. Misa's eyes twinkled as she thought of Kahoko.
They silently agreed that they shouldn't disturb either of them. Then, they headed their separate ways to their bedrooms.
|~-~|
Kahoko was putting a damp towel onto Len's forehead. She saw that beads of sweat had formed. When she pulled down his doona, she was nearly shocked at what she saw. Len's clothes were nearly slick with sweat.
With great difficulty, she had managed to get Len to stand up, and then pushed him to the bathroom. She also grabbed a spare set of pyjamas that she saw was hanging on a hook in the bathroom.
Len was groggy, but he knew after Kahoko's relentless telling him, that he should take a quick shower. He was in and out in about 2 minutes, and as he opened the door, Kahoko was waiting for him.
She grabbed his arm, and slowly guided him to his bed. Just when she was mere millimetres from the bed, Len unconsciously tripped her leg, causing both of them to fall on the bed; Len on top of Kahoko.
Her heart-beat went faster as she realised the situation she was in. She tried to calm her heart down, but it was no good. The proximity between Len's face and her face was too close for her to even focus.
She then tried to get herself out of her position, but she was trapped. One of Len's arms was around her, and he held her like he would've held a pillow in his sleep.
She sighed, and she turned her head to the right to look at Tsukimori-kun. He was soundly asleep. She then turned her head the opposite way so that she didn't have to look at his face and become even more embarrassed.
As Kahoko felt Tsukimori-kun's warmth, she fell asleep with a small smile on her face.
|~-~|
Hihara and the other members of the previous concours were in time for the next interschool concours to start. But the two violins where nowhere to be seen.
Hihara offered himself to run over to Tsukimori's house to get him to come to the competition.
|~-~|
Misa Hamai warmly welcomed Hihara into the house, and pointed him in the direction of Tsukimori's room.
Hihara slowly walked along the large corridor until he reached the door. He then turned the knob. And was shocked at what he saw.
Kahoko and Tsukimori, lying in the same bed. Together. With Tsukimori's arm around Kahoko, and his head on her shoulder. Kahoko's hand was on top of Tsukimori's hand. And Kahoko's head just above Tsukimori's.
He closed the doorknob, and blinked his eyes several times. He re-opened the door, and saw the exact same thing.
Misa Hamai was in the corridor as Hihara ran out, nearly crying. Hihara ran, and bumped into her. When Misa Hamai saw his face, her eyes widened. There was a mix of emotions on display, that confused Misa.
She decided to check up on Len, too. And was surprised. And happy.
She went back down to see the caretaker, and they settled down on opposite sides of the kitchen table. Misa wanted answers, because this seemed too good to be true.
"Please tell me what happened yesterday. Everything."