Happy birthday, Aka-chan! I'm sorry for giving you a cold—I have a cold, a fever, and bronchitis. Misery loves company . . . I feel guilty now.
Just on a side note: PILL SWALLOWING IS HELL!
"Ha—"
"Achoo!"
"Happy—"
"Achoo!"
"Will you shut up and let us say "happy birthday" already?" Marui demanded. Niou snickered.
Akaya's answer was a sneeze.
"Why didn't you take the medicine your mom bought you?" Yukimura asked, genuinely curious.
"I don't know how to swallow pills," he admitted. "And my mom's being an unsympathetic bitch, because she's bitchy when she PMS's."
"Your mom's pretty hot," Niou cut in with a smile. But since it was Niou who was smiling, it was more like a smirk. Yagyuu seemed tempted to whack him.
"My mom doesn't like you," Akaya announced with a cough.
Sanada frowned. "Kirihara, you must take the medicine. I won't tolerate this. You're in ninth grade now—learn to swallow a pill!"
"I can't," he whined. "I even brought the pills with me. I've been trying to swallow this one all day and it won't work."
Yukimura smiled his godly smile. "Try again."
Grumbling, Akaya shoved a pill in his mouth and downed some water. The pill rested on the roof of his mouth. Jackal looked on sympathetically. "Maybe you should tell your mom to buy some liquid medicine."
"NO!" he barked, and drank some more water.
Five water-bottles later, the pill was still in his mouth. "You see?"
Marui was looking pissed off now. "We're going to miss tennis practice for this?"
Yukimura shook his head. He gestured to Akaya. "Come here." Akaya obeyed.
He forced an entire water-bottle down his throat at once, stuck a straw down his esophagus, and waited until the pill disappeared. The regulars gaped.
"Happy birthday," Yukimura chirped merrily, leaving the straw in Akaya's mouth.