Fever
Am I making too big of a deal over this?
That thought ran through my mind, forcing me stop the movement of my hand as I stood outside of the Game Development (Temp) Clubroom.
Was I? I didn't know. I had no way of knowing.
Did I want to find out?
I shook my head to get rid of all the strange thoughts accumulating in my head and slapped my cheeks lightly.
Come on! You can't just stand here and do nothing!
Indeed, it'd only make me look more stupid.
I took another deep breath and closed my eyes, clutching the hem of my skirt tightly in a nervous fit.
It should be fine...there's no pro-
"Oh, Funabori! What are you doing here?" Suddenly, a voice interrupted my attempts to calm myself down. I opened my eyes and attempted to respond. With no success, unfortunately.
It was Kenji Kazama, the leader of the delinquent group Kazama Family and a member of the Game Development Club (Temp) as well as my classmate.
Earlier, he had done me the courtesy of eating food off of the floor just to keep me from being the center of attention. Though it looked like he didn't mind it that much, it still bothered me.
"K-Kazama! I have a favor to ask you, if you're not busy!" I said, but in an unintentionally loud voice that could reach down the entire length of the hallway. I immediately slapped my hands over my mouth right after, and I felt the heat rush to my head.
"Oh? What is it? I don't have a lot of time on my hands, so I'd ask you make this quick." He replied, apparently unfazed by the sudden loud outburst.
"Er...um...that is..."
Though I tried to plan this out and mentally practice what to say, I was still at a loss for words. My heart rate was at a machine gun's pace, and I felt the world heating up as if it had been thrown into the oven.
"Are you alright, Funabori? You don't seem too good..." Kenji trailed off as he looked at me. Perhaps unconsciously, he began to gradually move closer to me until his face was a few inches from mine.
I couldn't take it. I closed my eyes and turned around, trying to get myself to calm down.
Relax! Relax!
"Hey, what's with you blocking the door?!" Another woman's voice came from within the room behind Kenji, and I turned around to see who it belonged to.
Though I already recognized the voice.
"Whaddaya want, Chitose?!" Kenji snapped, turning his head around and slamming his fist into the wall next to him violently. I felt my heart skip a beat and my legs force me to leap backwards instinctively.
"You're in the way! If you don't move within the next five seconds, I'm gonna gouge out your intestines, pack them with mud and stuff them back in!" She replied, and the extremely gory thought made the blood in my head begin to slowly drain out. I felt a headache just by trying to picture the science, so I stopped trying and shook my head.
"What kind of sane person does that?! I'll move, dammit! Just get that dirty pair of hands away from me!" Kazama retorted, clicking his teeth as he walked out of the doorway and stood next to me in the hall.
Chitose Karasuyama.
That was the name of the extremely powerful and violent girl that had walked out of the room with her hands coated in-
Wait...is that dirt?
I looked at her fingers all the way to her wrists, and it was unmistakably covered in lots and lots of earth, mud and dirt. Lumps of soil clung to her hand, and it looked really gross and dirty.
"God, she can't give me a break...you okay, Funabori?" Kazama muttered and scratched the back of his head, irritation in his voice, before he turned back to me with a casual smile on his face. "You were saying something?"
Like I can tell you now!
I felt the world overheating around me, and I felt my head spin. I felt like two massive hands were pressing onto the sides of my head. The world began turning darker and darker, and my eyes began to feel heavy.
I saw Kazama open his mouth to say something, but the world blackened around me before I heard it.
"Hey! Oi! You alright?"
I suddenly woke with a start, and I felt my body jolt into consciousness. I blinked multiple times, and I stared at the ceiling. I was in the infirmary, lying down on a clinic bed. As I turned to the side, I saw Kenji gazing at me with a look of concern.
"Oh! I'm so sorry you had to-" I tried to sit up, but Kenji immediately placed his hands onto my arms and my hands, forcing me to sit back down.
"Hey, don't push yourself! You collapsed all of a sudden, so I carried you here."
But I was too busy with my own head to register anything he was saying after that.
Wait, he carried me here?! How did he carry me here?! Did he carry me here like...like...
Images of myself in a royal princess gown being hoisted and carried in Kenji's arms repeatedly popped up, and the mental pictures stopped me from speaking.
Wait! Before that, let go of me! I can't think! Can't think straight!
Men had never been so close to me before, so Kazama still keeping his arms rooted to my hands and my body like he was concerned for me was bad for my heart. It was already fast enough, and now it was beginning to hurt.
"Kazama...could you...your arms..." I couldn't say anything else, or else I give away what I was feeling and destroy the atmosphere.
Kazama looked at the current situation, and then he quickly withdrew and sat back down in a fluster. "Ah! I'm sorry!"
"It's okay." I quickly ended, too tired and too flustered to speak. I looked away because I was sure that if I looked at his face now, I'd faint a second time.
"So...shouldn't you be going to class?" I said to him, worried that he needed to back. "Shaun Conecone's class should be the class after this one."
He shrugged and just shot me a nonchalant smile that made my heart flutter in my chest. "I'm a delinquent. I'll skip. You fainted on my watch, so I'm cool with sticking around until you're fine."
Don't say things like that! You'll only make things harder for me!
I gripped the bed sheets hard, trying to do it in a way that Kenji wouldn't notice, and looked down at the white sheets.
"K-Kenji..." I could barely get the words out without my voice quivering like a plucked bowstring.
"Are you okay, Funabori? You look like you have a fever." Kenji noted, leaning forward. As his face began drawing closer to mine, I backed away.
"Wh-wh-what are y-you d-doing?" I stuttered as his arm reached out, and the sensation of his hand was cool to the touch.
Though I felt the heat in the room go up by a thousand degrees.
As his face drew even closer, he placed his forehead onto mine.
"Doesn't seem like you have a fever."
Dammit. It's too much...he's too close...
"Hey, Funabori! Wake up! Get a hold of yourself! Hey! Wake up!"