Written for a friend's birthday.
Kirigiri stands beside Naegi's door, arms crossed and prepared. She has the slightest feeling that perhaps Ikusaba - if she truly is responsible for this mess that they're in at the moment - is going to rid of her. Likely dragging along Naegi with her…
No, she can't let her thoughts travel there. If she even considers the thought that Naegi will end up dead because of her…
Kirigiri knows that she will not let Ikusaba kill him. She believes that she'll manage to fall under their crazed mastermind's trap but, there is no way she can afford to lose Naegi. Besides this interest she seems to be taking in him might be half of the reason she's even considering saving him.
Suddenly there is movement. Kirigiri freezes, hoping that perhaps it's just one of her classmates. She turns her head towards the entrance of the dorms from her location beside the door and leans against the wall. Kirigiri shifts over until she's at the edge of the hallway and scours for Ikusaba. Instead she finds… nothing. The movement ceases as though it was anticipated that she would hear it.
Kirigiri lets her guard down for a moment, before deciding to hide outside of Naegi's room. Suddenly she realizes her mistake. Soft footsteps fill the hall and Kirigiri whips back around to the entrance.
No one appears there.
Instead she turns around to the back of it and there she finds a figure wearing only white, with a mask obscuring their face. Their hand is around an odd looking knife and she deduces…
Naegi-kun.
Kirigiri watches in shock as Ikusaba manages to open Naegi's door and sees it close behind her.
No.
She can't afford to lose him. There's already too much that has been lost to her. Kirigiri charges towards Naegi's room. As soon as she opens the door Naegi screams. Ikusaba holds the odd looking knife above prone body on the bed about to stab him while he's in this state.
She doesn't even consider the consequences of her actions. Kirigiri only focuses on the knife above Naegi.
"Ikusaba!" Kirigiri shouts and the masked figured turns. Kirigiri doesn't care that she loses her anger in such a short amount of time as soon Ikusaba's wrist is within her grasp. Kirigiri twists the wrist in her hand. She flips it upside down to grab the knife when Ikusaba locks her arm.
Kirigiri tightens her grip on Ikusaba's arm and yanks her over. Ikusaba responds by attempting to knee Kirigiri in the stomach. Quickly she lets go of Ikusaba's arm and Ikusaba almost crashes to the ground.
Quickly Kirigiri looks over at Naegi who has since closed his eyes. Other than his fever he appears fine. She checks back towards Ikusaba who recollects herself after her almost tumble. The knife is gone from her hand.
It's beside Naegi's bed. Before Ikusaba notices it's missing, Kirigiri snatches it. Ikusaba recollects herself eventually and stares at Kirigiri, back to her normal stoic self. The mastermind finally realizes that her weapon is gone and stares at the blade aimed at her chest. Kirigiri chooses not to move closer. Ikusaba knows that Kirigiri is only making the threat of murder. She regrets letting Ikusaba know that she could use that against Kirigiri. But all Kirigiri wants to let Ikusaba know is that Naegi will not be killed.
"Leave. Now." Kirigiri says, not even daring to move the knife higher. Ikusaba doesn't say anything. She expects Kirigiri to move forward to kill her but she remains beside Naegi's bed. Ikusaba inches closer towards Kirigiri. Just waiting to have the biggest thorn in her side stab her. Kirigiri just smiles.
"Leave Ikusaba." Kirigiri repeats, and Ikusaba grabs Kirigiri's arm. She remains unphased as Ikusaba plucks the weapons from her hand. Then she dashes away from the room still holding onto her weapon. Kirigiri deduces that knife will become her own thorn in her side. All that matter is that Naegi is still alive.
She turns to check on him, surprisingly still asleep after all the ruckus she and Ikusaba had caused. He once again surprises her and he wakes up.
"Eh… Kirigiri-san?" Naegi pants through his fever.
She says nothing. Kirigiri isn't exactly sure of what to say to him after saving his life.
"Did you…" He says, "did you... say something...?"
Kirigiri resists laughing at him, and again says nothing.
"S-say… s-something…" Then he falls victim to his fever once more.
This time she does say something, "I think I might have taken a liking to you Naegi-kun."
He thankfully doesn't hear her and she ignores the blush crawling on her cheeks. Naegi still has has fever and his heavy panting is all that can be heard in the room. Having nowhere else to go Kirigiri heads off to get a cloth to cool down his fever.
She returns and sets it on his head. Kirigiri decides to remain in his room until the fever is gone. Embarrassingly she grabs his hand and runs her thumb over the top. It's not as warm as his forehead when she first placed the cloth on his head, but it's still hot.
After a few more hours of waiting for his sickness to fade he begins to stir and Kirigiri removes the cloth and her hand finally. She's about to leave when she turns back to look at Naegi. He's not all that special, he doesn't have that much good luck but he… he… seems so genuine and she can't help being drawn to him. He hasn't stirred much after she let go of his hand but she hopes he won't feel this.
Kirigiri presses a peck on his lips and she soon flushes before leaving.
Naegi wakes up then and wonders if he imagined Kirigiri coming into his room.
Yeah so while writing this I discovered she was not actually outside of Naegi's room the entire time. But eh, whatevs I like how this turned out aside from my poor attempts at action. (They're not my forte... I need more practice tbh)
Anyway enjoy