one: tutor
"hey, kanzaki, you okay?"
she'd been feeling kinda dizzy that whole day, but she was terribly behind in class already, after all that liar game stuff. she'd enlisted the help of akiyama-san to tutor her through the phone nevertheless – it'd been going well, but for some reason her vision was starting to blur and the pounding in her head was becoming more pronounced than ever.
she gazes at her textbook, wondering vaguely why the words didn't seem to stay on the page. akiyama is saying something, but his voice sounds very far away.
"nao?"
the cell phone, which suddenly feels much too heavy, slips out of her hand. before she can answer, she blacks out.
:.:
when she awakes, she thinks that perhaps she is still delirious from the fever despite the fact that she feels much better - because for some reason, akiyama-san is sitting on the sofa in her living room, flipping with incredible speed through her textbooks on advanced biomedical science.
"you're awake, then," is his curt greeting. she stares at him uncomprehendingly. a half-concerned, half-irritated expression flits over his face.
"why are you here?" she asks, wincing at her wavering, raspy tone in her voice.
"you cut off the phone call suddenly. I came to check on you," he states bluntly.
"but how'd you get in?" she blurts out. "i locked the door, i'm sure i did."
he shrugs. "you did," he agrees. "i unlocked it."
"you don't have a key," she points out. he smirks, and she decides not to ask any more questions.
quickly as it appeared, though, the grin vanishes. "anyway," he says pointedly, "you had a really high fever when I found you." he pauses, glaring accusingly at her.
"i didn't know i would faint," is her weak excuse. "besides, i've got tons of work to catch up on."
his glare doesn't waver.
"tons," she emphasises.
he sighs. "look, nao, i can help you with your work. not that it seems very challenging at all," he casts a disdainful glance at the abandoned textbook. "but you could at least put in some effort to, you know, keep yourself alive. after all i've done to help you out with that."
"i'm keeping myself alive," she defends herself. his gaze moves from the unwashed dishes in the sink, to the fridge that is practically invisible under all the take-out menus.
"i don't remember it being quite like this the last time i came here," he remarks. "you've really fallen behind, haven't you."
she suddenly appears fascinated with the glass of water beside her futon.
"i'll come over to tutor you every wednesday and saturday, if you're free," he offers. "as long as you make dinner."
"done," she promises. he gets up awkwardly.
"I have to get to work," he admits reluctantly, "but take care of yourself, okay?" he strides over to the door.
"hey, akiyama-san?" she calls after him. "thanks a lot."
he hesitates. "no problem," he says, "i didn't really do anything, anyway."
"you were here," she says simply, and maybe she's imagining it, but she sees a faint trace of a blush cross his cheekbones. he mutters an awkward goodbye before exiting quickly.
as she looks around the house, she's surprised and pleased to see her homework in a neat pile on her study table, painstakingly written out in akiyama's neat handwriting. a box of panadol is placed on top of it, along with a post-it note: 'take care of yourself." it's not signed.
she smiles to herself.
as usual, akiyama-san always manages to come to the rescue.