Sakuno opened her eyes slowly. Her eyelids were so heavy. She recognized the ceiling of her bedroom. How exactly did she arrive there?"
"Echizen-kun?" she moved her face. He sleeping leaning on the wall and he woke up with her voice. "What are you doing here?"
"You're finally awake." He came close and sat by the futon's side. He was so relieved. "You collapsed. You had a high fever." He touched the cooling pad on her forehead, being sure it was still working. "Shinji came to my place, crying. I was playing videogames with Momo."
"Where's Shinji?" she tried to get up, but he gently stopped her, his hand on her shoulder.
"He is fine. He calmed down and ate dinner. He's sleeping on his room. It's already past midnight."
"I'm so sorry for troubling you again."
"No trouble at all." His golden eyes were so kind. "You probably collapse from stress. Shinji told me you weren't eating properly lately." He was so worried. "I wanted to take you to the hospital, but I didn't know if I could."
"If I go they would probably call Child's Services on us. I can't have anything that would put the emancipation process at risk."
"It's okay. We're not going anyway, then." He picked up a pill with a cup with some water. "Can you take this medicine? It's for the fever."
"Yes." She took the medicine and Ryoma helped her with the water. "Thank you."
"Shinji was crying so much. He was terrified, he thought you had died."
"I was able to hide from him everytime I got sick. I wanted to just endure it, like I always did." he noticed the sadness on her smile. "I'm used already, to get sick by myself."
"You shouldn't have." He said, seriously. "You don't have to shoulder everything by yourself, Ryuzaki-san. If you need any help, I'm here for you and Shinji, just ask."
"I'm only giving you problems. I cannot burden you so much."
"It's not a burden. You're always helping me too, with my studies or with food. And I like having Shinji around. He is such a good kid. You raised him very well."
"Echizen-kun…" she was so touched by his words.
"I could make our meals, so you could sleep in a little more in the mornings. I know my cooking is bad by now, but I will try my best. I can take Shinji to the swimming lessons too to give you a less rushed time before leaving to work."
"Would you really do that for us?"
"Hm." He showed her a small smile. "If you guys weren't here, it would be so boring. I'm glad you came, Ryuzaki-san."
Sakuno felt her heart tight and Ryoma noticed when the scarlet eyes were glistering with tears.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he was extremely worried. "Are feeling worse?!"
"No, it's just… I don't remember the last time someone took care of me, that someone was willing to do something for me and Shinji."
Ryoma was out of words. She must have been so lonely.
The girl's hand was out of the heavy covers he had put over her and touched his. The boy was surprised for a moment.
"Thank you so much, Echizen-kun." She smiled.
"It's okay." He squeezed her fingers. "Go back to sleep. You need to rest. I'm staying here with you. Don't worry about breakfast, Momo prepared something before he left. He wanted to help too."
"I will thank him later." She said, almost in a whisper, after closing her eyes and tiredness and sleep reached her again.
Ryoma stayed there, holding her warm hand for a while, watching over her. He was so afraid. He ran to her side and kneeled, holding him inside his arms, calling her name. It was fortunate Momoshiro was there. His friend was older and was able to deal with the situation better. He was also the one who calmed Shinji down and took care of him while Ryoma stayed with Sakuno.
"Even though she does so much housework, her fingers are so soft. I can only imagine how hard things were for her. She must had gone trough so many other difficult times by herself." Ryoma looked at her sleeping face. Momoshiro was right, she was very beautiful, but it was just one of the many qualities about her. She was so kind and gentle, even with being always so busy. The girl could be scary, but her smiles were always very sincere and sweet and….
"Wait a minute. Why am I thinking about such things?"
Ryoma had a deep, thoughtful frown on his forehead, before the golden eyes were wide in absolute shock. He released her hand and slide to the wall, pressing his back on it with all his strength, his heart racing. He looked at her and could feel his blood rushing inside his veins. It took him a moment to calm down. Lowering his head, the black bangs were over his eyes and he called himself stupid for not realizing sooner.
"Oh, no." Echizen look at Sakuno again, feeling extremely embarrassed. "I do like her."
