Sweet Tooth
Chapter 36: Lumbago
"Aynai? Are you okay?" Shoichi asked, concerned. Aynai had not shown up at his room at the normal time to assist him in working. He had waited, thinking she had simply slept in. After an hour of no word, he became worried and hurried to her room to check on her.
She laid on her stomach, one arm draped over the side of the bed while the other hand splayed across her lower back. Pain was evident on her face, and he hurried over to see what was wrong.
"Oh, Shoichi-kun. Morning," she joked breathlessly, squinting through her pain. Shoichi easily pinpointed the source of the pain and moved her hand to look at her back. She shooed him away. "Don't worry. I'll be fine by tomorrow."
"It looks like the pain is serious," he stated. Aynai gave him a droll look that clearly said, you think?
"Some of those packages were really heavy yesterday, and I guess the way I slept made the strain even worse." She glanced up to Shoichi imploringly, "Can you tell Byakuran-san that I won't be able to work today?"
"O-Of course," he stuttered, bowing out of the room. He broke out in a cold sweat as he imagined Byakuran's stony stare at the news that Aynai would not be showing up that day.
Why me?
Lumbago -n. pain in the lower back; backache.