When Akari got to the elevator, she took a quick look at the display. It was on the third floor and was moving downwards! She would have to take the stairs if she wanted to catch up to it, but then again, she couldn't run too fast with her boots.
Akari bit her lips and took off her boots as fast as she could. She knew that the chance of Nagisa still being in this elevator was extremely tiny. If Nagisa had left immediately after Karma left him, he should be long gone. But Akari still wanted to try.
After throwing her boots into a corner, Akari started to sprint down the stairs. It was still a little bit risky since she was only wearing stockings and the ground was made out of marble so it would be extremely slippery. On top pf that the ground was also slightly wet because of the rain outside and on every floor you have to make a U-turn because of the way the stairs were built.
But Akari couldn't care less at the moment. She threw a quick glimpse at the display when she got to the fourth. The elevator had stopped on the second floor so she might actually catch up.
Ignoring the danger of falling down the stairs, Akari sped up even more. She was taking three stairs with one step already.
She reached the third floor and the elevator only just started moving again!
She got to the second floor and elevator was still moving towards the first floor. She had to hurry! 3 stairs, 6 stairs, 9, 12! She was already halfway through!
She tried to slow down and turn but the ground there was more slippery than usual! Unable to stop herself, she crashed into the handrail on the wall. The recoil flung her back and she fell on the ground.
Akari quickly shook her head to get rid of the dizziness from the crash and tried to get back on her feet as fast as possible, but when she tried to push herself back up, she felt a stinging pain on her left arm. "Ah!"
Akari took a quick look at her arm while pushing herself up with her right arm. She had crashed into a pretty sharp edge of the handrail and it cut through her sweater and left a cut on her arm. It was pretty deep and her sweater was getting soaked in her blood.
It has been a while since she seriously hurt herself. Actually, the last time was when she broke both her legs against the masked man. After that, she never had any injuries that needed to be treated in a hospital.
She definitely needed to clean the wound or it might get infected. But she didn't have time for that right now. After quickly getting back on her feet, Akari ran down the rest of the stairs.
The elevator had arrived already when she got to the first floor and the people that came out of the elevator were already walking out of the building.
"Nagisa!" Akari shouted and followed the crowd outside. But when she got to the entrance, most of them were gone already and she couldn't find Nagisa in the few people that were still somewhat around.
It was still storming outside but Akari didn't show any sign to get back inside. She couldn't catch up to Nagisa after all... and now, he was gone... probably forever.
"Don't go..." Tears started to fall from Akari's eyes, but they weren't visible since they were hidden by the massive storm, "don't leave..." Akari begged, but no one was able to hear her in the rain. Even if they did... it wouldn't have mattered because the one who was supposed to hear it wasn't there anymore.
Nagisa let out a long sigh. When he was about to leave his room, he got stop by a waitress who rushed to his room because of the huge noise he made. And when she saw the hole in the wall that got even bigger than before since the wall beside it started to crumble. She asked him to stay and wait for the manager to come.
And the manager really took his time! And when the manager finally arrived, he asked Nagisa to pay for the wall. He even wanted to call the police until Nagisa showed him his card proving he was part of the government.
After quickly paying his debt, Nagisa made his way towards the elevator... it was on the first floor. Not willing to waste any more time here, Nagisa decided to take the stairs and turned around.
Something in the corner instantly caught his attention, there was a pair of boots in the corner and they seemed extremely familiar. Nagisa was pretty sure that Akari was wearing the same pair of boots today.
Just the thought of Akari made Nagisa's heart ache again. He decided not to give any more thought about it and started to walk down the stairs.
When he got to the stairs between the first floor, something caught his attention again. He smelled blood, it was really faint but there was the scent of blood somewhere around.
"Weird..." Nagisa's eyebrows narrowed a bit. He already got used to the smell of blood more than a year ago and smelling the scent of blood was like an everyday thing when he was out on a mission, but somehow this scent made him feel slightly uncomfortable.
Not being able to come to a conclusion Nagisa continued to walk down the stairs. When he got to the first floor he got even more confused. A bunch of people were gathered at the front door and were talking about something. Some of them were even taking pictures.
"What's going on?" Nagisa walked towards the crowd and asked a man on the outer ring of the mass.
"Apparently Mase Haruna is standing outside in the snow! At first, people thought that they were working for a scene, but they weren't able to find any cameras or a group around." The man replied without looking at him.
Nagisa's heart suddenly skipped a beat, "what's happening now?" Nagisa asked him.
"People are trying to convince her to come back in, I mean it's freezing cold outside and she's not wearing a coat or a jacket, heck she's not even wearing shoes!" The man said with a worried look on his face, "and apparently she even has a deep cut wound on her arm."
"How long has she been standing there!" Nagisa's voice suddenly got louder.
"About 20 minutes already." Nagisa's body was slightly shaking, he couldn't say why, but he was angry, really angry!
He was angry because Akari was treating herself so badly. Because she didn't care about herself! "Then bring her in by force!"
"What are you talking about?! She's a celeb who is well known for her bad temper. If we end up doing something wrong we're doomed! Her manager will most definitely sue us!" the man looked at Nagisa as if he was crazy.
"..." Nagisa couldn't believe his ears... but he couldn't care less at the moment. He stopped talking to the man and started to work himself through the crowd.
"Sorry, passing through..." Nagisa quickly got through the crowd and got outside. And when he lifted his head he finally saw Akari. She was simply standing in the rain outside while her entire body was shivering.
Her entire body was soaked in water and the left sleeve was tainted in red by her blood. "What are you doing!" Nagisa shouted at her while he quickly ran towards her. He really had to control himself not to show his inhuman speed in front of the huge crowd that had gathered.
Akari's body suddenly stopped to shiver when she heard Nagisa's voice and she slowly turned around. "N-Nagisa?" her voice sounded so weak and uncertain and her eyes were extremely red.
- ...Is she crying? –
Nagisa quickly took off his coat and put it on Akari's body, "What are you doing here?! Are you stupid?!". Even though Nagisa was worried he still couldn't suppress his anger. What was Akari thinking to be standing here without her coat and boots!
But he didn't get an answer. The second he got to her and put his coat on her, Akari fainted. "Don't... go..." was the last two words she said before completely losing her consciousness.
"Akari!" Nagisa instantly caught her with his arms preventing her from falling and checked her pulse, it was weak! Nagisa's heart started racing. Of course she was going to faint after standing in the rain for more than 20 minutes only wearing a sweater dress and a pair of stockings! It was winter and 0 degrees outside!
Without caring about the panicking crowd behind him, he quickly lifted Akari in his arms and started running! It would be best if Nagisa could simply get her back into the restaurant, but he doubted that the crowd would let him.
His only option was to get Akari back home as fast as possible. Her limbs were stiff because she was standing in the cold for so long while being wet, she was freezing!
Once Nagisa got out of the sight of any other people, he suddenly stomped the ground and his body instantly disappeared.
Nagisa had entered "Overdrive" once again! But he wasn't moving at his full speed, it wasn't that he didn't want to, but he couldn't. Akari was too weak to take the pressure of moving at 10 Mach right now since Nagisa couldn't creat a natural sphere around himself like Koro Sensei.
So instead of running, Nagisa was jumping. He was taking huge steps at a time and the second they left the ground, he covered themselves with his absolute defense mode to keep the wind and pressure from Akari.
He repeated this procedure for three times until they finally reached Nagisa's place. Nagisa instantly ran towards the door and rushed in, "Mom!" he shouted through the house.
"Nagisa?" he could hear his mother's voice from upstairs, "why are you two back so early?" she wondered.
"Hurry up! Akari's lost consciousness!" Nagisa yelled through the house as he quickly went into the bathroom with her and started to gather water in the bathtub. Her body was still shivering and the clothes on her body were completely soaked so she definitely needed a hot bath.
"What happened?!" Nagisa's mother quickly followed him into the bathroom.
"I'll explain later, can you Akari a bath right now? I'll wait outside." Nagisa said.
"Yeah, you go get a towel and some change clothes for Kaede-chan." His mother said while already taking off the cloth from Akari's body.
"Be careful with her left arm, she has a pretty deep cut wound there!" Nagisa told his mother before leaving the bathroom and heading for Akari's bedroom.
He quickly found her closet and opened it. She was still using the same furniture from two years ago and she was still placing her clothes the same way she used to.
Nagisa quickly found one of her towels and then opened a drawer on the bottom. When he opened it, Nagisa spaced out for a second but quickly bit his tongue to clear his mind again. Nagisa had opened the drawer where Akari stored her underwear.
After randomly grabbing a pair of pants and a bra, Nagisa started to look for her pajamas. While giving his best to suppress the odd feeling that he was doing something wrong.
- There is nothing wrong with that... I mean I even bought her some underwear when we were in Germany... –
Nagisa tried to convince himself while looking for the thickest set of pajamas Akari had. It was pretty cold after all and Nagisa doubted that she would leave the house today again.
After gathering everything he needed, Nagisa made himself on his way back downstairs. "Mom? Are you done?" Nagisa asked while standing before the door to the bathroom.
"Come in Nagisa!" Nagisa didn't trust his eyes when his mother told him to get in. He could hear how his mother was using the water in the tub to wash Akari's body so she probably was completely naked right now!
"What?! NO!" Nagisa instantly declined, "what are you thinking mom, I mean I...!" Nagisa was completely confused.
"Damn it Nagisa, shut up get in here! I can't handle her wound! It's worse than you think!" his mother got mad and shouted at him.
- Her wound!? -
Nagisa forcefully opened the door, quickly put the clothes he was holding on the table and got to the bathtub "What is it?" Nagisa instantly asked his mother.
"The wool of her sweater dress got into the wound, her dried blood also glued them in there... and her wound already started to close... I don't know if I should reopen it." His mother explained.
"Let me see." Nagisa said and moved forward after his mother moved aside. His eyes widened when he saw the picture in front of him. Akari was lying in the tub, without a single piece of cloth on her.
Nagisa felt how his throat started to get dry and his face started to get hot. Seeing the girl he loved naked in front of him was more than only seductive. But after he saw the painful expression on her pale face and the wound on her arm he only felt the aching pain in his chest.
He gently pulled her closer to him and held her in his arms while looking at her wound. He tried to keep her as close as possible to his body so that she wouldn't feel cold.
His mother was right. The wound was way deeper than he had imagined and the wool was stuck in there mixed with her dried blood. He definitely couldn't let all the wool stay in there or the wound will most likely infect.
But at the same time, Akari's wound was already starting to close and reopening it would definitely cause immense pain on her. "I'm sorry Akari, Mom do you have tweezers?"
"Yeah, just a second!" Nagisa's mother ran out of the bathroom and Nagisa could hear how she was searching for something in the living room.
"Na...gi...sa" Nagisa heard a voice coming from his arms, it was Akari's voice!
"Akari! How are you feeling!" Nagisa quickly turned to her and held her even tighter.
"It's... cold..." Akari was talking, but it was obvious that she wasn't completely conscious. At least she wouldn't be so calm when Nagisa was hugging her when she was completely naked.
"You'll be fine." Nagisa gently whispered into her ear, "I'm here for you."
"Nagisa!" his mother came back into the bathroom with a pair of tiny tweezers, "is that ok?"
"Yeah, can you quickly burn the tip of it with fire?" Nagisa asked. He had no idea what the tweezers had been used for so it was better to disinfect it before.
"I rubbed it with alcohol is that enough?" Nagisa's mother asked.
"...yeah, that should do it as well." Nagisa nodded and reached for the tweezers, "it's gonna hurt a little Akari." Nagisa said to her before entering "Overdrive".
He wanted to reduce the pain Akari felt to the minimum, so he had to be fast. And "Overdrive" was perfect for it since it also increases his eyesight. "bite my shoulder if it hurts too much Akari." Nagisa said before opening the wound again and starting to pick out the strings in there.
With the help of "Overdrive", Nagisa was almost done before Akari even realized the pain from reopening the wound. She only started to groan out of pain by the time he was done.
Nagisa held her in his arms for another few minutes until she calmed down and fell unconscious again. "Puh..." Nagisa let out a sigh of relieve. "Mom, I'll be waiting outside can you quickly treat Akari's wound and put her clothes on?" Nagisa asked his mother.
Now that he didn't have to concentrate anymore, the realization that he was holding Akari in his arms while she was naked suddenly hit him again and he got nervous.
His mother nodded and Nagisa was about to let go of Akari but Akari wouldn't let go of him. Nagisa gently tried to make Akari let go of him another few times, but she simply wouldn't let go.
"I'll be right next door Akari... I'm not leaving I promise." Nagisa said after letting out another sigh and forcefully loosened Akari's grip on his shoulder. "Thank you, mom..." Nagisa said before leaving the room.
It didn't take long till Nagisa's mother came out of the bathroom with Akari again, "I didn't realize it when she was in the bathtub, but she's having a terrible fever." She said while sitting down next to Nagisa still holding Akari in her arms.
"Fever?! ...Of course she is going to catch a cold after standing in the rain for 20 minutes without her coat and boots..." Nagisa grunted but it was obvious that he was worried.
"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Nagisa's mother asked him.
"... I can't tell you everything, basically, Akari found out that "Viper" was me and she got mad that I lied to her... and when we came back, Koro Sensei organized a reunion to tell my ex-classmates that I'm still alive." Nagisa started to explain, "Well... Akari was still mad at me so we entered the restaurant separately."
"But after I got in there I realized that I couldn't face the others... so I wanted to leave again. And when I got to the entrance I saw Akari standing in the rain not moving at all." Nagisa shortened a lot of things since he couldn't tell his mother that he was working for the special force.
"I don't think I understand." Nagisa's mother narrowed her brows, "everything doesn't connect."
"That's all I'm allowed to tell you mom, sorry." Nagisa sighed and looked at the ceiling.
"...Well, I guess there's no helping that." She said after thinking for a few seconds, "so, am I still in charge of taking care of Kaede-chan or are you taking over?"
"I'll do it..." Nagisa said after hesitating for a second, "it's my fault to begin with." He slowly stood up and took Akari from his mother's arms.
Nagisa walked really carefully while he was going upstairs so he wouldn't wake Akari up. He went into her room and gently placed her on her bed.
Her face was still rather pale and she looked like she was in pain. After looking at her for a few second Nagisa placed his hand on her cheek. Her body temperature was definitely too high, her forehead was burning and sweat drops were forming.
"...How can I make up my mind to leave you when you're this stupid." Nagisa had a bitter smile on his face. After shaking his head, he stood up and walked into the bathroom that was between his and Akari's room, grabbed a basin filled it with cold water and grabbed a towel.
When he got back to Akari's bed, he dipped the towel in the cold water. After squeezing most of the water out of the towel, he folded it, gently wiped Akari's hair from her forehead and placed the towel on it.
What Nagisa didn't realize was, that Akari's eyelashes started to tremble when he was doing all of this. She was waking up.
So, another chapter here ;) trying to keep the fast updates, but I can't promise that I'll do it for long since I'm entering my exam phase. But there you go ;) Tell me how you like this chapter.
And like always, thank you so much for your support and I'll see you in the next chapter. ;)
