A Certain Quintessential Bodyguard

by Golden Arc

Working as a the personal bodyguard for the Nakano family has gotten quite easy for Kuro, especially after five years of doing so. When compared to the new tutor he's trying to get along with, the threat of his job security and the strange emotions he feels around the one's he's protecting, the Yakuza are not much of a headache.

61. Chapter 61

Entry 61: Recovering

July 1st: Morning

"Waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh! WA-WAHHHHHHHH!"

"Please, shut the fuck up." Covering my ears. I tried my best to tune out Subaru's cries. But no matter what I did, they kept leaking in. "ugh, what are you crying about now?" Deciding that it's the only way to get back my peace and quiet, I bite the bait. Looking at my Otaku friend, I noticed that he was holding a book the entire time. I didn't notice it since the moment he came in, he was wailing like a child.

"T-T-They deserved a happy endingggggg! WAAAAAAAAAAHH." In his hand he was holding the light novel of ***. GOD DAMMIT SUBARU! YOU FUCKING SPOILED ME! This man was lucky as hell that I was still bound to my bed because I would have smacked the shit out of him for this slight. "Lady ***** didn't have to-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" At my yelling, he seemed to finally understand what he had done.

"...oh. Sorry." He placed his book back into his backpack and sat down next to me. "Uh... I was really.. You know how I get."

"Whatever, fuck off." He hung his head low but still sat in the chair. "Did you only come here to spoil me, or is something up? I haven't seen you since I woke up. Hell, I haven't seen anyone from Library."

"Well, we've been busy trying to catch Ono. I swear, that woman is slipperier than a slime." Ono? Reading my confused expression, Subaru gave himself a light slap on the head. "Ohh yeah. I forgot to tell you. We figured out Senjogahara's real identity. Her real name is Shiki Ono."

"Shiki...Ono?" Why does that last name sound familiar? Typing to dig into my mind didn't really pull anything so I just shrugged. "Took you guys long enough. So, any more good news? Find out who was the asshole who shot me?"

"Unfortunately not... We got some clues. They're definitely a pro. But... def not a yakuza either. I doubt that either Ono or whatever gang she's trying to create are the kind to stay hidden with a silencer. They seem more the kind to make a statement, ya know?" He has a point. That did stroke me as strange. Then why? Was it to not grab attention? That didn't work, seeing as you shot a member of Library. Then what was it? Ugh, this is hurting my brain. I really don't want to have to deal with this.

"Alright, whatever. You can get their identity out of Ono when you catch her. Please tell me you at least narrowed down where she is."

I could see the sweat begin to flow down the Otaku's face. "B-By narrow down... you mean Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Asahiyama, right? Cuz if so, she's definitely narrowed down." You've got to be kidding me. Subaru seemed just as disappointed as I was. He let out a long sigh and hung his head low. "Shit suuuuuucks! The only thing we know is that she hasn't left the country. But, other than that. We got zilch. Our theory is that she either went back to her home city, where her old gang was headquartered, or is hiding out here till the heat dies down. Honestly, she's a master at hiding her tracks. Even with Ko helping, nada. Nothing. Ahhhhhh... I hate it."

Seeing my friend slowly fall into despair, I let go of my anger from earlier. "Don't worry. We'll find her sooner or later. Honestly, I'm getting tired of thinking about her and anything that has to do with her.'' Taking a deep breath, I ignored the pain that resonated from my stomach and rested my head on my sitting up bed. "Other than those spoilers, how have you been?"

"Oh... uh fine. Just focusing on work and stuff..." With the topic being changed, he gained more of his energy and gave me a nervous smile. "How's uhhh... how's Iki?"

"You come into my room, spoil me, don't even ask how I am, then have the balls to ask about your crush."

"...yes?"

"Go fuck yourself."

Turning my head away from him, I intended to ignore him for the rest of his visit. But, if there is one thing that Subaru is good at, it's being stubborn. The young man had the gall to jump off of his seat, jump onto my bed, and push me down into it. "Kuro! Please! You have to under-"

"What the fuck?" The two of us both turned our heads to see Nino, with a phone in her hand, standing in the doorway. "There we go. I needed new blackmail anyway." It was when she said that when I realized what this looked like, and pushed the Otaku off of me. He let out a soft moan when he fell onto the ground. "Pfftahahaha! Kuuuuuurroooo~ To think that you would go behind my back and cheat on me with this guy of all people? At least choose a hotter guy."

"Fuck off." I could feel the embarrassment destroying me from the inside, but still gave her a smile. "How was breakfast?"

"It was-" She decided to step onto Subaru as she walked to the chair next to my bed. I bet he enjoyed that. "Fine. I don't really like restaurant Japanese style breakfasts. They always put too much salt in the rice."

"Well, you could have gone home and ate there."

"And leave you for more than an hour. No, no, no." Reaching to my face, Nino pulled my left cheek. "You're way too cute for me to do that~ Plus, with Miku taking a shower at home... I have you for myself~" Help.

"You know, I'm still here, right?"

"Ew." With the most disgusted look I've seen in a while, Nino turned her gaze to Subaru. "What are you still here? Shouldn't you go home and kill yourself already?"

"Wow, that was mean!" Sitting up from the floor, the raven haired young man pointed at my girlfriend. "Please be more nice to me! I'm just a soft little otaku boy. My heart can break so easily."

"Ew."

"Nino."

"Fine. But leave unless you're fine watching."

"Nino."

"What? I'm just joking. Mostly." I don't even know how to feel about that. Leaning back into her seat, she lay her legs onto my bed and looked over to Subaru. "So, what's up? Still chasing after my sister's skirt? Or are you doing something less disgusting?"

"I-I'm not chasing after Iki for purely horny reasons!" Purely?

"Oh really? So-"

"Can we not talk about this? This topic raises my blood pressure and Maruo told me to relax." I looked between the two gossiping teens and gave them a slight glare. Suabru seemed happy for the change of topic and thankfully stood up. Nino was clearly disappointed, however. "Let's talk about something more interesting. I finished reading Hamlet last night and-"

"UGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" The ever so nice ribbon wearing girl groaned and slipped even further deeper into the seat. "Ku, darling, my love. Please, for the love of all that's good in the world, stop talking about Shakespeare!"

"Huh? I don't talk about him that much, do I?"

Instead of answering me, Nino waved her hand to Subaru. "Barusu, I want you to guess how many times he has talked about it in the last two days."

"Uhhh... four? Five times?"

"Ku has opened up conversations with Shakespeare fifteen times in the last two days! Doesn't help that Ichika actually can hold a conversation with him about it. It's so damn annoying!"

"Well excuse me for not having an interesting enough hobby." Maybe I should have gotten into scrapbooking or something. "Fine, you pick the topic then."

"Welllllll, how about we make plans for when your released! We should all go camping again, or actually go to the beach."

"Oh~ Another chance to see Iki in a swimsuit? I'm dow-"

"You're not invited."

"Hmph. I'll just ask Iki for the invite then!"

"Oh hell no!" I just grabbed my book and tried my best to ignore their yelling.

July 2nd: Afternoon

"..."

"Kuro, just eat. It can't be that bad."

"You don't get it, Itsuki. This shit sucks." I stared down at the tray of hospital food and held back the urge to throw up. "You sure you don't want it?" I picked up the miso soup and showed it to her.

"I-I'm good..."

"...did you gai-"

"I said, I'm good. Kuro." With a sweet smile, Itsuki pushed the soup back to me. "Jeez, I thought you knew better than to say that."

"S-Sorry. Guess being stuck in a hospital for so long has broken my brain." Swallowing my pride, I took a sip from the soup. "Yeesh. I miss Miku's Miso soup..."

"She'll make it anytime you want. Just relax for now." She had a point. Just another week and a half and I'll be home. Sure I'll be in crutches and will probably still be stuck in bed for a while, but at least I'll be at home and eat decent food. "But anyway..." Itsuki was sitting beside my bed while Miku and Nino were watching Tv at the moment. Hm? Is this something juicy? Something scandalous? "Kuro... I need your help."

"What's up? If there's anything I can do, let me know."

"I..." Moving closer to me, Itsuki began to whisper. "I-I think I may be in trouble... my grades aren't looking so good." She then pulled back and took out what looked to be a test. Handing it to me, I was actually surprised by the grade. A D? And it's a low one too... Oh no. "This was a mock exam that we took in cram school two weeks ago and... I'm kinda going crazy here!" Yanking the test away, she began flipping through the pages. "L-Like, I knew this answer but... I doubted it and got it wrong! Oh! And this one too! Ugh, I hate it!"

"Itsuki, calm down." I raised both of my hands and tried to soothe her anger. "It's okay. It was just a mock exam. Just make a note of your habit and make sure not to do it again."

"But I've been doing it forever! A-And then there's the college prospect exam that we'll take when we go back to school! What if I do badly and no one wants me. O-Or I-"

"Itsuki. Seriously. You're doing it again." Nodding her head, the studious girl took a few deep breaths. "Better?"

"Y-yeah. Sorry, Kuro. I just... I don't think I told you this but, I want to be just like my mom."

"A teacher?" Well, I suppose that makes sense. She's always seen her as a role model. I know she'll do great as one. "Oh, so that's why you're taking this so bad. Don't worry about it, then. It takes time to realize and pursue your dream. You won't be a genius in a day. And to be honest, I doubt most teachers are that smart."

Shaking her head, she tightened her grip on the test. "I don't want to be like most teachers. Mom... She was different. She was the best! Even her old students said so!" Her voice was begging to rise and she gained the attention of her sisters. Both of them looked back at us with curious gazes. "I want to be like that! I want to help people make their dreams come true! I want to help people go onto the right track! I... want to be like her."

Like mom. It's a relatively normal statement that I'm sure most children have said that once or twice in their life. But... I don't know how that feels, Is it similar to my old desire to be like Shiro? I doubt most mothers are taking down Yakuza. I couldn't help but wonder for a second, how different I would be if I knew my mother. So what? It's about Itsuki. Not me. "I... I get it. I may not have met the woman myself, but from what you all and Maruo say, she must have been amazing. Because of that, wouldn't she tell you to take it at your own pace? There's still plenty of time before school comes back. And even if you flunk that exam, that's still just another mock exam. Schools don't really look at those. The most important tests will be the entrance exams. Study at your own pace, okay?"

"..I guess you have a point..."

"Course he does!" Nino walked over to her youngest sister and wrapped her in a hug. "You'll be the best teacher in all of japan!"

"You'll definitely be better than Ugi." Miku joined in the hug and encouragement.

"Hehe... that's not really saying much." But her sister's encouragement did get her to smile once more. "Thank you."

"Awwww, it's so cute how formal you can beee~" Falling into a cuteness hole, the second oldest Nakano began rubbing her cheek against Itsuki's. "So soft~"

"Hmmmm, she really is." Miku joined in. Seeing the three sisters cuddle in such a strange way was a bit nostalgic and was honestly a very cute scene to see.

"Mooooouuuu! Get off!"

The two sisters reluctantly followed her plea. But I then noticed a sinister glint in Nino's eye. "Say, Itsuki... can I ask you a question?"

"Oh no. It's never good when she says that." I couldn't help but agree with Miku's statement. For Nino of all people to ask for persimmon? She would usually say anything.

"Ummm, I might regret this but go ahead."

With a teasing smile, Nino leaned against my bed. "Soooo, what's going on with you and Subaru?"

"Hm? Nothing. We're just best friends." Her response was as quick as a bull-Yeah let's not think that. Quick as a...certain blue hedgehog. Not a moment's hesitation.

"Eh?" Was pretty much the three of our reactions.

"What? Did we seem closer? Oh no, don't tell me that I got too familiar with him! Did I make him uncomfortable?"

Nino, Miku and I all looked at each other. No way she hasn't noticed...right? "Itsuki...you don't see Suabrau in a...romantic way?"

"HUH?!" My accusation seemed to have struck a nerve because she jumped out of her seat with a blushing face. "Never! Not in a million years!"

"...poor Barusu."

"Nino, shut up." I didn't know how to feel about this. One one had, a part of me felt a bit relieved that the two weren't... you know. But on the other hand, I felt really bad for Subaru and a bit of guilt that I felt relieved. "Um, if you don't mind me asking...why?"

"Highschool romances are inappropriate!" Ah... She seemed to have noticed the implication and looked between the three of us. "I-I mean..."

"No...it's fine. Now I know how you feel..." With her usual neutral expression, Miku walked away from us and sat down in the corner, bringing her legs up to her chin. "..."

"M-Miku, I didn't-"

"Hmph, so what? We're inappropriate now? I didn't think you'd be so judgmental, lil sis."

"That's not..." Looking for help, the youngest Nakano looked towards me with tears in the edges of her eyes. But, due to a mixture of both anger and a desire to tease my little sister, I turned away from her. "I didn't mean it like thaaaat!"

July 7th: Evening

There was truly a strange event happening right in front of me. At this very moment, all five Nakano siblings along with Taro were having a delicious dinner in my hospital room while I was stuck with grilled fish, rice and an honestly decent lemonade that I asked for specifically. Now, my jealousy for their meal wasn't what was interesting. What was interesting was how everyone was seated. The six were sitting around the low table at the center of the room. Miku and Nino seemed to have taken the spot to look at me on purpose. Ichika and Itsuki were on opposite sides while Taro and Yotsu were sitting next to each other. Their backs facing me.

Now why was this interesting? Simple. Because Taro took the seat next to Yotsu without much fanfare. Now the reason why this is interesting, was because almost every time he'd be stuck in a situation like that, he'd sit next to me or begrudgingly sit next to either Ichika or Yotsu. Hm, are they getting closer? The memory of Taro getting slightly embarrassed when calling Yotsu cute at the pool. Or...nah. No way. Shaking my head to get the tough out of my head, I went back to eating the mediocre food in front of me.

After thirty minutes of eating, it was time for everyone to head home. "See you tomorrow guys. I need to go get my beauty sleep." Ichika stood up and gave the two sisters staying a pat on the head. "Try not to come onto Kuku too strong, alright? Don't kill him."

"Tell her that, not me." Nino swatted away her older sister's hand and glared at Miku. "I mean seriously. Every time Ku's asleep, she keeps-"

"W-Wow look at the time! See you Ichika!" The fact that she interrupted Nino was not very comforting. "Nino... you said you wouldn't tell."

"...what the fuck?" The eldest sister walked over to me and patted my shoulder. "Stay strong, little brother."

"Ichika... you know what. Whatever. I'll try."

"See you tomorrow. Come on girls!" Yelling back to her sisters, I saw Itsuki grab a few extra bites before standing up while Taro and Yotsu shoved any uneaten leftovers into some tupperware.

"Okay, bye Kuro! Bye bye, Miku and Nino!" Itsuki joined her sister at the door and waited for Yotsu.

Who was currently still whispering something to taro with a smile. "Coming!" After saying that, she gave me a wave and left with her sisters.

It was then that the three of us seemed to have connected our wavelengths. Because Miku, Nino and I all looked at Taro at the same moment. "...you three are going to say something annoying, aren't you?"

"Depends, Ugi~" Taro's skin seemed to crawl from Nino's mocking tone. "You two seem close. Anything interesting going on?"

Then, it happened. For the first time in our lives, we saw Fuutarou Uesugi of all people blushing furiously. His entire face lit up like a light bulb and he quickly covered his face with his hands. "C-Course not! We've just been studying a lot lately."

"...oh my god." The headphone earring girl was the first to respond to this historic event. Standing up from her seat, she quickly opened her phone and checked a couple things. "Wow, the world really isn't ending."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"She means that you, of all people, are acting embarrassed? Something juicy is going on here, isn't it?" The two sisters' eyes lit up and they flanked the young man on both sides. "Spill it. Or I'll tell dad something worse."

"You want to get me killed?!" Bold. Bold to go for the Maruo angle considering the fact I'm on his shit list too. "Fine. Just... don't laugh."

"Oh, we'll laugh." God damn, Miku. That's just mean.

"Kuro! Can you tell them to stop being mean to me?!" All I could do was shrug. I mean, even I'm at their mercy most of the time. "Dammit... okay fine! But back up! You're too close." In unison, the two sisters sat down onto the nearby couch and stared up at the tutor. "Holy fuck, you two sure are insane sometimes."

"Taro, no need to name-call." That earned me a glare from him. "Look, to be honest. I'm curious about this too."

"Fuck the three of you."

"I'm hoping Kuro will do so soon."

Quickly, Nino gave her sister a chop on the head. "Damn horny brat." Shaking her head, she motioned to Taro to continue.

"Okay. I... I think I find Yotsuba cute."

"..."

"..."

"...and?"

"What? That's it." What did we expect? But, it's something, right?

"Baby steps."

"Baby steps?! This has to be the worst shit I've ever hear in my entire life! Just how dense are you, motherfucker?! You've got to be the densest person that I've ever met!" All the tutor did was point at me. HEY! "Ku's a different story! He's dumb as fuck too!"

"Wow. Can't really say anything about that, either." Scratching the back of my head, I began to think about all of the very obvious signs that I didn't even notice. God can be an idiot.

"Nevertheless, I told you my peace. May I leave?"

I decided to stop him and raised my hand. "One question though. Would you mind telling us when it started? Or was it out of the blue?" The young man looked deep in thought while also blushing. A very strange combination for him ideed, but it was interesting nonetheless.

With a sigh, he answered. "Well, I guess it started shortly after we got back to school. We were doing a lot of class rep work together and... I don't know. She kinda reminded me of... you know who. The real one. Not that fake who I keep meeting." He gave me a look and instantly I knew what he meant. Oh, the girl on the photo. Who also just happened to BE Yotsu. Wait, a fake? That through me for a loop. The fact that he said so in such a nonchalant way was also fucking with me. Surely Ichika didn't decide to do something like that again. Then, Itsuki? Nahh... right?

"And who is this 'You know who?" Taro just ignored Nino's question and just shook his head. "Fine, go. Keep your secrets, bastard. But if you lead on my sister, I'll kill ya." Taro just shook his head at the threat and gave us a lazy wave as he left. "Could you believe that? Just cute? What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Like Kuro said, Baby steps. He's just as romantically stupid as Kuro. Well... maybe not. I had to basically confess for Kuro to start thinking about me liking him."

Just hearing an objective description of my idiocy made me want to crawl into a hole and disappear from the earth. "Please stop." My begging caused Miku to walk over to me and wrap me into a hug.

"It's okay. I accepted that you were a dummy a long time ago." God dammit.

July 10th: Afternoon

"And with that, we get a perfect run. See? Easy Ku."

"Ohhhhh. Now that makes sense. Thanks Nino." Looking down from Nino's phone, I opened up my own and began opening Arknights. Unbeknownst to me, she had also picked up the game and just showed me how to get past a stage I was having trouble on. "You're the best."

"Hehehe, of course I am. So, who was your favorite Operator again?"

"Uhhh, I switch it up between Surtur and Bagpipe I guess. Oh and Thorns!"

"Interesting..." She seemed to make a mental note of it before leaning close to me to see my progress on the stage. "Oh remember to place the sniper now!"

"Oh, shit. Right." Just as my finger was placed down on my phone, the room door opened. Is Miku back? Nope. Standing at the door was Maruo, with a pissed off look on his face. "Ah."

"Afternoon, Ogata. Nino." As soon as her name was said, Nino moved away from me and sat back down on her seat. "It's time for your exercise, Ogata. Nino, would you please leave us for a bit?"

"Y-Yeah. See you dad." Leaving me to my fate, Nino practically ran out of the room. Wow.

"Ogata. Get ready." Sighing to myself, I moved my body to the side, making my legs fall off to the side of the bed. I looked at the silver slabs of metal that the doctor was holding and grew even more depressed. Nonetheless, he handed the crutches to me and took my hand. "Slowly, alright?"

""Ye-eah!" Of course, pain erupted from my leg. Even trying my best to ignore it brought nothing and I almost fell onto the ground. It was thanks to Maruo catching me that I was able to stay upright. "Thank you..."

"Hm, perhaps we should up your medication if-"

"No. I'm fine. It's just when I first stand up that I feel it. I'm fine, sir."

He looked deep into my eyes for a while before sighing. "Very well. I'll take your word for it. You will be let out of here soon too. So if you really can't stand the pain, let me know." Now that I think about it, I'm going to have a hard time being home alone. Cooking and cleaning are obviously out of the question. Hell showering will definitely be a chore too. Maybe... no. I'll be fine. I'll figure it out. "Alright. Take a walk around the room."

"Can I use the bathroom as well? I kind of need to go." I took his nod as permission and went about my exercise. It was hell, honestly. Moving my right leg felt like a chore in of itself, not even including the pain that doing so brought about. By now, the wound was mostly shut but my leg would still shake with every movement and pain. It was also annoying having to force my body to ignore the instinct to hold onto my thigh. "Ah...ah...hah..."

"Ogata. That's enough. Lay back down." After fifteen minutes of walking around my room in a circle, I did as he ordered. "... you're clearly still in far too much pain to go back to living alone. I'm going to order your stay here to be longer."

"Sir-"

"Ogata. At this moment, I am your doctor. My only desire is to see you fully recover from this and that can't happen if you go home and fall in the shower or trip on a candy wrapper." Grabbing his clipboard, he was about to write something down before looking at me once more. "...unless of course you have someone to take care of you."

Looking up at him, I couldn't really tell what he wanted. His eyes were analyzing me but they didn't have their usual threatening aura ."Well... Ni-"

"I hope you are not about to say that my Precious Daughters would be staying with you." There's that glare! Thought he liked me there for a second.

"Course not. That thought would never occur to me." My parry to his attack seemed to have no effect because he was still glaring at me. "Almost all of the Sentinels are just a short phone call and one minute walk away from my apartment. And I'm sure I can convince Subaru or Seth to stay the night with me to make sure that nothing bad happens if I need to piss in the middle of the night."

That seemed like the right answer, because he nodded his head and placed his pen back into his white doctors coat. "Very well. In that case, I'll approve of your release. I hope you enjoy these last two days here. Oh, and should I fit the bill to you or your brother?"

"...Bill?"

"While I was willing to pay for your visit myself, that was before I found out that you were lying to me. Again. Surely you can't believe that there would be no repercussions for this, Ogata." Of all the ways to get revenge against me, he had to go for my wallet. How evil can one man be?

"Um... my brother then."

"Hmph. Very well. It'll be just as enjoyable to see the look on the man's face when I hand him the bill." A slightly uncomfortable smile appeared on Marou Nalknaos face as he put on his stethoscope. "Okay, lets finish this check up now."

"C-COLD!"

"Hm, so that's what would happen if I left my stethoscope in the freezer."