ちびまおう - たなか きみこ：dayonha!

chibi maou – tanaka kimiko:＃4

      Sakura and Tomoyo asked Miko several times on the way to the nurse if she wanted to lean on them or at least get some help going up the stairs, but she gritted her teeth and said everything was totally fine.  They finally arrived at the office, gave the nurse a brief explanation of what had happened, and watched with apprehension as the nurse directed Miko to a cot.

"You two are excused." said the nurse tersely.  "Please go back to your lesson while I see what's wrong with your friend.  You can may visit her at lunchtime." And with that, Tomoyo and Sakura were shooed out the door. Miko watched them go.  The moment the door closed behind them, she stopped holding back and her face contorted into an expression of agony.  The nurse became worried and called over another colleague of hers to have a look.

Later that afternoon, Tomoyo, Sakura, and…well, the usual clique were sitting outside eating their packed lunches on the grass. Miko had been almost forgotten, and conversation had turned from her to more entertaining subjects, such as scaring Sakura with ghost stories.  Tomoyo sighed inwardly to herself.  She knew Naoko had to be getting some secret pleasure from scaring the poor girl out of her wits.

"And then, when the boys went up the stairs…."

Sakura covered her ears. "Don't say anything! I don't want to know!!"

"They saw the girl, still looking out the window…BUT HER BOTTOM HALF WAS GONE!!" finished Naoko with a flair.

"Aaaaah!!" shrieked every girl but Tomoyo in unison.

Tomoyo desperately tried to change the subject, but the other girls were far too interested in this new story and would not hear of it.  Sakura squeezed Tomoyo's hand until her knuckles turned white, but the darker-haired girl still a strained smile on her face. "I have an idea!" she exclaimed at last.  "Why don't we go see how Kimiko-chan is doing?"

The other girls immediately agreed.  They went off to put their lunch things away, and then go to visit the new girl.

Kimiko's head felt heavy and she had a pounding, throbbing ache in her temple.  She had spent the last 15 minute watching the clock on the wall, listening to the ticks and trying to make up little games to play in her head during this horrible solitary confinement.  Eventually the ticking seemed to penetrate through her eyes and ears and into her mind, and now it was causing the sharp stabs of pain in her brain.

"Kimiko-chan!"

Her eyes snapped open, but she could only see a dark blur looking down at her as she lay on the cot.

"Oh, Tomoy- Ne?? Who're you?  Oh, it's the nerd-girl.  Wuzzup." she responded with just a hint of disappointment in her voice.

Naoko blushed with embarrassment at the appellation.  "Er.  My name is Naoko.  The others are coming in a moment, they just have to...um…  Are you feeling any better?"

Miko nodded.  "Yeah, it was nothing.  They thought I broke a rib, but fortunately I only bruised half of them." she replied sarcastically. 

Rika, Chiharu, Sakura, and you-know-who arrived.  Miko shuddered when she saw Tomoyo come in, and immediately tried to sit up in the cot.  Rika tried to help her but Miko made a sound that sounded like some kind of snarling animal, and Rika backed off in a hurry. Miko sat up slowly, carefully controlling her face so that the girls wouldn't see her wince.

"Well.  I see I've suddenly become really popular.  Or is it a school tradition to have a little ceremony like this for people after that Chinese boy breaks their ribs in?" she joked. 

Sakura sweatdropped.

"I'm..I'm sure Li-kun would come and apologize, um…He's just a little… well…" she stuttered, as she tried hopelessly to formulate an excuse for him. Tomoyo piped up in his defense. "He's a very shy boy, that's all.  I assure you, he's very sorry and hopes you get well soon.  We all do!"  The other girls nodded and agreed quickly.

"Will you be ok now?  Can you come back to class?" asked Chiharu. "What happened anyway?  It's only a bruise, right?"

Miko jumped excitedly at the chance to tell a story, but the sharp pains in her chest reminded her to sit still.

"Well, you see, after he kicked me, the ball partly hit the top of my stomach and the bottom of my ribs.  They had me all bandaged up, 'cause five of my ribs are cracked, and one of them snapped all the way in HALF!  It's like, floating around in my lungs somewhere!!"

The girls gasped in horror, and Sakura passed out on the floor.  Tomoyo swooped down on her and fanned her face. 

"Sakura-chan!! Sakura-chan!!"

Sakura moaned unintelligible words."

"B-but…before!  You…you s-said…" Naoko stuttered to Miko.

Miko didn't notice her at all, and instead desperately tried to regain Tomoyo's attention. "And that's not all!  Look, they operated on me and now I have this huge scar!!" she pulled up her shirt to show everybody.  They all turned away with shrieks.

The bed-ridden girl was confused.  "What?? They bandaged me all up.  Of course you can't see it." she laughed loudly, but laughing hurt so she settled for a mischievous grin. From her bellybutton to the beginning of her arms, she was totally bandaged. The girls around her sighed heavily in relief and embarrassment.  Naoko's glasses were steamy and her expression was unreadable.  Miko glanced at her nervously. "Why's your face all red Four-eyes? You're not mad at me, are ya?" She looked back at Tomoyo, who was now trying to get a nurse to look at Sakura.  Sakura's eyes fluttered open and her eyes met with Kimiko. She made a sound like a mouse being stepped on. "T-Tomoyo-chan!! K-keep me away from…from…"

"All right, I'm sorry.  I admit I was stretching the truth a bit.  My ribs are only a little bruised.  I got bandaged only because I told the nurse it would make me feel better."  Sakura seemed to recover after hearing that, but she still kept her distance from the cot, hiding partially behind Tomoyo.

The nurse Tomoyo had called for Sakura came and was horror-struck to see 5 girls all crammed into the same tiny sick room to visit Miko.  "All of you OUT now!!" she screeched.  "The patient has no fresh air!!  You want to KILL the poor darling?? Come on, all of you, scoot!!" and Miko's classmates scurried out like frightened rabbits from the wrath of the starchy-white authority.

When they had all cleared out, the nurse spun on her heel and glared at Miko.  Miko gulped nervously.

"And YOU young lady! Sitting up like that!  Honestly, do you WANT to catch a cold!! You even left the WINDOW open, for heaven's sakes!!" she snapped as she tucked Miko in a bit too tightly, as to prevent her from escaping.

"T-too tight…!"

"That will teach you.  I do declare, the children in this school go off getting themselves beaten to pulps and then open up windows to let in all the pollen and germs and OOH BACTERIA!!!!" she cried on the verge of hysterics.

"Now you will stay in YOUR COT with NO VISITORS until school is out and I don't have responsibility for you anymore, do you understand??"

Miko choked. "Yes…Tyrant."

The nurse sniffed.  "Children these days.  So clumsy and reckless.  And totally DISRESPECTFUL."