Chapter 6: Strange Adaptations
Boredom can be a cruel beast especially to a man with a constantly active lifestyle.
Hideki sighed as he scratched the back of his neck. He surveyed the room in the same fashion as yesterday and the day before that. Ever since from his one month stay at the hospital, he had been doing nothing, but sitting on his butt in bed. It figured that after staring at the same walls for a really long time in one place, he had to stare at the same walls in his apartment some more. It was rather dull and tedious.
It was not that he didn't like sitting around and doing absolutely nothing. Quite the opposite, he believed that relaxation was a very important part of life itself. But even he could only hold out for so long with only TV and books to keep him occupied. Hideki fell back unto his bed with a sigh. The doctor had strictly ordered that he needed complete rest and to stay in bed until the end of next month. This has been most unfortunate for him considering how his life demanded him to be on the move. Luckily, it was summer vacation and he did not need to attend school. However, he was appalled to find out that he could not work at Club Pleasure in the time being.
"Man, I don't know how Chii could wait for me all day to return home because this is so boring," he thought aloud.
He laid on the bed for a couple of minutes. Hideki had recently bought a bed because of 'doctor's orders' despite his numerous protests about his financial situation. It was also a pain to carry it up since his apartment was on the second floor and he had to employ the help of Shinbo to assist him. Hideki squelched his eyes as he relived the rather discomforting memory.
"Did the doctor really want you to have this for only medical reasons?"
"Yes, you better not be suggesting something I don't want to know about."
Shinbo had a mischievous grin on his face. It was almost disturbing.
"Suuure, you did. You know, I saw you guys all over each other in the hospital room."
"WE were just HUGGING! Nothing else happened!" Hideki exclaimed a bit too loudly. "And besides, I never asked you to break through my door!"
"Well, you never told anyone that you were in the hospital. It's as if you wanted to keep it a secret, but now I know the real reason why." Shinbo replied with that same stupid smirk. "Man, I never thought you both of you would do it in a hospital! That's pretty daring if I do say so myself."
"SHUT UP! It's not what you think! Now will you help me pull this thing up or not?" he fumed at his companion.
"All right man, don't get too riled up."
His gaze wandered around the empty apartment. Chii had to work earlier these past weeks so she could receive extra income for all the medical bills that he would need to pay. Of course, Hideki had explicitly said that Chii was not forced to do such a thing, but she shook her head furiously and adamantly stated "Chii will do it. Hideki needs rest," and she trotted out the door. All of this led to more frustration on his part from the lack of things to do.
"That's it. I'm getting out of here. I'm sick of sitting around here doing absolutely nothing," he declared in his brain.
With a deep breath, Hideki slowly lifted his trembling leg and let it drop over the side. His body has not fully recovered from his prolonged state of unconsciousness so his muscles weakened after weeks of inactivity. His other leg was about halfway off the bed and was about to pull himself out when the door opened.
It was Chii. Hideki softly cursed to himself.
"Hideki! What are you doing?" Chii asked with worry in her tone. She bustled over to the side of his bed.
"Oh no! Wait, calm down. Just take wait for a moment and think clearly on this. All you have to do is just give a reasonable and plausible explanation to why you're like this," he thought, this time silently.
"Uhhh...," Hideki's brain racked for anything that would get himself out of the mess he got himself into. "I was going to the bathroom." He congratulated himself on a simple yet fully understandable solution.
"Hideki can go, but Chii will come with you."
Hideki's face blanched. Chii is going to watch him in the bathroom? "W-what? Why?" Hideki stammered.
Chii spoke again in her innocent tone. "Hideki almost escaped through the window. So, Chii will watch Hideki to make sure you won't do it again."
Oh yeah...Hideki's mind slowly recalled the incident.
"NO! I REFUSE TO STAY IN BED ANY LONGER!" Hideki screamed. The upper half of his body was out the window and his arms were straining to push out the rest of it out. Hideki attempted to crack open the window and crawl his way through. He was about to make his grand getaway if he hadn't topple over the glass cup with his left foot and the resounding crash caused Chii to look in the bathroom and spotted Hideki's legs kicking in the air.
"CHII! LEGGO OF MY LEG!" Hideki shrieked as he continued to hang unto the windowsill.
"Doctor says Hideki must stay in bed!" Chii exclaimed in an almost commanding voice. Her hands grasped unto his leg and were prying him away from the open window with shockingly incredible strength.
However, Hideki wouldn't give up so easily. "I had enough rest to last me a lifetime!" Hideki managed to gasp out. After several more minutes of Hideki's body waving up and down in a tug-of-war, unfortunately for him, his fingers finally let go and lost his only chance of escape.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
He smiled sheepishly. "Er, well. I really need to go to the bathroom for real this time." His eyes shifted suspiciously.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
"Chii will get it!" and she scurried off to answer it. Hideki's eyes jumped to the other side of the room.
"Now's my chance!" his mind cried triumphantly.
With some difficulty, he quickly hobbled to the balcony of his apartment.There was a dusty gate that led to the fire escape and to his freedom. He grinned and silently congratulated himself again on his resourcefulness. It was simple yet pure genius.
"Hideki! Where are you?"
Oh crap...
He was only halfway down the stairs. With a terrified glance behind him, his legs sped up faster, almost to the point where it looks like he's stumbling through a murky swamp. His eyes bulged out in shock from Chii's rapidly approaching shadow.
"Faster! Faster!" his inner voice screamed.
But it was too late. Chii swept him up in her arms and dearly held him close, her cheek press against his stomach.
"Hideki must not run. Chii is worried Hideki will get hurt." She said, her voice brimmed with concern.
Hideki let out a long sigh. He just could never win against her. "All right," Hideki replied, "I'll stay in bed," in a defeated tone.
Chii nuzzled her head adorably and Hideki couldn't help but smile. He patted her head as she carefully carried him back up to the balcony.
"Um, am I interrupting something?"
Hideki's eyes nearly jumped out of their sockets and he nearly fainted in Chii's arms at the sight of his apartment manager.
"Um...I...er...," he stammered in embarrassment.
Fortunately, Chii responded with her usually excellent timing.
"Chii will put Hideki in bed and give him something nice to eat," she replied.
Hideki would be more than willing to give all the money he had ever owned to evaporate right on the spot. He turned his burning cheeks to Ms. Hibiya. She brought a pot of stew and a bowl of chocolate pudding.
"Oh, I see. I brought this for you, knowing that it may be hard to cook right now." Hibiya said. "I wanted to stay and talk but maybe I should come later when you're not so busy." She had a charming smile on her face.
Hideki took the proffered stew trying to say anything to explain what was happening but nothing came out of his mouth except a muttered, "Thank you."
"I hope you feel better soon. I'll let you go back to whatever you two were doing," she said warmly and just like that, she left.
"GAAAAHH! Why me? Now she'll think I'm an even bigger pervert than I was before!" Hideki screamed in his usual hysteria as he squirmed around in her embrace.
"Chi?" Chii tilted her head in confusion to what had just happened.
"DUDE! Hideki you ARE a pervert!"
Oh no...
Shinbo was at the door. His eyes darted from Chii standing next to the bed to Hideki in her arms to the chocolate pudding in his hands and added up all these factors to a predetermined conclusion.
"Well, I can see you're getting a whole lot better now, but I never thought you would do that even in your condition." Shinbo said, grinning madly. "Is this one of your techniques for quicker healing?"
"SHUT UP SHINBO!" Hideki is now burning red with embarrassment and fury. Why do these things always happen to me? "What are you doing here?" he demanded.
"Relax man, I just came over to give you a 'get well' present." He picked out a weird-looking machine from a paper bag. "This is to help give a massage. You've probably not been doing anything and your muscles might've gone numb. This little baby will get you back up on your feet in no time. But I can see that you have, ahem, other alternative methods." Shimbo said in a suggestive manner.
Hideki growled at him. "Geez, you're so considerate." This is not helping him with his non-perverted image. Then again, being held up by Chii and holding a bowl of chocolate pudding is not exactly the most dignified sight.
A pink blur popped out behind Shinbo and landed on his shoulder. "Hello, master's scary friend!" Sumomo cried at the top of her lungs. Hideki groaned.
"Hm, he looks like he's getting ready for bed. Let's leave him alone for a while." Shinbo said with a wink. Sumomo nodded her head furiously in agreement and took out her flags. She made a kind of pirouette and did a funky little jig on his shoulder.
"HAVE A GREAT AND HAPPY DAY!" Hideki groaned even louder.
"Yeah, have a happy day. Don't stay up too long!" and he walked out with an all-knowing smirk that could easily beat the cheshire cat.
"Does Hideki want Chii to put him down?" Chii asked innocently. She was totally oblivious to the whole exchange that happened right in front of her.
"Yes," Hideki replied in a defeated sigh. Chii carefully put him down on the bed and gently pulled the covers over him. "Thanks Chii," he said with a weary smile.
Chii beamed in happiness and went off to heat up Ms. Hibiya's stew. Hideki stared at Chii's fleeting image.
She really is adorable. Hideki smiled as she ran around the kitchen grabbing extra spices as the stew simmered on the stove. Soon an inviting smell reached to his nostrils.
"Hey, that smells good," Hideki thought out loud. Chii walked toward him with the steaming bowl.
Chii cooked this for Hideki," she stated and placed it in front of him after sitting on a chair next to him. "Thanks Chii." Hideki grabbed a spoon but looked at it warily with a hint of caution.
"Chii did not put in chili powder this time because Hideki says not to." Chii said happily.
"Yeah, good job Chii," he replied with a sigh of relief. The last time she gave him something resulted of him literally crying for water as he laid helplessly on the floor. Chii was not entirely sure what Hideki meant when he screamed, "My tongue is on fire!" so she filled up a bucket of water and dunked it on his head.
Several moments passed in comfortable silence and with the occasional slurp.
"Hideki?"
"What?" he asked between mouthfuls.
"Does Hideki like being with Chii?"
His hand holding the spoon stopped in midair right before it went into his mouth.
"Why do you ask that all of a sudden?"
Chii shifted her weight nervously. "Hideki looks sad when Hideki stays in bed. Maybe Hideki wants to be somewhere else instead of with Chii." A worry that occasionally popped up in her mind but she never gathered the courage to say it in front of his face. She had wondered if Hideki would prefer the company of someone else besides her. It was not that she was the jealous type, but her inquisitive thoughts could not help but speculate if he might like someone else than her.
"No no, I'm not sad! It's just that I don't like staying here every day." Hideki squeezed Chii's hand. Why did she think that way? Was it because he never spent enough time at home before? "I'm just upset because I'm sick and maybe because of Shinbo, but I like staying here with you. Well, now you can spend a lot of time with me because I can't go anywhere now can I?"
Chii brightened like the sun from his reply and squeezed his hand back. Just when the atmosphere grew into a comfortable silence, an ominous knock was heard from the door again.
"Oh great, what else am I going to suffer through? It better not be Yoshiyuki or I swear I'm going to break down a wall," Hideki thought with trepidation.
Chii opened the door and looked around, but no one was in sight. She looked down and found a small package on the floor. She picked it up and walked briskly back to Hideki's bed.
"It is signed to Hideki," Chii confirmed.
"Hm, I wonder who it could be." Hideki opened up the box and a note fell out. He scooped up the piece of paper from the air and read it aloud.
"Dear Hideki,
Congratulations on coming back from the hospital! I'm sorry for not being able to visit you today but Yumi and I still need to work the rest of the day. However, tomorrow we're free so we'll come for a visit. Oh yeah, this is the rest of a cake Chii made. She ran out so fast that she didn't take the rest of it with her. It's selling out so fast that we ran out! Please ask her if she would be willing to bake more for us.
Hope you're doing well,
Hiroyasu Ueda
P.S. Yumi says hi and she will make a special batch of cookies for you."
Hideki glanced back into the box and saw a delicious-looking, vanilla cake with strawberries strategically placed every few inches.
"Chii, is this yours?" Hideki asked incredulously.
Chii looked in the box also and she nodded her head quickly. "Yes, it is Chii's."
Hideki picked out a slice and took a bite. He ate slowly and meticulously to savor the full flavor and texture. Chii looked at him with anticipation and nervousness to see if it pleased him or not. She was practically on the edge of her seat when he made some strange facial expressions before swallowing the mouthful of the creamy good.
"This...is absolutely fantastic!" He stuffed the whole slice in his mouth and his cheeks strongly resembled to a chipmunk's. "Here, you should try some of it too."
And without fully aware of what he was doing, he cupped her cheek with the palm of his hand and he gently lifted another slice until it tickled her lips. Chii was a bit surprised by this sudden action but she gladly nibbled on it, more focused on the rough calluses on his fingers than the actual cake.
Her eyes locked unto his and the room suddenly heated up as Chii lifted up her hand and slowly touched Hideki's cheek. It lingered there long enough for him to feel a strange squirming in his stomach as if there were snakes slithering inside of him. She carefully picked up another slice and placed it softly on his lips in imitation.
"Here Hideki," Chii said tenderly.
Hideki wasn't able to say anything back even after he swallowed; the burning sensation had not left him. He managed to stutter out a "T-t-thanks Chii."
She beamed and proffered the cake again to his lips and Hideki did the same with his. And so, they spent the rest of the evening, doing something as simple as eating cake.
Wow, more fluff again. I will be very surprised if the readers aren't suffocating by now. Well, considering that Hideki is now wide awake, things will be a bit more humorous, but there will be the occasional, dramatic twist and turn so I haven't turned into a huge pile of sugary mush...yet.