Chapter 8

-Nino-

I sat on the edge of the bed. "Sorry about making the two of you worry, can't believe I made you two skip classes over one of my attacks…"

Shin raised an eyebrow, "So this has happened multiple times already?"

I covered my mouth as I realized my mistake. I nodded silently before speaking up, "Yeah... I've been having these anxiety attacks every few months or so. Thankfully this happened in school, it would have been so terrifying if it happened while I was out in public..."

The nurse then walked in and smiled. "Hi Nakano-san! I'm glad you look like you're feeling better. I've finished up the excuse letter for you and... Fuutarou, right? I've known the five of you for over a year now and I still can't fully remember which name belongs to who!"

Fuutarou nodded as he took the note from her, "Yes that would be me, sensei." He then bowed and held his head low, "Thank you for taking care of Nakano-san."

She smiled, "There's no need to thank me, I just did what I'm here to do after all. Now off to class, I assume miss Nakano can walk on her own... unless one of you is willing to carry her to her next class?"

Shin and Fuutarou stared at each other, then at me, then back at each other. "Rock paper scissors?" asked Shin

"Rock paper scissors" replied Fuutarou.

"Wait! I can walk on my own!" I exclaimed, my face bright red as I saw two boys fighting over who would carry me. "Jeez, despite being my tutors you guys seem to lack common sense at times... you both could have asked me first if I could walk on my own."

Fuutarou rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, "You're right, Nakano-san. We should have asked you first." He then stood up and held out his hand. "So why don't we head on to the pool? If I remember correctly, we're having a joint class with Ikku and Goro's class, they're worried about you too."

I took his hand and stood up. "I'm ready if you are, what about you, Shin? Where are you gonna go now?"

Shin stood up as well, "I'll head back to the library, I still have some time to study before my next class starts. So I guess I'll see you after school?"

I nodded, "Of course! See you later, Shin." and after that, we went our separate ways.

As we walked towards the pool Fuutarou grinned, "I know this sounds rude, but I'm somehow glad we got you to the infirmary, we don't have to do swimming because of it!"

I playfully punched him, "If I weren't so happy about not having to swim, I would have been scolding you by now!" We continued to laugh and joke around till we got to the pool. And not even a second in we already heard Goro screaming at the top of his lungs.

"NINO-SAAAAAAAN! ARE YOU OKAY?" screamed Goro as a he ran towards us. "I heard about what happened to you! You're not dying, are you? I only just met you and... and... and I wanted to spend more fun times with you!" He said with tears in his eyes.

I laughed nervously, "Don't worry, Goro. This attack wasn't life threatening and as you can see, I'm as healthy as can be!" I even tried to flex my nonexistent muscles to prove my point.

Goro sighed with relief, "Well if you say you're good, then I won't doubt you, Nino-san! So are you as hyped up as we are to go swimming?" Fuutarou did a face palm and gestured for Goro to shut up, but it was too late.

Anxiety started building up again and I instinctively held on to whatever was closest to me, which in this scenario was Fuutarou's hand.

"Na-Na-Nakano-san! Are you alright? Take a deep breath... then let it all out." said Fuutarou as he held my shoulder with his free hand. I ended up calming down quickly, perhaps due to Fuutarou's quick thinking and maybe because I had someone supporting me.

I took another deep breath and calmed down. "Th-thanks Fuutarou, I think I'm going to sit down. Could you hand the note to our teacher please?"

Fuutarou nodded and went towards the teacher, and they seemed to be discussing about something, probably the note. After another minute of talking, Fuutarou showed a thumbs up gesture. I sighed with relief, "Seems like we'll be excused for today..." then suddenly a cold water bottle was pressed against my face, causing me to yelp.

I looked to my left and saw Ikku, "Hey there, Nino-chan. Thought you might need some water, I heard about what happened so I got you something, although it isn't much!" he laughed.

I took the water bottle and nearly finished its contents, much to the surprise of Ikku. "Thank you, Ikku. I really needed that..." I said as I watched my classmates enjoy swimming in the pool. "Why can't I see this as enjoyable anymore..." I muttered to myself.

Ikku looked at me and smiled "You know, if you need someone to talk to, You can talk to me about. I may not look it, but I am a pretty good listener. Although there are times when emotions get the better of me"

I suddenly remembered how emotional he was when Hiro talked about our mother the previous night, and I couldn't help but smile, "I suppose you're right, I mean you were crying your eyes out just last night!"

Ikku cringed as he remembered, but ended up laughing anyway. I then leaned my head on his shoulder, "I don't feel like I'm ready to talk about that kind of thing just yet, but I'll admit that I do need a shoulder to lean on. Could we stay like this for a while?"

Ikku turned bright red and started speaking in English. "Y-y-yeah... sure... whatever you need!" and I didn't even need to know English to understand that he was okay with it.

-Chapter 8 End-