Chapter 13

-Nino-

I nearly fell asleep during our last class when I felt my phone vibrate. I discretely checked the notification and breathed a sigh of relief. "Luckily Fuutaro's alright! Hopefully he doesn't hold a grudge against me, he looked pretty banged up when Ikku and Goro brought him to the infirmary..." I thought as I started to regain the focus I had started to lose.

After around 30 minutes of our teacher explaining something about a bunch of English phrases, the final bell had rung. Beside me I could hear Rin trying to hold back a yawn. "Holy crap who knew English could be so boring? Honestly, they should at least make it more interesting to study!" she groaned as she started putting her textbook in her bag.

I started putting my textbook in my bag as well and remembered my promise to Fuutarou. I turned to Rin and said, "Hey Rin, you can go ahead without me, I have to see Fuutarou in the infirmary." and not even a second after I said this, a huge smile creeped up on her face.

"Ohhhh I see, off to see your boyfriend after that fall he had? Gotta say I never expected you and Mr. Gloom and Doom to hit it off after just meeting each other yesterday!"

I blushed and started playfully hitting her, "B-b-b-boyfriend? What made you come up with that? We literally just met yesterday! Dummy!" Rin couldn't help but laugh at my reaction, and some of the girls in my class started joining in too.

"We all saw you and Uesugi at the pool, you were giving him a lap pillow!" said one girl.

"Yeah! No girl would do that for a guy she just met! So that must mean something's going on between you two." said another.

"I... I... I don't see him that way, okay?" I snapped. "I gave him a lap pillow because that was the last thing I remember my mom doing for me whenever I was asleep... It always made me feel safe and that I wouldn't have to worry about a thing. So I thought I'd let Fuutarou experience the same thing I did, he's clearly more tired than everyone else in the school if you girls haven't noticed!"

All the girls looked at each other in embarrassment, they bowed and apologized before leaving the classroom. Rin stayed behind, a look of concern on her face. "Nino-chan... the way you told them that thing about your mom, it sounded as if she was—" I nodded silently as she connected the dots. "Oh you poor thing, I'm sorry. If you don't mind me asking, what caused her—"

"Death?" I asked. Rin gave a nervous nod and I sighed, "I won't go much into detail... but she drowned around 7 years ago in an accident in Kyoto. I nearly drowned as well, but someone saved me just in time, unfortunately the same couldn't be said for my mom" after saying this a small tear trickled down my face.

Rin had this sad look on her face. "I'm so sorry to hear that, I guess that's the reason you had to skip PE earlier, didn't you? Because of the water?"

I nodded, "Ever since that day I've been really afraid of getting into the water. I mean I'm fine when it comes to taking a shower or soaking in the tub, but actually being in a place I could seriously drown in makes my anxiety attacks come out..."

"Oh, Nino-chan!" was all I heard before Rin gave me a huge bear hug, practically squeezing what little air I had out of my lungs. "If you ever need someone to talk to, I'll always be here, okay?"

I struggled to breath with how tight she was holding me, I patted her back as I said "Can't breathe... squeezing... too hard...", Rin noticed my plea for help and let go of me.

"Sorry! I just got so emotional and couldn't help myself!" she said with a tear in her eye.

I couldn't help but laugh and say, "Honestly why are all my new friends so emotional?" Rin ended up laughing too as we shared this slightly awkward yet touching moment.

I looked at my phone and saw how late it was getting, "Anyways, I have to meet up with Fuutarou now, see you tomorrow, Rin!" I said as I made my way to the infirmary. I knocked on the door before entering, no one but a sleeping Fuutarou was inside the room. I walked up to his bed and sat down beside him. "Should I wake him up? Or..." I thought to myself as I saw him blissfully sleeping away. "Maybe I'll let him sleep longer... I mean, he kind of looks cute like this, a few more minutes wouldn't hurt..."

After a few more minutes of watching him, I finally tried to wake him up. Wary of what he could do in his drowsiness from waking him up, I shook him gently while maintaining a safe distance. "Fuutarou... Fuutarou... Wake up!"

Fuutarou slowly opened his eyes as I shook him. "Huh? Mom? What are you doing here?" He then fully opened his eyes, "Oh… it's you, Nakano-san! Looks like you got my text." He then blushed a bit after realizing what he said earlier. "Please don't mind what I said earlier."

I gave him a confused look before I nodded, "Yep, I did! I'm the reason you're lying here in the first place, and I'm really sorry about that!" I bowed my head real low, hoping I could be forgiven for what happened. I then felt a warm hand being placed on my head.

I looked up to see a smiling Fuutarou. "Honestly... this girl! Why are you being the one who's sorry when I was to blame for what happened to me? I mean if I didn't do those weird things I probably wouldn't have gotten sent to the infirmary. So let's just forget all about that, what matters is that nothing serious happened!" he said.

I couldn't think of a way to counter what he said, and I just turned bright red. He then stretched a bit before getting off the bed. "Why don't we head out and go to the cafe near the train station? Ikku and the others are probably waiting for us."

He grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the room with him. "Wait! Hey! What about our tutoring sessions today?"

He looked back with a smile on his face, "While you were unconscious earlier, we talked about it and cancelled today's session. So tonight we're just gonna have some fun apparently. Hope you don't mind, Nakano-san"

And with that I nodded and followed him, my hand still holding on to his, and my thoughts wondering about what the brothers had in store for me.

-Chapter 12 End-