Chapter 9
Attention comes in different ways
Kotoko and Naoki were traveling to school and Kotoko seemed more vivacious than usual, jumping as she walked, making her look like a child. That day he had felt a headache since waking up, more than he felt the night before, so Naoki struggled to accept that ridiculous and puerile act.
"If you fall and hurt yourself, don't think I'm going to help you," he snapped, massaging the bridge of his nose.
"Are you okay?" Kotoko asked in a shout, stopping in front of him, her face tilted to the left. A part of her hair, held in a childish tail high on the right side of her head, fell like a curtain to her face; she pushed it away with a wave of her hand.
"It bothers me when you scream," he said and bypassed her to continue on his way to school, thinking, for the first time, that he was lucky it was the last day of school for the week.
She reached him quickly and walked beside him, taking a step forward to look at him in the face, which he ignored but couldn't help noticing, because twice he nearly tripped over her and once Kotoko was very close to a warning sign to a sewer. He didn't want her to get injured and be involved in a media circus.
"Keep your eyes on the road, clumsy, " he snapped, as they approached the subway station, his temples throbbing.
Kotoko flinched and then shrugged, nodding. She remained silent and, fortunately, they arrived at the station when the transport made its arrival. The noise there caused him discomfort, and he knew it would not be easy to ignore it.
They waited for the people to leave and then entered the car; he looked with annoyance when Kotoko went with her head down and away from him, as if she did not remember the times she was uncomfortable when stuck against other passengers.
"It seems you've forgotten," he mumbled approaching her, who stopped. He took her arm and put her in front of him, before grasping a handle, steadying himself from the movement of the subway.
At the time he didn't feel interested in reading a book on the way, so instead he closed his eyes when he started feeling dizzy from the diffused images of the outside, with the intermingled colors causing his head some agitation. He opened them after a while, when they announced that in a few moments they would arrive at the station near the school.
As the transport slowed down, he mechanically brought his hand to Kotoko, who was always shoved to the front, disturbing the passengers surrounding them. The first time it happened, a teenager was pushed and hit a woman sitting holding a baby, so he had to prevent her lack of care from harming others.
The subway stopped and they made their descent. He preceded Kotoko to the exit, while she seemed immersed in one of her common daydreams and stopped in the middle of the station.
He rolled his eyes and left her there, she would soon realize his absence, so he should not get her attention.
Shortly after walking down the street, he heard some hasty steps and in the corner of his eye saw her stand beside him, breathing rapidly.
By that time, the other students were joining them and, those who saw her, many habitual figures at the time, ignored her. That was a scene repeated countless times; at first he could hear the laughter, then only saw shrugs, now, their answers were non-existent.
They passed the school gates and the slight morning bustle caused him to take a deep breath and squeeze the handle of his school bag.
"Jinko! Satomi!" Kotoko exclaimed and he frowned with her shrill scream calling the two friends with whom he sometimes saw with her, a brunette and a light-haired girl.
The other two came running up, greeting his girlfriend with a smile and giving him a nod.
"What are you doing here so early?" Kotoko asked as they made their way to their building.
"We have decided that we'll see if some of your method works, so we arrived early to study for the end of the term," said one of them, the brunette—he wasn't interested in her name.
He thought that, if Kotoko gave that example and they were capable of caring for their grades like her, the school could be amazed by the changes shown by some students of Class F.
"I told her that we could also try it like you," Kotoko's other friend spoke, in a too feminine way, and he frowned. "Irie-san?" Naoki looked at the one with the light hair, raising an eyebrow because they never dared to speak to him directly. He hoped they didn't ask him to be their tutor. "Do you think there is someone else in Class A interested in having a girlfriend?" Asked in a too serious tone the girl.
If the headache would have allowed him to sarcastically laugh out loud, he would have done it (or not). They really believed Kotoko decided to take an intelligent boyfriend to help her to study.
"I'm not interested in that," he said and returned his gaze to the road.
"Oh!" cried the girl.
"Satomi! How didn't I think of that?!" Exclaimed the other friend of Kotoko, now he knew was Jinko, and he listened to the other two laugh. Pair of idiots.
"Well, on second thought, maybe one from B, those from A are too serious," mused aloud the one who was Satomi and he rolled his eyes.
"Heh, heh, girls," Kotoko muttered. He imagined her face flushed.
"Is the library a suitable place to approach some guy from B?" Jinko asked, ignoring his girlfriend.
"Good luck with that," he said sarcastically, arriving at his class. If they put more enthusiasm into getting a boy than their lessons, being in F was well deserved. At least Kotoko had admitted she wanted to learn, by sacrificing "her time" with him, who acted as a tyrant in their tutorials.
"See you in the afternoon!" Kotoko said goodbye with a smile and he went in not answering, scrunching his mouth in disgust with the volume of her voice, sighing grateful of the peaceful silence that was in his classroom.
Nothing better for his headache.
[...]
His mother laughed with what Kotoko talked about at the table; Yuuki let out an insult to stupid teenagers, that his mother could not hear or would have reprimanded; his father, despite being more interested in the food, let out a small laugh from the excitement of his girlfriend.
"And Jinko and Satomi said they had never seen the library so empty," Kotoko explained amusingly. "They said it was too early for the students to visit. Maybe next week there'll be more people."
Naoki snorted. A few months ago, Kotoko would have been under the same circumstances, without going to the library unless the examinations were closer.
"But Jinko and Satomi decided to study with me, though Kin-chan was telling us not to stress over upcoming tests, and that if they went wrong we could share regularization classes in summer." A comment that Naoki could well imagine coming from the idiot. "I don't want to go to school in the summer," Kotoko ended with a face of suffering.
"Kotoko-chan, you'll have good results, you've been studying a lot with onii-chan," comforted his mother with a smile, patting the hand of his girlfriend.
"Yes, don't do that, my onii-chan would've lost his time," said Yuuki, reluctantly taking the food to his mouth.
Naoki was a little surprised because, despite the insult, it was a small show of support.
Kotoko got up and came over to hug his brother, who tried to run away from her arms, while the adults laughed. "I'll show you your oniichan didn't lose his time, otouto," she proclaimed squeezing Yuuki, who blushed with embarrassment but jumped to hear how his girlfriend referred to him.
He took a few rice to his mouth and found that he could no more, he didn't feel like eating with the headache he had.
He left his chopsticks and stood.
"I've finished, enjoy your meal," he muttered softly. He noted that all looked at him and the exchange between Yuuki and Kotoko ended.
"Onii-chan?" Inquired his mother. "You haven't finished."
"My head hurts," he said and walked away from the table. "Today you study alone," he informed his girlfriend, who nodded without reply, looking at him with a frown.
He went to the stairs, he would have a good shower and go to bed. He didn't like taking medicine, but sleeping more than usual would give him rest and the pain would go away.
For a moment, the first step seemed to move and he had to hold the rail. Slowly, he began to climb, feeling his body heavy.
His routine before bed was too mechanical; he only sighed when his head hit the pillow.
[...]
The next day, Naoki did not feel much better and the lighting in the room bothered him; also, he felt his body hotter than before.
It could not be what he imagined; it was impossible that he was sick. He wasn't one for sickness. Well, not for a long time.
The last time he remembered was in the second grade of elementary school when a girl brought the outbreak of chicken pox and half the group, including himself, was infected, after which followed a nuisance of weeks—fortunately not be repeated in the future—. Since then, he wore a lifestyle healthy enough to not fall for common diseases.
It could be a cold or the flu, his head was too dull to think of the difference. He only knew that his body ached and his throat felt annoyingly scratchy.
The door to his room opened and he covered his head with the quilt, a chill coursing through his body with the outside air.
"Naoki-kun?" Kotoko spoke; her voice was too close, but he hadn't heard the sounds she would have made when tripping over what Yuuki had on the floor. "Is he asleep?"
He imagined her in sportswear, ready to go to the club to play tennis, but he closed his eyes, uninterested in what she had to do. He just wanted to sleep.
"Naoki-kun?" This time her voice sounded closer and he felt her move the sheets from over his head, to feel her hands very cold on his cheek. He moaned and pulled away with a shudder.
"Don't bother," he whispered covering his face.
"Naoki-kun, you're sick," Kotoko said, bringing her hand to his forehead, the temperature difference bothering him. "You're very hot."
She was a genius.
"Leave me... alone," he asked whilst chattering and berated himself for it.
Kotoko, heeding, walked away and he heard the door shutting tightly, which gave him a whimper.
He huddled over the sheets preparing to sleep.
However, the door opened again and he heard the voice of his mother, saying a thousand things about being sick and others topics he wasn't interested in hearing; Yuuki also started to speak, surely awoken because of the noise.
He felt that she had placed a thermometer in his mouth, and so looked at his mother through the cracks of his eyelids.
"Shut up," he demanded, returning to close his eyes.
"Here are the pills!"
His brother asked Kotoko for silence and she repeated it lower, although it also hummed in his ears.
"Onii-chan, take one, to reduce fever," whispered his mother. "I made a smoothie."
He was forced to open his eyes and sit up in bed, receiving a glass filled with a sweet-tasting drink, which he swallowed obligatorily, then he was forced to hold the pill in hand and glass of water. The three witnesses of this ridiculous show of weakness on his part wore equally worried expressions, two in pajamas and Kotoko, as he predicted, in sportswear.
Why did he feel so bad?
First, it was stupid to be sick, seeing how well he cared for himself. And it was silly that he felt so bad, because it was a ridiculous common illness, for sure. Perhaps he had not slept well and that was what he needed.
The tablet was placed on his tongue and he drank the water, which was a profound relief to his throat, more than the previous drink. He took it forward and extended the glass with some difficulty, to ask for more.
Kotoko, with quickness, poured the liquid, which again he finished quickly. Then he returned the cup and lay his head back on the pillow.
"We'll let you rest, the tablet will make you sleepy," his mother let him know and he nodded an affirmative, eyes closed. "I will prepare a broth when you awake."
He heard no more, in the middle of a somnolent state.
[...]
When he regained consciousness, Naoki, upset, coughed with eyes closed and caught the voice of his mother.
"I feel tempted to stay... Onii-chan has never been sickened like this, but I know that nobody will look after him better than Kotoko-chan," she said very quickly, making him frown. Where would she go? Kotoko would take care of him?
Better to kill him, he didn't think she was the best nurse with how clueless and clumsy she was. If his mother was going out; she could just leave the food and drugs he had to take at hand, and he would be fine. Although with the little energy he felt, it would be an arduous task to bring things to his mouth or go to the dining room. Not that he felt hungry, but the broth should be necessary.
His skin bristled when someone put a damp cloth on his forehead and passed it over his face, reaching up to his neck. It was, however, a source of comfort.
"And it doesn't seem very serious," his mother pronounced slower than before. "I'll take Yuuki to buy the gift that I forgot and I'll check him before dad's meeting. You won't have to worry about him, just avoid him infecting others. It's more dangerous for children."
Naoki frowned when the cloth disappeared. "What meeting?"
"Oh, onii-chan, you're awake," his mother whispered and he opened his eyes, saw the foot of the bed and turned his face a little to see Kotoko, who had a surgical mask on her face and held a white towel in her hands. "It must be the sickness, today is the birthday for a partner of Dad's, I didn't remember it until last night when he mentioned it. I don't know what was in my head."
He nodded without much interest.
"I have to leave, but Kotoko will be taking care of you. I made a soup for you. Just ask her and she will give it to you happily," his mother said with great emotion. "Oh, I wish I didn't have to leave."
He closed his eyes and, with weakness, stood.
"Onii-chan! What are you doing!" Exclaimed his mother.
"Naoki-kun! Where are you going?" Kotoko called simultaneously.
If the heat had not already made his face hot, their intrusion would have affected his face, for certain. He stepped aside as they tried to hold him.
"I have needs," he muttered morosely and without many forces withdrew. Both left him.
He walked carefully down the hall, envious of his parents with bathroom in their master bedroom; it struck him as far, at the time, having to walk up past the other rooms.
After leaving the bathroom, he returned to the room and lay back in his bed.
This time, only Kotoko was in the bedroom, still sitting next to where his pillow was, in his chair, between the beds of Yuuki and him. He could not dismiss her, because she had, miraculously, enough common sense to take a measure that could make it possible to avoid contagion and that was the excuse he would have used at the time to be left alone.
However, she was quiet and perhaps her presence was not so annoying.
"Do you want me to bring you the broth?" she asked solicitously, placing her hand on his forehead. That time, it felt a little less cold.
He nodded.
He leaned back in the bed and saw her run out of the room. For a second, he thought she would stumble and the broth would not reach the bedroom, but moments later, she returned, walking slowly with a bowl of steaming broth on a tray.
"How long did I sleep?" He questioned when she tried to leave the tray on his lap, carefully.
"Almost eight hours, all morning and part of the afternoon," said Kotoko and he nodded in appreciation. "We were worried about you, especially when oba-sama said you rarely get sick."
He made a sound of recognition with his mouth, a strange feeling making him uncomfortable upon hearing her words. To eat, he went to take the spoon, but Kotoko beat him with her reactions being present in all her five senses.
"Give me the spoon," he ordered, holding out the palm of his hand to her, but the gesture did not seem very impressive at the time, his arm trembling at moments.
He coughed.
"Don't upset me."
"Nooo."
"Ko-to-ko," he spoke, cursing the lack of firmness in his voice.
"I will feed it to you," Kotoko muttered and he saw her eyes shining.
"No, thanks," he replied dryly, after coughing again. He was not useless, and certainly could be burned by her pouring the liquid.
"Too bad." He pictured her below the face mask, pouting. "But you will not win. I'm your nurse today."
He rolled his eyes but was not eager to rebut, more because of how determined and insistent she was.
Kotoko raised the face mask covering her mouth a little, then introduced the spoon into the hot stock and gently blew it before offering it to him.
"Come on, open your mouth, Naoki-kun," she asked in a serious tone.
He had to suppress a sigh of exasperation. "Don't you dare... share this with anyone," he threatened in mumbling and opened his mouth, where she put the spoon with the broth, which felt almost tasteless.
"I will not," she replied, with a smile.
Kotoko reintroduced the spoon into the hot liquid and offered it again. This continued until he felt like he didn't want to eat anymore. In addition, he felt useless and ridiculous. Someone pathetic.
"Now for another pill," Kotoko reported returning the face mask to its place and turning to the night table, serving water from a jug and taking a pill bottle. "Soon you will feel better," she announced excitedly, handing him the cup and the medication, which he took after a coughing fit, while she took the tray from his lap and placed it carefully on Yuuki's bed.
He put the glass on the table and leaned back, this time without feeling the need to use a lot of strength when covered in the sheets.
"Now, to sleep," Kotoko ordered and accommodated the quilt to his neck, in an annoying way.
"I'm not a kid," he muttered, turning to give her his back.
Kotoko laughed and after a few seconds, he turned, seeing that she had gone to return the tray. In solitude, he felt the corner of his mouth lift.
Being aware of it, he closed his eyes and settled down to sleep again, thinking he really was very ill.
[...]
Upon awakening once again to the darkest room, indicating night, Naoki, feeling better, stood remembering the places were he could stumble, to head for the bathroom. But before, he felt the need to change clothes and went to the drawer, pulling out his clothes blindly, remembering the position of things.
With clothes in hand, he stepped into the hall and headed for the bathroom. Inside, he relieved his bladder and began to wash his body with a towel, soap, and water, leaving his head intact at the time. The next day, he'd have a proper shower, for now, replacing his sweaty clothes would do.
His body felt more pleasant and the contact with the warm water was cooler than his annoying sickness, but he put on another pajama trousers, not wanting to be exposed to the night temperatures. It was summer and the house was heated, although his room, at that time, wasn't.
Once dressed, he brushed his teeth and washed his face; he no longer had the same reddish tone in his cheeks as he had the night before. He sighed when he saw his swollen eyes; he no longer felt so bad, but inside he was looking forward to sleeping at night.
It depended on everyone, how long it took them to recover.
A dry cough let him and he wrinkled his mouth, finding it annoying.
Naoki returned to his room and set out to turn off the hall light before closing the door, but paused, his hand on the switch, and looked at the figure beside his bed, which he had forgotten.
Kotoko seemed to be in an awkward position. She sat in the chair, resting on her folded arms on his bed, which was somewhat low.
He sighed and pressed the light switch, then closed the bedroom door and went to where she was, in the gloom given to the room by the light coming through the window.
He removed the comforter and bed sheet from Yuuki's bed. He positioned Kotoko with his hands and even without much force, he made her rest on him; she stirred a little but did not awaken. He held her, gritting his teeth just this once, and carefully transported her to the mattress of his brother—whom he believed anyway would not sleep there—settling her carefully, removing the bunny slippers she wore on her feet. He was grateful the sportswear would not bother her sleep.
He covered her with only a thin sheet, because his room was not aired that day and she would feel the heat.
His hand rose to cover her mouth and debated whether to uncover her nose a little or not. He shrugged, so far it didn't seem to bother her sleep. He left the mask as it was and was about to take his hand back, but he found himself raising it to her silky hair, reaching the top of her head.
From his mouth escaped a sigh. "Thank you," he whispered and pulled his hand away to go to bed.
He rested his head against his pillow and, before going to sleep, he seemed to hear the murmur of her calling his name, dreamily.
[...]
The day the exams ended, of which Kotoko claimed to be entirely sure she had achieved enough not to go to summer school, Naoki and his family met at the dining room table, sitting patiently as different smells filled the house from the kitchen.
"Onii-chan," he looked at his mother, "it looks delicious what Aihara papa and Kotoko-chan are preparing for us," she remarked with a grin, shifting with excitement in her seat.
He stared back at his book with shrugged shoulders.
"Mama, it has to be very good, Ai-chan is an excellent chef. I remember when we studied he did excellent dishes, now it's been years and he has a thriving restaurant. He should be even better," appreciated his father, who must have been salivating at the thought of eating.
"And Kotoko-chan accompanies him," said his mother.
Naoki rolled her eyes, Kotoko had once said she had never cooked, and he was sure his mother didn't know that detail.
"I don't think that fool can make a decent dish," Yuuki said with a chuckle. Naoki did repress a smile because he had a sneaking suspicion that it was true, but he did not say it out loud, until checking.
"Yuuki!" Reproached his mother aloud. "Do not talk like that of Kotoko-chan!"
"Family, food is ready!" Shigeo-san announced excitedly from the kitchen; then he started coming out with several dishes accommodated in his arms as a professional waiter would.
Kotoko was behind him, following him, surprisingly, carrying several dishes, too. An uncanny skill for someone clumsy.
He left his book behind his chair.
Soon the table was full of dishes and bowls with traditional Japanese food, so good-looking and with such a nice smell, that he didn't know what to choose. He saw them all and then noticed in the corner, a plate with brown rice, which looked very overcooked and not too appetizing.
Kotoko, it said loudly.
"Ai-chan! It's great!"
"How fortunate we are to have this meal from a great chef," also praised his mother and Shigeo-san's chest was filled with pride by flattery to his culinary art.
"It's a way to thank you for keeping us at home. What better than a good meal for all of you."
"Oh, Ai-chan, you do not have to thank us," replied his father, "That's what friends are for."
"Yes, we are a big family," added his mother, with a dazzling smile. She winked at him. "And we are very happy to have you here."
"Either way, it's a way to show our appreciation. It's something that can be found in the Fugu-Kichi restaurant. You are invited to visit anytime," said Shigeo-san and motioned to Kotoko.
She bowed. "Yes! Thank you for having us."
"Enough of gratitude, we must try this delicious food." His mother spoke and stood to hold Kotoko in her arms while Shigeo-san sat down. "Tell me, Kotoko-chan, how did you help?"
"Oh," Shigeo-san let out a laugh, whereas Kotoko seemed flustered. Naoki suppressed a sneer. "Kotoko helped me cut some vegetables and did, uh, a little rice."
"Which?" Investigated his mother and he wondered if she really was so thick.
Kotoko pointed at her great creation and his mother looked at it for a few seconds, with narrowed eyes.
"Kotoko has never learned to cook well," her father said scratching his head, with a dumbfounded face. Kotoko lied about her knowledge, analyzed Naoki. "I guess she's like her mother in that, Etsuko was not very good at preparing food."
"No matter," said his mother. "It's something that can be solved between women," she expressed her ridiculousness, too determined.
He imagined Kotoko with hours accompanying his mother in the kitchen. He stifled a laugh. He wondered if that would free him from her company.
He just hoped she didn't want to have someone to try her attempts.
"Good." Shigeo-san shrugged.
Both women sat and all thanked the food.
"We'll try a little from Kotoko's dish, to see what level you are," suggested his mother in good spirits.
"You want me to die from poisoning?" His brother objected, getting a threatening look.
"Hey," Kotoko laughed, head down, "it isn't necessary, it doesn't seem very appetizing... and, even I would not eat it, it would be better if I took it to the kitchen."
Oh, Naoki didn't know where it came from, what he did next, but he assumed it was a way to give back what she did for him when he got sick.
He extended his plate.
"Serve me a little," he said to Kotoko, listening to his brother choke on his food and start coughing.
"Onii-chan!" Yuuki exclaimed, as if he was committing a crime, and muttered a few unintelligible things. Kotoko looked up with eyes open wide.
"You won't improve if you don't know how," he said emotionless. Around the table, everyone was silent. "I'm hungry," he urged his girlfriend.
Kotoko shook her head and nodded, a little doubt serving her disastrous food on the plate. He served other meals onto his plate to eat later so that the bad taste of her food didn't linger after he finished it.
Finally, with the plate in front of him, he wondered if he was about to try something that would give him food poisoning.
He took rice with his chopsticks, they were somewhat soft and brought them to his mouth. In his tongue, the first thing he felt was the excessive taste of salt, which made him wince, with a concentrated seasoning sour taste, that he could not tell exactly what it was; when he chewed, he felt it was the kind of food for old people, very close to purée, but with the amount of salt that made it impossible to tolerate.
It was swallowable, but it wasn't good. Accompanied by something tasteless and bread, or anything else, it would be bearable. But not to repeat.
"It has a lot of salt," he observed, so that the others could continue eating because they expected his verdict.
"Very well, onii-chan," agreed his mother, seconds later.
The atmosphere at the table then improved and they continued eating. Looking down, he found, beside him, Yuuki watching him carefully; then he lowered his shoulders.
Naoki did not bother to spend a look in front of him, where would have the looks of Kotoko and his mother concentrated on him.
Covertly, when he finished Kotoko's rice, he poured more water in his already empty glass.
He hoped, indeed, that his mother found out for herself. It was horrible.
AN: Sorry!
My Doc Manager showed me I had 11 days left before this was erased... I should've published this, well, a long time ago.
A reader wrote something interesting, about some parts don't making sense. I was supposed to check it on Easter, but I had a project to do, that I finished this Thursday. So, I'll read again the last chapters, but if you remember a special part, tell me, please. The problem must be that Unhappy doen't speak Spanish, and I'm not a translator, and in my language things really make sense, but in this one, they don't.
Anyway, thanks for reading. No promises about the next update, but I'm working on chap. 11
Now I have a headache, pardon my rambling. ;)
Love, Karo.