HI ALL! Thanks for the reviews :D .I apologise to those wondering about the story progressing and the chapter lengths, so, to make it up *drum roll* I have made a long chapter this time! Unfortunately I don't normally get time to do ones like this but I think I'd enjoy it more. And so, from now on I'll try to update ones of this size or more :D

Now, time for a disclaimer! Masamune will do the honours today.

Masamune: *sigh* Fine. AnimeLover011714 does NOT own Sekaiichi Hatsukoi all rights go to the original creators and producers. The only thing she owns is the plot idea, NOT myself or Ritsu.

Me: *cough* unfortunately *cough*

Masamune: What?

Me: Nothing! ;D

Chapter 3: Feeling Ill...

Finally, it was Thursday. 'Only today and tomorrow until hell week is over' Ritsu sighed to himself in relief. 'And Takano still hasn't come in the night with my keys! Actually… Shouldn't I have gone to him by now to get them back?' He hit himself on the head for being so stupid.

He's tidied up his home every day since his keys were jacked (he has two sets so he can still get into his apartment). All for nothing, he has spent countless hours keeping it clean. And that isn't easy for Ritsu. I mean, you've seen it right?His place is filled to the brim with clothes and paper.

"AAGH stop it Ritsu keep your sanity for two more days and then you can go crazy over you home" He shouted to himself while tapping his cheek, making him receive some 'oh ma gosh what is he doing?' faces from other workers. He stopped quickly and walked away from the people giggling at him, blushing all the way.

When he was finally in an area of Marukawa where no one had seen him do that, he stopped blushing and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. After a while, he began to walk back to the editing office.

"Richan!" Kisa pounced on him as soon as he walked in the room "Where have you been? I've been so bored with nobody next to me to offer snacks. Everyone else says I should stop eating and do some work.

'Well yeah you should! Food is for lunch break' Ritsu sighed to himself and peeled himself away from his co-worker. He looked around the room. "Hey Kisa-san, where's Takano-san?" Kisa shrugged and shouted across the room to Tori, asking the same thing.

As he was about to answer, the demon himself walked in. "I was in a meeting but Yokozawa ended it early so we could finish these manuscripts and stuff for the printers. By the way, if any of you annoy me, you will be the one to give it to them".

'Crap. Better stay on his good side' Ritsu shivered. The last time he handed them in in hell week was when they were late to do it and everyone there stared him down the entire time. Never a nice place to be. Ritsu shivered again and became confused 'it's not cold is it?' He thought as he walked over to the room's temperature controller. 'No, it looks pretty warm to me…hmmm'.

Takano looked over just as Ritsu shivered and looked at the temperature. It was quite warm in here so why was he shivering? A cold? Not enough sleep? He watched as Ritsu then rubbed his eyes and became a little concerned. "Oi Onodera". Ritsu looked over to him "Yeah?"

"Are you okay? You look sick. Maybe you should take the rest of the day o-". Ritsu interrupted him "I'm fine Takano-san. There's nothing wrong with me so no need to worry." Takano took Ritsu's word and continued with some editing.

Lunch break finally came round and everyone got up to go eat and relax for an hour. Takano wanted them earlier but he was told by Yokozawa not to. 'Can't believe people in a workplace must have an hour for lunch. I've said before that the publishing business should be a 24/7 thing' Takano grumbled to himself as he left just behind Ritsu.

On the way to the lounge, Ritsu suddenly began to cough violently and as a result, was leaning on a wall heavily breathing after. Takano ran up to him "You're going home" He said to Ritsu as he grabbed his hand and began to walk to the main entrance. He was suddenly stopped by a blushing Ritsu, pulling away from him.

"I'm fine now see? Now let go of my hand I want to eat lunch…" Ritsu tried to get Takano to release his grip but he wouldn't budge. He sighed and yanked one last time, freeing himself, and stormed away to eat. 'I need some coffee' Ritsu thought as he rubbed his eyes again.

Takano just stood there as Ritsu walked away. "Stubborn little…" He moaned to himself as he walked to the nearest café inside the building and bought a sandwich and coffee. He ate it one the way back to his office.

Ritsu sat down with some pasta in the lounge, along with a short book. 'I hardly get time to read a book now. Lucky thing that we have hour long lunch breaks' he smiled to himself and opened the book while eating some food. He was there for about 10 minutes and then moved to a sofa in the lounge as he had finished his food and wanted to sit somewhere softer.

For the rest of lunch he read, in his own little world of books. However just before he went to leave, he suddenly remembered the library from his high school. He had read every book in there and really wished he could read them again. His mind wandered to and from titles of some of his favourites and then he stopped dreaming as he thought of one. 'That was one of the books Takano had read' he thought to himself and before his could stop himself, he remembered the time they had spent together 10 years ago.

"AAAAAAGH. Stop thinking about it!" He yelled to himself suddenly, once again, making him the centre of attention. 'Not again!' He blushed, put his book away, and raced back to the office. 'That was a huge mistake' Ritsu coughed as he reached the office and stood there for a moment, before composing himself and walking in properly.

At the end of the day, Ritsu stumbled outside, barely alive and completely exhausted by the tasks he was given. He got onto the last train and fell asleep. Luckily though (by some miracle) he woke up a few stops before his own and got off with no problem. Arriving home, Ritsu took off his shoes and coat, then began to walk over to his sofa when:

BANG

"Ow, ow, ow". Ritsu cried after he fell over. What had he tripped on? He looked around him and saw nothing. 'Really?' He thought in frustration as he got back up. "Maybe I am ill…I'll see how I am in the morning. It's only Tomorrow to go though so It's not like I'll collapse or anything" Ritsu mumbled as he finally sat down on his sofa and fell asleep, a book in his hand.

-The next day-

Ritsu woke up coughing. He sat up on the sofa and coughed for a while until it calmed down. He got up and tiredly stumbled over to his sink and cleared his throat with some water. 'No work today' He thought to himself as he clean the glass.

Walking up to the clock, Ritsu read the time: it was only 7:42 am, meaning no one would be at work who he could call to say he was ill. He'd have to wait another hour or so to do that. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. "I've been rubbing my eyes too much this week. At least now I can catch up on sleep" Ritsu said aloud to himself.

He had a fit of coughs again and as he tried to stand up to get some more water, he became dizzy and had to sit back down again. "Crap. My head's spinning I should really call in now before I need to go to the hospital" I groaned as he grabbed his phone and rang the reception line in Marukawa.

"Hello. This is Marukawa publishing. We are unfortunately unable to come to the phone right now so please leave a message!". "damn". Who else may pick up this early? Ritsu thought for a couple of minutes and, although he didn't want to, he realised the only one up now would be Takano.

Takano was getting dressed as his phone rang. He read the called id: Onodera Ritsu. He picked up "Hello?"

"Umm hi Takano-san this is Onodera."

"What's up?"

"Umm well I won't be able to attend work today. You see I have a really bad cough and I'm quite dizzy so-"

"Are you alright? Do you want me to come over?"

"N-no that's fine Takano-san I can handle it I just wanted to let someone know and the receptionists weren't in work yet so…"

"Okay then. Make sure you rest and get better. Take it easy."

"Okay will do. Bye."

"Bye."

Takano put the phone down and sighed. 'I told him he should stay off'. He picked up his bag and headed to work.

During lunch, Takano tried to phone Ritsu. It rang but no one picked up. 'Probably ignoring me again… I'll ask someone else to ring him'. He ran up to Kisa: "Could I borrow your phone for a minute?" He asked. "Sure! Here you go" Kisa handed his phone over and Takano rang Ritsu again. Once again it rang but no one answered. "That's strange…" Takano mumbled "What do you mean?" Kisa asked, confused.

"Sometimes Ritsu doesn't answer the phone if I'm calling but this is your phone so surely he would pick up?" He thought about it during that day. Surely something was wrong? He couldn't leave work though so he couldn't see. He became more worried when he asked a receptionist to call him and it gave no answer still.

Ritsu was still coughing and feeling dizzy. "Why hasn't it gone?" he thought aloud. He basically lived by the sink the entire day so he could drink water when he needed it (so every minute). He even had a headache come on in the afternoon. He looked at the time: 9:20 pm. Takano would be back soon… And even though he hated to say it he was glad for that. Ritsu knew that Takano would fuss over him and treat him like a kid.

He began to cough again and he grabbed a glass of water. As he began to drink some, the doorbell rang and he stumbled over to try and get it.

Takano waited at the door for Ritsu to answer. It took a minute or two for him to open the door and he looked terrible. Ritsu was unnaturally pale and his eyes were slightly red from him rubbing them constantly. He was barely awake, but it seemed like his coughing fits stopped him sleeping. He looked like he was going to cry.

"Sorry to make you wait it took me a while to get to the door" Ritsu coughed even more and got dizzy again. "Ritsu?!" Takano panicked as Ritsu swayed a little. "I'm fine. Just…A little…Sleepy…" Ritsu fainted and Takano caught him. Freaking out, he called an ambulance…

Oh no Ritsu! 0.o

What will happen next? Will Ritsu be okay? Whats wrong?

Find out next time on Love Is Medicine!

P.S: dont forget to review everyone! I can see quite a lot of people following and liking so please please PLEEEASE review! I want to know how to improve to make the story more enjoyable for you all! That is my mission in life as an author. (\(0.0)/)