Chapter 4

The sun was rising over Takagi's house, asleep on her bed, a pillow between her arms and the blanket half fallen on the floor. The night before, a lot had happened, and her friend, Nishikata, seemed to be upset for some unclear reason, and that made her sad, since Nishikata was one of the people she loved the most in her life. In addition to not talking to her, Nishikata had refused to walk home from school with Takagi, claiming to have something else to do, although this was not true. When she woke up, Takagi thought directly of Nishikata, her face closed and looking thoughtful.

''I know he lied to me...'' she thought ''I asked Takao if Nishikata had any plans yesterday, and he told me that Nishikata ran out of school when classes ended to go home as soon as possible.''

For his part, Nishikata was still in bed. His cheeks were bright red, and he had a stuffy nose.

''I didn't want to go home with Takagi yesterday, what a jerk I am! I had to wait an hour to make sure I would not run into her on the way home, but it started raining and now I bet I'm sick !'' he recalled with a big hint of regret. ''Especially since I don't know why I'm avoiding her, she hasn't done anything wrong and I'm starting to feel... sad not to be with her...''

His mother came into his room with a thermometer and made him open his mouth. After a few minutes, she took it out.

''39.5 degrees ! I'll call the school to let them know you'll be absent today !'' she announced, rushing to the phone.

Nishikata sighed, looking out the window. ''Takagi will get the wrong idea if I don't come...'' he thought with a touch of bitterness.

Takagi was at the intersection, waiting for Nishikata to arrive. ''It's strange'' she thought, ''It's not like Nishikata to be late. And I checked, he's not on a cleaning day...''

She waited a few more minutes, and since she couldn't find him, she got on her bike and rode sadly towards the school. When she entered the classroom, she noticed immediately that he was not there. She went straight to look for him in the corridors of the building, although the bell would soon ring.

''I have to explain myself to him now, otherwise he'll avoid me all day !'' she thought worriedly.

A few minutes later, she returned to the classroom alone.

''It's okay'' she reassured herself, ''I'll just bump into him and talk to him during class…''

She froze as she opened the door again.

''He's... He's not here !?'' she reacted loudly, causing most of her classmates to fall silent and start staring at her.

Mr. Tanabe, who was passing by her at the time, took the liberty of answering her.

''Nishikata ?''he asked. ''He won't come to school today, he's caught a bad cold and he has a fever.''

Takagi felt her heart clench, both with relief and sadness. She returned to her seat, under the insistent gaze of most of the boys who didn't know her feelings for Nishikata.

''Man, Nishikata is lucky to have such a cute girl worrying about him...'' some of them thought.

The day passed very slowly for Takagi, who didn't listen to the class, unable to stop thinking about his classmate.

''How did he get sick overnight ? He was fine yesterday...'' she wondered.

The bell rang, giving the class a fifteen minute break. Most of the students went out, except Takagi, who didn't have the motivation to get up, and Sumire, who had noticed her sadness and came to comfort her.

''Don't worry'' she said as she moved closer to her best friend, ''I'm sure he's fine, and if you want to be reassured just go see him after school, on your way home !''

Takagi looked at Sumire, her eyes half-filled with tears, then replied, ''I wish I could but... Yesterday someone asked me out and...''

''WHAT?!'' asked Sumire with wide eyes, ''You didn't tell me that someone confessed to you ! And so, what's the big deal ? Did you say yes ?''

''No... Of course not... I would never say yes if the confession doesn't come from Nishikata...'' she defended herself, seeing that her friend was completely lost.

''So... What's the problem ?'' Sumire asked, not understanding anything.

''Well... He saw me on the roof with him and I'm afraid he thinks I agreed to go out with the boy who confessed...'' she said before sighing and putting her head back in her arms.

''That's a good reason to go and meet him at his home, don't you think ? This is all due to a lack of communication and the later you talk about it, the worse your relationship will get.'' Sumire advised, before leaving the room to let Takagi think about what to do next.

''She's right !'' thought Takagi, ''I'd better go talk to himafter school... And I know what excuse to use !''

She got up to go see Mr. Tanabe, who was preparing for the next class at his desk.

''Mr. Tanabe ?'' she asked to get his attention.

''Yes, Takagi ? Is there something wrong ? You seem distracted today...'' he replied worriedly.

''Don't worry about it, I just... didn't sleep well...'' she said with a smile. ''I wanted to ask, since Nishikata-kun is not at school today, could you give me the homework so I can pass them on to him? I live in the same area, so it'll be more convenient if I take them...''

''That's very nice of you, Takagi...'' Tanabe replied, ''But one of your classmates just asked me to take them...''

''Oh... who?'' she asked with a sad tone.

''Nakai. He showed me a message from Nishikata asking him to take his homeworks.'' he replied with a sorry look.

Takagi didn't add a word and returned to her seat, waiting for class to resume.

''I have to ask him to pass the homework to me, otherwise I won't be able to see him and my relationship with Nishikata will get even worse'' she thought as the bell rang again.

She waited patiently for the lunch break, asking herself fewer questions and paying more attention to the class, then, when she heard the bell ring, she walked over to Nakai, who was already talking to Mano, his girlfriend.

''Nakai, can I talk to you for two minutes ?'' she asked him, interrupting their conversation.

''Oh, hi Takagi-san !'' he replied. ''Of course, there's no problem, I mean... if you don't mind...'' he continued, addressing Mano.

''Don't worry, she can stay if she wants, I don't want to hide anything from her !'' Takagi reassured him, knowing that Mano was very jealous.

So the two stayed, waiting for Takagi to start talking.

''Here, I know you took Nishikata's homeworks and I wanted to ask you if you could pass them to me so I could go give them to him, because... I need to talk to him.'' she asked with a small blush on her cheeks, knowing that Nakai would surely understand that she had feelings for Nishikata.

''Oh, no problem'' he replied, ''The thing is... I talked to Nishikata about it and he didn't seem very motivated to see you.'' he continued with a little embarrassment.

''What do you mean ?'' questioned Takagi, who didn't really understand.

Nakai took his mobile phone out of his pocket, then showed Takagi the conversation he just had with Nishikata.

Nishikata: Hi, I'm sick today, could you please take my homeworks ?

Nakai: Yes, if you want, but don't you think you should ask Takagi-san instead ? She lives closer to your house and I don't like the idea of not being able to go home with Mano...

The latter, seeing the message, blushed and gave a beautiful smile to her boyfriend.

Nishikata: That's true but... When I think about yesterday's events and the fact that I'm sick, I don't really want her to see me in this state...

Nakai: Well, if that's what you want... I could just ask Mano to come with me.

Mano blushed even more and whispered an "I love you" in Nakai's ear, who smiled.

Nishikata: As you want, as long as you come… Well, see you later.

Takagi wasn't really shocked by Nishikata's messages, but she wondered why her crush didn't want her to see him "in this state".

''From what I read, he seems to be really sick... All the more reason for me to go see him !'' she declared before asking Nakai for the homeworks, who gave them to her without flinching.

Takagi finally joined Sumire, Houjou and the Trio at their table, who were already eating, and sat down with them.

''So, how's the day going without Nishikata ?'' Houjou asked her in a teasing tone, having noticed like everyone else that Takagi wasn't in the best of shape.

''A horror...'' she replied, without moving her eyes from her bento. ''It's when I have days like this that I know I can't live without him !'' she finished in the most serious tone.

''Ooooh, that's so cute !'' reacted Yukari, who loved the love stories between her friends.

''But if you want to live your whole life with him, you have to work up the courage to ask him out.'' reminded Sumire, who still didn't understand how, after two years, they weren't dating.

''I know... I know...'' Takagi replied in a guilty tone. ''But I wish he had been the one to propose…''

''The longer you wait, the less chance you have of him asking you, especially since we'll be graduating to high school soon and you're not sure you'll be going to the same one, considering the difference in your grades.'' Sumire insisted, desperate for her best friend to have no regrets.

''I'll... try to think about it...'' Takagi concluded, before quickly changing the subject.

The day went on as normal, and then it was time to go home.