Chapter 9:
After dropping Hotaru off at her school, the pair arrived at theirs.
Haruka stood by her locker as she waited for Michiru to finish grabbing the books she needed for her morning classes.
As Michiru grabbed her books, she heard a low grumble come from Haruka's stomach. She knew pleading with Haruka to eat would be futile, so she tried her best to ignore the sound her lover's stomach was making.
She then grabbed one final book, before shutting her locker.
"Ready to go?"
"Yeah."
The pair then headed off to their morning classes.
After some time had passed, morning classes were over and it was now time for lunch.
Lunch, the one part of the day Haruka had been dreading.
"I know she's gonna try to get me to eat. I'm really not in the mood for a lecture or an argument."
Haruka thought as she slowly made her way to the spot that her, Michiru, and Elza usually had lunch together at.
When she arrived at their usual meeting place, she saw Elza and Michiru already there. The two were engaged in conversation and had not noticed Haruka take a seat next to Michiru.
Haruka for her part was thankful that they didn't notice her right away. It would give her a chance to possibly come up with an excuse for not eating lunch.
After a couple minutes had gone by, Elza finally noticed that Haruka had joined them.
"Haruka, when did you get here?"
Elza asked.
"A few minutes ago. The two of you seemed really engrossed in the conversation you were having. I didn't want to interrupt."
"Oh well, we're glad you're here."
She then looked around Haruka.
"Where's your lunch?"
Michiru asked, seeming to know what her friend was searching for.
"I'm not hungry."
Came Haruka's almost automatic reply, followed by the notorious sound of her stomach grumbling.
Michiru and Elza both looked at Haruka with raised eyebrows. Michiru then reached into her lunch bag and pulled out a turkey wrap, along with a bottle of apple juice.
"Here."
Michiru said, tossing the contents gently onto Haruka's lap.
Haruka stared at the items in front of her. She then picked them both up and looked back and forth between the two. After a few moments of looking back and forth at the items that had been handed to her, Haruka stood up. She then placed the wrap on the spot she had previously occupied.
"I'm going for a run."
Haruka then left to get changed for her run, before her girlfriend and friend had a chance to say anything. Michiru picked up the wrap and gently placed it back into her lunch bag.
"At least she took the juice."
Michiru said. However, she was unable to hide the disappointment in her voice at the fact that she hadn't taken the wrap as well.
"Is she okay? I've noticed her mood's been kinda off lately."
Michiru shook her head.
"Lately, she hasn't been eating very much and has been exercising a lot more. Yesterday all she had to eat was two pancakes for breakfast. She also went for a run three times. Today all she's had so far was a glass of orange juice for breakfast. If she drinks the apple juice, it'll be the second thing she's had today. This is also the first run she's gone on today, but I suspect it won't be the only one."
Elza stared at Michiru in shock. Her eyes were the size of dinner plates.
"My god, we have to do something."
"I've been trying, but nothing seems to work. Every time I try to tell her she needs to eat, it ends in an argument. Truth be told, I think the only reason she took the apple juice is because she knows Hotaru asked me to make sure she had at least something for lunch."
"When did Haruka's problems with food begin?"
"I'm not sure exactly when they started. But Hotaru said she noticed Haruka counting calories at the store last weekend."
"Did anything happen before then? Did someone say something to her to make her start behaving in such a way?"
Michiru tried to think, but was unable to come up with anything.
"I swear it's like it came out of the blue. She's changed, and I don't know what to do or say in order to help her."
Elza gave her friend a sympathetic look.
"Maybe it did come out of the blue."
"What do you mean?"
"It's just a hunch, but maybe nothing specifically happened to cause Haruka to behave the way she has been. Maybe it's something in her own head that's causing her to be this way."
"You mean like she just woke up one day and decided she needed to lose weight?"
"Yeah, pretty much. I mean I know it's not the most solid reason, but at least it might be something."
"I suppose so."
Michiru then sat there, mulling over Elza's words.
As she sat there thinking over what her friend had said, her train of thought was suddenly derailed by the sound of someone frantically shouting her name.
"Michiru! Come quick, it's Haruka!"
A fellow student shouted, waving her over.
Michiru and Elza exchanged a quick glance, before bolting up and racing off with the other student to the track.
When they got there, they found Haruka sitting on the ground. Another student was helping her sit up and take small sips of water.
"What happened?"
Michiru asked, taking a seat next to Haruka. Elza did the same.
"We were running laps together. After about the third or fourth lap, I stopped to get some water. I asked Haruka if she wanted any, but she declined and said she wanted to get as many laps in as possible before she had to get ready for her next class. I then watched her run a couple more laps, before she collapsed."
The student that was helping Haruka drink water had said.
"Thank you for helping her. Elza and I can take over from here."
"Are you sure?"
Michiru gave a nod.
"Alright."
The student then stood up and went over to their friend.
"Oh, and you might want to take a look at her knee. She landed on it pretty hard when she collapsed."
"I will. Thank you."
"You're welcome. Take care."
The student and their friend then left the group alone. Once they had gone, Michiru turned her focus to Haruka.
"How are you feeling?"
"My knee hurts."
Haruka muttered.
"Let me see."
Michiru then gently lifted Haruka's shorts up to reveal her knee, showing that it was pretty scraped up.
"We should take her to the nurse. She's gonna need some antibiotic cream and a bandage."
Elza said.
Michiru nodded in agreement. She then went to help Haruka stand up, only to be waved off.
"I can get up on my own."
Haruka then went to stand up and would've fallen over again, had it not been for Elza catching her.
"Haruka! Are you alright?!"
Michiru and Elza both shouted, looking at Haruka frantically.
Haruka let out a groan and slumped in Elza's arms.
"We better hurry. She's not looking so hot."
Elza said, lifting her friend up in bridal style.
She then quickly raced off to the nurse's office, with Michiru following close behind.
After checking Haruka in and making sure she was in good hands, the pair left to head to their next class.
Some time later, Haruka woke up to a bright light shining in her face.
"Jesus, who turned on the sun?"
Haruka groaned, shielding her eyes from the offending light.
"Ah, I see you're awake."
Haruka turned her head in the direction of the voice, and saw the school nurse standing there.
"How are you feeling?"
The nurse asked, stepping closer to Haruka.
"I feel like I got hit by a truck."
"Well Michiru and Elza did inform me that you overdid it on the track today. Also that you scraped your knee up pretty bad. I've already taken the liberty of taking care of that for you."
Haruka looked down to see a bandage wrapped around her right knee.
"Now about your eating habits."
"What about them?"
Haruka sounded defensive, although she did not intend to.
"Well, Michiru informed me that all you had today was a glass of orange juice for breakfast."
"That's not all I had. I also had a bottle of apple juice and a turkey wrap during lunch."
Haruka knew she had lied about the wrap, but the school nurse didn't need to know that.
"I see. Well I'm glad to hear you had lunch. Based on what I was told, I was beginning to worry that you hadn't. Do try to be more careful though about listening to your body and taking breaks when you need it."
"I will. Am I free to go?"
"Yes. Let me just write you a pass and you can head on off to class."
"Okay."
Haruka then stood up, but winced in pain when she put pressure on her knee.
"I'll make a call down to Mr. Kozo's class and ask him to send a student to escort you to class."
The school nurse said, handing Haruka a pass.
"That won't be necessary. I can manage on my own."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Very well then. Take care and let me know if you need anything."
"Thanks."
Haruka then headed to the locker room to change back into her school uniform, before making her way to class. Albeit a bit slow due to her knee. When she got there, she handed the pass to Mr. Kozo then took her seat.
"How are you feeling?"
Michiru whispered as not to draw attention.
"I'm okay. My knee hurts like hell though."
Michiru nodded her head in understanding.
"Did the nurse tell you that I brought up my concerns about your eating habits to her?"
"Yeah."
"What did she say?"
"To be more careful about listening to my body and taking breaks when I need it."
Michiru frowned.
"That sounds like it's about your running. What did she say about your eating, or lack thereof?" "
Nothing really since I told her I had eaten lunch."
Michiru wanted to scream but managed to hold back.
"You didn't though. Why did you lie?"
"Because it's none of her business. And quite frankly it's really none of your business either. Do I ever make a fuss over the amount of food that you eat?"
"Well no, bu-"
"Exactly. So I'd appreciate it if you'd stop."
Haruka then turned her attention back to the lecture Mr. Kozo was giving.
End of chapter 9: