MaruMAːMini-minisːGoingonTrip

We're going on that trip

Original story by: Takabayashi Tomo

Information:This story was published in the special booklet that came out with URA MA DX! (drama cd 25) in March 2007. In April 2009, it was turned into a drama-cd by Monthly Asuka (drama cd 58).

I raised my heavy eyelids when the cold wind stroke my cheeks. Since I had caught a cold and had a fever, I kept thinking that there was no way I had let the window opened. When the glimpse of a shadow caught my eye, I involuntarily sat up. The blanket that was tucked under my stomach had fallen to the floor.

"Conrad...?"

"Shh"

He was smiling under a dim light, as he pressed his finger to my lips.

"Because it's a dream"

He was wearing ash-blue clothes, reminiscent of winter. It looked a lot better than the military uniform he had been wearing. His look as a free, unrestrained traveler suit him better, than the military uniform of another country.

"Don't worry, because it's only a dream. You'll forget about it when you wake up."

"Then I don't want to wake up."

He smiled again when he heard my childish reply. Conrad fixed the blanket I had kicked down all the way to my feet again. Over and over, I would kick them away when I was hot, and reel them back to me when I was cold.

"How are you feeling?"

"I have a fever, and I feel a little sick"

"Did you throw up?"

"Not yet. But as expected, I'm not hungry."

"That's serious !"

Because I shrugged in an exaggerated manner, he said that in times like what one needs is vitamins, and pulled out a fruit he seemed to have brought from outside. It was a small green apple with light tiny spots on its skin.

"Shall we smash it and turn it into juice?"

"My mother would often do that when I was a child"

Whenever I'd get a fever during elementary school, this food was almost always put in front of me. Not porridge or noodles as one would give an adult patient; but ice-cream, pudding, canned peaches, or the grainy apple juice that was left after smashing an apple.

"It's not like I thought one could find canned peaches here, but why do you know about this? Is apple juice a traditional food here as well?"

Without a reply, Conrad glanced at me with a worried look on his face.

"It's important to strengthen your ability to heal yourself, but sometimes it's best if you ask for Gisela's help."

"But I'll have to do that next time. I can't this time around. There's a reason why I can't let anyone know. It's fine, it's a cold. I'll recover from it in one night."

"Colds don't get cured in one night, right....? Wolfram isn't taking care of you?"

"I made him leave. It'd be a problem if he caught it too. Besides, there are still some preparations to take care of before tomorrow."

"Preparations?"

He sat at the end of the bed as he repeated the word.

"Yes, starting tomorrow, we're going on a trip. I left all the arrangements up to Wolfram. That wasn't good."

"Don't worry. Because Wolfram will put even the things that you won't need in the luggage."

"When I was in elementary school, I'd always get a fever before a field trip or a school excursion."

If I say this all of a sudden, he might be bothered by it. Because as a mazoku soldier, he didn't go to elementary school, and there's no way that military school would have had field trips. I heard that there were training trips to strengthen the solidarity among soldiers, but according to what I've heard from Wolfram, no matter how you look at it, it was only training. If a new recruit would have gotten a fever the night before going on a training trip because he was too excited, he would have likely become a useless soldier after graduation.

Then, the Conrad in my dreams made a face as if he understood. Surely, the real one would have done the same.

"In the end, I was always absent during school trips. I wonder if that's what I have now. Will I have to skip tomorrow's trip?"

"You'll recover. You said it a moment ago, right? You'll recover from it in one night."

"You think so?"

"Yes"

I sighed. Even the air running through my body was hot, and time seemed to pass slowly and heavily.

"Though I'd want you to come with us."

He was supposed to answer to my sudden outburst with one word and an ambiguous bitter smile. Because, it's a dream! And the character in the dream which turned to nightmare due to the fever, could never come with us to the trip that starts tomorrow.

Even so, Conrad moved my bangs soaked in sweat and said the following.

"I'd want that too."

He moved his sword-holding fingers from my forehead and pulled the blankets all the way up to my neck.

"Now, sleep. It'll be all right. You'll go on that trip."

"Can I have.... that?"

He smiled as usual, and gently threw the apple my way. The droplets on the fruit sprinkled on my forehead. It was cold. Cold enough to make the fever disappear.

"It's gone."

"Uh...?"

The cold thing on my forehead was Wolfram's palm. It seems he put his hand to my forehead to try and take my temperature.

"Wolf, uh...?

"It's a good thing you slept well, your fever is gone. Do you want to eat something? If so, what do you want to have?

As he said this, he picked something up from the side of my bed.

"Ah, if you want an apple.... shall we smash it?"

"Eh? Why is there an apple here?"

Without caring about the question I had muttered, Wolfram looked nostalgically at the green apple.

"A long time ago, whenever I had a fever, I'd be given smashed apples to drink. Even though I'd complained saying I could bite it and that I wasn't a baby, I was told I should drink it because it's easier to digest"

Every time when he was a child? I imagine the scene of the two arguing back and forth and my cheeks loosen up. The morning sunlight comes straight through the fully opened window.

"Should I guess?"

"Guess what?"

"You really are your big brother's son"

My fever is gone, I had a nice dream, the weather is excellent. Even if he's not here, we're going on that trip.

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