OreShura: Volume 2 Chapter 5
Chapter 5 Childhood Friend's Room is Mayhem
Apparently, Chiwa had found out about the news from a text message sent by the girls of the class.
Subject: 【What Should We Do? 】 Eita forcibly kissed Natsukawa Masuzu! 【Chihuahua!】
Really, when it came to the romantic minds of this crowd of love-worshipers, did everything have to become ｢love, love, kiss, kiss｣ before they were satisfied?
But even if I complained it was useless.
After all, whenever some strange prejudiced information reaches Chiwa, she basically considers it fact.
Of course, I immediately turned to her to explain the reason. I originally decided to use tonight’s dinner to discuss the love letter business, but how did my plas get defeated by such a thing?
"It wasn’t a kiss, just artificial respiration! The teacher was taking care of another student, so I was the only one left to do it. The struggle to save human lives is always a race against the clock."
"I know."
Chiwa pouted unhappily, and turned her face to the side.
"So don’t think about it too much. Artificial respiration is just a mouth and mouth touching, that’s all?"
"......Then do it with me, ah."
"Do what?"
"Artificial respiration."
I almost spit out my miso soup. In the end, seaweed and soup mix leaked from my mouth, blocked in the depths of my nose
"W-W-w-w-what are you saying?!"
"But! But!"
Chiwa cowered and timidly played with her fingers near her chest, revealing her childish habit to be troublesome. She had already entered ｢naughty Chihuahua｣ mode.
I think she understood the reason.
Because Chiwa was originally part of the Kendo Club, her awareness of first aid and medical treatment was probably greater than mine. If the other person had not been Masuzu, she certainly wouldn’t be acting as spoiled as she is now.
As a result, the night’s dinner ended with that awkward atmosphere, and Chiwa went home. A third of the fried pork cutlet was left unfinished… That Chiwa actually didn’t finish her meat, and that was a really rare occurrence.
Thus, the love letter confirmation could not be resolved.
......boo hoo.
Nothing seems to go as planned lately.
Why was Chiwa and Masuzu’s relationship so bad?
Was it because of that? Like the reason why a ｢mother-in-law and daughter-in-law｣ have a bad relationship? For example, the childhood friend is the mother-in-law, and the girlfriend is the daughter-in-law?
But, there was no mother-daughter-in-law relationship in the world that was so clearly incompatible.
Don’t tell me there’s no trick to keep a ｢girlfriend｣ and ｢childhood friend｣ on friendly terms with each other?
The next morning:
Since I also wanted to go to school with Chiwa, I was waiting for her in front of her house.
I wanted to make up with her as soon as possible, because we couldn’t keep dragging on the confirmation of the ｢love letter｣ business.
I listened the cicadas in the courtyard and waited for ten minutes --- even though it was much later than usual, Chiwa still did not come out.
Did she leave early because she was angry?
Without any choice, I rang the doorbell on Chiwa’s home. The person who came was actually Chiwa’s mother.
"Oh my, this is Ei-kun, long time no see! How are you?"
"A-ah, long time no see, auntie."
I was embarrassed at a complete loss, because it was very rare for Chiwa’s mother to be home at this time. She was some kind of local newspaper reporter, so she always left for work early and came back late. It was the same with Chiwa’s father, but he was home even less often.
"Have you been going to school together with Chiwa lately?"
"Yes, we just started again not long ago."
"Really? Then Chiwa must be quite happy!"
Auntie’s voice was high-pitched even though she is tall. At first glance, she doesn’t look like Chiwa at all, but her eye-squinting mannerisms were exactly identical, just like a mother and daughter.
"But Chiwa, she ah, started to get a fever last night."
"Huh?"
"I took the morning off work to take her to the hospital, but I still won’t get back home until late tonight. Sorry Ei-kun, but could I trouble you to take care of her?"
"No problem, it’s nothing."
No wonder why Chiwa didn’t eat very much last night. Because she rarely caught colds, I had assumed that she had only been in a bad mood.
......Damn!
How did I not notice? It’s embarrassing, especially since I want to become a doctor.
During the course of the day I was almost completely absent-minded, even though the classes just before final exams were very important. Chiwa lingered in my mind the entire time. I just imagined the look of Chiwa ill in bed --- it reminded me of that incident in the past.
I told Masuzu I was not going to club activities today, and then hastily rushed home.
After changing clothes, I started the washing machine, and then immediately headed for Chiwa’s house. I used the spare key to enter the front entrance, and planned to hurry up to the second floor --- but then I remembered Chiwa might be sleeping, so I carefully tiptoed up the stairs.
"Chiwa, it’s me."
I knocked on the door.
10 seconds later, there was no response.
"I’m coming in, I’m coming in."
After giving my warning twice, I slowly turned the doorknob.
It’s been an extremely long time since I’d last scene Chiwa’s room. It was already very different from what I recalled in my memory… basically, the pinkness increased. Before in the past, her room was plastered with Kendo posters, with sports tape, old shinai’s and the like scattered around. Now it was replaced with drawstring bags, cushions, and small things like that, especially the mirror that was placed on quite a few sides. It was very conspicuous.
However, only the scent of warm milk was exactly the same.
This was the smell of Chiwa.
Chiwa was sleeping in a bed like the one she had in the past. She seemed to have some difficulty breathing while asleep, and her face was flushed.
As I planned to go downstairs to wring a towel, the covers wriggled about.
"Ah...... Ei-kun?"
"Sorry, Chiwa did I wake you up?"
"...That’s weird. Is it really Ei-kun? Ei-kun in my room...?"
After just getting up, Chiwa looked as if she were in a trance, and blinked her eyes.
"Auntie asked me to take care of you. Now don’t get up, you can go back to sleep."
"I'm fine! My mother is really..."
Although she spoke with that tone, Chiwa seemed to beam with joy, squinting her eyes in happiness.
"Your fever doesn’t seem to be gone yet, so is there anything I can do to help you?"
"............Can you help me to clean my body?"
"O-o-okay."
Although I consciously avoided the waver in my heart, my voice became quiet.
I grabbed a wash basin from the first floor, and went back to Chiwa’s room with a towel.
Chiwa knelt all alone in bed, and had taken off the upper top of her pink pajamas --- her back was naked towards me.
"Be gentle, please."
"I-I-I-I-I, I know!"
I held onto the twisted towel and sat down on the bed.
Close to Chiwa’s back, I could see that her skin was delicate and beautiful. I had thought that she simply was not yet developed, but her body had all the round curving characteristics of maturing girl, especially her two soft white arms. It made my mind exceptionally uncomfortable.
"Ahh!"
When I put the towel on Chiwa’s back, she shuddered.
"Really! I told you to be gentle."
"S-sorry..."
I cautiously proceeded to wipe her little back. My heart emitted a loud throbbing sound, and I was worried that Chiwa’s ears would hear it. Every time Chiwa shyly moved her back, or gave an "Aaah......" sounding sigh, my heart nearly flew up into the ceiling.
"Thank you, Ei-kun, I’ll wipe the front myself."
"Oh, oh."
It was finally over......
While Chiwa wiped her body, I kept my back to her and glanced at the inside of her room --- there really was a lot of small trinkets, like cosmetic bags from the appendixes of fashion magazines, shoujo manga, scented candles, and so forth. Her interests really were not the same as they were in the past.
Eh?
The thing that hung on the desk lamp, it seemed very familiar…
"N-no! Ei-kun, that’s not good!"
I stood up, and picked up that thing.
A pair of painted red chopsticks.
A cute pink ribbon tied them together.
Why was there a pair of chopsticks hanging in a place like this?
And --- aren’t these my chopsticks?
"...Sorry, I took those from Ei-kun’s home without permission."
When I heard this, a thought flashed through my mind.
"Are these the chopsticks from that night?"
Chiwa nodded.
She was really worthy of being called a childhood friend. She knew what I was talking about, even though all I said was, “that night.”
Because between the two of us, there is only one ｢that night｣.
That was the night when my parents disappeared, and there was a dead end in my life. Chiwa had slipped out of the hospital even though she was hospitalized, and we had hamburger steak together. It was the first day I had ever cooked in my life.
The chopsticks from then were this pair.
"But why did you want to keep this kind of thing...?"
"...Because this is my most precious memory."
Chiwa’s face flushed.
Her eyes were moist.
Was this the caused by her fever…? No, definitely not.
"Only that memory in my heart is absolutely always the same, even if Ei-kun has a girlfriend, or likes other girls."
"......I see."
I nodded, firmly believing what Chiwa said.
The person who wrote the letter was not Chiwa.
Because we did not need to ｢bind ourselves together again｣.
After all, my bond with Chiwa has always hung there ever since the beginning.
In the end, I stayed overnight to take care of Chiwa.
Chiwa’s parents contacted me, and told me they wouldn’t make it home today, which was very commonplace in Chiwa’s lax household. On these kinds of days, Chiwa used to come over to my house to stay over… but this was in elementary school.
Even though auntie apologized non-stop on the phone, I didn't think it was a big deal. I was already planning on studying for exams late into the night, and as long as I brought my study books, it didn’t matter where I studied.
Chiwa was sleeping the entire time, with no improvement on the fever. Just a moment ago I had wiped water on her forehead, but the towel on her forehead was already warm. I need to change the water in the washbasin.
When I was about to stand up from beside her pillow, Chiwa suddenly gently tugged at my sleeve.
"...Stay with me..."
"Chiwa? Are you awake?"
No, her eyes were still closed, so she was asleep.
Was she having a nightmare because of her fever?
"Is Natsukawa really that great?"
"Huh?"
Chiwa very painfully shook her head and said:
"Do you like Natsukawa? Do you like her more than me?"
Her voice was disturbingly sad.
"Am I no good? Why? We’ve always… always been together..."
Clear tears slid down Chiwa's face.
"Don’t go anywhere. Stay by my side forever, Ei-kun…"
I again sat down by Chiwa’s side.
I firmly grasped Chiwa’s hand outstretched from the quilt.
"Don’t worry, Chiwa."
"......"
"I will stay here, I will take here by your side."
Chiwa’s painful expression gradually eased.
The rate of her breathing also returned to normal, so she probably fell into deep sleep.
I used my empty hand to pull over an English reference book.
I wanted to double and redouble my efforts in studying.
In order to achieve the goal that I promised to Chiwa that night.
I woke up to the shimmer of light that shot through the gap in the curtains.
It seems that I had accidently fallen sleep --- while still in a sitting posture, with my face laid on the bed and my shoulders covered with a pink blanket.
There wasn’t anyone on the bed.
"Chiwa?"
"I’m over here, Ei-kun!"
I looked back, and saw Chiwa’s smiling face, while she sat facing my back on a chair.
"W-What are you doing?"
"H-H-hey, I’m just enjoying the sleeping posture of Ei-kun. ♪"
"I’m not talking about that! Don’t you have a fever?"
"Yes, thank you for taking care of me."
Chiwa seemed to look healthy, and she stood up to spin in a circle to show me.
"Really? Let me take a closer look."
"I said I’m fine! Ei-kun really loves to worry!"
Chiwa snicked and prepared to flee, but I adamantly put my hand on her forehead.
......Well, all right, her body temperature was nearly normal.
She gave a ｢See? Didn’t I say so?｣ expression on her face, stuck out her chest, and said:
"Actually, it looked like Ei-kun might catch a cold, so covered you with a blanket! When Ei-kun doesn’t have me, you’re really hopeless!"
"Hmph, what you talking about?"
Well, since Chiwa had the energy to bicker, there shouldn't be a problem.
I looked at the alarm clock, and it was already seven ten in the morning.
"Huh? Where does Ei-kun want to go? My mother will be returning soon, so you should eat breakfast and then go---"
"No. I want to go to school early so I can study and prepare for the exam in the quiet classroom."
"What?! Ei-kun would never say something so cold in the past!"
"Yesss."
Chiwa mustered an unhappy face.
"Then I guess I should get sick again......"
"Eh? What are you talking about?"
"No, n-nothing."
Chiwa shook her head.
"Ei-kun, about the artificial respiration."
"What, you still want to talk about that old thing?"
"No, I was thinking you’re really awesome, to formally execute it and succeed! For that kind of technique, even if you know how to do it, in a real accident very few people can do properly. Where did Ei-kun learn how to do it?"
"...You asking me where I learned it from? Just from a book, and didn’t we learn how to in physical education class?"
"And you know how to do it from just that? Really amazing---"
"Hmmmph, fine, praise me more then."
---Though to say the truth, it’s actually not that impressive.
After Chiwa was hospitalized from a traffic accident, I went to a life-rescue workshop run by the fire department, to receive full training from senior firefighters.
This was just in case if Chiwa ever had another accident, I wouldn’t be so helpless again.
Notes
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