"Calm down."
"Stay steady."
"Panicking when something happens is meaningless. I should calmly think about how to solve the problem."
Mahiru closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
"Go out to the convenience store to buy cold medicine now?"
"But it's already so late..."
"And my strength is fading faster and faster, I can barely walk..."
Mahiru panted softly. She felt her head getting dizzier and her strength rapidly slipping away. She could only sit on the sofa to rest.
Illness strikes like a landslide.
Mahiru completely hadn't expected the cold to hit so fiercely. If regret medicine existed, she definitely would have turned on the water heater before taking a shower.
"If I force myself to go out and run into a bad guy, it'll be terrible..."
Mahiru bit her lower lip with her pearly white teeth. She knew her own beauty very well. In her current sickly and weak state, if she encountered a bad guy with malicious intentions, she would have absolutely no way to resist.
"Dad... Mom..."
Mahiru took a deep breath and picked up her phone, unable to resist wanting to ask her parents for help.
However, the girl's finger hovered over the screen, hesitating to press down.
"If I tell Dad, Dad will only tell me to look for Mom..."
"If Mom knows I caught a cold and have a fever, she'll only scold me for not even knowing how to take care of myself, right?"
Mahiru knew her parents' personalities very well. She knew that asking for help would definitely receive no response.
"If... if I were to just leave like this, would Dad and Mom be sad?"
For a split second, Mahiru couldn't help but want to give up on herself. But right at that moment, the figure of Sora suddenly flashed through the girl's mind.
Earlier, when she had lost her vision due to using the Time Stop and was standing on the street alone, frightened and helpless, her heart full of bewilderment, it was Sora who appeared before her.
"If it's Sora-kun... he definitely wouldn't abandon me, right?"
This thought suddenly welled up in her mind and completely refused to fade away, leaving Angel-sama's mood exceptionally subtle and complex.
After hesitating for several seconds, Mahiru finally sent a message:
"Sora-kun... are you asleep?"
"Hmm?"
Seeing the message pop up on his phone, Sora slightly raised an eyebrow.
What does asking if I'm asleep mean?
Could it be she can't sleep and wants to invite me out for a late-night stroll?
Sora quickly shook his head, denying his own guess.
Anna might do something like that, but Mahiru-san clearly doesn't have that kind of personality. She seems like a very gentle, easy-to-get-along-with girl, but she actually keeps her distance from everyone.
"I'm not asleep yet," Sora replied. "Is something the matter, Mahiru-san?"
Over ten seconds later, another message popped up on the phone: "I forgot to turn on the water heater when I took a shower, so I took a cold shower. Now I have a bit of a cold..."
Good heavens, she actually couldn't distinguish between hot and cold. Losing the sense of touch is too terrifying!
Thank goodness it was only cold water. If she accidentally showered with boiling water, it wouldn't be a cold, the ambulance would be making an appearance!
Mahiru: "...I don't have any cold medicine stocked at home. Could I trouble Sora-kun to help buy some medicine?"
The Angel-sama who is unwilling to trouble others with anything is actually taking the initiative to ask for help. Your cold is actually super severe, isn't it!
Sora replied straightforwardly, "I had a cold a while ago, and I happen to have some leftover cold medicine at home. I'll bring it over to you right now. Wait for me at the door."
"..."
Looking at the message on her phone, Mahiru gently pursed her beautiful lips. Forcing herself up, she dizzily walked towards the entryway.
At the same time.
Sora found the leftover cold medicine, then quickly ran downstairs, changed his shoes, and headed out.
Fortunately, they were next-door neighbors, so he arrived at Mahiru's door in two steps.
Knock knock.
Sora knocked on the door and called out from outside:
"Mahiru-san, I'm here."
"..."
The door opened quickly.
Angel-sama, wearing white pajamas, stood behind the door. Her pretty face was covered in an unnatural, rosy flush. Supporting herself against the wall with her right hand, her first reaction was to whisper an apology:
"I'm sorry for causing you trouble, Sora-kun..."
The girl's voice carried the hoarseness of a cold, sounding weak and powerless.
"Save the apologies for later." Sora had no intention of entering the house. He directly handed over the cold medicine in his hand. "Here is the cold medicine. Take the dosage according to the instructions."
The night was already deep, and Mahiru-san was a girl living alone. By all rights and reason, he shouldn't enter a girl's room this late.
"Thank you, Sora-kun..."
Angel-sama's long eyelashes fluttered gently as she expressed her heartfelt gratitude. However, just as she reached out to take the medicine, a powerful wave of dizziness suddenly hit her, making her sway and lose her balance.
"Careful."
With quick reflexes, Sora caught the sickly angel in his arms.
Angel-sama smelled delightful, and her body was soft as cotton candy. Unfortunately, Sora had absolutely no other thoughts at the moment. He merely frowned.
"You're so hot. What's your body temperature right now?"
"I don't know..."
Mahiru shook her head while struggling to push herself away.
Unfortunately, after trying a few times, Mahiru failed to succeed. Instead, her breathing involuntarily became rapid, intermittently mixed with low coughs, making her look pitiful, weak, and helpless.
"Being this hot, it's definitely a high fever." Sora's expression grew serious. "Can you still walk on your own, Mahiru-san?"
"I, I..."
Mahiru coughed softly twice. Her hands weakly pressed against Sora's chest as she tried to get up. Unfortunately, her body was limp and powerless; she truly didn't have the slightest bit of strength.
The helplessness of being sick and weak, the grievance of being alone outside, and the dizziness in her head quietly shattered the angel mask Mahiru wore. Finally, the girl tilted up her pretty face, looking like an abandoned kitten, and softly pleaded for care:
"I feel so awful right now, I have no strength left to walk... Could I trouble Sora-kun to help me inside?"
"Leave it to me."
Sora's voice was steady. He extended his arms, placing one hand on the girl's waist and grabbing Angel-sama's slender wrist with the other, supporting the girl into the house.
Walking into the living room, Sora placed the girl on the sofa, then said softly:
"I'll go pour you some water, then you take the medicine."
"Phew..."
Watching Sora head to the kitchen, Mahiru quietly let out a sigh of relief and looked down at her toes in shame.
I don't know what came over me just now, to actually say something like that. Usually, no matter how hard it gets, I just grit my teeth and silently endure it alone...
As expected, it's because I'm sick that I'm acting all weird, right?
"..."
Before long, Sora brought over a glass of water and presented the cold medicine to Mahiru:
"Can you take the medicine by yourself, Mahiru-san?"
"O-Of course I can..."
Mahiru took a deep breath and hurriedly raised her hand in embarrassment to take the medicine.
I only let you support me just now because my head was spinning. I definitely won't let you feed me the medicine now!