ALL NOVEL Chapter 14.2: Sink II
Beyond my half-closed field of vision, Takenaka was boiling water and chopping something with a knife in front of the tattered stove in my house.
When I fell down in the bathroom and was on the edge of hitting the back of my head, Takenaka, for some reason, was behind me and supported me. Why was this person here… I was so disoriented that I nearly blacked out and couldn’t stand on my feet, so Takenaka carried me by the shoulders and dropped me back into the futon.
When I was finally able to breathe properly, Takenaka placed a glass of Pocari Sweat by my bedside and politely described what had occurred from last night until I woke up. Even though most of my recollections were vague, it seemed that I had inadvertently inconvenienced a lot of people including Takenaka.
Apparently, I collapsed last night while serving a customer.
The person working with me was Takenaka. I collapsed while working at the cash register, which caught all the customers by surprise and caused a slight commotion in the store.
Takenaka promptly brought me to the back room, but due to my high fever, I was unresponsive to his calls. Takenaka, who came to the conclusion that it was bad, informed the manager, who then summoned Aoyama to come to the store as a backup.
Having observed my pale face, which was unenergetic, and my erratic breathing, the manager contacted a nearby hospital. Arrangements were made and I was immediately transported to the hospital in Takenaka’s car.
As I was in and out of consciousness, I apparently could not respond to the doctor’s questioning with any proper words.
Unexpectedly, the doctor’s diagnosis was a simple one: malnutrition due to poor diet and cold due to fatigue and a lowered immune system.
Life had taken its toll on me, as I had completely underestimated my summer fatigue and was eating nothing but somen noodles… It was an embarrassing story.
I was given an IV and was told that I would recover with proper nutrition and rest after taking medicine, so I returned home after 4:00 a.m. in the early morning, rocking in the car driven by Takenaka.
The manager and Aoyama took over for Takenaka and me, working until morning, entrusting Takenaka with the responsibility of driving me home.
After placing me under the futon while I was sick, the ever-too-benevolent Takenaka continued to be by my side right up until this very second, apparently nursing me.
To think that such a severe thing had happened to me. I had no recollection of it at all.
“I’m sorry… Takenaka, I’m…”
“No. I am glad… you are not sick with some strange disease.”
While putting something in the pot, Takenaka replied only with his voice without looking back.
A nice aroma wafted from the kitchen. It smelled like consommé.
It didn’t look as though he was making his own food arbitrarily in someone else’s home.
“O-Ohhh… Takenaka, it’s okay, I’ll have some appropriate food and take my medicine…!”
I couldn’t let him stay in this dreary room any longer. Furthermore, since it was four o’clock in the morning until now, this guy must have not slept, right? This was… indeed not good.
With only one arm out from the futon, I persistently appealed in a hushed voice to somehow get Takenaka to leave.
“Appropriate… you mean somen?”
UghーNot shared on aggregator sites
Only half of his face was directed at me, and he narrowed his eyes and glared at me as if he was appalled. What I felt was undeniable fear.
“S-Sorry…”
In response, Takenaka let out a deep sigh that I could hear, as he chopped something with the knife again. I seemed to have annoyed him, rather than made him mad…
For now, I gently pulled out a cup of Pocari, which was right next to me, and sipped it.
The fan’s air volume was set to “medium”.
The wind chime that my younger sister installed at her discretion was producing a soothing sound, and the curtains were half drawn to allow for ventilation.
On the kitchen floor was a brand-new supermarket bag, which Takenaka picked up and retrieved various things from inside.
It was only later that I learned that Takenaka had anticipated my waking up and decided to cook something nutritious for me. Seeing the stacks of somen noodles in the sliding door and cupboards, which were crammed like a curse, he ran to the nearest supermarket with a sense of obligation to feed me something other than somen noodles.
And that was all for my sake who was totally undernourished…
“Please wait a little longer.”
“Ah, hah…”Translator: MadHatter
I was so sorry that I couldn’t say anything more and opened my cell phone, which had an incoming call light blinking on it.
Several calls were there.
Oh, it was the manager and Aoyama.
【from】Manager
【title】 How are you feeling?
Are you feeling a little better?
I heard from Takenaka that you caught a summer flu.
If it gets worse, it’s not good, so I’ll reschedule your shifts for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, and you can have a good rest.
【from】Aoyama
【title】Oh no!
Hakamada, are you okay!?
I was so worried about youuuuu!
Don’t worry about me and the manager, just take proper rest and get better soon, okay?
From Aoyama (♡)
Somehow… I was touched.
Even though I caused trouble for them.
These people. Were they genuinely worried about me like this?
I should call them later instead of texting them.
Oh, I got an e-mail from Hirai as well.
Oh, man, night-shift crews really were too much about passing on information―
【from】Hirai
【title】Untitled
I heard from Aoyama.
Hakamada, are you okay? (´・ω・｀)
Maman said that summer flu is not good if it gets worse, so please don’t push yourself too hard and get better as soon as possible.
I mean…
Takenaka’s route is finally here(ﾟ∀ﾟ)
━━!!!!
Isn’t Takenaka infatuated over you that he’s nursing a weakened Hakamada!
Isn’t he having a crush on you!?
(//∇//)
Hey, hey, hey! You two! When did you two develop such a relationship!?
This is too dangerous!
＼(^q^)／＼(^q^)／＼(^q^)／
By all means, more details on this tasty stuff later, kwsk! kwsk!
What am I going to do! I can’t stop my heart from throbbing!
Take-hakama
Thank you very much!
＼(^q^)／
I closed the screen hoping to pretend I didn’t see it.
I was unsure about how to organize everything right away.
The feeling of comfort I had felt in the manager’s and Aoyama’s e-mails all at once cooled down.
Or rather, I was sent to an extremely chilly place.