Chapter 105 Taste Like Coke

25th December, Christmas.

I caught a cold.

I woke up with a terrible chill even though my whole body was covered by the blanket. My body temperature was high, my nose was stuffy and it was hard to breathe.

I felt that every possible cold symptom that ever existed in this world was ailing my body.

Cr*p

My current temperature was 39.5 degrees C, it was really high.

Actually, some of the symptoms appeared last night, but I was having dinner with Umi, my lover, so I completely brushed them aside. I was too happy to feel sick, you see.

Well, this was to be expected. I have been busy for the past three weeks. Both my body and mind were exhausted because I didnt have the time to relax. Yesterday, everything was resolved and since I had nothing to worry about anymore, all my tension was replaced by the fatigue I had accumulated.

And since I was sick, I decided to just take it easy and take my medicine. Or at least, that was the plan.

Heres your medicine, Maki-kun, take it slowly and sleep afterward, okay? Ill be in the next room, if you need something, dont hesitate to call me, okay?

Cmon, Maki, put your hands below the cover too. I know its hot, but you need to keep your body warm! Oh yeah, Ill go get your ice pack.

I was lying on a futon in the guest room in Umis house. Both Umi and Sora-san were currently nursing me.

Sorry, for troubling you, Umi

Hm? Its fine, I dont mind~ I dont feel troubled at all Rather, Id be troubled if I were to leave you alone when youre like this.

Ill summarize what exactly happened prior to this situation.

-> I woke up and found out that I caught a cold, so I took some medicine and went back to bed.

-> The fever didnt go away after a while and suddenly Umi came.

-> Apparently Mom gave her a duplicate key to our house, so she just barged in. I told her to go home, but she insisted on helping me.

-> Umi called Sora-san over and told her about my fever. She came to my house and drove me to the hospital. The result of the check up was that I caught a severe cold and they gave me some IV drip.

-> After that, Sora-san brought me to her house instead of bringing me back home.

And here we were.

By the way, mom canceled her months long break and went right back to work. It seemed like the company treated her absence as paid leave so there was no problem in that regard, but because of her work, she wouldnt be able to come home today. That was the content of the note she left at the table this morning.

You dont need to look for me, okay?

-Sincerely, Mom.

Since she was able to joke like that, I assumed that she would be okay even if I were to leave her alone.

Still, her timing couldnt be worse But, whatever, she was okay now, that was the only thing that mattered.

Because of that, Sora-san suggested that I stay in the Asanagis house in the meantime. At least until I completely recover from my cold.

I felt like Ive been troubling the Asanagis a lot lately, but since Sora-san insisted and I didnt have enough reason to reject her kindness, I couldnt help but agree to it. Sora-san and Umi aside, I felt that I would be troubling Riku-san by staying here for too long.

Well, I couldnt do anything about it except for praying that my cold will go away soon.

While I was worrying over things like that, Umi came bringing some ice packs.

Umi, have you told Sora-san about

Yeah, she knew about our relationship Rather, she thought weve been dating this entire time, so yeah, you dont need to worry about that.

I see.

They approved our relationship, thankfully. I guess I could say that I got lucky. Families like the Asanagis who easily accepted the fact that their daughter was dating someone were quite rare after all.

But anyway, we struck a surprisingly good balance. I had no problems with my friends while Umi had many with hers, and Umi had no problems with her family but mine was pretty much in shambles.

Maki, dont worry Ill do my best so that well be able to be together forever

Yeah, I got it, but first we have to cure my cold, Umi

Hehe Dont worry about that. With the power of love, Ill nurse you back to health in a blink of an eye! So, give your body to me, Maki~

This girl in front of me was no longer just a friend, but my girlfriend.

Yeah sure Ill be in your care.

Alright, now lets spoil you with my chest

No, not now, please

I felt like it would be counterproductive if she did that. Instead of trying my best to get rid of the cold, I would end up making zero effort so that I could bury my head in her chest for as long as I could.

I could say this with confidence because Im speaking from experience.

Well, Ill ask for it on another occasion.

Umu Well, I can see that you look better already. By the way, can you eat? Youre hungry, arent you?

Actually, yeah, Im starving

Now that I think about it, I havent eaten anything since I woke up. Its almost lunchtime and I could smell something good coming from the kitchen. Sora-san seemed to be cooking.

Got it! Ill make something for you! Youll be fine with porridge, right?

Eh? Y-Yeah B-but

Dont worry, mom is here so all is fine. Besides, its just porridge, what could go wrong?

This girl casually raised a red flag like that. But, since Sora-san would be there, maybe

I decided to nod my head to her suggestion for the time being.

* * *

My bad

Sure enough, she triggered the flag successfully without much effort. The porridge was a complete failure.

At first, Umi was asking for advice from Sora-san, but after Sora-san gave her advice, Umi kicked her out and went to make the porridge by herself. Apparently, she thought that it was easy enough and there would be no way for her to mess up. But, like they said, overconfidence was a slow and insidious killer, she somehow burnt the rice in the process.

And so, in front of me there was a lump of matter that resembled porridge, a box of pizza and a gloomy looking Umi.

Ive heard that she was bad at controlling the heat, but I didnt know that she was this bad. By the way, Sora-san scolded her because the rice she burnt was the last rice available in the house. Because of that, she went to the convenience store to buy more rice.

Well, Ill eat everything before it gets cold Its fine, everybody makes mistakes, at least youve learned your lesson now.

Ugh Sorry Ill eat them

Nah, you made them for me, so Ill eat them.

I pointed to the soggy matter, the failed porridge.

Eh? But it tastes really bad though

Like I said, you made it for me, so might as well.

Even she admitted that it tasted bad. Well, it was the first dish she ever made for me, I didnt want it to go to waste. At least this will make a good memory for both of us.

O-Okay But, dont force yourself

Umi brought a spoonful to my mouth. I opened my mouth and swallowed it without hesitation.

It tasted bitter. She took the burned part away, but the bitterness was still there.

It wasnt flavorless though, so it was still edible.

Ugh

How was it?

Its bad, sorry Man, youre really bad at this

The morally correct answer here was to praise her, but I found no reason to do that.

Still, even though it was bad, it was still something that she made for me.

Its fine though. Im glad that you tried at all. So, thank you, Umi

Maki, you need to stop spoiling me, jeez Ill become a lazy woman if you keep this up, you know?

That was a tall order, Princess.

We were lovers after all, I had to spoil you whenever I could.

Forget about the porridge, lets just eat the pizza together! Here it is, Aah~

Also because we were lovers, it was natural that were doing this kind of thing.

Aahh Mm! Yeah, this one tastes much better than whatever that was. Actually, Im glad I ate that thing first because it somehow enhanced the taste of the pizza.

So you have chosen death.

Go easy on me.

I should avoid food-related jokes for the time being.

Also

I did it behind everyones back to make Umi feel better. I learned that her lips tasted like coke.