This occurs the day after “Poison Hot Spring Trip.”
The perspective is Suzumoto’s.
When I woke up in the morning, my body felt strangely heavy.
Moreover, trying to move my arm brought a pain as if my nerves were being scraped, moving my head caused severe dizziness, my throat burned with every breath, and then I was certain.
It seems I’ve caught a cold.
“No, yeah, to think I’d catch a cold even with adjustments. Was it because of yesterday’s naked dungeon?”
“Don’t mention it.”
It’s true that we were forced to go through the dungeon naked after coming out of the hot springs. That must be the cause. However, everyone else was in the same situation, and yet I was the only one who caught a cold.
As for Maito, she was only wearing a thin yukata in that chillingly cold basement… Ah, maybe Toriumi acted as a hot water bottle. That would make sense. Toriumi has a high body temperature. It’s hot in the summer and warm in the winter. The reason Hariu oddly clings to Toriumi in the winter is exactly that.
“You might have been tired.”
“Maybe.”
I’m not proud to admit it, but I have a tendency to get swollen tonsils easily. I think that might be why I was the only one to catch a cold.
“You’re always on edge, aren’t you? Maybe you’ve relaxed recently and that’s why you let your guard down.”
As Maito said this, she placed a small clay pot filled with porridge and a serving dish and spoon on a tray beside me, then served some porridge into the dish.
“Can you get up?”
“I can get up. And I can eat by myself, too.”
I resisted Maito’s overly considerate offer and forced myself up, feeling intense pain in my joints.
…So, “Pain Resistance” doesn’t work on this, huh. Damn.
Maito handed me the bowl of porridge with a spoon, and I began to eat with my weak hands.
The porridge wasn’t just plain rice. It seemed to be made with chicken broth and simmered aromatic vegetables. Even with my taste buds off, I was grateful it tasted good.
“Thank you.”
My appetite hadn’t decreased much, so I finished eating in a relatively short time.
“Here you go. Now, take this specially made cold medicine (tentative) ver.1.1.”
Then, Maito placed a small flask filled with a dark liquid on the tray.
Dark.
It didn’t look like medicine at all. It looked like poison. Definitely poison.
“…That’s going to taste awful, isn’t it?”
“Ver.1.0 tasted like a mix of ink, 99% cocoa chocolate, and dried persimmon, divided by two to mask the medicinal taste.”
Shouldn’t it be divided by three? Not two?
“…I don’t need to drink it. I’ll get better with some sleep.”
“Let’s drink it. I won’t let you forget you made me drink it before.”
It seemed like drinking it would only make me feel worse. Please, spare me…
In the end, I didn’t have the energy to argue anymore and drank President’s specially made cold medicine (tentative)… wait, by the way, what’s with the “tentative”…
…Anyway, I drank it.
…A flavor like rusted iron hit my nostrils first, followed by an overly strong bitterness like concentrated Japanese tea and an unpleasantly smooth taste flowing over my tongue. Lastly, a uniquely fresh yet pungent flavor lingered.
“…Disgusting.”
The ultimate in disgusting taste. Yet, it didn’t make me nauseous, which was impressive in its own right. I wish he’d make tasty medicine, though.
“Good job.”
Maito had brought some cut fruit as a palate cleanser.
Gratefully, I also finished the peeled… rather, “cleaned” oranges and two slices of diced peach.
After Maito used “Clean”, I focused entirely on recovering by sleeping.
I’m not sure if I was dozing or deeply asleep, but when I woke up, I felt much better.
My head was still warm and my body felt lethargic, but the pain was almost gone.
…Whether it was from the sleep or President’s medicine working, I couldn’t tell.
I felt sticky and uncomfortable from sweating in my sleep and was thirsty.
As I got up, I noticed a pitcher and a glass by my pillow and gratefully drank.
After drinking as much water as I wanted, my head started to clear up.
Sitting up in bed, I noticed an extra futon a little distance away from me.
…It seems another person caught a cold. Peeking in, it was Hariu.
It’s a peculiar selection of people, indeed…
Then, a little later, Maito came in with lunch.
“How are you feeling?”
“Not too bad. Just feeling sluggish.”
After Maito “cleaned” me and the futon, she handed me lunch.
Lunch was simmered udon.
“By the way, Hariu also started feeling sick. It seems he didn’t notice his symptoms until before noon.”
I was slurping the udon when Maito gave me the surprising news.
“He didn’t notice?”
“Yeah, he was playing energetically and then suddenly said, ‘Ah, I feel sick.'”
…That sounds like him.
“Mmm…”
I might have woken him up; Hariu stirred and then woke up.
“Good morning. Are you hungry?”
“Uh… yeah, maybe I’m hungry.”
After a few exchanges, Maito “cleaned” Hariu and then went out to get his lunch.
…She’s really got it tough.
“I don’t want to drink it…”
“Suzumoto drank it.”
“No. No, no, no. I definitely won’t drink that. I’ll recover through sheer willpower by sleeping!”
Hariu, apparently more childlike due to the cold, was eventually coaxed by Maito to take the medicine.
…She really has it tough…
“Then, go back to sleep.”
“No, I’m getting up. I’ve slept enough.”
“I’m tired of sleeping.”
“That’s not good. You should sleep.”
After finishing lunch and reluctantly drinking the medicine again (can’t this taste be improved?), and after a fruit-cutting contest with Hariu for palate cleansing, I was thinking of getting up when Maito told us to sleep.
“But, you know, it’s kind of boring. Thanks to sleeping properly, I’m not even sleepy. Telling me to stay in bed when I can’t sleep feels a bit harsh.”
“I’m not sleepy either! Katori and the others are having so much fun…”
My body felt sluggish, but that was it. Hariu seemed to be developing a fever, so it might be necessary for him to rest, but I felt fine not sleeping anymore.
That was my protest, but it was dismissed with a wave, and I was made to lie down and covered with a futon.
…I could have resisted if I wanted to, but after being pushed down and told to sleep, I somehow didn’t care anymore.
“I don’t wanna.”
“Hey, quiet down and sleep! You’re 17; it’s not like you can’t sleep by yourself!”
…Hariu’s situation seemed different, with sounds of fluttering and thumping from kicking the futon.
“…Then I’ll force you to sleep!”
Maito and Hariu’s struggle came to a quick end.
It was because Maito sang a “lullaby.”
The sound of kicking stopped, and it became quiet. …He seemed to have fallen asleep.
And of course, the effect spread to me too.
The sensation of my consciousness being gently pulled into a deep, comforting place.
…I’ve heard this a few times before, but for some reason, I never develop a resistance to it.
…Not that I mind not having a resistance to it.
When I woke up, it was evening.
It seems I really spent the entire day just sleeping. On the plus side, my body had completely recovered.
Looking at the futon next to me, Hariu was sleeping with the cover thrown off.
For now, I covered him back up with the futon.
Then, feeling someone’s gaze, I looked in that direction and met eyes with the maid doll.
Upon our eyes meeting, it nodded several times as if in agreement, opened the door, and left on its own.
…What was that all about?
“Did you wake up?”
The answer became clear immediately. The doll from before must have been sent by Maito to check if we had woken up.
“I’m up. I’m back to normal now.”
“That’s good to hear. President is waiting with the night’s medicine ready.”
“I’m not drinking that anymore.”
…I can easily imagine President happily concocting his medicine.
“Well, I won’t force you. Are you hungry?”
“Yeah. I feel like I can eat normal food now.”
Maito smiled happily at my response, saying that was good.
“…Hmm. Ah.”
Hariu woke up again while we were talking.
“Did I wake you up? Sorry.”
“It’s okay. Actually, I wish you’d woken me up earlier… It’s already evening…”
While Hariu mumbled his complaint, Maito soothed him and checked his temperature by placing her hand on his neck and forehead.
“Hariu… you still seem to have a fever. You’ll have to stick to sick food tonight.”
“Eh.”
Hariu started to grumble again, but preparing normal meals and sick food separately must be tough. I really respect her for it.
“Three portions, huh… What to make. Hariu, is there anything you’d like to eat?”
“Um… Oh, wait, let me think!”
…Wait.
“Hey, three?”
“Hagasaki-kun and Katori started saying ‘something feels off’ in the evening. They got really high fevers, so they’re sleeping in the meeting room.”
…Well, that’s another round of hard work.
“Maybe it’s a delayed-onset cold? It’s better than everyone getting sick at once, but it’s still strange, huh?”
“I got it! I want porridge with egg in it!”
“Okay, okay. So, egg porridge, and… maybe I’ll also make simmered tofu. Tofu is easy to digest.”
…In the end, except for Kadomi-kun, President, and Maito, everyone caught the cold in turns, forcing us to stall for two days.
Well, it could be said that it was a nice break. We’ve been moving almost nonstop until now, so it was probably a good time to fall ill.
By the way, President’s specially made cold medicine (tentative) evolved to ver.1.16.
Although the taste changed in various ways, it seems there was no improvement.
