Fever

"Hahaha..." Raka laughed right in the mirror reflection, in front of himself. "Gosh, this is so bad. My body temperature reached 39 degrees. Oh, I have a fever. This is bad."

He washed his face once again with warm water. After that, he went from the bathroom and put on his school uniform.

"Even so, I still have to go to school. I don't want to waste this. I have to find out about what Danny was doing in that class."

With determination and a desire to get information, Raka leaves for school after leaving his room using his sandals.

The morning sun greeted Raka when he came out of the dormitory. It was the sun that made him feel that his body temperature was not getting any better. And the people around him could only watch Raka's face getting redder.

"Is he allergic to ultraviolet light? His face is flushed."

Many people saw Raka. The people asked about Raka's condition which was getting worse. Raka looked like a man who had just come out of a bar, looked like a man who had drunk alcohol, and that made the people around him notice him.

If Raka takes off his glasses, people will see how red his eyes are. Those were the eyes of a person with a fever, not from drunkenness.

Even though people were watching him, even though his thighs were so weak and shaking, even though his body felt so heavy, even though his body temperature was getting worse, Raka continued his journey to Wlynina Academy. He didn't give up just because he had a fever. He was so passionate, a spirit that continues to be in his mind.

I am ready.

That's what was on his mind. He's ready, ready to go. However, his entire body was not what he wanted it to be. His whole body refused to be ready, even forcing him to be a lazy youth to walk. Even so, Raka still tried to be ready.

"It won't beat me. Trust me, I'm strong. Hehehe. Strong in talking nonsense. Hehehe."

He laughed not because he wanted to, but because his whole body was so limp that it made a reaction to his thoughts. He experienced a high flare of weakness, forcing him to keep muttering and chuckling.

"Hehehe. I'm so weak. Hehehe. This is terrible."

To check his body temperature again, Raka took a thermometer from his uniform pocket.

At that moment he realized that his body temperature had even increased, to 39.6 degrees. It was nearly 40 degrees. He needed to get some rest now before his body temperature got even worse. However, he refused and still chose to go to school.

After a long journey, Raka managed to conquer his journey to school. He managed to arrive at school safely. It was probably his feat when he had a fever, walked 1 kilometer with a body temperature of 39.6 degrees. And he's proud of that too.

"I did it."

He replaced his sandals with school shoes. When that happened, Clara, who had just arrived at the locker, greeted him.

"Hi, Raka."

Raka heard that. He immediately turned to the source of the voice. However, he just waved his hand, not realizing that it was his girlfriend who greeted him.

After that, he just walked away, leaving Clara confused.

"What's with him?" Clara asked, tilting her face as she watched Raka walk.

Meanwhile, Raka wondered, "Who greeted me earlier? Oh shit, I didn't see his face. Hahaha. This is so bad, I'm so weak and weak. This is terrible."

Putting his bag on his desk, Raka sat in his chair and sighed.

"I did it. I made it up the stairs."

He was proud of what he had just done, but his body responded so weakly that his voice was so low that anyone not could hear it, even Lia who was already beside him.

"Morning, Raka," Lia greeted, and Raka immediately turned to her slowly.

"Oh. Morning, Pia."

"Pia? My name is Lia, not Pia. Why do you call me like that?"

"Oh… Forget it!"

"You're getting weirder, Raka."

"That's what I want to ask, why am I getting weirder. Even today I feel that my body feels so strange."

"You are okay?" Lia begins to feel Raka is not fine.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but not with this body. Hahaha."

Raka suddenly chuckled. It was his laugh that confused Lia, why did Raka laugh?

"Let me-"

"Morning, everybody."

Lia wanted to check and make sure that Raka was okay, but Miss Prillia suddenly came before the clock rang.

"Morning, Miss."

The Class 2-E students quickly took their seats.

Even though some students had not yet come, Prillia still explained her reason for coming to class before the clock started. She delivered sad news.

"I'm here to deliver the sad news. Your friend, Tommy, who was from Class 2-D, was pronounced dead last night. Someone has come to the hospital. The man pulled out Tommy's infusion and covered Tommy's face with a pillow. The police are currently investigating the murder case further. Therefore, to all of you, Class 2-E students, I hope that this incident will not happen again. Once again I say, you guys don't get involved with those bad people."

The news from Prillia was quite a shock to the students. It was sad news they didn't expect to hear. Yet so far this has never happened before. They did not expect that their close friend, named Tommy, be suddenly killed by someone.

They knew that Tommy had been involved with the motorcyclists before. They saw Tommy trying to get into the dormitory before he was beaten with an iron by the rider.

But now, they are shocked to hear that Tommy was declared dead because he was murdered. Even though he was in the hospital, which should have been a safe environment for him.

"And now…" Prillia shifted her gaze to a chair. It was Danny's chair. "Your friend Danny is also involved with them. He is currently being treated in his room. He was sick and had a slight disturbance to his soul. All of you, I beg you not to get involved with anything. I don't want you to have bad luck. For that, I beg you…"

Prillia bowed, asking her students not to get involved in anything out there. She seemed to be begging for it, and even she bowed like she wasn't a proper teacher to do that in front of her students.

Prillia realized that she had to do that so her students would know that it was very dangerous out there. So, for that, no matter what, she doesn't want her students to get into trouble out there, which will result in the "dead".

"Miss Prillia..."

The students could only see Prillia looking down. Some of them started to see a tear falling from Prillia's face who was looking down.

Meanwhile, Raka, who was having a fairly severe fever, suddenly stood up from his chair and approached Prillia.

"Hehehe." Raka patted Prillia's shoulder, but his face was smiling and chuckling. After he said, "Just relax!" he turned and faced the students and said, "You guys won't get involved in anything, will you? Hehehe... So, don't disappoint our teacher. Remember, you can't do that. That's not good for you at all. So, let's just learn. Hehehe."

With said that Prillia was very happy. Prillia did not expect that one of her students would comfort her in this condition. Prillia didn't know that Raka was digressing, saying something incoherently because he had a fever. She didn't realize that and assumed that what Raka was doing was to cheer her up.

"You turned out to be a good man. Thank You."

It was very, very bad. Prillia thanked him, even though Raka was digressing.

"Of course. Hehehe."

After he laughed and smiled with his face getting redder, the doorbell rang. He returned to his chair with a little stagger.

And in the end, Raka did not hear anything during the lesson. He just lay down and put his head on the table, and several times muttered: "Ah, my body is weak. This is bad. This is terrible."

***

The recess bell rang, Raka quickly opened the bread that had been in his bag since earlier. He ate half the bread with an unsatisfactory appetite. After that, he rushed to the medical room, which was in a special building.

Arriving there, he asked for a fever medicine.

The nurse, who saw Raka's face turning red, tried to confirm something. However, when she wanted to check Raka's temperature, Raka rebelled and forced her to give him fever medicine.

"I'm fine, so... Give me some fever medicine. This is not for me, but for my friend, friend, a friend who has a fever. Hehehe."

"..."

She responded in silence, seeming to realize that it was Raka who had a fever.

Even though she couldn't confirm Raka's body temperature, she still gave Raka fever medicine. Raka managed to get a fever medicine. Therefore, he just left after thanking the nurse.

However, after he arrived at the vending machine, and after buying bottled mineral water, he forgot that he had put the medicine on the vending machine.

When he walked and wanted to take the medicine, he did not get the fever medicine. He was confused and wondered, "Where is my medicine?"

After being confused by that, he finally decided to return to the medical room.

Arriving there, he smiled and laughed.

"Sorry, the medicine is gone. May I ask that again? Hehehe."

And fortunately, he got it from a nurse who realized the condition of Raka's body who was having a fever. Raka managed to get his fever medicine for the second time.

After leaving the medical room, without thinking, Raka drank the fever medicine.

"Ah… I have recovered."

No, it couldn't possibly work that fast. Raka said something that was not in the right condition. His body condition is still the same, so he will not recover just because he has taken the Paracetamol medicine alone.

Before Raka returned to class, when he arrived at the yard, he remembered his goal of deciding to go to school even though he had a fever.

"Danny..."

He remembered about Danny, and it happened during recess which he should have realized from the start of class.

Raka ran to return to his class, to see Danny's condition.

As he ran in the middle of the corridor, he remembered something again. This time, he was annoyed with himself for forgetting that.

"Oh… I forgot, Danny didn't come to school today. Then why am I going to school today if Danny isn't there."

He realized that he went to school was useless. Danny didn't go to school today, but Raka decided to go to school with a fever. It's free for him. He should be lying on his bed now to rest, not go to school where Danny isn't there.

Realizing that, Raka's body is getting worse. He almost fainted. He even held onto the wall to help him up. His fever condition worsened because his thoughts were confused, thinking about Danny who was not at school.

His eyes suddenly blurred. His hearing was getting worse, worse, and worse. He barely even heard what they were talking about in this corridor. When that happened, he still had time to hear a voice calling his name from a distance.

"Raka... Raka..."

He heard someone calling his name.

Raka decided to see someone who called his name. However, when his eyes looked straight at the person, his vision was so blurry that he couldn't see too clearly who the person calling his name was. However, Raka realized that the one who called his name was a girl wearing black stockings who was running towards him.

As the girl got closer, Raka finally realized how beautiful the girl was.

"Raka, are you okay?"

And as it turned out, it was Clara, his girlfriend.

"Oh, Clara... Hehehe."

"You are okay?" Clara confirmed again Raka's condition. Then, she held Raka's forehead. "Raka, your body… Are you having a fever? You have to go to the medical room right now!"

"I-I… I'm fine. I'm cured because I managed to take the medicine."

"No, the medicinal effect won't be possible that fast. You should rest now! Why didn't you tell me that you were sick? You shouldn't insist on going to school at a time like this. I'll take you there."

Clara quickly embraced Raka, bringing Raka to the medical room.

Arriving there, Raka again saw the nurse, whose face was now sullen.

"You... Why are you acting so strong and saying that your friend, friend, a friend is the one with the fever."

She is annoyed with what Raka is doing, only asks for Paracetamol, and refuses to be tested. Even so, Raka just smiled and laughed.

"Hehehe... Turns out I'm the one with the fever. Why didn't I notice that? Hehehe."

"Clara, quickly get that boy over there!" The nurse ordered Clara.

"Sure." Clara put Raka on the bed. "Raka, you should rest now! If you are sick, you can't force your body to go to school. Why don't you rest in your room and just skip it!? What were you thinking, huh!?"

Somehow Clara could be annoyed with what Raka did. Even though it was Raka who had a fever. It seems that Clara is worried about Raka.

"You must have a fever from that, right? It's all because of me. I should-"

"No, it's not because of you, Clara," Raka cut Clara's words. "This is because I was unable to prevent this disease. I should have been able to prevent it, but I ignored this instead. So, it's not your fault! Relax, I'm fine."

Even though he was sick, Raka still knew that he could not blame anyone for his illness. He didn't want to make Clara feel that it was her fault. For that, he said that.

"Better prevent than to cure, is not it? So, I'm the one who is wrong in this matter," Raka said before finally closing his eyes to sleep.

"Raka..." Clara held Raka's hand, increasingly worried about Raka's condition.

When she held Raka's hand, Clara realized that Raka's body temperature was getting hotter. She estimated that Raka's body temperature was nearly 40 degrees.

"You rest, I will accompany you here."

Raka didn't hear that. He was asleep when Clara said that. And without realizing it, Clara was there to accompany him to rest.