A Leather Sickness

"Mmmm..."

It took longer than I expected, but I succeeded in fighting through my wobbly legs and splitting headache as I finally make it in time before home room starts. But just like the students that saw me coming into school, my classmates have all cut their conversations short as they all look my way the moment I entered through the door. I don't even need to hear anything to know exactly what's going through their heads. This is the first time that this has happened after all. If only I could drive then I wouldn't have to walk in the rain like this... Maybe this would never of have happened.

"L-Luna?"

"Good morning."

I take my seat behind Midori as I also catch sight of Shin looking at me worriedly. I guess there goes my plan with trying to not worry anyone. And as if right on cue, a sudden cough assualts me as I avert my face away, facing the window next to me.

"H-hey. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just got a tickly throat is all."

"Are you sure? You're sweating buckets..."

Thanks to Shin, I now realize that I am indeed sweating quite a lot. The collar of my uniform feels quite damp and I know it's probably not because of the rain. I took care to make sure I didn't get too wet from under the umbrella on my way to school. Wait, but maybe I could play it off like that?

"Ah, this isn't sweat. This is just from the rain."

"Hmmm."

Both Midori and Shin look at me, their faces telling me that they're not buying it one bit. Suddenly, my stomach churns in pain once more just like earlier this morning as I instinctively lean forward, pressing my arm up against my stomach. I knew two pieces of toast wouldn't be enough, but I didn't want to risk being late.

"H-hey. Maybe you should go to the nurses office?"

"Yeah... I can take you if you-"

"I'm fine."

If I sit out from class, I'm sure the school will call my guardian. It's not like I'm afraid of my guardian, far from it. But I just worry that maybe my living arrangements will change because of this. Especially now that I've finally got a lead to where my sister is. I NEED to stay in class.

"It's not that bad. I'm sure it'll clear up soon."

"If it gets any worse though, I'm dragging you to the nurse, okay?"

"Nn... Sorry, Midori."

"..."

She looks at me with concern as the morning bell rings out through the school, signaling the start of the school day. I feel bad making her and Shin worry like this, but I have my reasons.

But of course, things wouldn't go entirely the way I like it...

"Luna. Could you please answer the next question?"

"Yes."

Having my name being called out, I stand up from my desk, but that is when all of my senses became disarrayed as I quickly try and stabilize my legs by holding my hands down on top of the desk, but that only solved one issue as I feel as though my vision of the blackboard is fading with every breath I take. I can even see that the letters, along with the teacher beginning to split in two as I try desperately to try and compose myself, but the moment I try, I feel my weight suddenly shift as my right leg gives way from underneath me.

"Hnng!"

But just before my face met the ground, Shin quickly sat up, catching me in his arms as my body almost entirely becomes like jelly, unable to move from the ground as Shin leaves me sitting on the ground, holding the rest of my body up. My vision is so blurred right now, but I can make out that the entire class seems to be in an uproar as many new faces come into view.

"Luna!"

"Bring her to the infirmary, immediately."

"Yes!"

No... I can't. I need to... Before I could try and protest, my conscious slips away from me as my vision goes black.

...

.

When I come to, I'm met with a white ceiling, something that I'm not used to.

"W-where?"

"You're in the infirmary."

It's then when a mature sounding woman spoke did I get my answer to my question. But when I try to sit up in order to see the person, my head feels as though it's splitting open, quickly putting me back as I rest my head on the pillow.

"Take it easy. You're in quite a rough shape."

In the next moment, the woman finally shows herself as she comes up to my side, holding a glass of water along with some sort of patch.

"Can you drink?"

"...Nn."

With the help of her lifting my head up and holding the glass of water to my mouth, I slowly begin to drink as the cold water passes over my lips. Some of the water spills out, but the majority of it fills my mouth as I slowly swallow it bit by bit as the nurse puts the water down on the table next to her.

"Good. I'll just replace this for you-"

It was only until she removed something from my forehead did I realize that something was there in the first place, which leads me to question exactly how long have I been here...

So, right as the nurse puts a replacement patch on my forehead, cooling down my head in an instant, I begin to question her.

"How long was I out for?"

"Not long. Nearly two hours."

"Two hours?"

"Correct. Don't worry about classes, just try and rest up, okay?"

"...Okay."

"Your friends will be coming back soon with lunch. So-"

"Miss! We brought what you asked- for?"

Suddenly bursting through the door was none other than Midori, Shin along with everyone else in our group, including Nicole, her boyfriend and the transfer student.

"Luna!"

And the first to come running was Midori as she catapulted herself to the side of my bed.

"Hey hey. What's with all these people?"

"Sorry, Miss. Our friends were also a bit worried."

Shin ends up talking to the nurse as the rest of them walk closer to the bed.

"Hah~ Just be careful okay? She's still in quite a rough shape."

"Okay. Thank you."

Seeming to have given up, the nurse returns to her seat as she watches over everyone, including me.

"You had me worried sick, you know."

"...I'm sorry, Midori."

"Here. The nurse said you need to eat up, so- ahh~"

Wait, is she going to feed me?

("Sis! Say, ahh~")

("Aaaamhh!")

("Hehehe. Okay okay, my turn!")

A flashback flows through my brain as I think back on my childhood with my sister. It was the last time someone ever fed me after our mother stopped spoon feeding us, so I feel a bit uncomfortable with the idea of Midori overwriting it like this.

"Luna?"

"...I can feed myself."

"That won't do. You shouldn't strain yourself. Here- ahh~"

She's persistent... But she's right. I feel incredibly weak right now as even as I try and stop her with my hand, the moment I raise my hand, I feel my arm begin to tremor. It honestly feels embarrassing having everyone around me when I'm like this...

"Hey. You can't feed her that big of a bite."

But just as I was about to admit defeat and take a bite from the egg omelette, the nurse comes back, stopping Midori in her tracks.

"Ah, sorry."

"Something around this size will do."

"Thank you, miss."

Now!

"Eh?"

Right as Midori put down the plate of food, I was able to pick up the piece of omelette that the nurse cut before putting it straight into my mouth.

"Pfft, hahaha."

Which seemed to have cause the others around us to chuckle amongst themselves, with Midori being the only one that seems to be stuck frozen.

"To think I'd see the ice queen eat food with her bare hands."

"Did you not want Midori to feed you THAT badly? Haha."

"Mmmmm!"

Midori scowls between me and our friends as the nurse seems to not really care about the whole situation as she goes back to work on her laptop.

"Thanks, Shin."

"H-huh?"

I was a bit surprised to see Shin sound a bit nervous as I try to thank him. Why is he so nervous?

"You carried me here, right?"

"Y-yeah... I did. Midori helped as well though."

"Not that I helped all that much. Shin took most of your weight, hehe."

"I thought so."

"Oho~ So it was Shin, huh?"

"What are you saying?"

Nicole's boyfriend quickly joins the conversation, mainly with Shin as Shin himself only looks to be getting more flustered.

"You're the only guy to touch her, let alone 'hold' her."

"...It was an emergency."

"Hmmm? What's this? Are you jealous about him, Kai? Did you actually want to 'hold,' Luna, huh?"

And just like that, Nicole joins in, making her boyfriend also flustered, leaving the transfer student the only boy among us still normal.

"Th-that's not what I meant."

"Hmmm? Are you sure~?"

"Positive! You're the only one I'd touch."

"Okay!~ Can you lot stop with all this useless talk? Luna needs to rest."

The nurse interrupts the conversation before it could get more out of hand than it already is, bringing back some sort of peace to the situation.

"Here, can you eat another bite?"

"Nn."

Instead of feeding me herself, Midori instead hold up the plate closer to me as I slowly pick up the spoon before carefully shoveling more of the omelette in my mouth. I can barely taste anything, but with every bite, I feel like a bit of strength returns to me. Just what in the world have they put inside this? Some miracle eggs?

"Hehe. Don't forget water."

"Nn."

Just like the nurse, Midori helps by bringing me the glass of water that's on the table next to us. But the moment Midori tries to hand it off to me, I feel more of the weight from the glass as I quickly end up putting the weight back on Midori's hand.

"Alright. Then let me."

"...Nn."

This is fine... It's not the same as feeding food to one another, so I allow Midori is help me drink the water. But just like the nurse, she too ends up spilling water down my neck.

"Sorry."

It's okay. To be honest, the water feels incredible on my skin right now. If I could I'd honestly want to bathe in water like that, but that'd probably only worsen my condition. This all started with me walking in the rain anyways...

Once I finished all the food, everyone went back to their classes, leaving me behind with the nurse in the process. I tried to leave with them, but my body refused to cooperate with me, leaving me to miss out on all the classes for today. Thankfully, Midori said that she'll take notes for me so I won't get left behind; not that I'm actually worried about that to begin with. What my biggest concern is the fact my guardian might show up any minute. It's still raining outside as well by the looks of it, so I'm sure he won't let me go out to the train station either.

"Haah~"

What a joke...

"Excuse me-"

In my moment of giving up, the door opens with a voice that's all too familiar.

"Brother?"

"Haha. What did I say about calling me that when in school?"

"S-sorry..."

My brother comes up beside my bed as I gently lift my upper body into a seated position, using a pillow to rest my back on instead.

"Ara~ 'Brother,' Ren?"

"Oh please. Just don't tell anyone, remember?"

"Kay~"

From the sounds of it, the nurse and my brother seem to be a bit close. He's only been here for about a week... Don't tell me he's already found himself a girlfriend? Well, I guess the nurse does seem to be around his age now that I'm looking at her again.

"How're you feeling?"

"I'm good."

"No you're not. Here, lay back down."

He sees through my lie immediately as he helps adjust the pillow so that I'm in a more comfortable position while taking the opportunity to check my temperature by putting his hand over my forehead.

"Just what did you do to get like this?"

"..."

Do I just tell him? The nurse is here which does make it a bit awkward...

"...I was looking for my sister."

"What?"

"I got careless while at the train station... And then I woke up like this."

"You're telling me you know where Reina is?"

"N-no... I just wanted to check. But no matter how long I waited... She didn't show up..."

I grip the sheets of the bed I'm laying on, gritting my teeth in the process as I remind myself of my failure once more.

"...And you don't know anything else?"

"...No."

"Okay, got it. Heh. You're probably stressing over not being able to go there right now, right?"

"Nn..."

"Alright. Then leave this to me, okay? At least until you get better."

"Eh?"

"Mei."

"Mmm~ I understand. Go have fun~"

So that's the nurse's name? They speak so casually to one another that I feel almost certain that they're actually going out. I've never been to the infirmary, but could it be that this nurse is also a temporary nurse?

"I'll let you know what I find, okay?"

"Th-thank you, brother."

"H-hey. Ah~ Fine."

He pats me on the head as he smiles at me softly. The warmth from his palm bringing so much comfort, unlike the heat that's still radiating through my head.

"Just don't do anything more reckless, okay?"

"Nn."

With my brother having gone on my behalf to the train station, I was left with the nurse called Mei as the ending school bell rang. But as I was wondering what to do for getting home-

"Tada~"

Midori comes through the door, a huge smile on her face.

"Midori?"

"I've already contacted her father."

Instead of hearing a response from Midori, it was the nurse who began talking.

"He's agreed to take you back to your apartment. I have a few things to finish up here but I'll come around to check up on you later. In the meantime, your friend here will assist you with your needs."

"Mhmm!"

Wait... So then... I don't need to see my guardian? Is it maybe because this nurse is close to my brother that she knows about my circumstances and she worked around it? Thinking that, I feel a massive weight lift off of my chest as I breathe a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, miss."

"Fufu. Don't mention it~"

I'm really not seeing things, right? I feel like she's now gotten quite a lot more casual with me just now...

"Alright. Do you think you can walk?"

"Uhm..."

I go to get myself up from the bed, and to my surprise, my legs feel a lot more stronger than before. However, my head is still a bit hazy as my balance still seems a bit off. Not to mention the sweat that's steadily building back up.

"Shin!"

"Got it."

Out of nowhere, Shin comes out from the door as both Midori and Shin each take one of my arms, supporting my weight. I subconsciously lean my head against Midori which helped alleviate some of the pain that was spiraling in my head.

"Y-you alright?"

"I'm fine. Just my head..."

"Got it. Just rest your head on me, like that, okay?"

"Thanks..."

With the help of the two of them, I make my way to Midori's car as I end up taking my seat next to Midori. But surprisingly, Shin also took the seat on my other side, putting me in the middle. I thought that Midori would be the one to assist me... Is Shin also coming to my apartment? Oh, who cares... The stairs will be a nightmare with just Midori, so it makes sense for Shin to be there. Wait... It only just now clicked in my head that I'm in Midori's "father's" car. But as I go to check the front seat, I'm met with a woman in a uniform instead of her father.

"Do you have the address?"

"Yes."

Midori voices the question to the woman, who responds in a quick manner. Almost feels like this woman "serves" Midori or something. Like a maid perhaps?

"Seatbelts."

"Ah, right."

With the help of Midori buckling me in, we finally begin driving.

This leathery feeling... This haziness in my mind... The sound of the engine roaring... I can't help but think back on that night. The night everything fell apart... I feel like it's been a while since I've been in a car, especially one like this... My guardian's car is much different than this, and normally I'd be sitting in the passenger seat if I did need to come with him, so to be in the backseat like this after all these years... This almost feels "too" real.

"...It's okay."

However, just as my mind was starting to spiral, Midori takes me by the hand, snapping me out of it before my mind could wander deeper in that flashback.

"You're okay."

"Yeah. We're here, so don't worry."

And as if to copy her, Shin also takes the opportunity to chime in, however he refrained from holding my other hand, but it was enough to keep me in reality as we continue the drive.