Life Signal

Cup ramen. To those who cannot cook for the lives of them, it is quite possibly the most efficient and cheap method of making instant food. Whenever you can’t be bothered to step outside, you would cheer up with an Eureka, screaming ‘Oh right, I have that!’, jumping to the kitchen in joy. What a ground-breaking piece of nourishment this is…I couldn’t help but compliment it for that. If not for you, I would be eating some on-sale convenience store food or some Spam meat. I mean, it’s delicious either way.

“This is the best…”

Cheese seafood…Do you plan on killing me on top of my cold? The inside of my mouth feels so spicy. Does this actually help against my cold? I need to head to school again…Ah, my nose is running. Where’s my tissue…

It was a weekday’s noon—and while I was trying to get my running nose under control, I laid in my own bed, taking a day off school. My head doesn’t hurt anymore. I do still have a faint fever, but at least my body doesn’t feel as sluggish anymore. A comforting and gentle sound came from the new gaming console I booted up. Feeling a bit better and motivated thanks to the sight on the home screen, I felt my body warm up again. Ahh, this lifestyle isn’t half bad…

I forgot my feeling of guilt, just lounging around like a lazy koala, when my phone vibrated. Looking over, I had gotten a new message. Who’s bothering me right now?

‘Sajocchi, you alive~?’

Ah, sorry about that, Ashida. It’s already lunch break over there, right? She probably must be considerate of me, contacting me even during this time. But, should I even respond to that? She might think badly of me if I said I was slurping up cup ramen and playing video games. I guess I should just thank her for the response, and call it a day.

‘It’s wonderful being alive.’

I feel like I made a mistake here. There’s no response—Instead, more and more ‘Read’ symbols popped up in regards to my reply—Wait, read? Oh my, I accidentally sent that in the group chat! Now everyone can read it…

‘Definitely not sleeping, aye.’

‘At least he’s lounging.’

‘Math is super tough after all.’

Yo, Iwata, Iihoshi-san, Yamazaki, don’t remind me about math, my headache is gonna come back to haunt me. No, it’s fine…since you don’t need a good memory for math, even those who suck at that can get high grades. That’s how much of a miraculous subject it is. Much better than reading through walls of text.

Wait hold on! Just thinking about that is giving me a headache again! I was going to enjoy my time playing a mindless game, looking at the booty of the female character! Great ass you got there, heck yeah!

Ah, gotta drink my medicine…

*

‘—you think?’

‘But…’

“—Ah…!?”

I woke up to an odd sound. The TV screen in front of me said ‘GAME OVER’. Eh, what? This is an RPG…Wah, it’s the pattern where the conversation rushed on ahead, I was forced into a battle, and got one-shot. Crap, I totally fell asleep….Even while sitting here cross-legged. Ah, I was drooling even.

Looking at the time, it was getting close to evening. Once noon passed, I drank my medicine with some juice, and made it to the fourth city in the game, so…I think around four hours passed? Thanks to that, I’m feeling much better.

“Alrighto……Hm?”

When I stood up, feeling the sweat on my behind, the doorbell rang. After that, I didn’t hear any more sound outside my room. Mom must be out or something…Alright, guess I’ll have to answer.

“………Eh?”

When I looked at the camera at the door, I saw two girls. It’s definitely not Big Sis either, as she wouldn’t even ring the doorbell. So that means…am I still dreaming? There’s a girl looking exactly like my Goddess, standing in front of the door…What is this?

“W-What happened…?”

‘Ah…’

It was horrible timing. Right as the two wanted to walk away, I accidentally spoke up. They must have heard my voice, as they approached the camera with their faces—Waaaaaaaaaaah! They’re so close! Can I just kiss the screen!? Will that transfer the bacteria!?

…Okay, time to put on a mask.

*

“So you came.”

“Don’t give me that!”

“Eh…”

What greeted me first after opening the door was a smartphone shoved into my face. Looking at it, I could see the history of messages in the group chat—What’s the problem here?

“What do you mean ‘Being alive is great’, huh!? Joke around or not, pick one!”

“I was terrified. The beginning of your cold really hit hard as well.”

“Ehh?”

I went to get my smartphone, looking at the messages I got. There were countless panicked messages, and several missed calls. It went from ‘That was just a joke, right?’ to ‘Don’t tell me…You’re kidding, right?’ up to ‘This is pretty bad, isn’t it?’. This is bad? What is bad? I was playing a game, that’s what’s bad.

“Alright, let me just respond…’Sorry, fell asleep’…and, sent.”

‘I’ll kill you.’

‘Don’t wake up again.’

‘You must suck at math, I can tell.’

“Wahhhh…!”

“You deserved that!”

These words you definitely shouldn’t throw at a sick person. Excuse me, but can I maybe take off two more weeks from school…? Can’t the next break happen already…

“For crying out loud…I’m glad Aichi knew where you live. Also, why do you even know?” Ashida turned towards Natsukawa.

“T-There’s no special reason for it…I just asked Yamazaki-kun before!”

“Eh!? You looked it up yourself!? Why!?”

“I had some minor business to take care of here!”

Ah, is she talking about the time she came here before? I’m surprised she asked that despite being aware of the weird rumours that could sprout from it. Also, the guy ‘staying late because of this club’ was Yamazaki after all?

“Well, I must have worried you…Not to mention that you might catch my cold.”

“Don’t be like that, I’ll just have you take care of me if that time comes.” Natsukawa said with a smile.

“Yeah, leave it to me. I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Eh…”

That’s right…wiping off your sweat, cleaning your body…Fufufufu…Guhahahacough cough cough! Urk…My throat is still close to dying it seems…! Silence, all you damn germs! And, cease my blood cells! Get away from my lower body!

“……”

“……”

“…..Hm? What?”

Before I realized it, Natsukawa and Ashida were both covering their bodies while looking at me. Um, maybe my coughing fit was too gross, even despite me wearing a mask? Ah, is it my face? My face must be gross, right. Come on, I’m the same as always. Sniff.

“—Y-You’ll do whatever I want…?”

“Eh.”

Natsukawa? What kind of question is that? What are you allowing me to do? No matter what you wish of me, I will do anything it takes. I don’t mind paying you either.

“S-Sajocchi, are you still feeling off?”

“No, not as mu—Ah!? W-Well…I’m still a bit under the weather~”

“You seem to be doing just fine. Since I don’t want you getting a heart attack, I’ll leave it at that.”

“Sheesh……Wait, eh?”

I thought that I might get some special service if I said I was still sick, but Ashida was pointing a knife at me with her cold words. Don’t suddenly act all cold like that…What’s this feeling of distance. Was me offering to nurse you back to health that gross of an idea? You don’t have to act so disgusted.

“For crying out loud, don’t say misleading stuff like that!” Natsukawa howled loudly.

“Mis—Hm?”

Was there anything ‘misleading’ there? What did she get the wrong idea about? Did I make it sound that way? I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this careful around me.

“Well, I figured that we should check at least to make sure…So we came to visit, and maybe peel some apples for you.”

“I don’t need apples, just Haägen ice cream.”

“A sick person shouldn’t be eating ice cream.” Ashida retorted.

“I-I’ll…just play with Airi instead of you…”

“Eh, where did that come from?”

Leaving aside Ashida, I feel like Natsukawa’s attitude has gotten a lot more soft compared to the last time she came here. Well, that’s probably the case for everybody around her, not just me. She’s slowly changing into a popular girl, so much that it’s tough talking to her at school.

“Oh by the way, the one who wanted to visit you the most was Aichi~”

“Wha, Kei…!”

“……”

Squeeze. I felt something pull on my heart strings. Somebody travel back in time and push down the me from ten seconds ago, please. I hate myself for doubting Natsukawa even for a second. I’ve always known that Natsukawa was as kind as nobody else.

“Natsukawa…No, Goddess.”

“What are you talking about…Sheesh.”

“Oh? Oh? You’re still head over heels for Natsukawa huh, Sajocchi.”

“…? Of course?”

Something felt off. Why would Ashida of all people bring that up now. Well, most people know how I feel about her, so it’s not even anything I feel embarrassed about anymore.

“Wha…What are you talking about!?”

“Eh?”

“L-Like I said…”

“Isn’t it a bit too late for that? You’re as cute as always, Natsukawa.”

“Wha…”

If there was some grace I was granted despite being rejected over and over, then it’s my right to call Natsukawa ‘cute’ as many times and openly as I want. Not like it’s hurting anybody to remind her of that. Natsukawa’s cute at any given moment as well, so I’m not making things up either.

“Wha…Wha…”

“Eh? Natsukawa?”

“Ahh, this might be my fault. Now that we found out you’re still alive, I guess we should leave it at that. Here, some yoghurt.”

“Ah, thanks…Wait, you’re leaving already?”

“What, you don’t want us to?”

“I mean, I don’t wanna infect you, so I don’t mind, but…”

As I was left bewildered, Ashida grabbed Natsukawa’s shoulder, giving me an old man’s ‘Really now~’, and left. What’s that about? You taking Natsukawa-san home? I won’t allow that as her father!

No but seriously, did you really just go home? They totally did…