Chapter 65
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[Nam Dowon]
- Good morning, Team Leader. The weather is chilly, so I hope you slept comfortably last night. The reason I'm contacting you is that I seem to have come down with the flu, so I'd like to use a day of annual leave today. I'll see a doctor this morning and get plenty of rest so that I can come to work as normal tomorrow. I plan to obtain a medical certificate then, but if there's any other documentation you need, I'd appreciate it if you could let me know.
(A neatly taken photo. A thermometer reading 38.4°C is visible in the picture.)
[Eve Rikaon]
- Oh, you've caught a cold?
- Was it because it was cold on your way home yesterday?
- I really should have seen you safely home, after all….
[Nam Dowon]
- I'm sorry. I'll take better care of myself so this doesn't happen again.
[Eve Rikaon]
- You don't have to be so stiff about it. Anyone can catch a cold now and then.
- I get anxious myself whenever the seasons change, you know?
- Anyway, taking annual leave is fine.
- I'm the queen around here, so I can just let it slide. What's the big deal?
- Besides, if you want to get technical, the reason for your absence is 'activities outside work.'
(A selfie in comfortable clothes, apparently still at home. Beneath the fingers making a V sign, freshly dried bedsheets can be seen.)
[Nam Dowon]
- Then would it be all right if I rested comfortably at home today?
[Eve Rikaon]
- Of course!
- You need to rest properly when you're resting, so you can work even harder later.
- Ah, but before that, you should probably contact Neria.
- Shall I do it for you?
[Nam Dowon]
- No, I think it would look better if I apologized to her myself.
- Thank you for your consideration, Team Leader.
*****
After I contacted her, Team Leader thankfully told me to take the whole day off, which put my mind at ease.
This was my first time taking sick leave, so I'd been a little nervous, but judging by the atmosphere, it seemed I could simply stop worrying and rest at home.
…Somewhere out there, there must be a workplace where people have to drag their heavy bodies to work like zombies even with the flu.
Thinking how fortunate I was to have such a softhearted, easygoing boss as Team Leader, I put on my coat.
Fortunately, the hospital diagnosed me with nothing more than a common case of body aches.
After getting an injection in my arm as well, I felt somewhat better.
Of course, I wasn't completely recovered; the muscle pain and chills had merely eased a little.
Could I really be perfectly fine by tomorrow?
I was still anxious, but modern medicine could only do so much for me.
All that remained was to rest in bed and wait it out.
After picking up my medicine and returning home, I changed clothes without delay and burrowed into the soft blankets.
Then I placed a soft pillow beneath my ankles, and my preparations were complete.
Now it was time for a Korean-style hibernation.
― Brrrrr
Just then, a faint vibrating sound came from the entrance, where a thin sliver of light was seeping in.
Could someone have sent me a message?
Perhaps they had belatedly decided they needed my medical certificate.
I stretched out one arm, fumbled for my smartphone, and brought it into my soft nest to check the message.
[Neria Heka]
- Home address.
- I told you three times to write it down and send it to me.
- Or was it four? Whatever.
That was Neria.
The girl who normally does everything according to her mood.
…And, surprisingly, she was kindhearted enough
to worry even about a human being sick.
[Nam Dowon]
- You'll catch it too.
- Don't witches get minor ailments as well?
[Neria Heka]
- What are you talking about? Have you ever seen me laid up?
- Witches don't catch colds, you know?
[Nam Dowon]
- Apparently they do.
- I confirmed that separately with my team leader.
- Apparently some witches even delve deeply into healing magic.
[Neria Heka]
- How underhanded, using cheap little tricks….
I had contacted Neria before stopping by the hospital.
I told her that I'd caught the flu and probably wouldn't be able to visit her today.
That was her response.
She said she was coming to visit me, and I was still trying to dissuade her.
If she really caught it, I'd be the one in trouble.
[Neria Heka]
- I'm only bringing porridge!
- It's common sense that you need to eat something when you're sick so you can get better faster, dummy.
- Hey, you—don't tell me you're saying I shouldn't come because you've got a whole stash of naughty stuff at home?!
[Nam Dowon]
- It's not like that.
- I'm just worried that I'll pass my cold on to you, Lady Neria….
[Neria Heka]
- Then you can nurse me when that happens.
- We can take care of each other. What's so difficult about that?
The very act of passing on an illness was something to apologize for.
What kind of logic was that—that if one of us got sick, the other could nurse them?
…If a sensible conversation like that had been possible, we would have wrapped things up ages ago.
Before I went to the hospital, after I arrived, on the way home, and even after I got under the blankets.
Since she was being this persistent, I supposed it was time I yielded.
In the end, I briefly typed 'Dumbass' on the screen and deleted it, then sent another message with proper manners.
[Nam Dowon]
- When will you arrive?
[Neria Heka]
- I won't know until you send me the address.
- You said you were sick—did you hit your head too?
- Still, thinking back to the last time you told me to come as quickly as possible, it'll probably take a little over an hour.
[Nam Dowon]
- …I'll write down the route to my place as well, so follow that.
- And please don't stay too long once you get here.
[Neria Heka]
- I'll handle it myself.
And so, roughly two hours later.
Since it was her first time taking the route, Neria arrived a little later than expected and pounded on my front door.
I'd known she was there ever since she'd entered through the building's communal entrance, so there was no reason to do that.
Thanks to her, the headache that had seemed to be getting better began throbbing faintly again.
"…You're here, Lady Neria."
"Yeah."
Through the gap in the open door, Neria's characteristic pale-blue hair poked in first.
…She wasn't some puppy bursting with competitive spirit. Why was she acting so rushed just because she couldn't wait for the door to open?
In the end, Neria used her own strength to open the front door and stood before me.
Puffs of white breath drifted over her pristine white coat, which suited her perfectly.
"You can tell a boy lives alone here just from the drab colors."
"It's an old place. And I only have a few lights on."
"Is that so?"
"Besides, I like a calm atmosphere in the first place."
"Hmm…. Anyway, how are you feeling? From your voice, I guess you're not sick enough to die?"
"I was in some pain, but I just got an injection, so I can at least walk around."
"A-a shot, huh. Ahem."
"……"
"I see you've even kept the place clean. How annoying."
Apparently, she was afraid of needles.
Maybe that's why, instead of asking more questions, Neria looked around my home, her eyes darting everywhere.
I stayed beside her for a while, keeping watch in case she did something strange.
Then I noticed something that should have been there was missing, so I carefully asked.
"Lady Neria."
"Hmm?"
"When you contacted me earlier, didn't you say you were bringing porridge…? I may have the flu, but my eyes aren't broken."
"It'll be here soon. I ordered it to this address."
"Ah-ha…."
"It's more convenient than buying it at a store and carrying it over, isn't it? Why?"
"No. I was wondering if you were going to make it yourself for me."
Considering I'd been subsisting on frozen fried rice until now, I supposed it wasn't entirely impossible.
Still, I wasn't in a position to criticize her, since I wasn't exactly a good cook myself.
So, just as I was about to change the subject,
"……?"
Neria stared at my face.
Before I could ask why, she took a step backward for some reason, awkwardly averted her gaze, and said,
"If I made it, I was worried it might, um, taste bad…."
"……"
But that lasted only a moment.
Soon, after clearing her throat and slightly lifting her chin, Neria put on the confident expression I was used to seeing and asked in a clear, deliberate voice,
"If you've got the flu, you should eat something delicious. Don't you think? Delivery food is so good these days."
"…That's true."
"Rather than go on some strange culinary adventure, it's better to just order something… Ah, it just got here."
Her words were clear enough, but wasn't she speaking a little fast?
As I was thinking that, the doorbell rang at just the right moment.
Judging by the circumstances, it was probably the delivery driver.
Neria said she'd already paid, so all I had to do was accept the food.
But there were too many things to worry about if I sent her to the door, so in the end I went out to receive it myself.
As we'd discussed earlier, it was porridge.
Unlike ordinary delivery food in a plain white plastic bag, it came in an angular shopping bag the color of red bean paste.
That was probably because it was an expensive brand.
Of course, there was one minor catch: Lady Erzel had given Neria the money, but I didn't bring it up.
"I didn't know what you'd like, so I ordered beef-and-vegetable porridge. But it was ridiculously expensive for porridge, you know? It's just rice boiled for a long time, right? At that price, I could buy frozen fried rice at least five or six times."
"They probably charge a margin since it's prepared food."
"It's still way too expensive! So pay me back later with free fried rice. The kind with Vienna sausages piled in."
"Yes, I can do that much, at least…. Anyway, since you bought this porridge for me, I'll eat well, Lady Neria."
"Y-yeah. I'd be happy if you ate well."
"Have you eaten yet, Lady Neria?"
"I'm fine. I'm not very hungry."
More important than that minor catch was making sure I ate Neria's porridge as deliciously as possible, so she could feel 'satisfied.'
Concluding that was the only way to get Neria to leave, I headed toward the dining table. Naturally, she followed behind me, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
Rather than sitting empty-handed, she gripped a spoon tightly in one hand.
"……? You said you weren't hungry, didn't you?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Then why the spoon…."
"Why ask something so obvious?"
At the same time, Neria tilted her head to the side and tapped the porridge with the end of the spoon in her hand as she answered.
"I'm going to feed you."