Story About Buying My Classmate Once A Week-Chapter 294: A different Miyagi —

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

The dream breaks off, comes back to reality, and then returns to the dream.

Miyagi, who fell asleep in the middle of watching a video of penguins, repeated that kind of thing over and over.

I have had this happen to me often when I catch a cold.

In the middle of a not-so-comfortable sleep, I wake up to be dragged out of the dream with my hand in the middle of it. Even then, I am dragged down by sleepiness that seems to quickly melt into mush, and I am entrapped by dreams.

When I keep falling asleep and waking up with suffocation, anxiety, pain, and discomfort clinging to my body and not leaving, I want to cling to someone.

Miyagi is trapped in the same feeling, sometimes calling me and holding my hand. It was all due to the bad sleep peculiar to the fever, and the Miyagi in front of me now is Miyagi and not Miyagi.

Hazuki.

Miyagi called me that earlier.

I know.

She is a different kind of sick person.

It was just a rant, and there was no meaning in calling me Hazuki.

I have a cooling sheet in my room, I should probably go get it. I should have brought the tablet with me, but it’s not too late. I should have given her something to eat and some medicine to take.

But I am unable to get up.

「…Shiori.」

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I utter a small name that I don’t usually call.

Miyagi doesn’t wake up.

Her eyes open thinly when I try to get up, but now they remain closed. She doesn’t even say in a low voice,「Don’t call me by my first name,」as she usually do.

「Shiori.」

I call a little louder.

Miyagi still doesn’t wake up.

As I was about to stand up after gently touching the plumeria earrings I had chosen, Miyagi’s hand grabbed my arm.

「Sen, dai-san…」

A broken voice calls me.

This time she doesn’t call me Hazuki.

Miyagi, who fell asleep while watching the video, called me six times, and she called me「Hazuki」only once out of those six times. Even when she is sick, Miyagi is still stingy, and these things never change.

「I’m over here.」

I pat her head and speak softly to her, and the strength relaxes from the hand holding my arm.

This act, repeated over and over again, is something Miyagi feels she needs me to do, and I can’t get the bad idea out of my head that I hope she doesn’t get over her cold.

I want her to keep looking for me and reaching for me.

I want her to call me.

If I think about her, I should go to my room to get a cooling sheet or cook a meal, even if she calls me or reaches out to me. I know what is good for the sick, but I keep seeing Miyagi spoiled.

It is so alluring that I cannot do something as simple as go to the next room, and I sometimes try to get up and half awaken Miyagi.

「Sorry.」

I make a small apology and place the penguin watching over Miyagi on my lap. I pat the stuffed animal’s head, wondering if I should call it by its name.

I want a trigger.

I want to sit here and watch Miyagi, but I can’t stay in this room forever. Miyagi won’t run away just because I took my eyes off her for a little while, so I might as well do something to bring her heat down. So I would like something to happen that would make me want to start moving.

I flap the penguin’s wings and let it land next to Miyagi.

As it is, the penguin’s belly snuggles against her cheek, and her lips open thinly.

「…Senda-i, -san, it’s, hot.」

The penguin is pushed away with a snarled voice. Somehow,「Did you wake up?」I ask, and an indistinct voice replies,「No.」

「Are you still asleep.」

「It’s hot.」

I hear a muffled voice and put my hand on Miyagi’s forehead.

It’s hotter than before, and I put my hand on her neck as well.

Her fever is rising.

It looked like a minor cold, but she was sicker than I thought.

I think back to yesterday in Miyagi.

It’s not uncommon for Miyagi to be uncomfortable, so I should have forced her to dry her hair. If I had done so, she wouldn’t have caught a cold.

I think there have been days when she haven’t been well, I just don’t know it. I should’ve realized that Miyagi isn’t the kind of person who would actively talk to me about important things, so it wasn’t surprising that she would hide the fact that she was not feeling well.

I guess I was a fool to be fooled by the healthy looking Miyagi and think she was someone who would never get sick.

I should have been more concerned about her, as she would never show me any weakness.

「Do you want me to put a cold one on your forehead?」

I puts my palm to her forehead and asks.

This is the spell that will allow me to move, as I can’t do something as obvious as go for a cooling sheet. If Miyagi says「yes,」I can start moving.

But there is no reply.

「Miyagi, do you need a cold one on your forehead?」

When I call out to her gently, her head moves faintly.

It seems to say「yes,」and as if to remind me, I ask,「Can you wait alone?」

「Ye–ah.」

A gravelly voice returns.

「Are you sure?」

I want her to tell me not to go.

Such a not-so-good thought comes to mind.

The words that should have been dismissed remain in my head, and as I clutch the sheets tightly, I hear Miyagi’s little voice.

「Im, por… tant… place…」

She was half asleep or her voice was indistinct.

「What? Can you say one more time?」

「This is, an important, place, so, Hazuki, I’m sure you’ll come back, right?」

The fading voice from Miyagi’s mouth reconstructs itself in my mind and I understand what she said.

I am more surprised that Miyagi recognizes that this place is important to me and a place I will definitely come back to than that she called me, Hazuki. And I am even more surprised that Miyagi believes it.

「I’ll be right back, just wait for me.」

I tell her that and leave the room, though it’s more of a place to come back to than a place to come home to. I go to my room, grab a cooling sheet, and make myself a cup of barley tea in the common area. I wish we had sports drinks, but what we don’t have is what we have.

I went back to Miyagi’s room and put the glass on the table.

I put a cooling sheet on her sleeping forehead and says,「Wake up.」

「Wh–at.」

「You should get some drinks.」

With that said, Miyagi raised herself up as I brought the glass to her. Then, after drinking about a third of the barley tea, she hands me the glass with the words,「Thanks.」

「Are you hungry?」

I ask, putting the glass back on the table.

「I’m not. Sleepy.」

Miyagi lays her body on the bed without strength.

「I see. But you should eat. I’ll make you something in a little while.」

「Okay.」

「You can go back to sleep.」

「…Okay.」

Miyagi’s eyes, which had been watching me, slowly close.

After a while, I hear her breathing in her sleep and know that she has fallen asleep. I put the stuffed animals scattered around Miyagi back on the floor.

Penguin, black cat, crocodile, platypus.

I find a place where Miyagi looks pretty and place it.

「…Can I take a picture?」

In the meantime, ask her.

No answer, but no refusal, so I take one photo.

Miyagi doesn’t wake up when she hears the sound of crunching.

She is sleeping without complaining, which she usually does.

Now, she might not even notice if I say, “I love you.”

Kneeling on the floor, I stare at Miyagi, who is sleeping peacefully.

I reach my hand to her cheek and bring it back without touching her.

I move just a little bit closer to Miyagi.

The only two words I want to utter are.

Breathe in, breathe out.

After a few moments of hesitation, I open my mouth.

「Shiori, you’re cute.」

After muttering a few innocuous words, I touched her cheek and was flattened by a powerless hand.

「S–hut up.」

「…You even heard that thing.」

I’m glad I didn’t say the phrase “I love you.”

I got up and took another picture, then sat down on the edge of the bed.