"Shhh… Look at meee~ Only meee~ Close your eyes, and see meee~ Then all you feel, is meee~"
"Hnm… That's a lot of you…"
"That's right, Master, its a million me's~"
"A whole million…?"
"A bunch of millions, even~"
"Wow… That's like… A bunch of millions of bunches…"
"That's… Wow, you really aren't feeling well, huh?"
"I'm alright… Let's go, just the two of us. To the sun."
"Sure, Master. When you're feeling better."
"But I wish to go now…!"
"Ah… Me too, Master… But we can't because of… Uh, the evil force that only gets beaten if we wait until you feel better!"
"Ooh… That evil force… Just kill it for me, will you? You get a kiss if you do, I promise."
"Ahaha, really…"
"Is he trying to kill me with cuteness?! Ahhhh, I can't resist his completely uncharacteristic words I wanna hear them forever! At this point, my face will be even hotter than his! But… He is getting worse… That's not good… As much as I hate to say this, please come back soon Lucy…"
"Yuki, I luuuv you. You're mine."
"Ahhhh… Maybe don't come back that soon…"
"What…? Who's not back soon… Don't you want me, Yuki?"
"Ah, don't mind that, Master! I was just thinking out loud! I wasn't talking about you."
"You're not allowed to talk about anyone that's not someone else that isn't me!"
"Ahhhhh… I promise all my thoughts revolve around you, Master…"
"I'm thirsty. Give me water."
"Yes, of course… Let me just-"
"-No! Have I perreemitted you to get up!"
"Perre…? Oh, permission. No, you haven't given me permission… But you said you wanted water, or do you not want water anymore?"
"Uhh… I don't know… My hwad hurts… Just… spell me water…"
"W, a, t, e-"
"Nooo…! Spell… Magic!"
"Ah, my mistake, Master. How silly of me."
She filled the glass she had emptied earlier to wet the towel with bew water, and gave it to Yamato, who gulped it down in one go.
"Urgh… Yuki, what the hell… Don't you have fucking magic for this…?"
"Apologies, Master. Healing magic only effects injuries and not illness. Much like a bandage won't heal your illness either."
"What about my poison protection… You said I'm immune…"
"Yes, but illness is not the same as poison, Master."
"Urgh… Fuck me…"
"I don't think that would help your cause, though the water seemed to help you think clearer again."
"You know that wasn't-… I'm cold…"
"You're already burning, Master. Plus I'm also squeezing my body against you, so I'm afraid you have to push through."
"Let me get up, if I stand I can focus enough to block the pain out…"
"No way. You're not leaving this bed until your fever dropped. Otherwise it will just be even worse when you lay down again."
"I'm gonna throw up…"
"Haha, no you won't. I can tell. But don't worry, even if you do I'll change your clothers and sheets without you having to move a muscle."
"What if it's contagious…"
"Don't worry. I can't get sick. But I'm so glad you worried about me! Rest assured I worry about you too so much right now, and our mutual worry will keep us safe."
"Don't I have your blood injected…? How come I'm not immune to this too…"
"Well, the bacteria is just gonna attach to the blood that isn't mine. I'm sorry but you will have to live with your mortality for a little longer. At least until I found a way to make you immortal~"
"What are talking about…"
"Shh, just relax again… I promise it's gonna get better. I'm already numbing the pain with magic, can you feel it?"
"Yeah… That's nice, I guess…"
"You're welcome."
"Did I pass out earlier?"
"No, you were awake the entire time."
"That's weird…"
"What, don't say you can't remember when you told me how much you loved and needed me and that I'm yours and can't leave your side ever again~"
"…What?"
"Hiding your true feelings, that makes me sad, y'know?"
"I was literally unconscious…"
"Master, it's alright to show some more of you… The thoughts, feelings and opinions hidden deep inside of you, I want to see them. Admire them. Extol them for all they are worth. That's why I need you to show me… The purest form of yourself."
"Yeah, whatever… Maybe when my head doesn't feel like it's about to explode."
"Y'know, this reminds me a little bit of when you were poisoned. Only now you are conscious and I get to talk with you while I take care of you."
"I guess…"
"Really, you should rely on me more."
"I think I'm already relying on you for a lot of things…"
"You can rely on me even more, Master. For anything and everything."
"Okay."
"I mean it!"
"I got that."
"Just like how it was yesterday night, when we were attacked and I took care of it all by myself. Even when I found evidence of three dead people earlier, I deduced the entire night's incident in the blink of an eye!"
"…What now? Attacked? Three dead? You didn't feel like you should report that to me?"
"I was gonna! But then you got all sick!"
"I guess it's my fault then… I shouldn't have even started this in the first place and try to dramatize this whole thing."
"…Dramatize?"
He the untangle her arms around him and got up as if nothing happened.
"But you were pretty vague too when you said it wasn't safe here… Come to think of it how come I didn't hear anything in the night? Was that your doing too?"
"Uhh… Yeah, that was… Why are you better all of the sudden?!"
"Hm? Oh, I was just pretending."
"…What now?"
"Pretending. Acting. Playing a role."
"I know what pretending means! Why??"
"Because, I thought you'd like that. If I behaved all silly because of a fever, it would give you the opportunity to experience one of these cliche romance moments. Y'know, taking care of the hallucinating sick lover?"
"Wha… But the stuff you said… You said you didn't remember!"
"That would be part of the fantasy. Only you remember that side of me while I thought it waa just a dream, you know it to have been reality. Your type of fantasy, right?"
"Tha… You…!"
"It's not like it was all a lie… As you felt yourself, I do have a fever. It's a little better now though…"
"Well I'm glad, but you will see! One day you really will be sick and I will have to think twice about it jusg being another lie to play with my feelings!"
"Oh? Are you angry at me?"
"No! But don't do it again, please… I didn't like that…"
"I see… I'm sorry."
"Are you though…?"
She gave him a suspicious look, while getting up from the bed herself and looking up at him with somewhat of a pout.
"I truly am."
"Hmp!"
Then she just walked away, leaving Yamato to wonder whether he did too much this time. Though, the base thought for his actions was of good intend, he understood the mixed reaction. On one hand, he did lie about his condition. On the other he only did so because he wanted to make her happy, thinking it would be a fun experience for her, which it was, though she would not admit to that for now. Yamato remained standing still for a while, thinking about whether he should try to accommodate his behavior at all, of if he should just behave like he always had with her, since they had always been acting more like a couple than anything anyway. But if be did not change anything, what good would the feelings he now holds dear do to their relationship? And rationality aside, it were these said feelings which drove him to do this in the first place. Because he wanted to make her happy, because he loved her. He eventually decided to go after Yuki and apologize until she actually accepted. Because right now, another new emotion was discovered by him. Hurting unlike anything he ever experienced before, like a crushing pressure from which he had no escape. A pain that did not sting once, but repeatedly. A feeling he could only identify as guilt.
Finding Yuki at the edge to the forest, where she seemed to be looking for Lucy while not really looking for her, he walked up beside her.
"Yuki, I know why you are mad, and I know what I did wrong. Please believe me when I say that I am truly sorry for causing you discomfort… It's the opposite of what I wanted to achieve…"
Yuki just looked into the forest with an unreadable expression, folding her hands together behind her back.
"Master, I'm not angry with you… I don't think I am capable of that in the first place, to be honest. I'm frustrated… For a different reason…"
"Why is that?"
"I failed you, Master… I should have been able to tell that you were not actually sick… What kind of future wife can't even see through the simplest acts of deception…?"
"Hey, now… It was a pretty good performance, if I do say so myself."
"Haha, yeah… But even so, I really would have liked to see through it, to confidently say "I knew all along", in the end. Instead I did not even consider it, and was completely overwhelmed when the reality of the situation came to me, not because I figured it out but because you revealed it to me… As you do so often…"
"But… Isn't that flawed thinking?"
"Hm…? How so?"
"You say you want to see through my deception at an instant, and are mad that you didn't consider me lying… But isn't that a wonderful thing? A trust, so strong that you did not even see me lying to you as an option… If you ask me, that sounds like true love, does it not?"
"A naive ignorance is what it was…"
"Maybe… But if only towards the right person, is that so different from love? If I were to promise you, that I will never lie to you again in a way that could punish that trust… Would you promise me to keep believing in me like that?"
"…My, my~ I didn't know you were such a romantic, Master… Beating me at my own philosophy, that really is like you…"
"I take it that is a yes?"
"Don't you know by now that this is my answer to all of your requests?"
She said with a smile, befor turning to face him. Getting closer and closer, she did what felt right at that moment to mark their promise as sealed, and then she pressed her lips against his, so that the trust he so desired would be felt by him as much as possible at this very moment.