Regarding Eriri's unusual reaction, Murakami Yuu was very confused. No matter how he inquired, Eriri just squinted her eyes and smiled there without giving specific answers.
Whatever. People's psychology and thinking patterns are somewhat abnormal when sick, so having some strange behavior was understandable.
Murakami Yuu convinced himself this way in his mind.
After drinking about half a bowl of porridge, Eriri dozily fell asleep again, losing consciousness very quickly.
Murakami Yuu placed a new ice pack on Eriri's forehead, solved his own dinner problem, and took out Eriri's dried clothes from the washing machine to fold them.
Incidentally, her underwear was plain white, which quite fit her personality.
Time approached eight o'clock.
He measured Eriri's temperature again—38.2 degrees Celsius.
So after all his running around, wiping with alcohol for physical cooling and manually feeding to supplement energy, the temperature only dropped by 0.2 degrees?
Murakami Yuu felt somewhat helpless.
He decided to check the situation again later. Although Eriri's temperature was dropping slowly, at least it was dropping. Being able to gradually recover to normal temperature like this would be a good thing.
So, at nine o'clock, he measured again—38.4 degrees.
How did it return to the starting point...
Murakami Yuu covered his forehead.
No choice. He had originally wanted to avoid it, but he'd have to use medication.
"Eriri... Eriri..."
The peacefully sleeping Eriri was awakened by Murakami Yuu again.
"How do you feel now?"
"Headache, no strength in my whole body, and... thirsty."
Murakami Yuu helped her sit up and fed her some warm water.
Logically speaking, someone with just a fever around 38 degrees shouldn't be weak to this extent, but Eriri was exactly like this—even lifting her hand seemed very difficult.
Murakami Yuu could only explain this situation as people's constitutions not being generalizable.
"Your temperature has risen again. You need to take medicine."
Murakami Yuu placed the cup back on the bedside and said to Eriri, who had lain back down.
"Mm... okay..."
Eriri responded casually. Although she looked somewhat weak and listless overall, she couldn't suppress the corners of her mouth from curving up.
Physically, her body was indeed very uncomfortable, but mentally, her thoughts were receiving great satisfaction.
Whether it was Yuu focusing intently while removing her knee-high socks to treat her wound, or thoughtfully and gently feeding her porridge.
All of it gave Eriri positive emotions of happiness mixed with reassurance. Thanks to these feelings, she had now completely lowered her guard toward Murakami Yuu, and most of her initial nervousness and restraint had disappeared.
Murakami Yuu took medicine from the medical kit beside him and said gently:
"The house only has this type of fever reducer. So, take your time with it yourself. I'll go outside first. Call me when you're done."
Placing the medicine in Eriri's hand, Murakami Yuu got up and left the room.
Do it myself?
Eriri looked at the long pill-shaped medicine in her hand. After understanding, she felt somewhat troubled.
It wasn't oral medication, but a suppository...
Anti-inflammatory suppository, rear entry, fast absorption, excellent fever-reducing effect.
This could only be done by herself slowly. She had used it a few times when she had fevers as a child...
Thinking this way, Eriri slowly curled up her body, preparing to remove her pants.
However, both Murakami Yuu and she herself had somewhat overestimated her strength while sick. She twisted and turned slowly on the bed for a long time but couldn't successfully pull the pants down from her waist.
The pill she had been lightly gripping had somehow fallen somewhere on the bed.
Her body was limp, her arms had completely lost strength, and only her mouth could still move somewhat.
"Yuu..."
Although her voice was small, since Murakami Yuu was right outside the door, he could hear clearly.
He walked in and asked:
"Are you done using it?"
"No, I can't exert any strength. The pants... I can't... take them off..."
After saying this, Eriri almost wanted to bury her face in the pillow and suffocate. This was too embarrassing.
This statement obviously hit Murakami Yuu's funny bone, but when facing a patient, he restrained himself well and didn't let any laughter escape.
"That's true. Since you're sick, not having strength is very normal."
After comforting her, he thought for a while.
"I'll help."
"Eh?!"
"Or if Miss Eriri has any other methods, you can say them. I'll definitely cooperate."
Noticing that Eriri seemed somewhat resistant, Murakami Yuu spread his hands.
"..."
How could there be any other method...
"At least, at least turn off the lights..."
This was Eriri's final request to save face.
"Of course, I planned to do that from the beginning."
Murakami Yuu turned off the lights, and the room immediately darkened. But weak streetlight still refracted in through the window, creating a hazy atmosphere.
Coming to the bedside, after confirming Eriri's position, Murakami Yuu reached out to both sides of her waist.
"I'm going to take them off."
"Mm..."
Eriri's breathing became rapid and irregular as she tightly closed her eyes.
The sensation of fingers sliding past her waist and thigh soft flesh made her tremble all over as if electrified.
Considering the convenience of medication, Murakami Yuu removed the pants completely.
"Alright, you should be able to handle the rest yourself."
Murakami Yuu stood up, his breathing also inevitably becoming rapid.
"The medicine... I don't know where it fell..."
Eriri pressed her legs tightly together, not daring to move at all.
Murakami Yuu took out another pill and groped to place it in Eriri's hand.
"Same as before, I'll be outside the door. Just call me when you're done."
"Mm..."
Eriri began trying, but thinking about what had just happened—Yuu's fingers along her waist, past her thighs, touching her lower body's tingling sensation.
She couldn't concentrate, and her fingers couldn't accurately find the position.
After many more attempts, the medicine in her hand had again gone somewhere unknown.
Eriri felt like she was about to cry.
After waiting nearly twenty minutes with no sound, Murakami Yuu walked in.
"Didn't... succeed?"
He asked.
"..."
Eriri didn't make a sound. After a while, she said in an extremely small voice:
"Yuu... you help me..."
It wasn't a commanding tone, but a kind of compromise from being defeated by reality and helpless about her own inability.
But the real reason for making this decision might also be due to insufficient brainpower when sick.
"Understood."
Murakami Yuu wasn't being dramatic either. He took out another pill and crouched by the bedside.
Although the room's lighting was too dim to see anything clearly, Murakami Yuu, adhering to the principle of not looking at what shouldn't be seen, turned his head to the side and slowly reached toward the medication site.
"Mm... Yuu, no, that's wrong... not there..."
Eriri made strange whimpering sounds.
"Sorry, sorry..."
Murakami Yuu immediately realized something and hurriedly stopped the motion of inserting the medicine. After confirming he found the correct place:
"Eriri, relax a little. I'm going to put it in."
"Mm..."
Eriri pressed her lips tightly together. After a long while, she finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Finally,
it was successful.
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