"Wh-what's wrong?" Ryouka asked, thinking she had said something wrong. She quickly grabbed tissues to wipe Akihiko's chest.
"No, it's nothing..."
Akihiko thought to himself, his mind must have been stuffed full with sudden information to the point of passing out. How did the doctor conclude it was "heatstroke"? Or was it that he got stuffed full and suffered heatstroke at the same time?
Damn, this body is really weak...
"Sorry for the trouble, I'll take care of it," Akihiko said.
Ryouka stood up and carefully wiped the damp sheets and his chest for him.
The distance between them was so close that Akihiko felt if they got any nearer, his nose would brush against her black hair.
"Don't mention it."
Ryouka lowered her bright eyes, wiping diligently. "Thanks to you today, otherwise, Yamato Aihara would have definitely tricked me and Ayumu..."
"Speaking of which, Ayumu... I mean, Matsubara-san, where is he?"
"Oh, he said he was hungry and went to grab something to eat... Did this area get wet?" Ryouka had already dried the damp spot on Akihiko's front.
She began checking the area near the pillow.
"It shouldn't have..." Akihiko had just finished answering when—
Ryouka accidentally bumped into the mechanism for adjusting the bed's reclining backrest.
Akihiko had earlier tilted the backrest to a 45-degree angle for comfort.
With Ryouka's touch—clunk—it instantly flattened to 180 degrees.
Akihiko was fine, merely lying back down from the sudden motion.
"Ah—!" But Ryouka let out an involuntary yelp as her full weight collapsed onto Akihiko's chest.
Their chests pressed together...
Kimura recalled this familiar sensation. Right before he lost consciousness, he had felt his face buried in something soft... In other words—
A face full of cleavage?
Though Ryouka Yotsumoto was a blend of tall and slender, seemingly incompatible with the word "voluptuous," Akihiko had once seen her full figure in doujinshi—her chest was actually quite ample... No wonder the sensation was like this.
"Y-You okay?" Akihiko forced himself to sit up slightly and ask. Damn... If this keeps up, even my lower half might start reacting...
"...Ryouka, what are you doing?"
Before Ryouka could lift her head to answer, the voice of her so-called childhood friend, Ayumu Matsubara, came from the doorway of the hospital room.
Ryouka immediately sprang up like a carp leaping out of water—not just raising her face but straightening her entire posture, standing rigidly upright.
"N-Nothing...!" Her snow-white cheeks flushed crimson. As if to convince Ayumu, she stared straight at him, though a tiny flicker of her gaze still glanced at Akihiko. The latter remained perfectly composed.
"Matsubara-san, don't get the wrong idea," Akihiko said. "I just accidentally squirted—ahem—spilled some water earlier, and Ryouka-san was helping me clean it up. Then she accidentally hit the bed's adjustment switch."
He sounded calm, but after the unintentional physical contact with Ryouka, he had already recited the Bible verse "One day, with blade in hand, I'll slaughter all NTR dogs" five times in his head.
"Y-Yeah, that's it," Ryouka said.
"...Oh, is that so?" Ayumu snickered. "I thought Ryouka had fallen for you and just threw herself at you... Don't let her looks fool you—she's got a bit of a 'hero worship' complex."
"Sh-Shut up!" Ryouka snapped. "Ayumu, if you keep spouting nonsense... I'll..."
Wow, this guy...
"A-Akihiko, why are you looking at me like I'm trash...?" Ayumu felt the hostility in Akihiko's gaze.
With an attitude like that, no wonder you'd get NTR'd.
And here he was, leaving his childhood friend alone with another guy, then coming back to say something like that... Earlier, during the fight, he had to rely entirely on Ryouka for protection.
To be honest, Akihiko felt that without this deadweight, Ryouka could have easily fought a retreating battle against those punks—cornered with no way out, yet emerging victorious in the end...
Seems like he'll need to give him a proper talking-to later.
"Even though they ran off this time, there's no guarantee they won't come back for revenge. You two should be careful," Akihiko warned.
Ayumu Matsubara shrank back slightly before looking hopefully at Ryouka. "…Ryouka, what should we do? Should we call the police?"
"Calling the police now won't help. Before, we could've used the 'armed assault' charge, but without catching them in the act, the cops would just give them a verbal warning at most," Akihiko said.
"Don't worry, I'll protect Ayumu," Ryouka said with a light laugh, though her expression was firm. "Just like before."
"Ryouka…"
Ryouka's combat skills were indeed impressive, but her naive personality made her too easy to deceive. Otherwise, in the original plot, she wouldn't have fallen into Aihara Yamato's trap.
Akihiko pondered.
While he was deep in thought, Ryouka seemed to be considering something as well.
"If anything happens, just call me—" Akihiko began, only for Ryouka to speak at the same time:
"For the next few days, Kobayashi-kun should come with me—"
Both of them stopped mid-sentence.
After the pause, Ryouka quickly took the initiative to explain, "I'm worried they might come after you, Kobayashi-kun. Why don't we go to and from school together for a while? That way, we can watch out for each other…"
She pursed her lips slightly.
She had heard what Akihiko said earlier.
She hadn't expected him to prioritize her and Ayumu's safety over his own.
Despite his seemingly frail appearance, Kobayashi-kun was…
She clenched her fists.
"B-But Ryouka, you can't handle so many of them alone, can you?" Ayumu fretted.
"Then it's up to you to get stronger, Ayumu."
Compared to Kobayashi-kun, Ayumu seemed to only dump troublesome matters onto her… Though this had been the case since they were kids, and Ryouka was somewhat used to it, when held up against Kobayashi-kun's sense of responsibility, Ayumu was a little disappointing…
Ryouka shook her head, dismissing these wandering thoughts.
"It's fine. Like today, we'll manage somehow," Akihiko said as he threw off the covers and tried to get up.
"…Kobayashi-kun? Shouldn't you rest a bit longer?" Ryouka asked worriedly.
…Already thinking about leaving the hospital? Though the doctor said there were no serious issues, Ryouka felt it'd be better to stay under observation a little longer.
Or was Akihiko the type to push himself harder than he appeared?
"Uh…" Akihiko scratched the back of his head awkwardly while putting on his clothes. "…Hospital fees are pretty expensive, right?"
According to the newly added 'orphan' backstory, his family was poor, barely scraping by on financial support from his aunt working in far-off Hawaii.
Now he was truly down on his luck, folks.
Looks like he'd have to find a way to earn some rice money soon…