"Take a sip of water first, then take the medicine."
Sora handed the glass of water to Angel-sama.
"Thank you..."
Mahiru softly expressed her thanks. She reached out to take the glass, took a small sip, and then tilted her head back to swallow the cold medicine.
Medicine taken successfully.
Mahiru let out a soft sigh and looked up at Sora. The girl's gentle and sweet voice was noticeably somewhat hoarse.
"I feel a bit better now. Sora-kun, you can go back first..."
"It takes twenty minutes for the cold medicine to take effect after swallowing. How could you possibly feel better immediately? It just reached your stomach, alright." Sora took the glass of water back and casually complained. "Do you have a thermometer at home? Start recording your temperature now. If the high fever persists, you'll have to be rushed to the hospital."
"Um..."
Mahiru guiltily averted her gaze.
Sora was speechless. "You don't have one, do you?"
"I really don't..."
"You don't have this, and you don't have that." Sora couldn't help but complain. "When you're living alone, you should take good care of yourself."
Mahiru: "..."
Although she was being complained about, Mahiru didn't feel the slightest bit of annoyance in her heart.
Is this feeling... what it's like to be cared for by someone?
"I just moved in recently, and I'm usually very healthy. I rarely get sick..."
Mahiru softly defended herself, though she lacked confidence.
"Say no more. I'll go back and get a thermometer." Sora turned and headed for the door. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
"..."
As Sora left, the living room fell suddenly silent.
The night was deep.
All sounds were hushed.
The silence in the living room was almost panic-inducing.
Perhaps people who are sick are exceptionally fragile. Mahiru felt that every passing minute and second now was exceptionally long. She kept looking towards the entryway from time to time.
(He said a few minutes, but it feels like it's been ages...)
Mahiru gently bit her lower lip with her pearly white teeth. Her mood involuntarily and quietly sank.
"I'm back."
Sora returned holding an electronic thermometer.
The girl's eyes quietly brightened, regaining their luster.
"...Welcome back."
Sora didn't notice the subtle change in the girl's tone. He walked over to Mahiru and handed her the electronic thermometer. "Here, check your current temperature first."
"Okay..."
Mahiru obediently took the thermometer, her heart quietly settling down.
Even though it was just the two of them, with Sora's return, the originally cold and lonely living room quietly warmed up again.
Unlike traditional mercury thermometers, electronic thermometers measure very quickly, taking only twenty seconds to display the data.
Accompanied by a series of 'beep beep' sounds, Mahiru's voice soon rang out.
"Sora-kun, I've finished measuring my temperature..."
"Let me see." Sora reached out to take the electronic thermometer and frowned slightly. "39.8 degrees, almost 40 degrees. No wonder you're so weak."
Mahiru pursed her pink lips, staying silent out of guilt.
(Although I knew the cold was bad, I didn't expect my temperature to be this high. No wonder I didn't even have the strength to walk...)
(Thank goodness Sora-kun is right next door, otherwise it would have been dangerous.)
As a high school student, Mahiru was well aware of the danger of a persistent high fever. If she had chosen to grit her teeth and silently endure it alone instead of asking Sora for help, her brain might have been damaged from running a high fever all night.
When that happened, she would be left with the intelligence of a three-year-old, her mouth crooked, eyes skewed, and drooling...
"N-No!"
Mahiru hurriedly shook her head, dispelling the terrifying image from her mind.
"No what?"
Sora looked over curiously.
"N-Nothing..." Mahiru guiltily turned her pretty face away. Hugging a throw pillow with both hands, she expressed her heartfelt gratitude. "Anyway, thank you so much, Sora-kun, for being willing to come over and take care of me."
"It's normal for neighbors to help each other out." Sora said casually. "If I were the one sick late at night, Mahiru-san would definitely take care of me too, right?"
Mahiru: "..."
Hey, hey, what do you mean by turning your face away?
This is the time to readily agree!
"Going over to take care of someone during the day is fine, but not at night." Mahiru hugged the throw pillow, her eyes quietly curving into crescents. "Sora-kun clearly has a sister at home, yet when you're sick, you want another girl to come to your house to take care of you, and in the dead of night, no less. I'm a bit worried about my innocence."
Sora was expressionless. "Very well, your innocence is truly in danger now."
Mahiru looked up. Her caramel-colored eyes were large and bright, rippling with light inside. The corners of her pink, moist lips curled upwards slightly.
"If Sora-kun wants to bully someone, I also know a bit of martial arts."
You're so sick and weak you can't even walk. Even if you activated the Time Stop, your little fists would only serve as a massage!
"Cough, cough..."
As soon as she finished speaking, Angel-sama once again raised her hand to cover her mouth and coughed softly.
"Let me help you purify your magic power first, alright?" Sora earnestly proposed. "Looking at it now, the sense of touch is much more important than I imagined."
Mahiru pursed her beautiful lips and generously extended her right hand. The girl's fingers were slender, her skin snow-white, and the light blue veins were clearly visible under the light. It was a work of art resembling mutton-fat jade.
"I'm counting on you, Sora-kun."
After the cold shower incident earlier, Mahiru had come to understand the importance of the sense of touch.
Losing the sense of taste, at most, caused a loss of appetite and made eating flavorless. But losing the sense of touch could easily lead to life-threatening danger if one wasn't careful.
Thank goodness it was only a cold shower. If it had been scalding hot water... just thinking about it was terrifying.
"Leave it to me."
Sora gently held Angel-sama's soft hand and began helping to purify the magic power.
Ten minutes later.
Magic power purification successful.
Her lost sense of touch quietly returned.
"Ugh..."
Mahiru furrowed her delicate eyebrows, a look of distress appearing on her small face, and she let out a low groan.
After her sense of touch returned, she finally felt how terrible her body's current condition was. Sore throat, aching muscles, stuffy nose, feeling cold all over... in short, it was super uncomfortable.
"Sora-kun, you can let go of me now." Mahiru shyly reminded him. "My sense of touch has returned."
"Okay."
Sora released the girl's right hand. His gaze suddenly fell on Angel-sama's shoulder. There was clearly a small, damp patch on her bathrobe.
Following the damp patch upwards, Sora frowned slightly.
"You didn't blow-dry your hair?"
Mahiru guiltily turned her pretty face away. "After my shower, I had no strength left at all. I was only focused on finding cold medicine and forgot to blow-dry my hair..."
"Being cold and wet will worsen the cold symptoms. If you don't dry it as soon as possible, you'll very likely have a headache tomorrow." Sora hesitated for two seconds before suggesting, "Do you want me to help blow-dry your hair?"
As he spoke, Sora was already prepared to be rejected.
Angel-sama seemed gentle as water, but in reality, she always kept her distance. She had a personality that super disliked troubling others.
However, the next second.
The girl's soft voice sounded. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but it seemed to carry a slight hint of acting spoiled.
"Being all wet is indeed a bit uncomfortable. Please help me dry it, Sora-kun~"
Sora: "..."
What?
How did you just agree like that?
As expected, once people get sick and weak, their psychological state reverts to that of a child!