Ever since that morning...

I've been feeling kinda hot.

But, I couldn't slack off just because I felt a bit out of place.

As always, I helped the little twins get ready, and sent them off shortly after Mommy left for work. Then, I ate breakfast as well, and got ready for school...

Ugh, I couldn't take this anymore.

I could remember that thought running through my head.

But I didn't have any memory of what happened after.

The next thing I knew, I'm back in bed.

Wriggle, squirm. I'm buried inside the covers like a hornworm.1

S... so cold...
I felt a shiver running down my back.

It's the first morning of November. Fall is almost over.

I'm always ready to catch the latest viral trends, but this time, it appeared that I have caught a different kind of virus altogether. I thought such idle thoughts as I shivered in bed, still in my school uniform, with my blanket pulled up over my head.

Aah... It's a good thing I managed to send the kids off without any incident happening.

If they were still here, I wouldn't be able to lie in bed like this.

I'm used to being alone. Just give me a bit of rest, and I'll be back in no time.

Yup.

Come to think of it, μ's has been busy making a new song and working on a promotional campaign recently.

I probably got too excited planning our maid café takeover campaign.

Then my memory skipped.

Next... although I'm covered in all these blankets, my back kept getting colder, and then my face started to heat up suddenly.

What...? I might have a fever. But there's nothing I could do about that.

I'm too cold.

All I could do was to close my eyes and curl up inside my bed, like a boiled prawn.

I want... water.

That's what I thought, but I didn't have the strength left to get any, so I had to endure it.

But, this is fine. Ever since I was a kid, Mommy has always been busy at work, so I was often alone.

This is how it has always been for me.

Nobody was around to look after me. That's a fact of life.

At least it was, until my twin sisters were born.

In fact, just being able to sleep by myself like this, without a care in the world, that is all I want.

...

♡♡♡♡♡♡

I'm not sure when, but eventually, I fell asleep. And then I had a weird dream.

I felt myself floating... and I went to heaven.

There, I met several cute, beautiful angels with white wings. And, strangely enough, they looked like the girls from μ's.
Giggle.

Oh, come on. Why are they angels now?

I'm the one with angelic cuteness here, I thought feebly.

At first, I was like, wait...if I'm in heaven, perhaps that meant that I have died?

Somehow everyone seemed extremely kind to me...it feels good.

Just having died not long ago, I couldn't fly too well, so I just floated around while they led me around and took care of me.

They changed me out of my wrinkled uniform into pajamas, wiped off my sweat, brought me ice packs from the freezer, heated some water and brought it into my room, humidifying it to soothe my throat...

The angels were like kind nurses.

I felt a little better.

Aah, but... I'm still thirsty.

"I... I want... water."

A quivering voice.

I realized it was coming from my throat.

Huh... is this reality?

Suddenly my vision became pitch black, and I realized that someone was placing his hand on my forehead.

It reminded me of Mommy's hand.

A white, gentle hand.

As I opened my eyes, I saw...

Eli-chan!?!?

I instantly sprang up from bed in surprise.

"What are you doing? You've got a terrible fever right now, so you need to get some rest."

I fell back down, but Eli-chan caught me.

Why... is she here?

As if she read my thoughts, she answered, "You were absent from school, right? I heard in the staff room that you hadn't contacted the school, so we came to check up on you. But, we didn't expect that you'd be sleeping with the door unlocked."

Did she just say "we"?

I frowned with my eyes closed.

"Really, even if you've got a fever, you could at least lock the door. You don't want anyone coming in and stealing your valuables!"

That's Nozomi-chan's voice coming from the kitchen. I supposed she was boiling water.

So she's... here too.

Eli-chan continued, "Yeah, if you're going to collapse, you could at least give us a call! If you ignored this fever, you could have gotten pneumonia!"

She sounded a bit angry... but far kinder than usual.

As my eyes remained closed, I felt this throbbing in my chest...

It must be in my head, no, it's because of this cold.

"We looked around since we weren't sure where you kept your pajamas. You're fine with these, right?"

I lifted my eyelids just a little to check, and... oh, that's my tracksuit.

So Nozomi-chan...

I could almost laugh.

If they "looked around," then...

Rather, if those two are here at all, then that means...

I got even dizzier than I already was.

They've finally found my house...

Part of me wondered what to do now.

The other part didn't care anymore.

Even I'm surprised, but this illness has left me unexpectedly weak.

I just nodded, and left myself in Eli-chan's care.

I didnt't want to think anymore... yup.

I felt like I didn't need to think anymore.

I don't need to put up a front for them anymore.

Once again, Eli-chan put her hand on my forehead, and laughed.

"Did you know? There's an ancient Japanese tradition of laying on hands. If I use my healing touch like this, then it'll suck the fever right out of you."

Oh please, is she starting to turn superstitious like Nozomi-chan now? I'm too old to believe in those things anyway.

But, it's strange.

It made me happy, even though it was truly unbelievable.

I let out a little laugh.

I wondered why.

Is this really happening?

Slowly, I opened my eyes, but they're not there.

I must have been daydreaming.

And then.

"We're back! We got the medicine!"

I heard someone shouting from the entrance.

"Shhhh! Nico is still sleeping! You will wake her up if you yell so loudly!" a sharp voice rebuked her.

"We got some extra ice, too. Is this enough?"

That's Kotori's soft, chirping voice. It's the three juniors.

That reminded me. Last time, they got pretty close to my house, and gave my sisters, Kokoro and Cocoa, candy.

Behind them, I heard more voices.

"Like I said, if we needed medicine, we should have just asked my dad."

"But Eli-chan thought Nico-chan wouldn't like it if we made too big a deal out of things..."

"Then just leave it to me! I'll use my kitty powers to force the sickness out of Nico-chan!"

"If you could do that, then we wouldn't have doctors in the first place, would we!? Honestly, is this really the time to be stubborn about this stuff. If Nico-chan really develops pneumonia, it might just be fatal, you know? I just want what's best for her."

Hah.

They really are all here to see me, I thought half-consciously.

Before I knew it, I saw everyone's faces surrounding me.

"I've never seen Nico-chan this quiet before!" someone said.

They all laughed unanimously.

A refreshing new bag of ice cooled my head.

I could hardly open my eyes anymore.

Someone reached under the covers and held my hand.

A gentle, white hand, like Mommy's.

I saw golden locks of hair hanging in the corner of my eye.

"I know you can handle everything by yourself, like you've always been. We might not be dependable, but..."

Through my closed eyes, I felt my field of view going white.

"I want you to rely on us just a bit more, because you're our..."

I fell asleep before I could hear the rest.

So, I felt my closed eyes heating up.

And something was coming out. I must be really sick.

If I tried to wipe it away, it'll just make my eyes swollen.

"I know that, but I have to rub it, no matter what."I thought.

And with the tears still flowing, I drifted to sleep.

Oh, God.
It's like I'm really in heaven.

A heaven that's home to eight lovely angels.

Have I really joined their ranks?

My chest tightened as I wondered.

There must be some strange disease going through me today after all.
Comment♡Eli
Nico-chan's always messing around, but she is actually more sensitive to others than anyone else, and always works so hard by herself...
Or is that going too far? Heehee♡
I'm sure she'd blush and run away if she heard that.
But, the way she shoulders everything alone reminds me of myself a little bit, so I feel like I get where she's coming from. But I wish she'd let us carry some of the weight every once in the while. Regardless of what she thinks, we're a team, and it's one for all, all for one.