The strange, inexplicable tutoring session finally came to an end.
The girl was very cute. Cross that out.
The girl's lessons were actually excellent, even better than the teachers at school. Since she also looked frail and sickly, and since Elysia had already decided to treat her as a friend, she naturally took on the responsibility of caring for her.
In short.
Elysia could not cook. All she could manage was slicing some fruit and helping twist open bottle caps.
"Um, since I'm sick and don't really have any strength, could I trouble you with this?"
She knew that being unable to open a bottle cap was a bit ridiculous, but when a sick, weak-looking girl asked like that, what could she do?
After fussing around for a while.
Before she realized it, it was already night. Elysia sat by the bedside, resting her cheeks in her hands as she looked at the girl, who resembled a small animal.
"My dear Elysia."
The girl suddenly spoke in a soft, languid voice that made Elysia feel warm all over.
"Hm? Do you need help with something?" Elysia blinked her sparkling eyes.
"It's already this late. Aren't you going home?" Kiyono Inori said with a gentle smile. "Or is it that you're a little reluctant to leave me?"
Elysia: (⊙_⊙)
Right. It was already past nine. In the Far East, this was late enough that a high schooler still walking around in uniform could get stopped by the police and have their parents called.
She really did need to go home.
"Y, yeah, haha!" The pink piggy-cat reacted a beat too late. "Guess I should head back early, huh?"
Then.
She noticed something was wrong.
Logically, she should go home, but the problem was… where exactly was her home again? Why could she not remember it all of a sudden? Meow meow meow?
Elysia: (O_o)
"My dear Elysia." The girl's voice was gentle, the kind that made people let their guard down. "If your home is far away, why not stay here for the night?"
"Mm, sure!" Elysia nodded. "Your place is pretty big anyway, with lots of rooms. I'll head out and buy some dinner, bring it back, and we can eat together. Do you have an appetite?"
"…"
Kiyono Inori was silent for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't feel like eating dinner."
"Then I…"
Before Elysia could finish saying "Then I'll just go myself," Kiyono Inori interrupted her.
"Elysia, could you come a little closer?" Kiyono Inori reached a hand out from under the blanket. "I want to hold hands with you. Why don't you come into the covers with me?"
"?"
The pink piggy-cat's bad-girl radar started buzzing loudly. This girl was definitely, absolutely doing this on purpose. Elysia really wanted to agree, but she hesitated.
Suddenly.
She noticed something off about the girl's complexion. Her face was already flushed, but now it looked even more vivid and delicate.
Elysia pressed the back of her hand to the girl's forehead, then touched her own. Both were very hot. She let out a sigh of relief, and the bad-girl radar gradually quieted down.
"You have a pretty serious fever. Should you take some medicine? Do you have any at home? I can get it for you."
"No way!" The girl kicked under the blanket and turned toward her. "I don't have a fever, and it's not serious at all!"
"Well, I heard that when you have a fever, your thinking ability drops, and the frontal lobe temporarily stops working. I don't know what a frontal lobe is, but anyway, that's how it goes."
Elysia rested a hand on her chin, proudly showing off the biology she had picked up during today's lessons.
"Oh, and there's more." The girl stared at her with pretty eyes. "If you have a cold and a fever, covering yourself with more blankets and sweating it out helps you recover."
"Then… should I get you another blanket?"
"No!" Kiyono Inori shook her head hard. "What I want right now is for you to get into the blanket and hold my hand."
"…"
The pink piggy-cat sighed. "Fine. I really can't do anything about you, you little kitty."
Considering she was a patient.
The pink piggy-cat reluctantly climbed into the blanket. Probably because of the fever, the girl was lightly sweating, giving off a subtle mix of warmth and dampness.
A fluffy, fragile, pajama-clad sick girl.
They were holding hands, at least.
Elysia tightened her grip slightly around Inori's right hand. It was soft and warm, like touching cotton candy.
"Hehehe."
Inori looked very happy, smiling sweetly.
The pink piggy-cat's heart started pounding.
This was not actually her first time holding a girl's hand, but it was her first time doing it under the same blanket.
It made her nervous.
But the girl in front of her was so cute and looked so weak that the thought suddenly popped into Elysia's mind.
Should she try hugging her?
If she hugged her now, the girl probably would not even be able to put up a proper resistance, right?
But the pink piggy-cat was an upright person. She was interested in the girl, and she had even climbed into someone else's bed already.
But. She would not take advantage of someone who was sick.
"I'm cold." Kiyono Inori suddenly said, as if she had seen right through Elysia.
"?" Elysia glanced at the air conditioner. "Then, should I turn the temperature up a bit?"
"…"
The girl looked at Elysia with a resentful gaze, making Elysia inexplicably feel guilty. "If this keeps up, your cold will get worse."
This was basically spelling out "Come hug me already." No one could refuse a girl like this.
"Hey, Inori, has anyone ever told you that you're really sly?" Elysia felt a bit powerless.
Even righteous fairy Elysia.
Being provoked like this again and again, she was about to turn into evil fairy Elysia. But the other party was a patient, so she could not really retaliate.
When it came to teasing others, Elysia considered herself pretty good.
Just as she was about to say something, the sly girl had already shifted closer, nestling right into her arms.
"Didn't we agree to just hold hands?"
"Oh my, I'm a bad kid, you know. Bad kids lying to cute big sisters is totally normal, right?" The girl's voice carried a strange charm as she giggled at her. "Want to do something bad together, big sister?"
"…"
Elysia blinked, then pinched the girl's cheek. "Hey now, don't mess around. Even sick bad kids have to behave, okay?"
The scent of her hair, the girl's breathing, and the blanket warming quickly from how close they were. Staying here for the night like this did not seem bad at all.
Seeing that the girl had become much more well-behaved.
That was what the pink piggy-cat thought, as the girl's steady breathing gradually reached her ears, letting her relax.
But… whether it was ten minutes later or half an hour later, the situation suddenly took a sharp turn.
"My dear Elysia, I'm all better now!" The girl said with a sickly grin, startling the pink piggy-cat awake.
In the next instant, the girl who had supposedly been too weak to open a bottle cap suddenly pressed her hand down onto Elysia's and interlaced their fingers, completely pinning her.
Elysia: You call this weak and sick? That tone shift was way too fast! Kids, I think I got played! Wait, don't go for my mouth! You still have a cold! That can cause mucosal infection, mucosal infection!
Elysia: (╯>д<)╯
Elysia: I'm suffocating! I'm really about to suffocate, meow!
…
Hanasakigawa Girls' Academy Infirmary
After rushing here in a panic, Kiyono Inori pulled the half-asleep Elysia Cat out of her schoolbag.
She immediately opened Pioneer of the Stars and started rubbing all of Elysia Cat's weak points, petting her until she was comfortable and fell asleep again. By then, Kiyono Inori was sleepy too.
Which was perfectly normal.
Kiyono Inori had a weak constitution, and after spending the entire day activating various skills and researching things, her mental fatigue had really piled up.
Kiyono Inori: (O_o)
She spread out the infirmary blanket, tossed Elysia Cat inside, and then climbed in herself. This was not because she wanted to cuddle Elysia Cat, but because it was a necessary measure to avoid the school nurse discovering the act of bringing a cat to school.
Absolutely not because she wanted to sleep hugging a kitty.
Absolutely. Not.
When Elysia Cat dreamed of being pinned down and kissed by Kiyono Inori, in reality it was actually Kiyono Inori rolling over in her sleep, her chest pressing down on the poor Elysia Cat.
…
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Let me know if I got a name wrong. I know basically nothing about MyGO.