After Being Dumped With the Insult, “You’re So Clingy!” and Finding Her in Despair, I Kept Encouraging My Beautiful Classmate and as a Result, That Beautiful Girl Started Directing Her Heavy Emotions Toward Me Instead, but Since I Like Emotionally Heavy Girls, It’s No Problem - 6

Chapter 6: Recovery from a Cold

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“It’s morning…”

I woke up to the chirping of little birds outside the window. The familiar black ceiling came into view.

“Hm?”

I woke up in my boarding apartment, it felt like the same old ordinary awakening… or so I thought, until I felt an unfamiliar weight on my abdomen. I turned my eyes toward my stomach, wondering what this weight could be. I immediately understood the source of the mysterious weight. It was Jujoji. She was lying face-down on top of the futon, breathing softly as she slept. Part of it was that she was a beautiful girl, but her sleeping face was undeniably adorable.

…After that, she had persuaded her parents and, just as she declared, stayed to nurse me the entire time. She frequently changed the wet towel on my forehead, dug out some cold medicine from the very back of the dresser—so old I didn’t even remember when it had been bought—and made me take it, and held my hand to encourage me while I groaned in feverish delirium.

Since she had taken care of me all through the night, it seemed she had finally reached her limit and fallen asleep from exhaustion. Careful not to wake her, I slowly sat up in bed. The sluggishness and dizziness I had felt yesterday were completely gone. If anything, I felt refreshed and full of energy. At this rate, I might even be able to become Anpanman.

It was probably thanks to Jujoji’s devoted nursing.

“Looks like my cold’s gone. Thank you, Jujoji…”

I quietly expressed my gratitude to her. I planned to say it again once she woke up, but I wanted to tell her first. She had probably felt responsible for making me catch the cold, but even so, it was rare for a girl to go this far for nothing more than a classmate. Normally, she would have gone home the moment I told her to “go back” yesterday.

“…Hm? Fwaaah… Is it morning already…?”

As I was thinking that, Jujoji seemed to wake up too. She rubbed her sleepy eyes with her right hand, let out a big yawn, and lifted her head from the futon.

“Good morning, Jujoji.”

“…Huh?”

Our eyes met perfectly. In an instant, her face turned bright red like a fully ripened tomato.

“I-I see. I fell asleep like that… Kokonoe-kun, did you see my sleeping face?”

“Huh? Ah, yeah. I mean…”

“U-uuugh, that’s so embarrassing… Kokonoe-kun saw my sleeping face…”

Jujoji pressed both hands to her cheeks as if trying to hide her flushed face.

“…Is it really that embarrassing to have someone see your sleeping face? I fall asleep during class all the time and show everyone my sleeping face…”

It was a simple question. It wasn’t like you lost anything from someone seeing you asleep, so personally, I had never cared how many times others saw my sleeping face.

…Though, if you said boys and girls had different sensibilities, that would be fair.

“O-Of course it is! Your face when you’re sleeping is the most defenseless face you have, you know? What if I was drooling? What if I looked sloppy? Those things matter!”

“Well, I guess that’s true.”

It might be a little embarrassing to have someone see you drooling. I could agree with her on that point. At that moment, a sudden electronic sound—“Beep beep beep beep beep!”—echoed throughout the room. Jujoji flinched at the noise and looked around, searching for its source.

It was the alarm on my smartphone. I had it set to go off at 7:30 every weekday morning. I picked up the phone from beside the bed, swiped to turn off the alarm, and saw the time displayed exactly at 7:30.

“It’s already 7:30… I’ve got to get ready for school.”

The school was only a five-minute walk from this apartment, and I just needed to arrive by 8:30. Still, even though it was close, preparing breakfast and getting myself presentable always took more time than expected. That was why I had set the alarm so I could wake up an hour before the first bell.

“Jujoji, thanks for taking care of me. I’m better now because of you. I’ll repay this favor someday.”

I turned toward her and bowed my head, expressing my gratitude again. It was because she had nursed me so devotedly that I recovered in just one day.

“But before that, I need to go to school. What about you, Jujoji? Are you going home first? If you’re heading to school from here, I’ll make you breakfast.”

I got out of bed to start preparing breakfast. But as I headed toward the kitchen, Jujoji grabbed my arm and stopped me.

“Please wait. The most dangerous time with a cold is when you’re just starting to recover. There’s a chance it could relapse, so please take it easy and rest one more day.”

“No, no, I’m really fine. See? I’m perfectly healthy.”

I jumped in place to show her how good I felt. My mind was clear, and I didn’t have a headache. You could say I was completely cured.

…However, Jujoji smiled sweetly and gently pushed me back toward the bed.

“Kokonoe-kun, let’s take it easy and rest today♪”

“O-Okay…”

I tried to resist, but her strength was stronger than I expected, and the pressure coming from her smile intimidated me. I ended up giving in to her demand. I had thought the same thing yesterday, but had she always been such a forceful girl? Comparing the gentle Jujoji from class with the strong, imposing Jujoji in front of me, I felt confused.

…Maybe the version of her at school was her public face, and this was the real her. I obeyed Jujoji and quietly returned to the bed. After confirming that I had done so, she sat neatly beside it with her legs together. When I checked my smartphone, it was already 7:40. Apparently, quite a bit of time had passed while we were going back and forth. I had decided to skip school today, but she would need to start getting ready soon if she wanted to make it in time.

“Jujoji, shouldn’t you get ready soon if you want to make it to school?”

“I’m taking the day off from school too. I have to nurse you, Kokonoe-kun.”

“Huh?”

I doubted my ears at her words.

“No, no, that’s too much. I’ll stay in bed and rest, so you go to school, Jujoji.”

“I said I would nurse you until you were fully better, didn’t I? And you agreed to that, didn’t you? Surely… you’re not going to go back on your word?”

She smiled sweetly again, applying pressure once more. I couldn’t argue back.

“…Alright. I did say that. But are you really sure? Don’t you have plans or things you want to do? I’m almost completely recovered, so you can prioritize what you want.”

“It’s fine. I love taking care of people♪ Taking care of you is what I want to do most right now. Ufufufu♡”

“…I see.”

I resigned myself to accepting her care.

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