Granted, I knew one bowl of soup wasn’t going to do much to help her regain her strength, so I stood up to go and look for any other food I could find. But before that, I needed to get changed myself; even indoors, I was getting pretty damn cold in this short-sleeved undershirt and wet pants. I walked over to my backpack and noticed Akira’s wet clothes balled up and discarded on the ground. I assumed they probably wouldn’t get terribly wrinkled or anything even if left like that overnight, but I figured I might as well fold them up for her. I reached down to pick them up and started unraveling the messy ball of sodden clothes—but then my fingers froze.
Her underwear was tangled up in there too.
I immediately abandoned this course of action and gently placed the wad of clothes back down on the floor in approximately the same state that I’d originally found it. Then I snatched some dry clothes of my own and quietly excused myself from the room. Once out in the hallway, I got changed, then headed down to the living area.
I needed to find us some food—something with actual nutritional value, if at all possible. But I didn’t feel right continuing to steal things from this old woman’s house, so maybe it would be best for me to head back out into the rain to find a grocery store or something nearby. I was pretty sure I’d seen an umbrella in the entryway too, so it shouldn’t be nearly as treacherous to challenge the storm this time around.
It was settled, then—but I needed to rest a little while before I left, because I was still feeling totally spent. I grabbed some floor cushions from a stack in the corner of the room and laid them out in a line to form a very sorry-looking makeshift bed. I checked my watch; it was 6:30 now, so I decided I’d take a little catnap until 7:00 and then head out.
I awoke with a start and immediately knew I’d overslept.
Shoot, I completely dozed off again. How does this keep happening?
I let out a great big yawn as I reached down to pull out my wristwatch—then felt a chill run down my spine when I saw what time it was. Holy crap. I’d been sleeping for well over two hours. I sure hoped that Akira was still doing all right.
I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and headed out into the hallway. With my brain still foggy, I took a needlessly circuitous route to reach the stairway. I headed up to the second floor and knocked on the door of the room where Akira was resting. But there was no response.
“Iguma-san?” I asked. “You okay in there?”
Perhaps she’d already passed out. I creaked open the door as slowly as I could to take a peek inside. Sure enough, Akira was fast asleep, and I could see the empty soup bowl lying by her bedside as well. I breathed a momentary sigh of relief—but then noticed that something seemed decidedly off. Her breathing was haggard and irregular, and the crest of her futon fluctuated erratically up and down with every inhalation. Her strained face was flushed red and caked in sweat. From her symptoms, I assumed it was probably just a cold, but it sure seemed like a pretty nasty one to me.
Noticing my presence, Akira opened her eyes a crack. “Why is it so cold in here…?” she whined, then pulled the covers up over her head.
If she was complaining about the cold despite being wrapped up in layers of blankets, then it seemed my inkling was right. But if left unchecked, even the common cold could compound into something far worse. I headed back downstairs and started turning the whole place inside out in search of any cold or fever medication. I didn’t even care that I was behaving like a common burglar anymore. If I had to completely ransack each room to find Akira the medicine she needed, then so be it.
“Aha! Gotcha!”
After much trial and error, I found some over-the-counter cold medicine and a thermometer in one of the drawers below the TV stand. I scooped them both up and hurried back upstairs. When I took Akira’s temperature, she had a fever of over 38°C, so I immediately prescribed her a glass of water and some cold medicine, which she obediently took before falling languidly back into bed.
“Anything I can get for you?” I asked. “Any particular food you’re craving, or anything like that…?”
Akira shook her head on her pillow. Apparently, she wasn’t feeling all that hungry, despite having nothing to eat aside from a single bowl of soup. She definitely needed more nutrients if she wanted to get well anytime soon, though. And we were going to run out of water here pretty soon too. I emptied out the contents of my backpack and slung it over my shoulder.
“Okay,” I said. “I think I’m gonna head out for a bit. Gotta try to find a supermarket or something.”
“…Sorry about all of this,” said Akira, her voice weak and weary.
I stood there a moment.
Akira and I had been traveling together for quite a while now, and this was the first time she’d ever apologized to me for anything. Part of me felt like I’d been waiting to hear these words from her for a long, long time now. Yet they didn’t make me feel any better at all. If anything, they just made my heart ache even more.