“Ahhh! That was delicious! Thanks!”
Chisato gobbled up the udon soup so fast it was hard to believe she was sick. She drank the barley tea Takina had poured for her in big, greedy gulps, too. Takina hadn’t expected Chisato to eat every last bit of her dinner, raising the nabe to her mouth to polish off the soup. It should’ve made her happy, but she was simply too stunned to think about that.
“Ooof! I feel so hot…”
Chisato placed her hands down behind her and bent backward, away from the low table Takina had set up next to the futon. Beads of sweat were rolling down Chisato’s neck to her chest. Her forehead was glistening, too.
“You feel hot, but you’ll get cold if you keep sweat-drenched clothes on. Let me get you a fresh change of pajamas.”
“Thanks, Takina. There should be another pair in my sleepover bundle.”
“I’ll find it. I’ll bring you a wet towel, too, so you can freshen up.”
“I’d rather just take a shower.”
“Don’t be reckless. A wet towel will do just fine.”
“Fiiine.”
Takina took the empty dishes to the kitchen and returned with a steamy, hot, wet towel, fresh pajamas, and a change of underwear. She gave them to Chisato and sat down formally, with her legs folded under her, on the floor next to the futon.
“Thanks, but…”
“But…?”
“Never mind.”
“What are you waiting for? The towel will get cold if you don’t use it quickly.”
“Um, the thing is… I don’t feel very comfortable taking my clothes off while you’re watching…”
“But what if you lose your balance and fall over?”
“I’m not that sick!”
Thinking about it, if Chisato could go to the restroom by herself, she was unlikely to trip over while getting changed.
Takina turned around so that her back was toward Chisato.
“Is this okay?” she asked.
“I guess that’ll do…”
Takina waited, not thinking about anything in particular. The rustling behind her told her that Chisato was quickly changing her clothes, and then she noticed something next to the futon.
“Canned peaches?”
“Oh, that. Mizuki brought them. Straight out of the Showa era, right?” Chisato said with a laugh. “It’s nice of her, though.”
Mizuki must have visited Chisato when she woke up and Takina was busy making the noodle soup for her.
Looking around the room, Takina saw that someone had placed a device of some sort next to the sliding door. It was a small air purifier that also worked as a humidifier.
“That’s from Kurumi. No idea where she got it from! She set it up for me a little earlier.”
The sliding door wasn’t the main door to the room, but the door of the closet, which de facto was Kurumi’s room. It was kind of Kurumi to get the air purifier for Chisato, but she might have just been worried about catching Chisato’s bug. Takina had heard that people who worked from home had worse immunity compared to commuters who used public transport. For better or for worse, commuters were exposed to a huge variety of viruses and other pathogens, gradually building up immunity. Those who worked from home, though, weren’t regularly exposed to germs.
Just like with muscles, which would atrophy when not used, no matter how healthy someone’s lifestyle was, their immune system would weaken without stimuli.
But perhaps Takina was overthinking it, and Kurumi only had Chisato’s best interest in mind. Well, she couldn’t tell.
Takina collected Chisato’s slightly wet pajamas, underwear, and the towel she’d used to freshen herself up and took them away. Upon returning to the room, she found Chisato stretching on top of the futon.
“It was so nice to put on fresh clothes that I felt like stretching,” she explained.
When she was done, Chisato tied her hair into pigtails and lay down without Takina having to say anything. Which struck Takina as odd.
“All right, I’ll just rest in bed. You go and join in the games. They must’ve started already?”
Now it made sense—Chisato was being considerate.
“We have enough people today. They don’t need me.”
“Doesn’t matter if they need you. I want you to have fun! It’s not about just filling a spot so there are enough players. We don’t have game nights that often, so go and enjoy it!”
While Takina hesitated, wondering whether to go or not, someone knocked on the door.
“Come in!” Chisato called.
The door opened, and Mika peered into the room.
“Am I interrupting?” he asked.
When Takina assured him he wasn’t, he entered the room carrying a large Ikea bag, so full it was bulging.
“Some of our customers brought get-well gifts for you when they heard you were unwell,” he said to Chisato. “This one’s from Mr. Gotou.”
He reached inside the Ikea bag and pulled out a bunch of bananas.
Normally, it was easy to forget Gotou’s age—he wore a leather jacket and walked with a spring in his step—but the choice of bananas as a get-well gift was a reminder that the gray-haired man was up there in years.
“This one’s from Ms. Itou.”
Itou, the manga artist, got Chisato a cooling forehead pad.
“She always has these on hand, huh?”
“I’ve seen her use them when she’s struggling with deadlines,” agreed Takina.
“When she came in and heard you weren’t well, she quickly fished this out of her bag,” said Mika.
Chisato tore the packet open and stuck the pad to her forehead.
“Next, we have…vitamins from Ms. Kitamura.”
“Oh, nice! I’ll take some!”
Chisato opened the packet containing a week’s supply of vitamin pills, picked one out, and threw it into her mouth.
“Is this how you’re supposed to take them?” asked Takina.
“Dunno!”
Takina couldn’t believe Chisato would just put a gifted pharmaceutical product into her mouth without hesitation, without even checking what it was exactly or whether she was supposed to take it before a meal, for example. She read the information on the packet. Based on the list of ingredients, there was nothing to worry about in the pill, so Chisato should be fine… Still, Takina really wished Chisato wasn’t so careless.
“Here’s a box of jelly drinks from Mr. Yamadera. I’ll put it in the fridge for you… And Mr. Yoneoka got you three boxes of kinako sticks.”
“Nishijima kinako sticks!”
Kinako sticks were a type of old-fashioned candy made from glucose syrup and brown sugar sprinkled with kinako—roasted soybean flour—with a toothpick stuck into the bottom part. The manufacturer, Nishijima, had a factory in Sumida. It was in fact quite close to Kinshicho Station, so the locals were familiar with their products. Passersby always caught the smell of kinako—too mouth-watering to ignore. Anyone who happened to be hungry would inevitably get a terrible urge to head into the factory.
“Each box contains forty-five kinako sticks, and you got three… That is a lot. I also don’t think you should be eating these in bed…”
Kinako, honey, and unrefined sugar were undisputably nutritious, but Takina was mostly thinking about kinako powder dropping off the sticks and onto the quilt… Just thinking about it was almost unbearable.
The closet door slid open.
“Sorry, but that’s not for Chisato. It’s for me, for repairing the dude’s laptop.”
Mika threw the stack of three boxes to her, which she nimbly caught. Then the closet door slid closed.
For a few seconds, Takina’s, Chisato’s, and Mika’s gazes lingered on that door…
“Ahem. What else is there…?”