Chapter 13

Kana looked down at her phone to check the address Renji had sent her and make sure she was at the right place. As much as she wished she had gone to the wrong apartment building, her phone betrayed her wishes and told her that she was, in fact, at the right building. She sighed and stowed it back in her pocket before walking towards the entrance to Junichiro’s apartment building.

She was there because her fool of a co-star had somehow managed to get caught out in the heavy lunchtime rain shower the day before and gotten a cold from it. She, on the other hand, had been smart enough to borrow Naoya’s overshirt after she got drenched by the rain—which she still needed to wash and return. The task of tending to the infirmed Junichiro fell to her due to numerous clerical tasks that rendered both Renji and Aoi unable to do it, though Kana suspected that Renji wasn’t actually as busy as he claimed to be and was simply trying to push them closer as he’d done numerous times in the past.

Needless to say, this wasn’t something that Kana particularly wanted to do, but both managers insisted that Junichiro needed someone to check on him and tend to him so that he would recover faster and that the production schedule wouldn’t fall behind. She wanted him to recover quickly too, of course, but much of her reasoning for it was not really out of concern for his well-being. Kana had made plans with Naoya the night before to have a movie date that Wednesday night, so she was really hoping that Junichiro wouldn’t stay sick that long and impede her plans.

As much as she was dreading the task at hand, thinking of Naoya made her leaded steps become featherlight as she began to feel that dreamy, floaty feeling that he evoked in her. Their date the previous day had felt like a dream come true. Kana took a deep breath and began walking toward the high-rise apartment building in front of her. As long as she had the promise of seeing Naoya in her future, she felt like she could put up with anything.

As Kana stepped into Junichiro’s apartment building, she was astounded at how surprisingly ordinary it seemed. There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with it, it just didn’t fit with the mental image she had of where a self proclaimed bad boy like him would live. The lobby was clean and simple with warm, modern decor. The only thing that would tip anyone off that it was a higher-end apartment building was the keycard reader next to the elevator that would prevent non-tenants from even using it. Some part of her hoped that the keycard reader would bar her entry completely and she could just turn around and leave, but Kana’s accursed pride wouldn’t let her leave without at least trying to do what she went there for.

Kana strolled over to the reception desk and put on an award winning smile. “Hi, I’m trying to get to the apartment of Junichiro Kurotaki, Apartment Number 1509.”

The stoic man at the desk pushed up his glasses and looked at her with a bored expression. “Just a moment.” he said as he checked something on the computer in front of him. “Yes, it says here that he called earlier to say that he is expecting a Kana Shirahama. Do you have identification on you?”

Kana flashed her ID at the man, somewhat grateful that he didn’t seem to recognize her at all so that she didn’t have to worry about coming up with an explanation for why she was visiting Junichiro’s apartment. He looked at it and nodded, then pressed a few keys on the computer keyboard. A few seconds later, the elevator doors opened and he waved her toward it. She stepped inside and pressed the button for the 15th floor, crossing her arms and trying to mentally prepare herself for the task ahead.

One short elevator ride later, Kana stepped out of the metal box and hurried to Apartment Number 1509 as quickly as she could to avoid being seen. When she reached it, she took a mask she had brought along out of her pocket and put it on, then hesitantly rang the buzzer next to the door. About thirty seconds later, she heard the latch being undone rather clumsily and then the door slowly swung open to reveal Junichiro, looking even more disheveled than usual.

“Oh, hey Shirahama… What are you doing here?” Junichiro’s speech was slurred slightly. He seemed almost drunk on some combination of feverish delirium and cold medicine.

Kana stuck her hand up to his forehead. It wasn’t worryingly hot, but still warm enough that she wondered how he’d managed to even get himself out of bed. She spied a half empty bottle of cold medicine on the kitchen counter nearby and it was suddenly a little more clear. He must have felt the cold coming on the night before and taken a generous amount of the medicine preemptively. Still, he needed rest, food, and hydration, so letting him be up and about like this was out of the question.

Kana pulled her hand away and walked into the kitchen to begin preparing a small, easily digestible meal, a few cool washcloths, and a basin of cold water to keep the washcloths cold. “You know why I’m here. Neither Amano-san nor Aoi could come, so I got stuck on babysitting duty instead. I’m gonna make you some rice porridge and get you some cool washcloths, so go back to bed and lay back down, numbskull.”

“Yes Ma’am. I’ll follow your orders to the letter.” Junichiro mumbled, giving her a weak salute before stumbling back towards his bedroom.”

Kana rolled her eyes as she looked around for an apron. When she found one, she tied back her hair and got to work making a somewhat heaping portion of rice porridge for her sick co-star. She became so engrossed in her task that she didn’t even notice the faint smile that had crept onto her lips.