Chapter 14

A short while later, Kana entered Junichiro’s bedroom with a large tray in hand. A steaming bowl of rice porridge sat on one side, while a bowl of cold water containing several washcloths sat on the other. Kana moved slowly and deliberately to avoid letting her natural clumsiness break through and cause her to stumble and lose her last half hour of work.

Junichiro laid in his bed, bundled up under several layers of blankets to seek relief from the fever-induced chills he was no doubt experiencing. His thumb moved idly on his phone screen in front of his face as he stared groggily at his social media feed, barely conscious of what was being beamed into his eyes.

Ugh, this really is gonna be like babysitting, Kana thought to herself. She sat the tray down on the nightstand next to Junichiro’s bed and pulled a chair up to the side. She quickly plucked Junichiro’s phone out of his hand and set it down next to the tray. He offered little in the way of resistance besides a soft groan.

Junichiro looked over at her with half-lidded eyes. “Shirahama, do you think I’ll get better in time for my date with the girl of my dreams in a few days?”

“Yeah, I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Kana dismissed as she grabbed his arm and pulled him up into a sitting position, “Now sit up. You’re not a baby or a bedridden old man, so I’m not gonna feed you. You’ve got to do that part for yourself, at least.”

After a few moments of being dazed, Junichiro reached over and grabbed the bowl of rice porridge. “Thanks for the food.” he mumbled softly.

To Kana’s surprise, Junichiro had a bigger appetite than she had expected from someone who looked so weak and delirious from fever. It only took him a few minutes to scarf down the entire portion of rice porridge that was in the bowl. The bowl was completely empty when he set it back down on the tray; even the sides had been scraped clean. Kana had never really thought much of her cooking, but something about seeing someone completely devour something she’d made filled her with a small sense of pride.

Junichiro blinked a few times after he sat down the bowl, then promptly laid back down in his bed and pulled the mass of blankets back up over his shoulders. It looked almost like he was in some kind of giant cocoon, waiting to emerge as a weird, bad boy butterfly. Kana stifled a giggle at the thought.

“Thanks again for the food Shirahama… It was really good…” Junichiro mumbled as his eyes fluttered shut.

Kana smiled to herself. It’d be a cold day in hell before she ever admitted it, but something about him when he was like this—with his guard down and not trying to keep up appearances for a public following that would never truly know him—was almost endearing. She turned to the bowl of cold water and wrung out a washcloth to put on his forehead to keep him cool.

“Don’t worry about it, I’m just doing what anyone would-”

“With cooking skills like that…I’m sure you’ll find a great partner someday, Shirahama…”

Kana’s head snapped over to the bed, her cheeks and ears burning with some tomato-ey combination of anger and embarrassment at the perceived sarcastic comment. Unfortunately, there was no longer anyone there for her to lash out at. Junichiro snored softly beneath the covers, already departed on his journey into a land of feverish dreams. Kana practically threw the cool washcloth onto his forehead, then took a deep breath to calm herself. Relax, Kana. He didn’t mean anything by it. It was just the fever talking, she told herself. Kana shook her head, jumped up, and slipped into the nearby bathroom to try to gather her bearings.

Junichiro’s bathroom was much more…disorderly than the rest of his apartment. It wasn’t filthy or unclean or anything like that, just cluttered and disorganized. As her eyes drifted across the bathroom, they caught on the shape of a familiar looking canister, but only for a moment as her thoughts dragged her attention away.

Kana looked into the mirror and stared into the icy blue eyes of her reflection. Something about what Junichiro had said in his feverish state of half-sleep had really gotten to her, for some reason. It made her think of Naoya. Of the sudden prospect of a future beyond just the next date. Until now, she hadn’t really thought of what she wanted out of her relationship with Naoya. She liked him, of course, maybe even loved him. But did she want a future with him? Junichiro’s passing groggy remark had shoved that question into her mind. Her heart knew that she wanted to be with Naoya, but her mind didn’t know if she was ready to make the leap.

Kana turned on the sink and splashed some water in her face. I can think about this later, she thought. Right now, I have to deal with that idiot out there and make sure he isn’t sick any longer than he has to be. She looked back up at herself in the mirror. She could almost see the uncertainty in her eyes. A few seconds later though, she got just the distraction she needed as her thoughts were interrupted by a loud clang from Junichiro’s room.

Kana flung open the bathroom door to see what the noise was, only to see that Junichiro had turned over in his sleep and knocked the bowl of water she had been using for the washcloths off the nightstand. She slumped her shoulders and let out a groan at the sight of the water spilling across the floor and the washcloth she had just placed on Junichiro’s forehead lying in the middle of the spreading puddle. As annoyed as she was, she was secretly glad to have something to distract her from the formless doubts in her mind, even as they continued to tug at the back of her subconscious. Kana spent the next few minutes grumpily cleaning up the mess with a towel. She took the tray to the kitchen, washed the bowl the rice porridge had been in, and refilled the water bowl so that she could keep Junichiro cool. Before she took it back into Junichiro’s room, she put the rest of the rice porridge she had made into a container and placed it in the refrigerator in case Junichiro got hungry after she left.

For the next couple of hours, she sat next to Junichiro, periodically changing out the washcloth on his forehead. After what felt like a small eternity, Junichiro’s face relaxed and his fever broke. Kana checked the time to see that it was late afternoon. She had spent more time there and put in more effort than she initially intended to. She needed to get home before people started getting off work and coming home, which would make it even harder for her to leave Junichiro’s apartment without being seen.

Kana gathered up her things in preparation to leave, then grabbed a pen and paper to write a quick note for Junichiro: Kurotaki, I left some rice porridge in the fridge if you get hungry again. Make sure to keep taking your medicine so that you get better in time for that date with your dream girl that you told me about in your sleep. Also so that I don’t have to kick your ass for putting the production behind schedule. P.S. Get sick more often, you’re more tolerable that way.

Kana read over her note and, satisfied with what she had written, placed it on Junichiro’s nightstand for him to see when he woke up. She took one last look at her co-star’s sleeping face as she shut his bedroom door. Naoya’s face flashed in her mind as she recalled Junichiro’s groggy words. She shook her head to dismiss the thoughts and quietly slipped out of the apartment.