Cause for Concern

“HNGAHHH” Atsuo uttered, jerking awake from his nightmare and hitting his elbow on the nightstand.

As he rubbed away the pain, he remembered what happened earlier.

He quickly touched his forehead, checking for any injuries. What he felt was a large bump that was bandaged with a piece of cloth.

With nothing in his immediate vicinity, he looked around the room, trying to understand his whereabouts. It was spacious, with multiple other beds, one of which was occupied by Lord Kaiser.

‘Infirmary…’

‘What is he doing…’ Atsuo thought looking at Lord Kaiser sleeping on one of the beds diagonally across from him.

Atsuo sighed, looking for his other friends.

Not far from Lord Kaiser’s bed, the friends sat in visitor chairs, with Crod carving something out of wood above a trash can, while Rivia and Eskasa were dozing off.

It seems that Crod was the only one who noticed Atsuo’s awakening. He put whatever he was doing aside and brought his chair closer to Atsuo’s bed.

“How are you feeling?” he asked in a low, concerned tone.

“I’m… fine. What happened to me?” Atsuo asked, holding his throbbing head.

“The moment we sat down for dinner, you sprung back up and ran out of the cafeteria,” Crod explained, “then you were running down the corridor, when you suddenly collided with Eboro.”

Atsuo cringed from embarrassment. He did not want any misunderstandings and weird rumors going around about his lunatic behaviour from yesterday, though justified at that point in time.

“Kaiser and I were running right behind you. We explained that it was an accident, but Eboro was apologizing instead,” Crod said, “then we carried you here, the infirmary.”

“Since then, it’s been…” Crod glanced at the clock on the wall, “about three hours.”

Atsuo looked down at his bedsheets, feeling bad for all the problems he caused for his friends.

These past few days, he spent more time in the infirmaries than his own beds.

The realization alone was sickening.

‘Why do I always end up here…’ he thought bitterly, clutching his covers.

“I’m sorry,” Atsuo muttered with a depressed look on his face, “because of me you guys didn’t even–”

“Ah. Don’t worry, all of us ate,” Crod quickly said, “we took turns to go. Eskasa and I ate, while Kaiser and Rivia watched over you, and then we switched.”

“Oh… I see” Atsuo said, looking back down.

“Before I forget, we got you something, too,” Crod said, pointing towards the nightstand, “we thought you wouldn’t want to go back there, so we decided to get you something to go.”

“We didn’t know how long you would be asleep, so we agreed on getting you something that is meant to be eaten cold” he added, as Atsuo turned towards the nightstand.

Starving, he did not hesitate and jumped on the box of food.

“Thank you,” he said, hastily opening the package, as Crod nodded while smiling.

It was a noodle dish with some unknown sauce and what Atsuo presumed to be chicken.

Along with a separate bowl of salad, the dish was delicious. Or maybe it was the hunger, Atsuo wondered.

Regardless, he enjoyed every bite as the food quickly disappeared.

After he finished, he remembered something strange as he put away the empty box.

“By the way…” Atsuo began, turning to Crod as he wiped his mouth, “what’s going on with Kaiser?”

“Oh, him? He’s sleeping like the other two” Crod said motioning towards Eskasa and Rivia with a nod.

In the visitor area, Rivia was sleeping on Eskasa’s shoulder, while Eskasa rested her head on Rivia’s. Somehow, they managed to make it look comfortable.

Atsuo chuckled at the sight, remembering himself and Crollo spending the painful night in Lodre’s office.

All the while, Lord Kaiser was snoring almost as loudly as in his own room.

“Should we wake them?” Crod asked, watching the friends dormant in the wrong place.

“Probably,” Atsuo replied, “they should sleep normally, upstairs.”

Crod agreed and they woke them up.

The friends showed instant concern for Atsuo, asking whether he was fine, and whether he ate.

“I’m fine” he replied and turned to a surprisingly quiet Lord Kaiser.

“What’s wrong?” Atsuo asked him.

“Nothing…” Lord Kaiser replied blankly.

Atsuo stared at him for a few seconds, before turning to Eskasa and Rivia.

“I appreciate you looking after me. I… should be fine now,” he said uneasily, “you guys need to go get some proper rest. I’m sorry for all the trouble you went through because of me.”

“Are you going to sleep here…?” Rivia asked hesitantly.

“Yeah…”

Atsuo thought it would be best if he remained in the infirmary for the night. However, Rivia’s troubled look did not go anywhere.

“Don’t worry,” Lord Kaiser said out of nowhere, seeing her anxiousness, “I’ll stay with him just in case.”

Taken aback, Atsuo and the others turned to him, surprised.

“What?” Lord Kaiser asked confused.

“Nothing…” Rivia answered, “…we’ll leave him to you…”

With that, they said their goodbyes and left.

Before making himself comfortable and going to sleep, Atsuo wanted to take a pill he got from Ronna, just in case.

However, before he could do so, Lord Kaiser turned to him, visibly perturbed.

After the friends finally left, he got the perfect opportunity to share with Atsuo what was bugging him this entire time.

“Sleeper…” he began anxiously.

Atsuo didn’t like the look in his eyes.

“For the first time in my life… I had a dream…” Lord Kaiser said seriously, sweat forming on his forehead.

“A bad one...”