Guilt.

"Her temperature rose again..."

He felt a burning sensation as soon as he put his hand on Ayane's head.

"How can she withstand such high temperatures! Anyway, I have to do something about this quick-"

He looked at Ayane again, before leaving the room. Rushing downstairs, he searched for the kitchen, when he saw that the main door was unlocked.

"What the heck... how irresponsible am I?", he said, before rushing there, closing the door and again looking for the kitchen.

Luckily, it was easy to find.

"So this is the kitchen..."

He searched around for a bit, before he found a big enough bowl to fit plenty of water. Placing it in the sink and turning it on, he waited for it to fill up.

The sound of the water flowing echoed in his head, as he thought of the heinous deed he did.

"I-I... skipped school..."

His worry was visible in his face, which reflected in his action, as he failed to turn of the tap and prevent it from overflowing, being off-minded.

"Ayane-chan's priority comes first.", he shook off his thought.

He took the bowl, before carefully taking it upstairs to prevent it from dripping, but a few drops of it fell anyway.

He entered her room, before gently placing the bowl of water on the floor. Taking his bag that was on the corner of the room, he took out his handkerchief.

"I guess this will work for now...", he said, before folding it into a rectangular shape.

Audible sound of distress could be heard as Ayane's face was getting redder by the minute. Even though Kanako tried to maintain his composure, he sometimes panicked. It was the first time he had experienced fever of such magnitude. He remembered taking care of her mother when she had a fever, but it was not this high.

He also remembered the times his mother used to take care of him when he was ill, when suddenly, the thought came into his head.

"Its gonna be alright, Ayane-chan.", he said, as he started stroking her sleeping head to comfort her.

His mother used to do it when he was feeling the same during fever. As the continued, Ayane's cry came down effectively, which proved this technique's efficiency.

As he calmed down a bit, he soaked his handkerchief in the water, before squeezing the excess and placing it on Ayane's head to cool it down a bit.

He sat there patiently, looking at Ayane's face, and occasionally changing the water in the handkerchief. Looking at her he slowly remembered his memories of sickness and how his mother helped him time and again. Which elevated his feeling of guilt.

"How will mom react if she came to know that his son skipped school? Will she forgive me?"

His thoughts, as well as his guilt, grew stronger.