Chapter 2
The Angel’s Offer
Translated by:newton
"Amane, you’re being noisy."
"You’re noisy too."
The day afterwards, the one who got a cold was actually Amane.
As his cla.s.smate (and bad friend) Itsuki Akazawa pointed out, Amane tried to blow his nose but failed.
Instead of exhaling regularly, his nose ended up producing all sorts of wet sounds.
He was in the worst state possible, and either because of his clogged nose or the cold he had. he felt a throbbing pain in his head.
Even after taking over-the-counter medicine, his symptoms were not completely suppressed.
Ah, due to his clogged nose, Amane began getting on good terms with the tissues, so Itsuki stopped looking worried and looked towards him drowsily.
"You were okay until yesterday."
"It was raining hard."
"Shouldn’t be a problem, you brought an umbrella with you yesterday."
"…I gave it away to someone."
Of course, without saying that he gave it to Mahiru at school, the meaning became ambiguous.
Incidentally, he was able to catch a glimpse of Mahiru at school, and she seemed to be fine and with healthy complexion, so the situation he was in, where he was the one who gave the umbrella and yet he was the only one who caught a cold, was truly laughable.
Well, because he didn’t warm up properly while taking a bath, he only had himself to blame.
"Giving away an umbrella in that kind of rain, don’t you love that person too much?"
"h.e.l.l no, I gave it away without meaning to."
"What kind of person would you risk getting such an inconvenient cold for?"
"…a lost child pa.s.sing by?"
The "child" in question had a great body, but to be fair, the "child" was in the same year as them anyway.
(oh yeah, that’s right, she did have the face of a lost child)
he said to himself, and he was satisfied with that.
At the time, Mahiru did look exactly like a lost child seeking her parents.
"How kind."
Not knowing that Amane was remembering Mahiru from yesterday, Itsuka laughed mockingly.
"But, hey, even if you lent the umbrella, I wonder if you actually wiped your body dry properly. That’s probably the reason you’re sick."
"…of course I know that."
"You’ll find out once you actually go back home."
"That’s why you caught a cold, iiiiiidiot," he chided, and Amane had no choice but to keep his mouth shut.
Just like Itsuka said, Amane didn’t really care much about his own well-being.
To be more specific, he wasn’t good at organizing things, his room was a mess, and the things he usually ate were convenience store food or dietary supplements. Occasionally, he went out to eat.
The only thing Itsuka admired about him was the fact that he lived alone.
If you were looking at Amane the same way Itsuka was, you’d agree that with his lifestlye, it’s no wonder he caught a cold that easily.
"For today,
"I’ll do that…"
"It’d at least be nice to have a girl to come take care of you, huh…"
"Shut up and stop flexing about your girlfriend."
While Itsuka was proudly speaking, Amane got angry and slapped the tissue box with the back of his hand.
As time went on, Amane’s physical condition began to grow worse.
Although he had a headache and clogged nose initially, it was the addition of a sore throat and fatigue that made him lose control of his body.
After school, although he rushed back home without even looking to his sides, the cold took more out of him than he thought and he ended up getting there slower than usual.
Nevertheless, when he finally made it to the entrance of his apartment complex, he walked into the elevator with heavy footing, and leaned against the wall.
"Haaa…" His breaths were hotter and more ragged than usual.
Apparently he’d been enduring in school, but as soon as he got home, his body started acting up.
The unique floaty feeling that you get when riding elevators, though usually normal, was now raw pain for him.
Even then, he still returned home.
The elevator stopped on the floor where he lived, and Amane slowly made it over to where his room was – he steeled his will.
At the end of the hallway, there stood a girl with blonde hair that he thought he would never talk to again.
Although you’d think she’d have caught a cold, she still looked lively. From this, the differences between people who do and don’t take care of their bodies were shown.
In Mahiru’s hand was the umbrella given to her from yesterday, held tightly and folded back up.
It seems to have found its way back to Amane even when he said she didn’t need to return it.
"Even if you don’t return it, I’m still glad."
"Isn’t it natural to return what you borrowed-"
She cut her words, or rather, her words were cut, when she looked at Amane’s face.
"Um. Do you have… a fever…?"
"…it’s none of your business."
"This was the worst possible timing," Amane scowled.
The umbrella was something irrelevant, whether or not it was returned didn’t make a difference.
However, meeting up with this timing wasn’t good. If she was smart, she’d immediately figure out why Amane got a cold.
"But, since I borrowed the umbrella, you…"
"I did it for selfish reasons, so there’s no need to worry."
"There is. I was there, and so you got a cold."
"It’s really nothing like that. Don’t mind me."
As for Amane, his decision back then was entirely self-serving, so he felt abhorred by the idea of being bothered by her about this.
Despite this, Mahiru seemed to have no intention to leave. The graceful beauty was leaving Amane impatient.
"…well, okay, I guess. See ya."
Because Amane found it hard to be interrogated like this, he forcibly escaped from Mahiru’s probing and worry.
While shaking, he got the umbrella and took his room key out of his pocket. Things were going well up to that point.
The moment he opened his door, his body lost its strength.
When he finally entered his house, though might have been bad to relax then and there, he propped himself up against the back wall. (tl note: presumably to slump over further)
"Yikes," he thought, though the fence was st.u.r.dy enough to not break from a hit, and the height guaranteed that there would be no risk of falling. "A small b.u.mp would only hurt lightly, so I guess…" And with that, he braced for pain.
However, his arm was tightly pulled and he was propped back up into his original position.
"…As expected, you couldn’t leave me alone."
The frail voice reached some level of sense.
"I’m returning what I borrowed."
His fever was rising, and so with his cloudy mind, he stopped resisting her advances.
Before trying to make sense of the situation, Mahiru supported Amane’s powerless body and opened the door to his house.
"I’m in, but this intrusion is inevitable, so please forgive me."
She spoke in a quiet voice, such that it might as well not have mattered whether or not she spoke.
As Amane was powerless to resist, he ended up getting pulled home for the first time by a woman his age.
It wasn’t a nurse, but apparently an angel who had decided to take care of him