ODL – Chapter  54 – I Don’t Catch Colds

[Shizuka PoV]

“A… Nn…” (Shizuka)

The hoarse voice, reminiscent of a monster from a video game, faintly echoes in the cluttered room.

When I woke up, I could barely feel my body. Even when I try to raise my upper body as usual, my body doesn’t move an inch. I somehow manage to lift my head, but…

“Ow…” (Shizuka)

*thud*

…I crash-landed onto the pillow due to the overwhelming pain.

This is…

“…I caught a cold…” (Shizuka)

Uh, what should I do? Am I going to die…?

◆

[Souma PoV]

“See, I told you that you’d catch a cold.” (Souma)

“Sorry…” (Shizuka)

When I woke up in the morning, I received an ominous message on Rime saying, “(Help…)”

I had my suspicions that Shizuka was planning some pranks again, but I used my spare key to visit her nonetheless. When I entered, I found Shizuka half fallen off the bed, with her face buried in a mess of snack wrappers scattered on the floor.

When I asked, “What are you doing?” Shizuka responded in a vacant voice, saying something like, “I was licking the minimal salt residue inside the snack wrappers to somehow stay alive,” with irregular pauses. It was as if he had turned into some kind of youkai¹.

To cut to the chase, Shizuka hadn’t turned into a youkai; she had just gone a little crazy due to her fever. I quickly lifted her onto the bed and placed a wet towel on her forehead.

“Hehe… cool…” (Shizuka)

Shizuka had a faint smile on her face, but that same face was bright red, and sweat was trickling down her cheeks.

I glanced at my smartphone.

…It was almost time for my first class. I couldn’t quite decide whether it would be okay to leave Shizuka alone like this.

“Shizuka, are you hungry? I have some apples.” (Souma)

“…I can eat…” (Shizuka)

“Alright. Just wait a moment.” (Souma)

I hurried back to my house, cut the apple into bite-sized pieces, and placed them on a plate. When I returned to the room, the towel that I had placed on Shizuka’s forehead had somehow moved to cover her nose and mouth, and she was struggling to breathe. I gently moved the towel back to her forehead, and she let out a relieved “phew”.

“I thought I was going to die…” (Shizuka)

“How did the towel even get there? Were you tossing and turning?” (Souma)

“It was itchy…” (Shizuka)

“That’s what happens when you writhe. Here, can you eat this?” (Souma)

I held the apple slice on a toothpick and put it near Shizuka’s mouth. Her eyes slowly fixed on the apple, and with a movement reminiscent of someone feeding their pet turtle, she reached out and took a bite. It was a bit inappropriate, but it was somehow amusing.

“…It’s hard to eat…” (Shizuka)

“Oh, maybe because you’re lying down. Why don’t you try sitting up?” (Souma)

“Yeah…” (Shizuka)

Shizuka nodded slightly. I slid my arm between Shizuka’s back and the bed, lifted her upper body, and propped her up against the bed.

With her head against the wall, Shizuka stared blankly into space for a moment, then slowly turned her gaze toward me. As soon as our eyes met, she awkwardly broke into a smile.

“…Souma-kun… Good morning.” (Shizuka)

“Good morning. How are you feeling?” (Souma)

“…Mmm… Not great.” (Shizuka)

“I see. Well, have some more apples.” (Souma)

“Yeah…” (Shizuka)

From then on, I was engaged with the task of bringing apple slices to Shizuka’s mouth continuously. Shizuka munched on the apple pieces, sounding somewhat like a turtle, which was amusing but also a bit embarrassing. It seemed like she was quite hungry because before I knew it, the plate was empty.

“Thank you…” (Shizuka)

“Don’t mention it. Part of this is my fault anyway… Here, I brought some medicine, so take it.” (Souma)

I handed Shizuka the cold medicine and a bottle of water I had brought from my home. However, Shizuka just stared into space and didn’t reach out to take them. I had no choice but to place the tablet in her hand, and only then did she notice and swallow it. For some reason, she tried to gulp it down with saliva, so I quickly handed her the bottle of water. She sure is acting like a needy child.

“Alright, I’m gonna let you rest.” (Souma)

I gently laid Shizuka down on the bed and placed the towel back on her forehead. When I checked my phone, I realized I was running out of time. I had a message from Mafuyu-chan asking, “Where are you?” She must have invaded my house using the spare key because I hadn’t shown up on time.

“…Shizuka, are you okay on your own?” (Souma)

If it’s not okay, then I’ll skip university today. There’s no need to even think about which is more important between Shizuka and classes.

“It’s okay… I’ll sleep…” (Shizuka)

Shizuka’s sleeping face seemed much more peaceful than before. I didn’t think the medicine had kicked in yet, but maybe the apple and water had helped. She wasn’t coughing, and the thermometer I had placed under her arm was showing a slight fever, but nothing too serious. It seemed like she would be fine on her own for now.

“I see. I’ll come by to check on you around noon, so if you need anything, just text me on Rime.” (Souma)

“… Got it…” (Shizuka)

After making sure that Shizuka had started to sleep peacefully, I left the room.

“Don’t go…” (Shizuka)

I thought I heard a voice that seemed to tug at my heartstrings, but I had already left the room, and given Shizuka’s condition earlier, I couldn’t imagine her saying that. It was probably just my anxious imagination playing tricks on me.

“Geh…” (Souma)

As I stepped into the entrance, I coincidentally made eye contact with Mafuyu-chan, who had just come out of my house.

“…Huh.” (Mafuyu)

As soon as Mafuyu-chan saw me coming out of Shizuka’s house, her eyes darkened with a deep shade of black.

…I felt like the bell signaling the start of the second round had rung, but this time, it probably wasn’t a hallucination.

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TL notes:

Thanks for reading!

Rip MC, it was a good run while it lasted but there were too many Shizuka-focused chapters in a row.

Well, I guess Shizuka didn’t really get much spotlight with the exception of her PoV.

LMAO I just found out that you now need to be signed in to NU to click on the links to the chapter LOL. No wonder the number of people who come from Novelupdates.com dropped by 80%. Is this a bug or a bad feature? NU didn’t even make any announcement addressing this wtf?

Condolences to the bigger TL groups who are impacted more by this change/bug.

Edit: LMAO and apparently NU also broke their login somehow and there are people who can’t log into their NU account. But for some reason they can log in to their NU forums account. Wtf is happening?

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Footnote:

1. Youkais are basically supernatural entities or spirits