Daisuke’s hand pressed onto the mattress and he leaned towards me. He slowly edged his face towards mine. I shut my eyes, expecting the worse.

What I didn’t see in that moment was that, as Daisuke grew near, his lips twitched as he stared at mine. He watched my expression and his eyes glazed over for a brief instant. But then he remembered something that made him think otherwise.

He tapped his forehead against mine, admitting defeat. “Your fever rose,” He says. He pulls away and I open my eyes slowly, feeling disappointed. But why? “You’re burning up.”

“O-Oh, right, the fever.” I stutter. I touch my forehead and feel that it’s the hottest my forehead’s ever been. “Do you think I’ll be able to play against Sakuraki?”

“I doubt it with such a high fever.” He says. “Playing like this might mean that your fever will rise to dangerous levels and your brain might boil.”

I start to get scared for an instant before I look at the cheesy smile on Daisuke’s face. “Your lying,” I say. “That wouldn’t really happen.”

“Yes it could.”

“No, it can’t!”

“Yes it could~” He says in a sing-song voice. We both start to crack up, laughing our asses off like a couple of idiots.

It’s been so long since I last laughed like this--I can’t even remember when the last time was. A few minutes later, the nurse walked back into her office and yelled at me, telling me to lie back down. She takes my temperature again and freezes when she sees how high the number is. “I’m going to send you home.”

I sit up, even with her pestering me to lie back down. “I can’t do that--I need to play against Sakuraki.”

“No you don’t, Toujiro-san, you need rest more.”

“Screw rest, my body will heal when I’m done against Sakuraki.”

“Just lie back down, already! You don’t need to play today.”

Daisuke puts a hand on the nurse’s shoulder. “No, she...um, he needs to play right now.”