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minamimotonagi · 4 years ago

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An Equation Called “Love”

Nagi is starting off her college days at Realground college. She wouldn't have expected her first day to become a major plot-twist to her life.

(Warning: This fan-fiction may contain spoilers for the first 'The World Ends With You' game and may contain 'NEO The World Ends With You' spoilers up until the demo. If you don't want spoilers for either of those two sources, you are reading at your own discretion.

This is the Safe For Work version of this fan-fiction.

This fan-fiction is wholly interpretations of how they would interact.)

Originally posted to ArchiveOfOurOwn account ZettaCute.

Chapter 1: Realground College

The woman with medium length purple hair half tied into twin tails held up by green ribbons rushed out the door. It was her first day of college today. The badges in her itabag made small clashing metal noises as she ran with a piece of toast in her mouth to the building.

Huff... Huff...

There she had ended up after a ten minute rush. She didn't want to be late for the first day.

This was it. Realground College.

Chapter 2: First Class, Introduction To Animation

Nagi whispered motivational speech to herself, inspired by what her favourite character would usually say. She was more than likely imagining him cheering her on in her head at this point.

The college building she entered had a huge doorway which until she looked up, didn't even seem to have a top to it. Its exterior and interior were like nothing she had ever seen before. Exterior-wise, it was fashioned to be intricate. An eye-pleaser. Interior wise, the building was spacious. Filled with many new students getting ready for their first day of either college or their course.

"Lord of the educational system, accept my power!" Nagi exclaimed. Her anime badges jingled with her pointing pose, legs spread wide as if she had just asked to be taken on an adventure quest. The tutor in front of her blankly stared at the purple haired woman.

"Um... What's your name... Ma'am...?" The tutor asked in surprise at the interaction. He scratched at his bald head which was covered by an old-fashioned cap on the top.

"Villainess Nagi of the special ward of Tokyo, Shibuya!" She announced eccentrically. Some heads had already turned towards the bizarre woman.

"...Nagi, right?" He replied after an awkward silence, most likely him trying to figure out what our protagonist, Nagi, had just said. The man pointed to a door to Nagi's right on the other side of the room. "Your classroom." He handed her a planner.

Nagi made her way to the classroom labelled "Animation Studio", shocked to have a dark man go past her and almost knock the plushie key ring off her bag. She stumbled, regaining her balance from the surprise. She sighed when she looked back at the man who had almost took her off her feet. He had mid-length dark brown hair and a dully coloured outfit. He was dark, too. Nagi took out her phone to look at pictures of her anime husbando before her college day started. Was there really someone that perfect out there? She didn't have enough time left to catch up with him. Class would start in a few minutes. Internally she prayed to see that man once again. She needed proof that it wasn't just a mistake from him flashing by her.

The classroom was filled with at least twenty animation students getting ready for their first day. The desks were unit separated work tables with desktop computers installed into them. Nagi sat herself down to a seat, got her equipment out and made herself comfortable. She put a small plushie of her husbando in her work space leaned against the computer 's box which stood next to the monitor. The only other thing on her desk that was already placed there before she came apart from the computer was a drawing tablet, a necessary piece of equipment for an animation student. She was ready for this course! Of course, since she lived in Japan, drawing hot anime men was perfectly acceptable for this course. And she could cope with drawing other things too. At least she got to admire her favourite things, created by her own hands this time.

Fingers clicked in-front of Nagi's zoned out face. Tan fingers. Nagi took a pause.

"-You!" She exclaimed, getting up just to pose and point at this man. It was him! The one who knocked her a little.

"...Zetta weird." The tall tan man replied. Nagi could see it now. This man looked feral.

He was hot.

"I bestow you everything and will even sacrifice my life to you, (CHARACTER NAME)!" Nagi replied back.

... ......

There was awkward silence between the two. Hell, not just between the two. Between the whole room.

"...Who are you, hectopascal?" The man asked, adjusting his wonky lanyard so it's mathematically in place.

"The beautiful villainess known as Nagi of the special ward of Tokyo, Shibuya!" She added an extended emphasis on Shibuya's pronunciation.

"I don't give a digit about the other garbage, Nagi." He replied. "This is my latest masterpiece of a college entry: name's Sho Minamimoto. Call me Minamimoto."

"Almighty lord Minamimoto..." Nagi said with a bit of a higher pitched fangirling noise near to the end of her sentence.

"That's right!" Minamimoto folded his arms proudly.

"That's too loud! Shush!" Said the Animation tutor who had just entered the classroom. "To your seats, please."

Minamimoto sat down at the unit next to Nagi. Most likely, he was originally going to ask if he could sit there. Given the way Nagi had responded, there wasn't any harm for him to take the available seat next to her.

First animation class of the course was an introduction to the course. Nagi looked over to Minamimoto briefly. He rolled his eyes at the screen. It was as if he had listened to this lecture many times before. Nagi brought back her attention to the projector screen in front of her that the tutor was pointing to, reading out and explaining what they would do for the courses projects. Nothing seemed too difficult yet. Nagi felt like this course wasn't going to eat at her easily. She felt ready to take it on. A hot man sitting next to her made it an even better start to the course. She was ready to create art and animation of hot anime men!

Chapter 3: Lunch Break

When it was lunch break after a two hour introduction lecture which had a small fifteen minute break in-between it, Nagi put her equipment and plushie away. She picked up her bag to leave. As she was about to leave, Minamimoto put a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to him. He scratched his head and begun to speak to her.

"Want to crunch some factors?" Minamimoto asked her. Nagi pointed her finger to her mouth, thinking.

"Get lunch?" She asked, making sure that was what he meant. Minamimoto nodded his head.

Nagi and Minamimoto made their way to the cafeteria to get lunch together. They walked side by side, looking like a couple to most people they passed due to Nagi's itabag. Of course they weren't one... Yet. Nagi had her eyes set on this man if he was single. She paused as they were walking.

"Zetta slow." Minamimoto rolled his eyes. "My stomachs ready to crunch some factors." He complained.

"...Sorry." Nagi put on a nervous fake smile. She caught up. Continuing to walk along side the tan man. Minamimoto was looking at her, waiting for her to finish what she was going to say. "Um... Never-mind." She hesitated from saying what she was going to say. Minamimoto shrugged to himself. He kept on walking until they reached the cafeteria counter.

Minamimoto looked at the menu hungrily. He almost drooled at the sweet desserts. Nagi was too busy watching her new friend's reaction to the sweet treats to look at the menu just yet. As he was about to turn around to her, she brought her attention to the menu. She didn't want to make it obvious she had been watching him for a bit. She put a hand on her chin, uttered out a hmm and tried to decide what to have for lunch. She went with a regular enough curry rice that was hard for anyone to mess up. After eyeing a very sweet looking dessert, Minamimoto knew what he wanted.

"You're only having afters?" Nagi asked after ordering a simple curry rice for herself.

"I could crunch some food times two." Minamimoto replied, ordering himself a regular slightly sweet meal and a sickly sweet dessert. Nagi went bleh in an imitation under her breath. Especially when she realised he had also ordered a caramel macchiato with that. It was a fancy cafeteria for a college but that was overboard on sugar levels.

The two ate their meals at an available table with only two chairs assigned to it. They chatted to each other during eating their lunch. While chatting, Nagi took an available moment to ask Minamimoto what she wanted to ask him earlier.

After an amount of awkward stuttering, she finally managed to get it out.

"So," She laughed nervously, eyes turning to look to the side while eyelids drooped on the furthest sides. A timorous smile on her face. "Almighty lord Minamimoto, are you single?" She bit her lip after asking that question, her nervous expression not swept away.

"I have zero equal integers. I'm a single digit." Minamimoto replied. "Why did you want to know the answer to that equation?" He finished speaking.

Nagi rubbed her hand behind her purple hair nervously. She moved her hand so it was playing with the front lengths of her hair. She finally found an appropriate excuse of an answer. It was a slightly slow thought process due to the situation.

"You look like you're popular." Nagi told him.

"Zetta popular." Minamimoto responded. "But you need to recalculate if you think I'm that zetta popular enough to have a equal integer." He was just finishing the last bite of the dessert he had recently moved on to. He was quick at engulfing all of that sweet content down. Nagi nodded, continuing on the conversation like she hadn't asked a question she needed answered. Yes! Her crush was single. His quirky math loving personality only added to her attraction for him. It would be possible for her to also get used to his sweet tooth for food.

[Notes -

equal integer = a romantic partner]

Chapter 4: Fight

[Notes -

Spoiler: No, this isn't angsty. Not an actual spoiler but a heads-up for people who aren't a fan of reading angst to not worry. I don't like writing angst that much so you're safe. LOL.]

After they had eaten, it was time to head back to class. They had filled in their decent length of free time with conversation.

As they walked back to the Animation Studio, some guys ganged up around Nagi. The weirdos threw out insults at the short woman who was cowering in fear. Minamimoto came up to them. He beat them up, wiping a small mark of blood off his face when he was done with them. Nagi was in shock at how he had responded to her being ganged up on. In shock but thankful. He was like an anime or game protagonist. She heavily digged it.

"You zetta sons of digits!" He spat. "Leave my coprime integer alone!"

Unfortunately for Minamimoto, a tutor walked into the scene. It was the same old man from earlier. The tutor saw the unconscious students laying on the floor. He shook his head at Minamimoto. He was in deep shit for heavily beating up the students who tried ganging up on Nagi.

"Come with me, Mr. Minamimoto." The tutor said in a stern voice. Minamimoto looked down in shame, expression hard to read thanks to his hat. Nagi followed after. The tutor hadn't realised she followed them all the way to the student support room. He sat Minamimoto down, sighed and sat Nagi down to a chair too.

The tutor laid down paperwork on the table in front of Minamimoto. It was about having a valid reason to not be expulsed from what Nagi could see. She wanted to scream at that moment. Her new friend was about to be kicked out first day?

Nagi couldn't let that happen. Especially not when Minamimoto had a valid reason to not be kicked out. It was an act of defense. Not self defense, but defending a friend who couldn't fend herself at that moment.

"You should head back to class, Miss Nagi." Requested the tutor. She shook head.

"No!" She exclaimed. "Almighty lord Minamimoto didn't do anything wrong!" She had an angry expression on her face. She needed to prove his actions were justified.

"Nagi, it's okay." Minamimoto sighed. "My third time being out my vector about the course." The tutor sighed listening into their conversation, waiting for the moment he could speak.

"Your third time beating people up." The tutor said in a fed up tone. "Before you even begun creating those crap pile trash heaps."

"Trash heaps?" Nagi sounded confused.

"My garbage heaps are masterpieces." A grimace appeared on Minamimoto's face as he replied with that. Was it just Nagi or did Minamimoto's speech go normal for a second? There were no mathematical references thrown into his speech. This was getting weirdly interesting. The tutor let out a long sigh at the tall tanned man. Most likely not the first time he had this talk.

What had been a normal conversation turned into a full on argument between Minamimoto and the tutor. Another tutor came over to Nagi, instructing her to go back to class and informing her that her new friend would be fine. She headed back to the Animation Studio.

[Notes -

Coprime integer - friend In this work, Minamimoto refers to relationship partners as "equal integers." A "coprime integer" in his definition is a platonic friend.]

Chapter 5: Second Class, Concept Designs

In class, Nagi apologized for being so late. She explained why Minamimoto wasn't back. The tutor sighed, saying again? under her breath. She gave Nagi an explanation not to get too involved with Minamimoto's drama. She didn't want her new student to fall behind due to an old one who kept failing his course acting up.

It was Nagi's first time in her new course getting to use the computer equipped on her unit to create some art in this course. The instructions were to draw whatever the student desired to as long as it was an original character design. After the computer power on which wasn't in bad timing, the purple haired woman begun to boot up the art program and begun drawing an anime character concept design. As Nagi was about to get her plushie out of her bag, she realised something. It wasn't there. She let out a horrible scream.

"Gyahhh!" She caterwauled.

"...Miss Nagi?" The tutor said in a questioning tone. She looked almost as astonished as Nagi did. That was loud.

"My bag!" Nagi cried. "It's not here!" Tears were rolling down the small woman's face.

A tall figure with dark brown medium length hair walked in the room. Nagi turned her attention to the man. He had a purple bag held over his back like a potato sack.

"Yo, zeptograms."

It looked like a scene that came out of a game. Nagi hiccupped and went over to him.

"Almighty lord Minamimoto, is that my bag?" Her sobbing had punctuated her speech. "Thank you so much, I owe you my life and my soul." She was filled with gratitude, falling to the floor and bowing for him. Minamimoto pulled her up by her wrist. He put her itabag on her available arm. Nagi had gone flushed. Minamimoto had already let go of her and was back in his seat before she snapped back into the situation. She shook her head, returning to her desk unit to continue the work set.

The tutor came over to explain to Minamimoto what to do. She seemed to be struggling to get him to understand he needed to make a character design. He was being told to try not drawing a trash heap. Or to at least make it into some sort of creature.

"You could make it mathematically related?" Nagi suggested as she worked on her own piece.

"She's right, Minamimoto." The tutor sighed in relief. "Try designing a character that's mathematically related." Minamimoto's eyes got slightly bigger how like a cats would thinking about it. "Try that idea out." The tutor said before leaving off to help out another student.

Minamimoto was in full concentration mode on the screen now. Nagi smiled. She continued with her own work. Her character was starting to come together. Man, did he look handsome. She was almost drooling at the screen at this point.

It was a fun first hands on experience for the course. The tutor did have to come over to Minamimoto a few times to make sure he wasn't getting side tracked with equations and trash heaps. He had been shouted at a few times during that class. Other than that happening, it was enjoyable.

To Be Continued...

#shonagi #neo twewy spoilers #twewy spoilers #minamimoto #nagi #fanfiction #fan fiction #part 1 #sho minamimoto

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kaiunkaiku · 7 years ago

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It’s. An. Actual. Fic. Can you believe that?

@glassyartist and I talked about a Code:Breaker sickfic a while ago, and by “a while” I literally mean a fucking year, and I actually managed to finish something.

This is set in the “couple of days” between chapters 88 and 89 because that’s literally the only possibility if I want Toki in the mansion and his arms out of the casts.

I don’t even know what to put in the warnings because who is actually going to read a fic of a series they’ve never even heard of? Illness, passing out, possible OOCness and I can’t believe I actually just wrote “OOCness” in 2017, and, as usual, me attempting to write dialogue.

“Toki-kun?” comes the question. “Are you sure you're alright?” Again. Toki grits his teeth and takes a deep breath to calm his nerves. He’s not going to blow up now, not going to snap at Sakura even though this is probably the fifth time she’s asking the exact same question. He’s exhausted and aching all over, but that's not something the others need to know. His head feels like there's a band around it, tightening as the minutes tick by. The cool surface of the table he’s currently leaning on is somewhat of a saving grace - he's quite sure he would be puking his guts up by now, if it wasn't for that.

Not like it isn't going to happen in the next few hours, but for now he tries to fight it. So he keeps his forehead to the table and mumbles a hopefully irritated-sounding, “Still sure" that probably comes out way more pitiful than he intended. He can feel Sakura’s eyes staring at him from the other side of the table, just as he can feel Yuuki’s gaze on him from the corner of the room. It’s silent, save for the quiet whirring of the fan rotating on the table between him and Sakura and Yuuki’s occasional mumble of the weird Nyanmaru song. Toki himself is begging for the sweet release of unconsciousness, or preferably death, to get away from the general god-awful feeling of malaise.

Toki doesn’t think he’s slept in the past week. Actually, he probably hasn’t slept in the past few years, but that he can put on the account of his manipulative ass of a father and the fact that he has to protect his sister from the prime minister of Japan.

Right now, he’s feeling those sleepless nights way heavier than what he’s used to. He knows the feeling of feeling physically ill upon waking up from two and a half hours of sleep, and this is not it. He thinks he might have a fever, but he doesn’t want Sakura fussing over him. Just the thought of someone touching him right now makes his skin prickle and hurt. Every breath he takes sends a wave of nausea through his body and aggravates his head even further and his skin feels a tad too tight. His head feels like it's full of rocks, or maybe blocks of iron and something is trying to pull them out. He feels sick.

The monotonous whirring and the cool flow of air eventually lull him to sleep. It’s dreamless and dark, and when he wakes up to Prince’s cold hand on his forehead he feels even worse than before. A quick glance at the clock on the wall tells him he’s slept for maybe two hours, but now there’s also a stabbing pain in his head in addition to the nauseating pressure.

Rui’s eyes are close and intense, carefully studying Toki’s face. There's a slightly startled look to them, as if she wasn't expecting him to wake up, but she doesn't pull back until after a few seconds.

Toki doesn’t really have energy to react, so he closes his eyes again and channels the last remnants of his dwindling focus to ward off the pain rather than snap at Prince.

Rui doesn’t move, though. Her presence stays beside Toki, radiating heat and authority. Because even though Toki is reluctant to admit that anyone has authority over him, he also recognizes that Rui holds authority over everything and everyone she lays her eyes upon.

The one single exception would be his father.

It’s clear that Rui isn’t just going to leave him alone. Toki also knows that he isn’t going to give in and actually admit aloud how horrible he actually feels. It’s a game he doesn’t really have any energy to play, this battle of the wills he knows he’s going to lose, but he clenches his fists and does anyway.

The clock tick-tock-ticks on the wall, the sound amplified in the otherwise silent room, and neither of them does anything. Rui’s presence doesn’t move, and Toki keeps his eyes closed and head on the table.

Eventually, to Toki’s surprise, it’s Rui who gives in. First she shifts, one leg moving from the previous cross-legged position to in front of her, and sets her wrist on her knee. Toki cracks an eye open, just barely but enough to see what she’s doing.

There’s another moment of silence, during which Rui leans back and cranes her neck, and Toki tenses in anticipation. He knows he’s going to lose this.

“Toki,” Rui finally starts, her voice too loud in the quiet space. It stabs at Toki’s head, straight through his ears and eyes directly into his brain and it takes all the self-control he has not to show how much a two-syllable word just made him want to die of pain. Instead, he makes a noncommittal grunt that could probably be interpreted as “yeah?” or something similar.

“How long have you been sick?” she continues.

“I’m not,” he mumbles, the response automatic to such a question. Rui’s expression reveals she doesn’t believe him for a second.

She goes for a different tactic than Toki anticipated. Instead of arguing with him and insisting on it, she looks him in the eyes and, very slowly, drawls, “Really.”

Then she practically jumps up, the motion looking way too easy for Toki. The act of clenching his fists requires too much energy. He’s slightly terrified at what Prince has in mind, now, because he was fully expecting an argument along the lines of am not and are too.

He’s almost hoping she would leave him alone, but no. He’s not that lucky, because the second he decides that it’s safe to close his eyes again, Rui cracks her back and opens her mouth.

“Get up,” she tells him, and it’s that moment when Toki knows he’s royally screwed. He’s exhausted, he’s in pain and he’s fairly sure his knees will betray him the second he even attempts standing up. He’s fairly sure his stomach will do the same thing and the end result will be him on the floor throwing his guts up.

Somewhere at the back of his head there’s a small voice of hope, though. Maybe, just maybe he could make it to his room. If he manages to actually get up from the floor where he’s been sitting for the past few hours and walk down the hallway, he’ll be in his room without people trying to fuss over him, actually lying down and under a blanket.

That is, in the case that Prince actually lets him leave just like that.

That is, in the case he actually manages to get up.

He tries, anyway. His arms are already screaming in pain even though he knows he’s taken his painkillers today, and the simple act of bracing his hands on the edge of the table and putting weight on his arms is almost enough to send his stomach up his throat. The pain from them explodes near his elbows and travels right down to his fingertips and up to his shoulders and neck, and he has to take a second to draw a deep breath or two.

Rui observes him all the while, not offering her help or saying anything. However, the second time he almost crashes right into the table, she does move a little closer. On the third try he gets his knees under him.

His hands are shaking against the wood. His arms are shaking, his shoulders, legs, everything is shaking and he’s suddenly freezing, a cold wave washing over him and paralyzing his lungs on its way.

The next thing he knows, there’s a hand on his left shoulder, blue hair at the edge of his vision that’s now blurring quite worryingly, jumbled-up words in his ear barely audible through the sudden rush of blood that drowns out everything else. Numb, his arms feel numb, he can't feel his fingers, the awful tingling sensation spreads all over his body and Prince’s voice in his ears grows louder and-

He’s going to pass out. Here, now, in the middle of the ratty kitchen of the Shibuya Mansion with Hachiouji Rui gripping his shoulder and no one having any idea what exactly is happening or why.

Black spots flood his vision, blocking the blue of Rui’s hair, and he gives in to the pull of nothingness.

An airy whimper leaves Toki’s lips and the boy goes limp. Rui manages to catch him before his head hits the table, fast reflexes reacting before she’s even aware of her arms moving.

She realizes she’s still shouting Toki’s name when she hears a rush of footsteps from the hallway. Yuuki’s red hair appears first and Ogami isn’t far behind, both looking like they’re prepared to fight, but the sight in front of them stops them short. Ogami’s posture deflates quickly and he freezes at the door, but Yuuki moves towards the centre of the room. He stops a few steps away.

“What’s wrong with Fourth?” he asks, crouching down and crossing his arms on his knees. Ogami takes a few tentative steps closer, too.

Careful with the deadweight in her arms, Rui gently lowers Toki’s body to the floor. She barely spares a glance at the boys, instead focusing on the fact that Toki’s skin feels warm, way, way too warm, while his hands feel like they’re freezing. She’s about to move to lift his feet higher when Toki groans.

A blue eye cracks open, quickly followed by a brown one and the hazy look on Toki’s face indicates that he has no idea what’s going on. He’s pale, the dark circles under his eyes contrasting his ghostly complexion further, and there’s a fine sheen of sweat on his forehead.

Ogami steps quietly closer and crouches down much like Yuuki, though he lets his other knee rest on the floor. There’s no irritation in Toki’s eyes, no unspoken out of my personal space or what the fuck are you doing, and the lethargy is quite worrying.

However, the second Ogami’s hand moves toward Toki’s face, there’s a hand around his wrist and sudden defiance on Toki’s face. There’s a flash of pain, too, and Ogami glances at Toki’s hand to find it shaking.

“Hands off,” Toki growls, voice rough and tight, and Ogami retreats his hand the second Toki lets go of it. He’s not going to start a fight now, not when Toki doesn’t stand a chance, not when he’s sick and still injured, so he doesn’t shoot back even though he usually would. He doesn’t move away, though - Toki can glare at him all he wants, but the feverish glow in his eyes dulls the effect considerably. Ogami glances at Rui instead.

It comes as no surprise that Rui has better luck in regards of checking Toki’s fever. The frown on her face tells everything that needs to be known, but she still orders Yuuki to go find a thermometer.

Toki’s dull eyes follow the movement in the room slowly. His breathing sounds labored, wrong for a trained assassin, and the tremor in his hands tells tales of things Ogami would rather not think about.

Then there’s a twitch.

All the color, what little of it was left, drains from Toki’s face. There’s a quiet, distressed sound that Ogami is pretty sure just came out of Toki’s throat even though he’s never heard the other boy making any sound akin to that even in his Lost form, not when both of his arms were in casts and slings and he could barely move his fingers, not when he was Lost and couldn’t use his arms.

Heterochromic eyes grow wide and Ogami realizes.

He has Toki turned on his side in mere seconds, time not allowing him to watch how he does it even though he’s sure everything hurts Toki’s arms. He’s not a second too early, and at least Toki is not lying on his right side (the shoulder, the goddamn shoulder).

Toki gags and his limbs instinctively move closer to his torso, knees coming closer to his chest and arms, still shaking, curling around his stomach. Rui is moving, her hands pulling strands of blond hair away from Toki’s face, and Ogami moves back. It’s not like he can do anything, now - he’s just glad Prince knows how human contact works. Or any of this, really.

Rui murmurs something Ogami doesn’t quite catch, her voice low and soothing. Toki coughs and then gags again, and Prince continues talking to him.

Even she, however, isn’t allowed to touch more than necessary. She tries to place her hand between Toki’s shoulder blades, but the flinch she gets in response makes her reel back. It’s not an outright “don’t touch” like what Ogami received for even trying, but it’s enough of an indication of discomfort for Rui to let it go.

Toki heaves and retches, and somewhere in there is a horrible whimper, and Rui isn’t sure if it’s because of the nausea or the pain.

Because Toki is definitely in pain.

She doesn’t have time to finish that train of thought, though, because the next thing she knows the contents of Toki’s stomach are spilling on the floor and his body convulses. And screw it, she decides - Toki is getting a supportive hand on his back whether he wants it or not.

Toki’s entire body is shaking from exertion, exhaustion, pain, something, and all Rui can do is rub his back and try to talk him through it as he hacks up another bout of sick. She’s pretty sure there are tears in his eyes, though they are squeezed shut.

There’s a soft noise as Yuuki enters the room again, and Rui hopes he has the thermometer she asked for, but right now it’s not really important. What’s important right now is that Toki doesn’t choke on his own vomit, because that would be a very lame way for a Code:Breaker to go, and that he hopefully won’t pass out again.

Time passes, though she doesn’t know how much of it, and finally Toki seems to calm down, if only enough to take a decent breath instead of the shallow wheezing. He’s still shaking badly, and Rui doesn’t really expect him to stop anytime soon. Sweat is beading at his hairline and his whole body is tense, fingers curling inwards but not exactly forming a fist.

When she’s sure Toki isn’t going to throw up anymore, Rui finally rolls him on his back. It’s a good thing Rei had reacted fast, but she still doesn’t like the fact that Toki was lying on his arm like that. He can claim that his arms are fine as many times as he wants, but they’re still bandaged and it’s still a lie. It’s been just days since the casts were removed.

“Rei,” she calls without really looking at his direction. Ogami’s head perks up. “Help me get Toki to his room.” Toki makes a disgruntled noise that turns into a cough, and this time Rui lifts him into a sitting position, rather than rolls him back on his side. “Now’s the time to swallow your pride,” she tells him. Of course she gets that Rei helping Toki is not the most ideal situation for either of them, but Yuuki is a good deal shorter than him.

It’s rare to see Rei so careful with something, Rui thinks when Ogami moves to the other side of Toki. Especially with his long-standing rival she doesn’t think she’s ever seen such display of tenderness. Maybe he feels a bit guilty about the stab-wound in Toki’s shoulder, though she would have never imagined him having actual human emotions.

Maybe it’s Sakura’s influence, Rui muses.

Getting up from the floor is difficult, to say the least. Toki’s knees give out before they’re even standing, and he goes alarmingly gray with the motion. Trying to spare Toki’s arms is another difficult task, and in the end Ogami hoists him up and carries him bridal-style to his room. Toki doesn’t protest beyond the surprised, hoarse yelp when his feet are suddenly lifted up.

He’s lighter than Ogami remembers. Not light like Yuuki and his skinny, 15-year-old body, but still lighter than Ogami remembers him being the last time they fought, and that was only a few weeks ago. It’s not like he’s worried, not really, because he doesn’t particularly care about Toki besides the fact that he’s annoying, but the uncomfortable tug in his chest is still there.

Maneuvering his way through the narrow hallways isn’t easy, even with Prince’s help, and neither is lowering Toki onto his futon once they finally reach his room. If Toki was in a better condition, Ogami would seriously consider just dropping him unceremoniously on the floor and walking away.

If Toki was in a better condition, he wouldn’t be carrying him in the first place.

Yuuki trails after them, his bare feet shuffling close behind and the thermometer still in his hands. He settles in a corner of Toki’s room, drawing his knees close to his chest in a manner that tells he’ll probably be upside down in minutes.

After the quick check-up Rui performs on Toki’s arms, as well as a brief look at his ribs, she finally retrieves the thermometer and promptly sticks it under Toki’s armpit. She sends Ogami to gather a bowl of water and a clean rag of some sort, and sits down next to Toki.

He’s not shaking anymore, but he’s not doing anything else, either. His eyes are open and his head is turned to Rui’s direction, but they’re unfocused and dazed.

Ogami is back before the thermometer beeps, which is slightly concerning.

When it finally does, Yuuki nearly jumps at his place in the corner, and Toki flinches. Rui frowns at the high number of 39.2 degrees Celsius and sets the damp cloth Rei brought on Toki’s forehead.

She doesn’t realize Rei has brought something else, too, until he starts wrapping ice packs in towels and setting them on Toki’s arms. She allows herself a little smile at the scene - Rei has difficulties showing his feelings, but he does really care.

As the darkness outside begins to set in, Rui gently shoos Ogami and Yuuki out of the room. Toki has fallen asleep, but she wants to watch over him a little longer. His brow is furrowed in what she assumes is pain, or perhaps fever dreams, and she doesn’t feel comfortable leaving him alone just yet. The three-year difference in their ages seems much bigger right now than it usually does - Toki looks so very young without his cocky grin or the revenge in his eyes. Not as young as his Lost form, of course, because his Lost form is a child, but right now seventeen seems like an awfully young age.

“Get better, Fourth,” Yuuki mumbles from the door, half-asleep, before Ogami quietly closes it.

#my writing #sickfic #fanfiction #code:breaker

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