#(As much as she loves Japanese culture: the mosquitoes can piss right off)

[more-than-a-princess]

Despite Mikan's declaration that her ailment had a simple cure, Sonia didn't feel quite so confident in her assessment. Perhaps it was the fact it took everything in her not to reach up to each arm and run her nails roughly over her bumpy, reddened skin until it bled. Relief, in exchange for another irritation. Biting her lower lip, Sonia allowed several swear words to run through her mind as she raised her right hand to her left forearm and scratched once, twice, three times, causing the array of bites to become even more red and dangerously close to splitting open.

"Thank you, Mikan-san," She replied, not wanting to appear ungrateful. She wasn't, not really, but several days of being barely able to keep her hands off her bites left her both desperate for relief and a bit skeptical it would ever come. She'd tried all the topical ointments from home that she'd been sent with but these Japanese mosquitoes were of another, more powerful breed. Sonia hoped they wouldn't find their way in her luggage to Novoselic and find it a suitable climate to call home. She'd ask Gonta about that, though he'd likely protest, insisting that Sonia was just good at making plenty of new bug friends to take home with her.

At her friend's beckoning, Sonia entered her lab and sat in the indicated chair, legs crossed at the ankles and forcing them together. Just as well: it served both a modest and relieving purpose. Even trying to itch her bites with other bites was of some help, even if it was fleeting. "I think you must have very strong products and methods here in Japan for nursing care," She offered, trying to smile through her discomfort. "I am in awe, and am grateful if you can help ebb even a fraction of this itching!" Her words were more optimistic than her face, as she flinched: the spot just beside her shoulder on her upper arm had begun to act up again, where at least three bites were clustered into one large bite.

"Truth be told, I lost count at about 65," Sonia admitted sheepishly before sitting straighter in her chair: Mikan's nursing office had a heavy air about it, one that wasn't much different than the humid heat of the countryside she'd just come from. She inhaled, her face twisting into a disgusted expression.

"Mikan-san, it is terribly warm in here," She told her. As much as she looked forward to be turned into a mummy with all of the bandages, it didn't escape Sonia how hot it would be, in weather that there was no relief from in Mikan's lab. "Does the school not provide adequate central air cooling? That is a risk, I think: both to you and your patients. I cannot imagine Hope's Peak would want to be saddled with that liability, students, including you, becoming ill from the heat. Do you want to approach the school board together?"

Maybe it was presumptuous, but she wanted to help her if she could. And she knew Mikan was on the shyer, meeker side: maybe confronting others would be difficult for her to do alone. If Sonia could provide any support, she would. "But in the meantime," She began, extending her right arm for Mikan to inspect, clean, and bandage first. "Would you be opposed to spending time in my lab? When you are able to, of course: my family insisted upon air conditioning there. It is not much but it is quiet and comfortable, and I am allowed a refrigerator for snacks and drinks." Of course, her lab was more like an elegant office than anything else: a large, intricately-carved wooden desk and high-backed chair, two settees with a low table between them, vases of fresh flowers, and plenty of replica artifacts from Novoselic on display, particularly ones that highlighted the important friendship the country shared with Japan. When Sonia wrote papers, memorized speeches, and took meetings over the computer, she was to always be reminded that her education, if not her very state of being, was in service to her nation. "It is a nice place to read, unless you prefer to curl up in bed with a book. I am afraid my family is not much for coziness, but a polite comfort."

Summer really was the worst. Mikan lifted her long, choppy hair off the back of her neck and tied it up with a hair tie she kept in her school bag. Despite the relief of fresh air hitting the skin on her neck, sweat still dripped down her spine as she fanned herself with one hand. Most Japanese schools didn't invest in air conditioning as it was often costly both financially and in energy consumption. Hope's Peak Academy was an elite school that the government funded. One would think that the school could install decent air con, at least in the areas where students spent the most time. But whoever was running this damn school also believed in keeping tradition and so the only source of cool air was from the rather cheap plug-in fan in the corner of the medical lab.

The knock at the door made Mikan jump, shivering as the weak breeze from the fan cooled the sweat on her skin.

Mikan opened the door and ushered Sonia inside without a word. One glance at Sonia's obvious discomfort and Mikan knew exactly what was going on. Mosquito bites.

"M-Mosquito bites are an easy fix!!" Mikan replied, gesturing for Sonia to take a seat. "I have some lotion that you c-can apply after bathing and before y-you go to bed. But I found out r-recently that hydrocolloid bandages work b-brilliantly!!"

Mikan quickly made her way to a large cabinet full of bandages and other types of gauze and wraps. She pulled out a rather large box of bandages and set it aside before moving to another cabinet and pulling out the said lotion.

"H-How many b-bites did you get?" Mikan asked, still fanning herself with her free hand.