Chapter 4 - A Kiss For Your Troubles

Takuto woke up wrapped in covers in a small room. Looking around, he noticed the assortment of medical equipment set up around the enclosure. He was in the nurse's office.

'How did I end up in here?'  He thought.

Tilting his head upward, his emerald green eyes scanned the room. He saw no other human beings in the area. Hearing the creak of the door opening, he quickly laid his head back down on the pillow and closed his eyes. Feeling the bed shift a little, he opened his eyes to see who it was. "Okasan..." he whispered.

The black haired female's eyes grew wide with shock and she quickly stood. "Sorry! Did I wake you?" she asked.

"No...I was already awake" Takuto replied, a small bead of sweat appearing on his forehead.

"Oh! Okay, that's good." Okasan's smile seemed to light up the room, making the dull colors seem bright. It was a true beauty to see.

"Where's the nurse?" Takuto wondered, not daring to take his eyes off of her face.

“A boy twisted his ankle in gym and she went to check it out" Okasan replied, moving a strand of hair behind her left ear. A sigh escaping her lips, placed her hands in her lap and stared at the floor. "Takuto-kun...What happened to you? I...found you passed out in the hallway with a black eye. Did you get into a fight?"

"I don't remember...It's all fuzzy" Takuto said, moving his right hand to touch his swollen eye. Okasan placed her hand over his, the smile returning to her face. Takuto blushed at her touch; her skin felt extremely soft to him.

"School will be over soon. Do you want me to help you get home?" she asked quietly.

"Sure," Takuto grinned, "walking with you will make me feel safer."

Okasan's cheeks became redder than before. "That's cool..." The soft chime of the bell reverberated throughout the school, signaling the end of the day. Takuto stood up, a little dizzy, but he managed to stay up. He walked with Okasan to their classroom and they grabbed their bags, heading out the door. They exited the building and began their journey home. Takuto managed to keep a conversation going with Okasan until they reached his house.

"It looks like we're here..." Okasan quietly noted.

"Yeah..." Takuto frowned.  He didn't want Okasan to go so soon. They were quiet for a few moments, and then Okasan gently kissed Takuto on his cheek.

"Stay safe. OK?" she blushed.

"I...I will." Takuto developed a sudden interest in an ant that was crawling across the gate to his yard.  

Okasan smiled and turned towards her house. "Oh! There is a field trip tomorrow, Takuto-kun!" she remembered.

"Cool. See you then?" Takuto asked.

"Yeah. See you..." Okasan whispered, walking towards her house.

Takuto stood watching her for a while. He couldn't believe what had just happened to him. "She kissed me..." Takuto kept one hand on the cheek that she kissed. A smile wormed its way onto his lips and he went through the gate up to his front door. Takuto slid it open and saw his sister waiting.

"I saw that," Sakairi said with a grin.

Takuto sighed. There were more pressing situations, like the fact that he had a black eye.  The fact that she didn't mention it caused him to wonder why.

"Does my eye look swollen?" he asked.  Now that he thought about it, he couldn't feel any pain coming from the eye anymore.

"No, why?" Sakairi asked.

Takuto rushed upstairs into the bathroom, throwing the door open and rushing inside. He slammed the door shut and stared at his face in the mirror. The swollenness of his eye had disappeared without a trace! "What the...It's gone," he gasped. Opening his eye, Takuto had no problem seeing out of it. "What happened..." he wondered. Takuto left the bathroom and plopped down on his bed in his room. He looked through his bag, noticing that he had a few sheets of homework in there.

'Okasan-chan probably put them in there...'

Taking the worksheets out, he grabbed a pencil and started on the work. He was finished around twenty minutes and neatly put the papers inside his bag. Soon he realized he hadn't heard from his mother since he got home, so he went downstairs.

"Sakairi, where is mom?" he asked.

"She went to the store," she replied tiredly.  A pencil was lying across a sheet of paper that was sitting in front of her.

"Ah, okay. What are you doing?" Takuto curiously glanced at the paper.

"Homework," Sakairi mumbled, picking up the pencil and chewing on the eraser.

"What class?" Takuto asked. He didn't mind assisting her with the assignment because he had just finished his own.

"Ummm… Math." she replied.

"Do you need help?" Takuto laughed.

"No," Sakairi snarled, a tone of annoyance in her voice. "I can do it myself."

"Hey, I was just offering," A ghost of a grin slipped onto Takuto's lips.

"You're distracting me!" Sakairi yelled. She slammed her fist down onto the table, causing the paper to slip off onto the floor.

"I'm sorry. I'll leave now." Takuto chuckled, leaving the room.

Traveling up the stairs, he went into his room and closed the door. Remembering the kiss Okasan gave him, he blushed.

"W-Why did she do that?" he asked. "She was probably just concerned...That's all…" The memory of the monster attack on the first day of school wormed its way into his mind. "And...What was that thing I killed? Why did it attack me? These first two days of school have been very strange… I think I'll get something to eat and then go to bed early." Takuto left his room and went downstairs into the kitchen. He passed Sakairi, not bothering to look at her, and grabbed a snack to eat. Climbing up the stairs once again, he returned to his room. Lying down on his bed, he took out his cell phone. Seeing he had no new messages, he let his arm fall and he closed his eyes. "I wonder what the field trip's destination is..." Takuto mumbled as he began to doze off. "I hope...It'll be fun" he yawned. Without knowing it, he drifted off into a deep, very awaited sleep.