Immunity is a strange thing—sometimes it's astonishingly strong, and sometimes it shatters at the slightest push.
After days of exhaustion, a bit of wind and sweat is all it took for the inevitable to happen: Kita Ikuyo caught a cold.
Now, Aoki found himself frustrated with his own carelessness.
He had noticed she might catch a chill when she came in that night… so why hadn't he thought to cover her with a jacket once she'd dozed off?
It was such a small gesture—one that could've made all the difference.
But regret now was just hindsight masquerading as wisdom.
There were more pressing concerns.
He looked at the feverish girl before him, her face flushed, her breathing shallow.
His mind raced through options—how best to get her to a hospital quickly.
According to Google Maps, the nearest hospital from STARRY was just under two kilometers away.
But with Ikuyo in her current state, even that might as well be a marathon.
A taxi it is.
Having made up his mind, he gently tried shaking her awake.
She'd been sleeping in a feverish daze for over an hour, but she barely stirred—her mind foggy and disoriented. Her temperature had to be dangerously high.
This was no time to hesitate.
He carefully lifted her onto his back.
Thankfully, his occasional workouts paid off—she wasn't too heavy for him to manage.
Ikuyo's body was soft and warm—alarmingly warm her cheek pressed against his back, radiating heat.
He hailed a taxi from the roadside, carefully settled her inside, gave the driver the destination, and the car sped off toward the hospital.
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Two hours later — around 10:40 PM
After a fever-reducing injection and an IV drip, Ikuyo was resting in a hospital bed.
She looked a bit better—her face no longer pale, her breathing a little more stable.
Aoki didn't leave.
Just in case the doctors returned, or if her condition changed, he wanted to be there.
She seemed out of immediate danger, but he couldn't help but worry.
Physically, she might recover soon.
But mentally…? Balancing family stress and band duties, dealing with online backlash after signing the film contract…
If things continued like this, even after her fever passed, she'd be right back on the edge.
Aoki had already decided he'd stay by her side all night.
Just as the sky outside deepened into full night, Ikuyo stirred.
She blinked up at the unfamiliar ceiling, sterile white sheets, and the sharp scent of disinfectant in the air.
'A hospital...?'
Confused, she slowly turned her head and spotted Aoki in the corner, scrolling on his phone.
'Why is Senpai here...? Why am I here...?'
Her mind was sluggish, fogged with sleep and sickness.
She tried to remember what she'd been doing earlier.
That's when Aoki noticed her eyes had opened.
"You're awake. Feeling any better?"
Putting his phone away, he walked to her bedside.
It took Ikuyo a few seconds to respond, her voice soft and weak from the fever.
"Senpai... Am I... sick?"
"You've got a pretty bad fever—hit 39.5 degrees," Aoki said calmly.
"What time is it now...?"
"Almost 10:40. It's pretty late."
"…Oh."
A quiet "oh," barely a breath, followed by silence.
She turned away slightly, pulling the white hospital blanket up to cover part of her face.
Aoki didn't need to ask—he could tell. Her mood was anything but good.
Maybe she was upset she didn't get to practice more?
He wasn't sure. But even someone like him, who always claimed to have low emotional intelligence, could tell something was wrong.
He sat down on a chair next to her bed.
"…You seem down."
A muffled voice answered from under the blanket.
"Yeah… A little."
Some things are better dealt with directly.
Sugarcoating would only leave problems to fester.
"Is it… the stuff going around online?" he asked gently.
A pause.
"…Sort of, but not really," she murmured.
She peeked out from under the blanket again, her eyes just slightly red.
"It's just… I know I shouldn't feel this way, but… it still hurts a little."
Meeting her gaze, Aoki didn't know what to say.
What exactly had she been going through?
He hesitated, then decided—some things needed to be asked.
He took a breath.
"Lately… you haven't been yourself. You've got dark circles under your eyes, and your mood's been off. If something's going on… can you talk to me about it?"
Another pause.
Ikuyo looked away briefly, then, after a few quiet seconds, began to speak.
"…My mom's a strict person. She's always wanted me to focus on school—to get into a good university, find a stable job."
"She… doesn't support me playing music."
"So, with all the guitar practice, and the work we put into the PVC contest, my grades dropped a lot. When she found out, she told me to quit the band."
"In the mornings, I have cram school. In the afternoons, when she's at work, I sneak off to practice. Then I study late into the night. And whenever I can, I secretly practice guitar."
She stopped there, voice fading away with the final "so…"
Just like Aoki had suspected—it was family.
And, just like he feared, it wasn't something he could easily fix.
Tell her to give up the band and focus on school? That was cruel.
Tell her to disobey her mom and chase her dream instead? That wasn't right either.
Trying to balance both? That had already landed her in the hospital.
Aoki couldn't offer cheap comfort.
He couldn't give advice that would fix things.
So, he stayed quiet.
The hospital room was still.
After a while, Ikuyo took a deep breath, wiped her face roughly with the blanket, then threw it off.
She forced a smile—one of those bright, sunny smiles she always wore.
"But it's okay. This is my problem. It has nothing to do with the band. And I've already started to get used to this schedule."
"So, you don't have to worry about me, Senpai."
"And about those rumors online… I'm not going to let them get to me. I'll prove them wrong—every last one of them!"
She took another breath, voice softening.
"Because... you believe in me, don't you, Senpai?"
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