If I were able to go back in time and meet me 5 years ago, I would have told him to start running more often.
The word "exhausted" wasn't an accurate description of the feeling in my legs, it was more like my legs were stubbornly refusing to work, and my brain was forcing them to, this of course led me to trip multiple times whilst full dashing it towards Hana's home, I was extremely worried because she wasn't returning my texts, and I didn't see her at school once, buildings flew by me as I nearly tripped once again, but caught myself on a nearby street light.
"Ugh."
I stayed stationary, leaning against the post as I regained my endurance, before sprinting off once again towards Hana's house, it wasn't too far now.
*****
The loud clacking of my shoes hitting the pavement stopped as I settled near the front door, I peered through the windows and saw the blinds were closed, I knocked against the coarse wood of the Yamada family's front door, and was met with the sound of no one returning any sign of vacancy, I quickly grabbed the knob and tightened my grip, before opening the door a crack and yelling into it.
"Hana?"
After a few short moments I heard the sound of soft and lethargic footsteps moving towards the front door, soon a person came into view, fully covered from head to toe with a white blanket.
Soon after, they faced me and it was Hana, her eyes were bloodshot, the bottom of her nose was rubbed raw and as she neared me she sneezed into her elbow, which was covered by the blanket she was wearing, as soon as she reached me and in her quiet and hoarse voice hit me a slightly passive-aggressive question.
"Why are you here, Masaichi?"
I looked around the living room inside Hana's home through the front door, her mother or father wasn't there and all the lights were turned off, she really was just sick?
"I was worried about you, you weren't returning my texts and you weren't at school so I just assumed the worst, and ran all the way here."
Hana lifted her hand to rub her eyes but stopped halfway and her head snapped towards me.
"You came all the way here, just to check on me?"
"That's right."
Hana turned towards a random painting inside her home, and probably not because she was interested in the art, but was hiding the blush that was on her face.
"My parents aren't home, and I'm sick, but things could be worse I guess."
Hana paused for a second, then began closing the door slowly.
I grabbed the door and stopped her from fully shutting it by a crack, I couldn't leave her alone like this.
"Wait, I'm not going to leave you alone, text your parents that I will be here to keep watch of you."
"What am I, a toddler?"
"No, but you need someone capable of taking care of you, right?"
Hana stared at me, too tired and feverish to give me a look of dismay.
I entered Hana's residence, and shut the door behind me. Hana slowly and methodically put one foot in front of the next, it looked like she was heading towards her room, or at least what I thought was her room.
I looked around the unlit house and saw how dirty and unorganized it was, old pieces of paper and cardboard littered the front door, dirt stuck to the floor and clinged to it, it wasn't a dump but it was far from being taken care of, which would make sense considering Hana's father worked full time and so did her mother, and now she was working for half the week, so no one had a whole lot of time to take care of the chores.
Well, I might as well take care of it, it wouldn't kill me I suppose.
*****
When I was finished the place looked much better than how it was, I couldn't find a mop anywhere so I had to get on my knees and scrub off the dirt with a wet dish rag, the cardboard I had to carry to a dumpster about 2 blocks away, which all around took 3 trips just to carry all of it.
And then there was Hana.
I haven't spoken to her since she let me in, or more like I barged in but that's besides the point, I looked towards the door of her room. I didn't really want to intrude but I also felt like I should check on her.
I forced my legs to move towards her door, I stood right outside it, I clenched my fist and built up my courage before knocking on her door.
A quiet groan escaped from under the crack of her door.
"Please, come in Masaichi."
I opened the door quickly and shut it behind me. The inside of Hana's room was surprisingly cleaner than how the rest of the house was before I cleaned it. The ceiling of her room had a plethora of led's strewn across it, all of which were off, an idle computer stood in the corner of her room near a closed closet.
Hana was lying down in her bed, her face covered by a pillow, and a blanket loosely strewn across her body, all I could see she had on was a black t-shirt drenched in sweat, anything else was covered by her sheets.
I quickly stole her gaming chair near her computer, and moved it to her bed side
I hovered over Hana, and looked her up and down, she looked like shit.
"I think you need to see a doctor."
"I did, I have strep."
"Oh, well on the bright side, at least you don't have to go to work."
Hana chuckled, and then brought up her hand into her mouth and coughed violently.
"Yeah, that's nice I suppose."
Hana, who had up until now showed no signs of energy, suddenly moved her hand towards my face and softly grasped the bottom of my face.
Of course I was caught off guard by this, but then I realized I had a large gash on my chin, it wasn't bleeding to the point where I needed stitches, but it still felt awful.
As if that wasn't bad enough I then suddenly noticed all the injuries I sustained from tripping multiple times trying to full sprint it to Hana's house, minor pain lanced through me, I tried to hide this but still showed a slight grimace.
"You need to put a band aid on that, your going to get blood on me."
Hana paused, before continuing.
"Not that I mind that but still, I hate to see you hurt yourself just for me."
"It's fine pizza girl, anyways give me a moment to just take care of myself."
As I began to stand up Hana suddenly gripped my forearm and stopped me in my tracks, I turned around to see her blushing furiously, and not because she had a fever.
"What are you doing?"
"I didn't say you could leave."
"Fine."
I sat back down begrudgingly, still bleeding from my chin. She saw this and took a tissue from her box and put it against my chin and applied pressure to it, stopping blood from dripping onto the floor of her room.
"Stay with me until I fall asleep, please?"
"Sure, that's what friends are for right?"
"Thanks Masaichi, you're really kind."
Hana then laid on her back with her arms laid at her side, and closed her eyes, her breaths slowly became more and more shallow until eventually I barely noticed her chest rising and falling, I waited 10 more minutes and it was still the same story.
"Are you awake?"
Silence, good, she was asleep.
I stood up, and started walking to her door to leave her room, when suddenly I heard her voice.
"I love you."
I quickly spun around and saw that she was still fast asleep in her bed, her breathing was steady, but despite that, I saw that her face was a deep red.
She was most likely sleep talking, which is actually very common, but I wondered who she was talking to in her dream?
I slowly pulled out my phone and got ready to tell my mom I might be home later than I thought, this house needed a lot of work to get fully clean.