𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 | 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐨𝐤𝐚 𝐠𝐢𝐲𝐮𝐮 ‌

❄️ 69

On top of a bed with white sheets on, a certain girl is resting. Her breathing is steady, and both of her eyes are closed.

In other words, she's still unconscious.

It's been three hours since she fainted and Obanai never left the butterfly estate just to watch her with a worried expression. Even his snake friend is also worried that he chose to rest beside the sleeping girl.

An hour after she lost her consciousness, Shinobu came back from buying herbs for her medicine and heard about what happened to F/N, so she rushed to her and checked her condition. She even interrogated Obanai about what she did before it happened and answered that she just trained her other self.

Shinobu knew the difference of exhaustion and not, and she can clearly see that she fainted not because of exhaustion. There must be something else and she decided not to tell about it after seeing the serpent hashira's expression. She can't make him worry more.

She said that she's probably going to wake up later on since her condition is not really bad. It gave Obanai some relief.

Obanai's attention turned to the new comer which is a bird who landed on the window sill with an object tied on its leg.

"LETTER FROM THE WATER PILLAR! CAW!"

"Giyuu?" He muttered before standing on his feet and started untying the paper from its leg. Then he watched as the crow flew away.

Obanai doesn't care about privacy at all especially if it's about her cousin so he didn't hesitate on opening the paper and read it.

Are you busy? Let's go out.

"That's it?" Obanai mumbled with a faint hiss.

He sat back on his seat and grabbed a paper and pen from the drawer beside F/N's bed and started writing.

She passed out a while ago. If you want to come, then go.

-Iguro Obanai

Obanai looked up through the window and sighed. "What's her crow's name again?" He stood up once again and walked towards the window, with hopes of seeing F/N's crow instead of calling for it since he doesn't remember his name. "This is pointless."

"Wha-"

His eyes widened as he turned to where the voice came from and saw her cousin's eyes open and is also looking at him. "Onii-san," she whispered. Obanai walked back and sat beside her. "W-What is that?"

"This?" He raised the paper. "Tomioka...sent a message."

A small smile appeared on her face when his name was mentioned. "Really? What did it say?"

He only sighed before reading the letter out loud. "Are you busy? Let's go out," he said in the most boring tone ever.

"And the other one?" She said, pointing to the other paper in his hand.

"I was about to sent a message back. To tell him about you passing out—"

"Don't," she said. "I'm fine already."

He stared at her in confusion but nodded anyways. "Okay," he said. "Do you need anything? Hungry?"

"I guess, I am hungry," she chuckled. "Help me sit, please." Of course, the boy helped her sit up very carefully before heading to the door to call for someone to bring some food. F/N heard Aoi from outside obliging to her cousin. "How long was I out?" She asked when Obanai walked back towards her again.

"Three hours," he answered. "How did you pass out?"

"Maybe I'm tired," F/N said and stared at him and sighed. "It looks like I made you worry again?"

Obanai rolled his eyes away and looked outside the window instead. "Do you prefer if I laugh at you if you fainted again? Tell me and I might do that."

"I'm sorry," she muttered that caused him to shift his gaze back to her. "How many times did I faint in front of you?" She chuckled.

"That's not a laughing matter, F/N," he scolded. "You're overworking yourself."

F/N pouted. "I'm not really tired earlier...I never feel exhaustion when I'm Yoru."

"Then what happened to you? Are you sick or something?" He asked in a worried tone.

The girl looked down on her hands. "I...don't know."

"You're probably really tired that you didn't notice it," he said. "Don't do that again."

F/N gulped after nodding to him and started drowning herself in thoughts.

I don't remember getting tired from training earlier...

I should be careful next time... She thought.

Their attention was caught by Aoi who just entered the room with a tray of foods in her hands and Naho following behind, looking a little worried. "F-F/N-san..." She muttered. "A-Are you okay now?"

A soft smile grazed on her lips as she slowly nodded. "Yes, I am already fine."

Aoi sighed and walked closer beside her, Naho placing a bed table before Aoi could set the tray down. "I told Shinobu-sama that you woke up, so she's probably on her way here."

"Hmm...Thank you," F/N replied and started digging in.

A little later after she ate, Shinobu arrived at the room and excused herself to talk to F/N privately, leaving Obanai no choice but to leave. He even told her that he'll see her again maybe tomorrow or the following day which F/N agreed.

As Shinobu sat at the bedside chair, she heave out a sigh before looking at the frost-haired girl who's also looking at her in confusion. "Is there something wrong?" F/N asked.

"Not really..." Shinobu replied. "It's just about your sudden faint."

Her eyes widened a little about her answers and made her think that there's something worst happening in her body by how serious Shinobu looks.

Whilst Shinobu gasped slightly upon seeing her reaction and immediately waved her hands in defense. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you overthink!" She giggled. "It's just that...You know I've been working on some patients ever since, and you probably understand when I say that I know the difference between fatigue and not, right?"

F/N cleared her throat. "Y-Yes..."

Shinobu hummed. "That's why I wanted to ask if you're actually tired from training earlier?" She asked. "And if not, at least we could study about what happened to you."

F/N released a sigh. "Uhm...Well I didn't feel any kind of exhaustion earlier...I mean, I was training not as me—but Yoru. And as a..." she gulped. "...as a demon, I can't feel any tiredness because my body regenerates..."

Shinobu nodded carefully and placed a finger on her chin. "So you weren't actually tired? How about hunger? I'm also sure you're not sick these past few days, so...?"

"I ate earlier. Obanai-nii brought some dango which I ate before I train...And I'm sure I'm not hungry," F/N answered.

"I see...So you didn't really feel anything before and during training?" Shinobu asked. "Because I'm actually pretty worried that you fainted all of a sudden."

F/N smiled. "Sorry for worrying you...But I'm actually fine earlier...maybe, Yoru's just adapting to my body?"

It's been four months, though. Yoru should have adapted even before... Shinobu thought. "Alright," she muttered. "Since you look fine and all, I'll discharge you... But if ever you felt something different, please do not hesitate to ask me," she said with a gentle smile.

F/N nodded. "Alright!"

to be continued.