My KiyoKei Fantasies

Get Better Soon

"Achoo!"

"37 degrees huh... you need to rest Kei."

"B-but our date..." 

"It'll have to wait for another time. For now, I'll make you some rice porridge. Just be a good girl and stay in bed."

"Oka-achoo."

Today, Kei and I were supposed to go out on a date together at Keyaki Mall. They opened for the first time today, a special limited time escape room event and the two of us were planning on trying it out together. Unfortunately though, Kei seemed to have caught a cold and we had to cancel those plans. The event was supposed to be around for two weeks, so as long as Kei got better before it ended, we still could still attempt it.

But for now, I'll focus on nursing her back to health. On the internet they say that the best thing to do when a person is sick is to cook them some food. Specifically, rice porridge. It's pretty simple to make and healthy as well. Since it's made up of only rice and water, it can be easily digested by someone. That's why so many Japanese people eat it when they are sick or don't have much of an appetite. I headed over to Kei's kitchen and brought out all the necessary equipment and ingredients.

I've never once been sick before in my life so I've never needed to eat rice porridge or make it. But for Kei's sake, I'll be learning a new recipe. I pulled out my phone and searched for the easiest recipe I could find. I prepared the ingredients according to the guide and began cooking. First, I poured the rice into a pot. I had to rinse the rice in water then drain it. I repeated this step until the water was clear. Next, I had to let the rice sit for around 30 minutes in the pot. While I waited, I decided to check up on Kei.

She was sleeping soundly. Her hair was down and all over her pillow. Seems like she might have tossed and turned around a bit. I tucked her in blanket as it was falling down then gave her a light head pat. 

"K-kiyotaka."

Kei called out my name. Her eyes were still closed. Was she dreaming about me? And if so, what was the dream about it? She didn't say anything else so I decide to spend the rest of my time reading until the rice was ready. 

30 minutes later, I got up and drained all the leftover water from the pot and added new water. I brought the pot onto the stove and placed the lid on top. I turned up the heat to HIGH and left the rice to boil. Slowly but surely, bubbles started to arise and before I knew it, the rice was boiling. The recipe said I should turn down the heat to LOW and gently mix the rice with a spoon so that's what I did. After that, I once again put the lid back on the pot and left it to simmer for another 30 minutes 

I returned to my chair to resume my reading when I heard my name again.

"K-kiyotaka."

I turned to face Kei. Her face had a smile on it. Whatever she's dreaming, it must be pleasant. She continued to say something else.

"N-no... we can't do that here Kiyotaka."

My eyes widened just a bit as those words went through my ears up to my brain. Now I really wanted to know what in the world was she dreaming of. I didn't expect her to be the type to talk in her sleep. Maybe this is an effect of her cold? I turned around, facing the opposite direction and continued reading. It probably wasn't anything that I was thinking.

Finally, the 30 minute wait time was up. I headed back to the kitchen and turned of the heat. 10 minutes of steaming went by and the rice porridge was finally ready. I added a few simple toppings to put on top and brought out spoon. I placed the pot and spoon on a tray and delivered it to Kei.

"Kei, the food is ready." I gently rubbed her shoulder to wake her up.

"Kiyotaka made me food?" Kei sat up in her bed while rubbing her eyes.

"Yes I did. Will you eat it?"

"Of course! I love Kiyotaka's cooking."

I've made food for Kei many times before and she's told me multiple times that she really likes eating what I cook and that I'm really good at it. Hearing those words made me feel happy on the inside. I almost never got compliments while in the White Room. That was just another way of showing how cold that place is. But here, I felt some kind of warmness inside me. There wasn't much of it, but it still felt better than nothing.

Bit by bit, Kei ate the rice porridge. While she was eating, I decided to ask her what she was dreaming about earlier.

"Hey Kei, while you were sleeping, what kind of dream did you have?"

"Dream? Umm... I don't really remember it sorry." 

She looked the other while she ate my food. I thought about trying to pull out more information from her about the dream but decided against it. Instead, I just rubbed her back. The room was silent, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence.

Ten minutes went by and Kei finished her food. I took the dirty dishes to the sink and cleaned them. It was already pretty late in the afternoon. I would have to head back to my own room soon. I reentered Kei's bedroom to check up on her one more time. 

"Kiyotaka, could you hold my hand until I fall asleep?" A sleepy looking Kei asked me that question. I had no reason to refuse so I did what she asked of me.

I took her soft hand in mine. I noticed that the size difference of our hands was big. Was her hand always this small? It felt fragile, like it would break if I squeezed too hard. But they also felt warm in contrast with my hands that were slightly cold at the moment. 

Kei slowly closed her eyes after saying good night and fell asleep. If everything went well, tomorrow she should feel a lot better. I quietly waited for the right time to leave. Leaving was surprisingly hard. There were times where I would secretly wish to stay with her for just a minute longer. Gathering all the courage in my body, I gently let go of Kei's hand and placed it back with her underneath the blanket. I gathered my things then said with soft quiet voice,

"Get better soon, Kei."

With those departing words, I left her room.

~Fin~

Author's Note:

I wrote this part as someone requested it, but I just realized once I finished writing the story that they wanted it to be Kei who takes care of Kiyo when he's sick... oops lolol. I'll write that version another day. Hope you are all doing well. By the way, what's your favourite colour? Mine is probably either purple or silver. Omg I just realized that Blaze and Silver from Sonic are also the same colours lol. The tape J illustration for Y2V7 came out and I gotta say that I wasn't expecting that person to be on it. Anyway I'll stop talking. Stay safe and take care!!