The Kids Get Sick

Nagisa and Masaru are sick, Jataro takes care of them.

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Nagisa was horrified.

what demonic force had overcome him to allow Masaru to remain by his side as they rested, waiting for the others to wake up? IT was stupid. It was reckless.

It was selfish. He was lonely and cold, so he ignored the nagging voice in the back of his head that warned him of this very thing happening. And now, perish the thought, it had.

Masaru was sick. Their energetic leader was sick, and it was all his fault.

Nagisa had actually managed to get a few hours of sleep, nearly collapsing in exhaustion as he and Masaru returned from their expedition around 4 a.m. Masaru had cuddled up beside him and set his face aflame as the boy hugged him and claimed that a good leader made sure his adviser got good sleep. Nagisa had been too tongue tied to protest and to tired to push him off, so he passed out next to he red headed boy without a second thought despite the dread that settled into his gut.

Now Masaru was sick and whining and his face matched his hair and he was pretending nothing was wrong and he wasn't doing very well at it and he was refusing to take any medicine and it was all Nagisa's fault.

But lets back up a bit, yes?

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Kotoko woke up seemingly first, and that was weird. Masaru was such a go-getter and Nagisa was such a workaholic that they were always the first awake. Speaking of Nagisa, last she checked he had dragged his sleeping bag over to hers, and she knew he fell because he breathes evened , almost as if he were calming down, and she would believe that cows were stripped before she entertained the thought that Nagisa had calmed down while awake. He wasn't that good at acting, no matter how hard he tried. Confused by his lack of presence, she looked around, only to see Nagisa and Masaru cuddling (or, more accurately, Masaru cuddling Nagisa) under one of the bigger blankets with the backpacks looking full and off to the side. She smiled as she pieced together what was happening and nodded, jumping to her feet and leaving a note for the other three in case they woke up as she left very quietly, knowing how sensitive to noise Nagisa was. She was going to take advantage of this rare alone time.

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Jataro woke up and dawned his mask, disappointment and pride fighting a contradictory battle in his head as he tried to decide how he felt towards himself for sleeping without the mask on. It didn't happen often, but it was happening more and more and he wasn't sure how to feel about it.

He couldn't figure it out, either, so he decided to move on for now. He could take his frustration and confusion out on a canvas or some clay later. For now, it was a new day. And, it was very quiet. For a moment, he was terrified that it had finally happened, and he refused to open his eyes.

It didn't matter if he opened his eyes though, because he could see it, he could see his friends eyes melting off and hear them screaming. They were terrified and begging for help and spitting words of loathing at him (he flinched at the thought, then frowned in confusion as to why he was upset by the comments of all things. he was watching his friends die, and he was upset by the hurtful comments he spent so much time begging for? how selfish, he deserved to be hated, and he was okay with that). They were begging for help, but wouldn't accept his help because he was gross and they'd rather die then accept his help (which was understandable) so they were dying, they were all DYING and it was his fault because he hadn't slept with hi mask on. He had been careless enough to take it off, he'd been naive enough to believe them when they said that his face wouldn't kill them ("There's no recorded event where someones mere appearance has hurt others, I doubt you're the first." "You're just saying that cause those demons told you so, right? 'Cause I know it isn't true! Would your leader lie to you?" "Stupid. you may be gross, but your face is super adorbs! Besides, wouldn't that icky demon who gave you the mask be dead before we killed her, if she saw your face?") But they were wrong, even Nagisa was wrong, because now it was dead silent in their sewer (Just his now, if he was the only one left), and he was never the first awake, and they wouldn't leave him there alone, they wouldn't (of course they would, they hated him, right? But he couldn't stand the thought, and he was stupid, so he would pretend that they would never leave him cause he was used to lying to himself), so they had to be dead, and he hadn't even been awake. what kind of friend was he, it was all his fault, it was all his fault and he was sorry, so so so sorry, it should have been him, so he cried out apologies to deaf ears that couldn't possibly hear him.