Swallowtail: Mariposa Radiante

A Stressful Situation (Part II)

Swallowtail:

Chapter 20

A Stressful Situation (Part II)

Waking up in pain wasn't something Kaikane had been expecting, much like the girls having a meltdown. He cursed Papa Nakano's name, rapidly regretting even considering getting extra vaccinations. His arms felt like they were made of lead, and whenever he moved them he felt a sharp pain on his biceps. It didn't help that his head was pounding, the throbbing headache from the night before persisting through the night. It was a miracle that he had even managed to wake up before his alarm went off.

He shifted his head a bit, glancing at the neon clock that hung from his wall, which displayed the time. 5:55 AM. It was ten minutes shy of his 6:05 alarm. He wanted to reach for his phone, but even lifting his arm proved painful. He briefly wondered if Papa Nakano had done this on purpose. Perhaps it was some sort of passive-aggressive ploy. "Hurt my daughter and I will end you. Here's her passport, omegalul."

The blond could almost see the sneer on his face. And now that he did have a face to put to the voice, he felt like punching it. He felt movement beside him, glancing to his left, seeing a bundle of blankets and pink out of his peripheral. He remembered what had happened the day before.

Nino and Itsuki had gotten into an argument and that led to both of them leaving home. Now he was playing host to his girlfriend while her sister was out doing who knows what. And since both of them were stubborn, neither of them were returning home any time soon. That made his already stressful week even worse than before.

"I gotta figure out what the hell I'm gonna do about these two, and my myriad of other things. I didn't even get started on those commissions, and I need to practice those fucking songs." he thought to himself. He moved slightly, feeling his head start to throb, forcing him to stop. "Guh.... I fucking hate you, Nakano-san."

Fighting through the pain, Kaikane decided to finally get up. He moved off the bed, careful not to disturb Nino, and grabbed his phone from his charger. He turned his alarm off, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. He looked at his desk, seeing several notebooks strewn about. Sheet music. All of the songs he had to practice. It was six in total, but most of them were 6 to 10 minutes long, with the longest being 27. He honestly didn't know how he was going to make it through that one.

"On top of that, it's gonna be broadcast. That's gonna be so much fun! Kaikane Sakamoto, son of Hideyoshi Sakamoto, live on television. Watch him fuck up after not practicing his sheet music. Why? Oh maybe because he has so much shit on his plate he wasn't able to paddle upstream!" he thought, clutching his head. "Ugh... thinking hurts."

Moving to the bathroom, he decided a shower was in order. Hot showers usually helped him whenever he felt sick or had a headache. Having gathered his things, he flicked the light on and stepped into the bathroom. He took his sleeping clothes off and tossed them into the hamper, stepping into the tub. He sighed with relief when he felt the hot water on his skin.

"This should clear my thoughts a bit, but Christ do my arms hurt. I'm not in the fucking mood to go to school. We're gonna be reviewing shit anyway." he thought, glancing up at the ceiling. "Ah! If I skip school today, not only will I be able to hammer out some commissions, but I can also practice my songs... oh but holding my violin will be impossible with my arms hurting so much. Fuck me... I guess I can just focus on commissions and studying. Someone's gotta make sure Nino actually takes her shit seriously."

"Hey darling, would you mind if I brushed my teeth?"

"Eh?" he said, glancing through the curtain. It wasn't see-through, but he could still see Nino's shape through it. He jumped a bit, almost slipping. "Jeez... don't you know you're supposed to knock?"