Hourglass [Quintessential Quintuplets]

Chapter 6 - Reflection

Asuka's POV:

There are some lines you just don't cross. Unwritten moral rules of basic human decency—like don't kill people, don't drink and drive and most definitely NOT drugging people for fuck sake! How is this not common sense? Yet here I was, watching Fuutarou's eyes roll back as his legs gave out, his body collapsing to the floor a few seconds after he finished the glass of water Nino handed him.

For a moment, my brain just froze. ''...!'' Like someone had yanked the plug out of the wall. His arm lay twisted awkwardly at his side, his hair a mess against the carpet. His chest rose and fell, but there was no response back to anything.

And Nino—she laughed.

Not just a nervous chuckle or a guilty little grin. No. A lunatic witch cackle, the kind you hear before someone tosses a kid into an oven in a fairy tale. Sharp and delighted and horribly satisfied. She tilted her head back slightly, hand over her mouth. 

What the actual fuck.

"Fuutarou! Hey, wake up!" My body kicked back into gear before my brain did. I dropped to my knees beside him and grabbed his shoulders. I shook him more roughly than I probably should've. "Fuutarou, hey! Oi! Fuutarou!"

None of the girls looked that worried. I am pretty sure I heard Ichika snort behind me. Someone definitely tried to muffle a laugh. The only one who actually looked worried was Yotsuba. She hurried over, kneeling down on the other side of him. ''U-Uesugi-san!?'' Her hand hovered his face like she wasn't sure if she was allowed to touch him.

Okay. I needed to wake him up. Fast. Medical knowledge? Zero. Logic? Shaky at best. So my brain did what it always does in a crisis: reached for the method I seen in a movie. "...Screw it." I pulled my hand back. "Fuutarou! Wake—slap—the—slap—hell—slap—up!"

My palm hit against his cheek again and again until they turn rose red. It really doesn't work. All I got back from those slaps were making the girls laugh louder. I won't lie: there have been more than a few  times I've wanted to slap him like this. But not like this. Not when he's like this. If I hadn't trusted my sixth sense , I would've been me down there too.

...Shit.

"That's cruel, Nino." Miku muttered from somewhere behind. Her voice was low as if she knew she was supposed to say that but, yeah. I could still hear the small laugh she tried (and failed) to swallow.

I am sure what I am feeling exactly right now—Fury? Fear? Disgust? All of the above? Part of me wanted to grab Nino by the collar and shake her until some sense fell into place, and another part of me was genuinely scared of what she might be capable of if she got pushed even a little further than this. Finally, I managed to force my tongue to work. "What the hell, Nino?!"

''Oh, please. Like you actually thought I could forgive that pervert so easily, did you?''