𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒; 𝑻.𝑮𝑰𝒀𝑼𝑼 [✓]

f i f t y - t w o

"oh ayumu, what happened to you?" the insect pillar furrowed her brows as she stared at the thermometer in her hands.

41.2 °C

"he was perfectly fine yesterday!" sumi stated. "we even played hide and seek catch!"

"will he be okay?" naho asked with a worried expression.

"he must have overexerted himself yesterday," shinobu explained while mixing herbs into a cup for ayumu to drink. "i told you girls that ayumu needs to rest, he shouldn't be playing games that include too much running," she continued.

the three girls gave ayumu an apologetic look.

"drink this," shinobu handed the cup to ayumu. the herbs she used should work and help bring his fever down.

"is there anything we can do?" kiho asked as she watched ayumu take a sip from the cup, only to scrunch his nose and stick his tongue out in disgust.

"yuck!"

"for now, just let him rest." the three girls reluctantly said their goodbyes to ayumu before leaving the room to go help aoi with the chores.

"what are you doing?" shinobu turned her attention back to the boy sitting on the bed.

"it tastes really bad."

"don't you want to get better?"

"yes..."

"well?"

with a sigh, the young boy pinched his nose with one hand and drank the remaining medicine in the cup. "gross!" he quickly handed the cup over to shinobu, shaking his head as if doing that would get rid of the terrible taste in his mouth.

"i know it tastes bad, but if you want to get better, you'll have to deal with it," shinobu stated, gently patting his head. "you've been doing really well. just hang in there a little longer, alright? i'll help you get better, it'll be over soon. so no need to worry," shinobu gave him a small smile. "to think you're only six years old, you're really strong!"

after telling ayumu to get some sleep, she started to make her way out of the room when he said something.

"sorry? i didn't catch that."

"it's my birthday tomorrow," ayumu repeated, playing with the pillow in his arms. "i'll be seven."

"that's wonderful," shinobu exclaimed. "if you spend the rest of today resting and eating your medicines, you'll get better by tomorrow and maybe your sister can bring you out to celebrate."

"mhmm," ayumu nodded, keeping his gaze on the blanket covering his legs as shinobu left the room. he liked this blanket, it does a really good job keeping him warm. he hugged the pillow in his arms tighter against his aching chest. he likes the pillow too because it's really soft.

he also likes yakitori, and playing hide and seek catch with the three girls living here. of course, he likes spending time with his older sister. he likes it whenever giyuu joins them as well. ayumu's favourite season is winter because he gets to build snowmen and have snowball fights. he also likes hikari, the talking crow his dad left behind. he likes long walks with his sister and always running ahead of her, only to joke about how slow she is after she finally catches up to him. he likes shinobu and aoi because they're always kind towards him. he likes tanjiro and genya (mainly because he allowed ayumu to use his gun and also because he has a cool hairstyle. ayumu wonders if his sister would allow him to have a haircut like that).

but for some reason, ayumu no longer thinks about eating yakitori every day like he used to. he no longer finds hide and seek catch fun because his body aches every time he plays it for too long. he doesn't like winter anymore because it makes him cold and hard for him to breathe. the thought of building a snowman and having a snowball fight sounds exhausting to him. ayumu also hates long walks now because it hurts.

for some reason, everything he did now hurts.

exhausted, the six year old boy fell back onto the bed. his face was wet with tears. he didn't know why he was crying, but he could not stop. 

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that night, he dreamed about tomorrow. he and his sister, along with giyuu, would go to the zoo to celebrate his seventh birthday. it would be ayumu's first time going to one, so he's excited. he hopes he will be able to see some pandas. they're his favourite animals. he also remembered his sister mentioning an animal called 'red panda'. he hopes to see them too. a red coloured panda sounded cool.

the animals are cool and all, but you'd have to walk for a really long time. zoos are huge, after all.

but walking was one of the many things that hurt now.

maybe going to the zoo isn't a good idea.