The Cursed Gift

Part 22: Cherishables

"Turn your textbooks to page 21. From there, read question 5."

Clausia groggily flipped to the page. She wasn't quite bothering to do what the teacher asked.

She hadn't had a wink of sleep yesterday, yet Kize looked absurdly fine.

She hid her face with her textbook and plugged on her earphones. She couldn't stand it anymore.

Crystalline by Gumi started playing.

Clausia smiled. So much better.

"How can something so enticing
Have such awful side effects"

The lyrics blasted in her ears. She considered those words for a moment.

What in the world should she do about this cursed disease? She sighed, completely unable to focus on her work.

The ring of the bell signals the start of lunch break. Yosei ran up to him, looking particularly annoyed.

"Eeeerrrrr, you okay?" Clausia stared at him.

"Okay my foot. You disrupted my pleasure of my bento that holds my cherished terriyaki chicken! Now, get your butt moving and get to the canteen already."

Clausia smiled. It didn't take her long to realise that Yosei was a total food lover, especially Japan's traditional foods such as bentos and ramen.

She was secretly glad, being able to know more about Yosei. She didn't want to be a burden.

"Yosei, wanna go to the ramen store after school? Its just a few streets below and it has the best toronto ever!"

"Hah?" Yosei's voice was still the same, cold and rough, but it was obvious that his eyes were sparkling. Clausia grinned.

"It's my treat!" She replied.

"But-"

"Pwease?" She pouted, acting a cute face as she tugged on his shirt. Yosei sighed and finally agreed, leaving the happy Clausia in heaps of laughter and joy.

Just then, Kize pounced on them, his guitar in his other hand. Yosei snarled at him, but Clausia just giggled even more.

"I hear ramen!" He chirped, grinning like a madman. "Looks like someone's gonna join you."

Both of them sighed, thinking -- looks like there's no other option.

After Kize waved them goodbye and headed towards the library, Yosei and Clausia went to the canteen, but what was truly making her happy was that Yosei was smiling.

That made her heart flutter with a special warmth inside her. She was relieved that Yosei was finally smiling.

After school, when they reached the ramen shop together, the first thing thing that causght their eye was a bunch of teenagers at a table.

Correction: A bunch of familiar teenagers.

"Misa?" Clausia spluttered, before seeing a very wild Koru and quiet Listar beside her.

"KIZE..." An eerie presence grew around Yosei, as he bore his flaming eyes into the trembling male that sat opposite of the trio. "...I wonder who was the one that brought them here?"

Clausia decided to take down a memtal note on her to-know-more-about-Yosei campaign: he doesn't like to eat with too many people together.

As Clausia slurped her ramen, she wondered how much time she had with her precious friends-- every single one of them.

Will she able to spend enough moments with them? Can she make all of them happy?

"Clausia!" A sharp voice snapped her out of her nightmare thoughts. Everyone looked at her, concerned. Even Yosei had the word "worried" written all over him.

"I'm okay," Clausia said, forcing a smile on her face. Her head seemed to throb, but it felt like nothing to her. Especially, Clausia didn't feel like runing the mood.

Clausia returned home, feeling lightheaded. She soaked herself into the warm water and bubbles.

She sighed to herself. All day she was feeling all groggy and tired. That was defitnetely bad.

But somehow, some things managed to make today a happy day.

Clausia smiled. When will she be able to see those cherishables again?

A/N
I'M SO SORRY FOR SHORT CHAPTER DAMMIT