Specks of Light

Part Four. Chapter 3: Cold

The freezing cold weather of the morning woke Yuu up, this would be a long weekend. Today he had another work session scheduled at Chiaki's and tomorrow, he would be working with Fujino- sensei again even if it was Saturday. Unlike most of the authors Yuu worked with, Fujino had offered twice as much money for making him work on a Saturday. There was no doubt this author was really attentive and looked after every assitant very carefully. 

As he got ready to leave, he remembered the scene with Nozomi- chan and the fact that he had not told a word about it to Ijuuin- sensei. One of the reasons was that upon hearing about it, Ijuuin would get jealous and worried and he would stop enjoying his time in France, the other reason that was actually the stronger one was that he had called Ijuuin before the whole scene went down and the one answering the phone had been Karouko- san. So even if Yuu didn't want to fully admit it, not letting Ijuuin know about what had happened that night was a sort of revenge.

He had not called Ijuuin the previous night under the same reason and today it was not going to be different. He felt the cold weather getting through his clothing as he walked to Yoshino's apartment, he needed to hurry because at this rate, it was sure that he would catch a cold. Yuu got into the elevator as fast as he could and quickly went to Yoshino's door, pressing the bell, he was greeted by Hatori once again. "It's cold, open up" Yuu said as Hatori opened the door letting him in "You should have picked a thicker jacket" Hatori scolded as Yuu removed his shoes "I didn't think it would be this cold!" he answered feeling a little annoyed. 

Knowing everything that needed to be done today, Yuu quickly headed to the drawing room where Chiaki and the assistants awaited. "Ah! Morning, Yuu" Chiaki said with less enthusiasm than ever, clearly he hadn't gotten enough sleep yesterday night. "Hatori, what a bad timing!" he thought feeling a little bit of envy. He took a seat in his usual working place and immediately noticed someone was missing. "Where's Nozomi?" he asked realizing she wasn't at her desk "Not coming today. She said she felt sick so Yoshikawa- sensei allowed her to stay at home" one of the girls replied without turning to look at Yuu almost displaying a disdain gesture. 

They were probably right and Nozomi was just feeling sick, still Yuu couldn't help but to think that there was a possibility of Nozomi not coming because of what had happened the previous night. Trying to erase that idea from his mind, he quickly picked up ink and started to work.

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It was around 10pm when they finished, the day had been extremely exhausting, Yuu could tell that Chiaki, Hatori and all the assistants could feel it too. As they cleaned their desks and packed the finished pages, Yuu got his stuff together too. The cold weather he had been exposed to this morning, was starting to affect him and now he could feel the classic symptoms of a cold. "You alright, Yanase?" Hatori asked getting closer to him "Yea, why?" he replied confused at the sudden question. "Your face is bright red! Are you feeling sick?" Hatori asked again with a very serious tone. Yuu hadn't felt sick during the day at all but that was probably because of all the work he had had. Right now, he was definitely feeling a little drowsy "I am alright" he lied trying to grab his bag quicker. The rest of the assistants seemed to have left already when he stepped into to the living room. "Bye Chiaki, I'll see you next month" Yuu said getting closer to the apartment's door. "Yuu, you should probably stay" Yoshino told him blocking his path to the entrance "What? You mad? I have to go home" Yuu rebutted feeling even worse now.

"I told you already, Yanase. You look really sick" Hatori spoke from behind. Yuu turned to look at the mirror located in Yoshino's living room and noted that both Hatori and Chiaki were absolutely right. His cheeks were indeed bright red and his eyes had big sacks under them even though he had slept more than enough the previous night and to complete his bad image, his neck and arms were whiter than usual. Only then did he realized just how warm he was feeling despite the fact that it was a cold winter night. "You see?" Chiaki said realizing Yuu's shock at his own dreadful state "Stay here tonight, Tori will stay too, right Tori?" he said displaying a tender smile. "Yea, I am definitely staying! And you probably should too, Yanase" he said sounding a little disturbed. "No, its totally fine, I have to go" Yuu replied trying to compose his image with his hands. "Don't be this stubborn, please! Even Ijuuin- sensei would agree that you look terrible now" Yoshino said raising his voice a little. Hatori seemed to find the comment quite funny cause upon hearing it, he chuckled and turned around. But for Yuu, the sentence had been really uncomfortable. "Okay, okay. I'll stay, shut up" he said letting his annoyance show in his voice.

"These pills should make your fever go down" Hatori said entering the guest room where he was with Chiaki. "Alright, thanks!" Yuu answered still feeling flustered. He had gotten under the covers already and was really looking forward to get some rest. "You feeling better?" Chiaki asked sweetly "Yea a bit" Yuu answered honestly. Silence had started to settle in the room when Yuu's phone started ringing. He had left his phone on the little table located nearby the window, meaning that if he wanted to pick up the call, he would have to walk a few steps. He was about to get on his feet when Chiaki headed towards the table and grabbed the ringing device "Ah- Yuu" he said sounding a little nervous "It's Ijuuin- sensei" he continued with the same anxious tone he had used before. Yuu hadn't talked to Ijuuin the whole day and being honest, he was still a bit annoyed by the fact that Usami- sensei's cousin had answered his phone and had been with him.

"Please answer, Chiaki. Tell him I am not available but don't mention that I got sick" Yuu asked feeling his voice fading away with every word. If Ijuuin heard him now, he would immediately notice that he was not feeling well and would start to worry unnecessarily. Plus, he wasn't really in the mood to have a discussion with his partner, especially with Chiaki and Hatori there listening. "Give it to me" Hatori said noting that Yoshino was too nervous to answer Ijuuin's call.

 "Moshi Moshi?" he spoke turning on the phone's speaker ["Hello? Who's this?"] Ijuuin's voice sounded on the speaker making Yuu feel quite anxious. "This is Hatori Yoshiyuki. Yanase is here with Yoshino and me" Hatori said sounding serious. ["Oh sorry, I didn't realize you were still working"] Kyo apologized "We are not working anymore" Hatori answered confidently. Yuu quickly turned to look at him, why would he say that? It was better for sensei to think that they were just busy ["Then why is Yanase- kun still there?"] Ijuuin asked, Yuu could very much notice in his voice that Kyo was not really pleased. He looked at Hatori and moved his head from side to side "Don't tell him" he whispered to the editor as quietly as he could. ["Is something wrong?"] Kyo pressed further, it may have been a little naive from Yuu to think he could deceive sensei...Ijuuin was a really sharp guy, after all. "Yanase is just feeling a little sick, so he'll stay here" Hatori said realizing Yuu's defeat. ["What?! Is he asleep? Let me talk to him, please"] Kyo requested. Hatori placed the phone on Yuu's hand "C'mon, Yoshino...we have no business here" he said exiting the room closely followed by Chiaki who still looked a tad nervous.

"Hello?" Yanase spoke into the phone feeling drained of energy ["Yanase- kun! What's wrong?"] he heard Ijuuin saying, clearly he was already worried. "I am alright. It's just a cold" he replied trying to sound as normal as possible. ["Do you have a fever?"] sensei asked sounding more tender now "Yes, but is already fading away, you don't have to worry" Yuu answered, he hadn't really gotten a cold like this for over a year, before he had started dating Ijuuin- sensei, and while he really wished Kyo could by his side now, it was better to not let him be worried while he was away. ["I know you've got work tomorrow, but if you wake up feeling sick, please call Fujino- sensei or Kirishima- san. I am sure they'll understand"] he heard Kyo saying "I will but I am sure I'll feel better tomorrow" Yuu assured him, this was just a cold, nothing to be really worried about. ["Okay, I'll let you sleep now. Just one more thing"] Ijuuin said apparently noting that Yuu was feeling exhausted "What is it?" he asked reluctantly ["I really, really love you, Yanase- kun"] no matter how often sensei said those words, Yuu's heart would always start beating faster when he heard them. "Yea, me too" Yuu answered a bit coldly remembering the issues with Nozomi- chan and Karuoko- san. They talked for a little while but soon Yuu felt too tired to keep going so Ijuuin hanged up allowing Yuu to finally fall asleep.