Special Property (BxB)

Chapter 54. TLC, Part 1

Father Avery Jacobs was an especially gifted music teacher at St. Catherine's. He was an outside hire and came highly recommended.

He had a special rapport with his students and took it upon himself to use much of his personal time to instruct many in voice, piano, and guitar. Many students looked up to Father Jacobs as a mentor and excelled in the musical arts.

No one seems to know why he left his position one day, to take a sabbatical. He was missed by many.

—Anonymous

Day 12

Kato woke up at the alarm. He felt terrible. He definitely had a cold. He laid there listening to Tachibana get up and leave. He continued laying there when Tachibana returned.

"You getting up?"

Kato's voice was a little raspy when he replied, "No, I think I'll skip breakfast. I don't feel good."

"Yeah, you don't sound like it. Okay, I'll bring you back some fruit then." Tachibana left.

Kato still had food from Takahashi so he would eat something later. He rolled over and fell back to sleep.

Tachibana woke him and said, "Maybe you should go see the doctor. If you're going to miss Sunday Mass, they will want to make sure you are sick and not faking it."

Kato grumbled to himself. He absolutely, positively, unequivocally, just hated to be fucked with when he was sick. All he wanted to do was crawl into a hole and die; just be done with it. "Fine," he said.

"Okay, all you gotta do is just go to the infirmary and check in. They'll take care of you," Tachibana said helpfully.

Kato got up, got dressed, and left the dorm and headed to the infirmary, following the simple directions Tachibana gave before he left.

There was someone at the desk and Kato reported that he was feeling awful. He was directed to sit for a few minutes and he will be seen. It seemed a hell of a lot longer than a few minutes.

A nurse came and asked him to come to a back room. She took his vitals and examined him. "What are the symptoms?"

Kato told her that he was tired, his throat hurt, and he ached a little.

"Well, you don't have a fever yet, but it might be influenza. I'll get you some medicine and you need to stay home all day and rest. Drink plenty of fluids."

With that, Kato was sent back with some medication. Tachibana was gone, and looking at the time, he must be at Mass. He took his medication and laid down. He couldn't sleep so he sat there in a fuzzy haze from the medicine and stared at the ceiling. He became sad. When he was sick as a child, his mother was there to care for him. As he got older, he wasn't sick as much anymore, and when he did get sick, he kept it from his mother because he didn't want to ruin her chance with the boyfriend-of-the-week. He tried his best to be a good son. He started to tear up thing about these things, so he wiped them away and rolled over into a ball and forced himself to not think about anything.

He heard Tachibana come back into the room. He must have fallen asleep. He was still curled up in a ball, underneath his blankets, facing the wall. He felt a hand start rubbing his back and he immediately threw off the blankets and spun around, yelling, "Tachibana-san, what the fuck?"

Takahashi smirked at him. "Really?"

Kato stared at him for a few moments. "What are you doing here?"