Do You Want Me to Give You a Massage?

Imaizumi Keita looked at her anxious expression and couldn’t help letting out a light laugh.

“Compared to my condition,”

he turned slightly, propping up his upper body with his right hand, and looked at her leisurely,

“I feel like you’re actually more worried about whether your bento will go bad.”

“Hah?! N-no I’m not!”

Yanami Anna’s cheeks flushed with two suspicious red patches after being hit right where it hurt.

She stiffened her neck and defended herself with darting eyes.

“I-I just… just think that skipping lunch is bad for your health! Yes, that’s right! I’m worried about your health too!”

“Is that so?”

Imaizumi Keita raised an eyebrow.

“Somehow, in my mind, your image is starting to turn into that of a foodie, Yanami…”

“F-foodie… that’s such a mean way to put it!”

Yanami Anna puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction, but couldn’t come up with a stronger rebuttal, so she muttered softly,

“T-that’s because… when you eat something tasty, your mood gets better. And when your mood is good, your body recovers faster… there’s scientific evidence for that!”

The more she spoke, the more flawless her logic seemed to her, and her voice grew confident again.

Watching her seriously spout nonsense while desperately trying to justify her greed, Imaizumi Keita’s smile deepened.

“Mm,”

he nodded, accepting her crooked reasoning without hesitation.

“You’re right.”

“See?!”

Having received affirmation, Yanami Anna immediately lifted her chin smugly.

However, in the next moment, she met Imaizumi Keita’s gaze—so gentle it was almost unfair.

That look made her heart skip.

All the long-winded arguments she had prepared jammed in her throat, and not a single word came out.

She could clearly feel her cheeks starting to heat up again, beyond her control.

“Alright,”

Imaizumi Keita withdrew his gaze and rolled his shoulders, his tone sounding much more energetic than before.

“Thanks to you, I’m feeling a lot better.”

“R-really?”

Yanami Anna immediately tossed aside all those chaotic thoughts, her face filling again with concern.

“Then… should we go eat lunch together now? I can share some of my bento with you!”

After saying that, she stood up from the chair on her own, looking ready to head out immediately.

However, Imaizumi Keita remained sitting on the bed, completely unmoving.

He tried lifting his left arm.

It twitched slightly, then drooped back down weakly.

A dense numbness, like countless tiny electric currents, shot from his shoulder all the way to his fingertips.

That sour, aching sensation flooding straight into his brain was something no one who’d experienced it wanted to feel again.

“Ugh…”

Imaizumi Keita frowned and sucked in a sharp breath.

“What’s wrong?!”

Yanami Anna instantly grew tense, hurrying to the bedside and crouching down, her eyes scanning his arm back and forth.

“Does it still hurt? Or is it… a lingering effect from the heatstroke?”

“Neither,”

Imaizumi Keita sighed helplessly at her anxious look and pointed at his left arm with his chin.

“You were sleeping on my arm for almost an hour just now.”

“Right now, it’s completely numb.”

“Huh?”

Yanami Anna froze.

She slowly lowered her head, looking at his limp arm, then recalled the position she’d woken up in earlier.

Guilt and embarrassment rushed straight to her head.

“S-s-sorry… I’m so sorry!”

She pressed her palms together and bowed repeatedly toward Imaizumi.

“I-I didn’t do it on purpose! I really didn’t know… that I’d end up like that after falling asleep…”

“Alright, stop moving around,”

Imaizumi Keita interrupted her, rubbing his head in mild distress.

“If you keep apologizing like that, this arm of mine probably won’t regain feeling until after school.”

“T-then what should we do?”

Yanami Anna straightened up, her face filled with helpless panic.

It was all because of her that he’d ended up like this…

What should she do?

She had to do something to make it up to him…

“Um…”

Yanami Anna’s cheeks flushed uncontrollably once more.

She twisted her fingers together, her gaze drifting as she cautiously asked,

“D-do you… want me to… g-give you a m-massage?”

The instant the words left her mouth, she wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.

That sounded way too much like… some kind of strange invitation.

However, to her surprise, Imaizumi Keita didn’t tease her with words like he usually did.

He just looked at her in mild surprise, stayed silent for a moment, then nodded.

“…Sure.”

Hearing his consent, Yanami Anna let out a small sigh of relief, though her nervousness immediately surged again.

She took a deep breath and carefully sat down beside Imaizumi Keita’s bed.

“Th-then… I’ll start, okay?”

As if announcing the beginning of some ritual, she whispered softly.

Then she reached out with both hands and gently grasped Imaizumi Keita’s completely numb arm.

The feel of it was much firmer than she’d imagined.

Through the thin layer of his school uniform shirt, she could clearly sense the shape of his arm and the solid lines of muscle beneath.

Yanami Anna’s cheeks grew even hotter.

She forced herself to push aside all the messy thoughts in her head, recalled massage techniques she’d seen on TV before, and began kneading his arm lightly with her fingertips.

Her movements were clumsy—almost awkward.

The pressure was uneven, sometimes too light, sometimes too heavy, and she didn’t always hit the right spots.

Still, that soft, warm touch traveled clearly through the fabric to Imaizumi Keita’s skin.

Imaizumi Keita closed his eyes and said nothing, simply quietly savoring the slightly awkward tenderness coming from his arm.

The partition once again fell into silence, broken only by the sound of breathing.

Yanami Anna was tense at first, but gradually became absorbed in this strange atmosphere.

This feeling…

Wasn’t actually that bad.

After some time, Imaizumi Keita finally opened his eyes slowly.

He tried moving his fingers and found that most of the numbness had faded.

“Much better,”

he said, sitting up and looking at the red-faced girl beside him.

“Thank you, Yanami.”

“I-it’s nothing…”

Yanami Anna quickly released his arm and hurriedly looked away.

“A-anyway, it was my fault in the first place…”

“Let’s go.”

Imaizumi Keita had already stood up from the bed.

He moved his left arm, now mostly recovered, and headed toward the partition exit.

“Let’s eat.”

“Ah… o-okay!”

Yanami Anna replied in a rush, stood up as well, and quickly followed after him.

The two of them pulled open the curtain one after the other and stepped out of the small partition.

Kobuki Sayo-sensei, who was working through documents at her desk, looked up at the sound and smiled knowingly when she saw them.

“Oh my, all rested up?”

“Yes, thank you, Sensei,”

Imaizumi Keita replied politely with a nod.

“That’s good. Shioyama-san’s condition has stabilized too, but it’d be best if she slept a bit longer. I’ve already informed your homeroom teachers—both of you can take the afternoon off as well. Stay here, rest up, and head back together once Shioyama-san wakes up.”

“Understood.”

Just as they finished saying goodbye to the teacher and were about to leave the infirmary, the door was gently pushed open from outside.

Two familiar figures appeared at the entrance.

“Excuse us.”

Ayano Koki poked his head in, wearing a polite smile.

When he saw Imaizumi Keita and Yanami Anna about to leave, surprise flickered across his face.

“Imaizumi? Yanami-san? You’re here too? I heard Lemon got heatstroke…”

Behind him, Asakumo Chihaya stepped forward as well.

Her gaze landed on Imaizumi Keita, and she offered a gentle smile and nod in greeting.

After exchanging a few casual words with Ayano Koki, Imaizumi Keita noticed that Shioyama Lemon had woken up and was sitting on the bed, yawning.

He then took Yanami by the hand and left.

Ayano Koki carried a bag of get-well gifts straight into the infirmary and walked toward Shioyama Lemon’s bed.

“Koki?!”

Seeing Ayano Koki, Shioyama Lemon’s eyes lit up instantly, her sun-kissed face flushing red.

Ayano smiled, set the gifts on the bedside table, pulled out a chair with practiced ease, and sat down as the two of them began chatting.

Asakumo Chihaya didn’t go inside.

She simply stood quietly at the doorway, holding Ayano’s school bag, waiting with a gentle smile for the visit to end.

They were heading to cram school together afterward.

And after that, they still planned to study together in the self-study room.