Extra Chapter: From Hell to Heaven

Extra Chapter:
From Hell to Heaven

 

THE DAYS were growing hotter, and summer would soon be upon us. The temperature made it increasingly hard to sleep, so I wasn’t surprised when I woke up suddenly, but for some reason I also found my throat hurt. My mind was foggy, and my nose was running. Only then did it occur to me what might have befallen me.

“Good morning, brother dearest—brother?!” Alice’s expression changed dramatically when she looked me in the eye.

“Why are you so surprised?”

“You look so pale. Are you feeling poorly?” Unsurprisingly, having spent most of our lives together, I couldn’t fool Alice.

“Ugh, yeah, I think I caught a cold. But I’m fine. I’m not even sick enough to stay home from school.”

However, when I tried to get out of bed, I stumbled and almost fell over. I only avoided kissing the floor because Alice caught me. It was a bit humiliating.

“You mustn’t push yourself. You need rest today. Emma can let the school know.”

“But—”

“You’ve been running yourself ragged! One day of rest will do you no harm. Okay?” Alice cajoled me to go back to bed. She was probably right. I had been going at it pretty hard, and my forehead did feel hot.

“Leave everything to me.” She flashed me a cute little wink and left the room. She might have been younger than me, but she was a lot more responsible.

I relaxed, closed my eyes, and fell into a deep sleep. Did I fall asleep so quickly because I hadn’t been getting enough rest lately, or because of the physical exhaustion? I couldn’t be sure.

One thing I was sure of was that the fever was responsible for some truly horrible dreams. I found myself in a hellish place where demons kept submerging me in magma. My body screamed, but mysteriously my forehead remained cool. Now how did that work?

I woke up feeling perplexed, and I found Alice had placed a cool towel on my forehead.

“Thanks…”

“You were thrashing in your sleep. I was so worried for you…”

“Oof, just a nightmare. But I don’t feel any worse than I did this morning.” I sat up and realized my back was drenched in sweat. Whew boy. Wait a minute—I peered at Alice. “Shouldn’t you be at school?”

“I went, but I was so worried that I jumped out a window in the middle of class and came home.”

“You what?!”

How could I not worry after hearing that? But she seemed to be waiting for me to praise her for it. I guess I was impressed by her spunk, but I was afraid if I encouraged her, she’d do it again. What ultimately broke the uncomfortable silence was Tigerson’s voice from the first floor.

<Alice, how is Noir doing? I worry for him.>

Our staircase was too narrow for Tigerson to come up.

“His fever has come down quite a bit. Brother dearest, I’m going to fetch your dinner. It’s already evening.”

“What, really?”

I’d slept almost all day. I got changed while Alice was getting my dinner. When I decided to poke my head downstairs to say hi to Tigerson, I noticed things sounded a little crazy down there.

<Pardon! Noir is ill. You must not make too much noise.>

“I know! That’s why I want to check on him!” That voice was instantly familiar. It was Emma.

“Of course. But a large crowd will only cause more trouble, so I’ll visit him in your stead.”

“Like I’d just accept that. I predict that you’ll just unnecessarily tire Sir Noir out.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? You think I’m going to do something weird?”

“I can see the look in your eyes.”

It sounded like Lola and Luna were with her, and Lola was getting impatient. “Agh! Where do you get off trying to get a leg up on the rest of us?”

“I’ve nursed Noir more times than I can count since we were kids. It’s only natural that I do it now.”

By the sound of it, Emma slipped past and the others gave chase. I could hear their footsteps scampering toward my room. They all paused in front of my door, so it seemed like they had some sense left in them. They broke into hushed whispers.

“Even if he’s asleep, you’re not allowed to kiss him.”

“I wouldn’t do that. If anyone would, it’s you.”

“Hmph. Anyway, no funny business. And keep it down.”

The door knob turned quietly and I smiled when they peered in.

“If you were talking about me, I’m up.”

“Ah! Oh no, you were awake?!”

“I’m feeling a lot better. I only got up to get changed.”

“Rats…” Lola snapped her fingers, disappointed. I guess she was hoping to catch me while I was changing.

“At any rate, Sir Noir, you still need rest. Your fever may return, so you ought to return to bed. Allow me to assist.”

“L-Luna?!”

Luna scooped me up into her arms, giggling. She carried me to my bed like some kind of princess. Lola followed up by tucking me in with a blanket and Emma put a cool, moist towel on my forehead. I wanted for nothing, and the three of them insisted that I sleep. But how could I, under the circumstances? I mean, there were three people staring right at me.

“Um, I’m actually not very tired right now.”

“But you should try to sleep anyway,” said Emma. “People heal fastest when they’re sleeping, you know. Ms. Elena taught us that the best cure for a cold isn’t magic or medicine, but rest.”

“Mr. Noir, please close your eyes. I’ll be quiet,” said Lola.

“As will I,” said Luna.

I didn’t have much choice, so I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. My efforts were in vain. I wasn’t tired at all. That wasn’t surprising, seeing as I’d slept all day. But the three of them seemed to get the wrong idea.

“He’s already asleep.”

“He really was exhausted.”

“You two can go home now. I’ll look after Mr. Noir, so—”

Lola suddenly stopped talking mid-sentence, and I felt something touch my lips—something warm and soft. From the faint sensation of breath and the fragrance of her hair, I could tell it was Emma who’d kissed me.

“Wh-what do you think you’re doing?”

“Aha! I just remembered that I didn’t greet Noir today. It’s for the LP, okay?”

Ohhh, that made sense. I appreciated her efforts, even if it was a little surprising.

“Then I’ll do it too!”

“Oh no, no, any more and you’ll wake him up.”

“Oh really? I see how it is,” Lola pouted, but the next instant I felt someone get into bed with me! It was obviously Lola. I still had my eyes closed, but I could feel her hugging me.

“You stupid receptionist! Where do you get off?!”

“Don’t get the wrong idea. They say that you recover from a cold when you give it to someone else, so I’m just getting close to Mr. Noir to try to catch his cold for him. I have no ulterior motive.”

“Ugh, then what if I do it too?!” said Emma.

Somehow Luna managed to jump over Emma and install herself on the empty side of my bed. “Two should be better than one. Sir Noir is always doing so much for me, the least I can do is catch his cold.”

Luna gave me a squeeze. She wasn’t about to let Lola have a leg up. I never knew how popular it was to catch a cold.

“That’s my spot!”

“Heh, too bad.”

“I-I’m not giving up. My rightful place is by Noir’s side.” Emma wasn’t about to force her way in, was she?! I felt something creep up from my feet. I guess technically my front was “open” since I was laying on my back…

“He he he, get better soon, Noir.”

They enveloped me in their supple limbs. I could get used to this. Honestly, their skin felt so nice against mine that I felt like I might pass out for real. They all smelled so good, it was making me dizzy. I couldn’t take much more.

“Uh, um, uhh, you guys are too hot…you’ll raise my temperature again…”

All three of them let out a little gasp. They finally realized I was awake. But I was an idiot to think it was over—they all came up with excuses and clung to me for another ten minutes.

My whole body felt like it was on fire, but I couldn’t do much about it. I did get a lot of LP out of the episode, so I was grateful for that, but it did ultimately end up bringing my fever back.

It didn’t feel that bad, though. If anything, my baser instincts were probably shouting to heat things up even more, but…I was satisfied.