The Kids Get Sick

Nagisa's sick, Jataro takes care of him.

"You are SO ADORBS when you blush, Nagisa!" she teased, laughing as he went darker and pecking his nose for effect. Nagisa's eyes were glued to the floor in embarrassment, and Masaru had to whine at her to just 'get going already' to convince her to leave. With a dramatic sigh that only a true actress could produce, she walked over to Masaru. they both bid Nagisa goodbye and he stuttered out a reply and a warning (Be safe, say away from demons, etc) as they crawled out of their sewer.

Nagisa took a few deep breathes to piece together what remained of his dignity and assemble his composure before nodding to himself, face a pasty white again, and pulling out two granola bars, one for himself and one for Jataro. he set out the table towel and set the food down, taking the opportunity to walk over to where his books were being (poorly) hidden from him by the hero. HE pulled a medical studies book out and began to read it, going over each fact multiple times to imprint them all into his brain and making flash cards by tearing the pages in an adult novel out and writing over them (Jataro would paint over them in white first so it was easier). He couldn't bring himself to do this to children's books as the other three enjoyed them from time to time, and it was another one of those small revenges against adults he enjoyed, ruining books made for them to enjoy. there's no one publishing any of these anymore, not at the end of the world, so there were a finite amount of books and he was destroying that limited source. It felt nice) to use as paper and borrowing material from Jataro to write with (Black colored pencil, it was the closest he could get).

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Jataro woke up with a quiet yawn, always careful to be really quiet when waking up. It would usually give him time to be alone and draw, without any weird and confusing feelings getting in the way like the leash of a dog that walks circles around you...He checked for his mask, and was glad to find it on his face. It was uncomfortable and itchy (like a dog fur blanket) but it kept the others safe. He might want them to hate him, but he still liked them. the problem was that they claimed to return the sentiment. They hadn't outright said it (thankfully, he wouldn't know how to react) but they all seemed much less mean to him ever since they had met up. He couldn't really tell why, but it almost seemed like they didn't hate him anymore. Just the thought had his eyes watering and lip trembling, evidence that pointed to them still hating him quickly flooding his brain (Kotoko's constant cutting him off, Nagisa sighing in annoyance, how upset Nagisa must be after what seeing his UGLY face made Nagisa do last night out of delirium because there was no other explanation, always making their heads too big when he draws them, annoying them just by opening his mouth, purposefully making them hate him, forcing them to see his face before he found his mask again, so so so so many reasons they should despise his existence).

In the morning, he could get away from all of that and just draw and paint and color and create without thinking too much about any of that.

Unfortunately, he was the last one awake this morning. It looked like Kotoko and Masaru were gone (probably making sure to get away from him as soon as possible) and Nagisa was sitting in the corner studying (hiding from him behind a cabinet, but he couldn't make anyone happy and found the boy before he even saw he was awake). Jataro frowned, Nagisa seemed really into it right now. It wasn't good when he got like this. he would study and study and study and no one could stop him until he passed out or was forced to snap out of it by another necessity. Jataro didn't get it, there wasn't any school to study for and Nagisa was already smarter then Kotoko and Masaru (Nagisa was smarter then him too, but that didn't matter because it's not like Nagisa was trying to prove himself to HIM), so there was no real reason to study anymore. it was like a fish that could breathe air purposefully drowning itself because the water was what it's useful...So Jataro guessed he understood a bit. It's just how Nagisa is, all of them had problems and they all accepted each other (they even accepted him, though probably just to laugh at and mock him, like that one German word).