Priorities
Suna Rintarou x Asano Kura
—Sometimes Kura is too serious about her study until it's detrimental to her health and worries Suna.
***
“Are you sure you'll be okay?” Miyu frowns. She slows down a little, trying to match Kura's steps in the hallway that’s already starting to get crowded. The rose-brown-haired girl dodges the student that nearly bumps into her, and mumbles sorry before answering.
“As long as I can retake that test, I'll be okay.” She raises her voice a little since she's not sure Miyu can hear her small voice between all the chatters near them.
Talking a little louder makes her throat itch though, so she involuntarily coughs—even when she tries her best to hold it. A few students glance her way, some harsher than others, so Kura can only lower her head and mumbles another sorry. If only she didn’t forget her mask at home ….
“You're obviously still sick. I don't think Morisawa-sensei will let you even go near her.”
“Then I just need to convince her to let me take the test from the other end of the room or something,” Kura says. “I just … don't want my score to be permanently red.”
Miyu stays silent for a few seconds. Her friend can be phenomenally stubborn when it comes to her scores, and there’s nothing much she can do about it.
“Sure, I get you … but still …. “
Kura blinks a few times as she’s able to hear the ends of Miyu’s words. She's quite sure she fell asleep a second ago, just after her head spins around into a centrifuge. And that's … not good. Is she starting to lose her consciousness? Now, just when she’s about to meet the teacher?
She tries to regain her composure before answering. Miyu doesn't need to realize that she's getting worse. “I'll go home after taking that test if that makes you happy.”
“You definitely need to do that.” Miyu nods. “If not, I'll punt you home myself.”
“You're strict …. ” Kura breathes out while chuckling lightly. She keeps her head down the whole time, trying to minimize the dizziness that's starting to take over her head and body.
At the same time, Suna walks out of his classroom following Osamu. Just like usual, they’re going to the cafeteria to get lunch. But, amidst people walking down the hallway, Suna can make out two familiar girls walking toward where he is. A burgundy-haired girl is chatting with a rose-brown-haired girl holding her head down.
He stands still for a moment. Isn't that … Kura? But he thought she wasn't going to go to school until next week. What is she doing? Has she recovered already?
Suna quickly grabs Osamu's right shoulder, making the latter turn his head back. “Osamu, you go first.”
After taking a glance at Kura in the distance, Osamu nods. “Well then, I'll leave you to it,” he said. He leaves Suna alone and continues to walk to the cafeteria while Suna dashes towards Kura, worry starts growing inside him.
When he gets close enough to the two of them, Miyu finally notices him.
“Oh, hey, Suna-kun.” Miyu grins. “Hitting the cafeteria again?”
Kura slowly raises her head and their eyes meet. To be polite and not wanting him to worry seeing her in such a pathetic state, she smiles at the boy. But even Suna can see it looks even weaker than her usual one.
He takes a side step, avoiding colliding with a student that's walking the opposite way. “Yeah. I was going with Osamu though.”
Miyu nods, the three of them now stopping in the middle of the hallway to talk.
“Welp, he must’ve been hungry for leaving you alone like this,” she says, “but that’s Osamu for you!” Miyu stretches her hand upwards. Hearing her joke, Kura laughs silently, eyes now peeled again at the floor. And Suna can’t look away from her.
What's up with her today? Suna ponders. Is she still sick? She's more silent than usual ….
Suna moves in front of Kura. “So, what about you, Asano? Where are—”
But before he can finish his sentence, Kura mumbles something incomprehensible before she holds her head and her feet start to wobble.
Realizing what will happen, Suna quickly shortens the distance between them and grabs her shoulders, catching her before she can fall. Some people around them gasp at the scene. Others take a few steps back.
Still, due to her inert weight, they both stagger and Kura falls to her knees, but Suna quickly hugs her closer, leaning her against his shoulder before wrapping his hand around her back.
His heart races like never before. He never thought his fast reaction time could help him outside the court like this.
“K-KURA?!” Miyu crouches beside her friend. “Damn it, this is why you shouldn't go to school today … you're still sick …. “
“U-ugh …. ” Kura slowly opens her eyes again, regaining consciousness. But Suna only tightens his grip on her shoulder.
“Kura? How are you feeling?”
“I-I'm fine. Just lost my footing a bit there.” She lets out a breath. It's obvious she's trying to distance herself from Suna, but his hand on her back forces her to stay still. “Sorry to make you worry, Suna-kun … but I'm fine. Really. I can stand up …. “
“No way you're okay.” He furrowed his eyebrows. He can feel her warm breath on his shoulder and his worry starts to spiral. Then he turns to glare at Miyu. “Why is she still at school? Why doesn’t she go home?”
“That's what I've been telling her to do! But she still wants to retake that stupid history test!” Miyu sighs and shakes her head. “But that doesn't matter now. I'll just bring her to the infirmary first. You can go—”
Suna cuts Miyu off. “No need. I'll carry her.”
” ... what?” Miyu and Kura ask at the same time.
While Miyu sounds more surprised, Kura can only mumble in a confused tone as she, again and again, tries to back away from him. Her consciousness is wavering. She's awake one second and not for another. And because of that, she's not sure if that Suna Rintarou really said he'll carry her or if she's starting to have a fever dream.
“T-that's not needed. I can walk. I'm fine.” Kura can only mumble. She's unsure if the heat on her cheek is because of the fever or because she started to catch the faint scent of Suna's shampoo.
But the boy is seemingly unfazed.
“You know Kura, you can be stubborn at times,” says Suna before he puts his right arm under her thighs, before pausing for a moment to ask something he almost forgot. “Ah, you wear shorts, right?”
“Um, I do, but you don't need to do this please Suna-kun I'm fine—”
Suna disregards her plea and in one motion, manages to lift Kura into a bridal carry with ease. Kura yelps and quickly covers her face to cower from the people starting to direct their attention to her.
“S-suna-kun, I said I’m fine.” She holds onto the corner of his blazer.
“No. It’s too dangerous to let you walk alone like this.”
Kura can’t deny his words. After all, her legs still feel a bit numb, and with this headache, she knows she won’t be able to walk down the stairs. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Her vision has started to flicker again.
“I-I'm sorry .… ” she mumbles, keeping her face covered by her hand. “Sorry for ... bothering you like this,” her voice slowly trails off as she loses consciousness again.
After ensuring Kura is asleep, Suna turns to Miyu. “Let’s go.”
Miyu nods and both of them start walking towards the infirmary with the girl leading him and clearing their way from gawking people. While they’re walking, Suna looks down at Kura who’s sleeping soundly in his arms, the heat of her body bothering him for how hot it is.
Just … what's with this girl? She really… can't calm down. She always tries to present herself as perfectly as she can even at the expense of her health. Looking at Kura's covered face once again, Suna sighs as his heart sinks. What will he do with her?
***
Suna watches outside the infirmary as Kita stands at the bedside, scolding Kura for her carelessness.
“But the last day for retaking the test is today …. ” She whimpers.
“It doesn't matter,” says Kita. His voice is colder than usual if that’s even possible. “If there's a choice between your health and test score, your health is more important.”
Kura lowers her head. “I'm sorry, Shinsuke-senpai …. “
“Just don't do it again.”
“I promise I won't do it again.”
As he watches, Suna can only wonder, who told the captain about her collapsing? News does travel fast inside a high school but for simple news like a random student to be traveling that fast to someone like Kita? He’s not the type to rush from his class when he hears about something like this.
Before this moment, Suna never knows how much Kura matters to Kita. And it bothers him.
But his train of thought is broken when Kita finishes his lecture and walks out of the infirmary, passing by him. The captain nods and greets him.
“Don’t loiter around. Go back to your class after this.”
Suna nods, hiding his emotions behind his deadpan face as always. “Yes, captain.”
Kita then leaves to go back to his class, and Suna finally takes a step inside. Kura, who has been cradling her head and blaming herself for being so reckless, finally looks up and notices the boy’s presence. But he’s still the first one to talk.
“Getting scolded as soon as you're awake mustn’t be a good experience.”
Kura sighs, her voice is a bit raspy. “You tell me.”
He stops at the bedside and puts his hands inside his blazer's pockets. There are no other students there and the nurse is out to fetch more medicine, so they can talk comfortably.
“So, how are you feeling now?”
“Much better.” Kura smiles at him. “Thanks to you too, Suna-kun.”
Suna is sure his heartbeat skips for a second. He had never seen her smile that genuinely before.
But Kura doesn’t seem to realize the impact she has on him as she’s already busy looking around. After taking a second to process that Suna is the only one in the infirmary, Kura looks around. “Where's Miyu?”
“She went to class first,” says Suna, clearing his throat. “She said she'll tell the next teacher you're staying at the infirmary, and also tell Morisawa-sensei that you're unable to retake the test today.”
“That's too bad .… ” Kura sighs. “But I guess I'll just have to let this one score go empty.”
Suna watches as Kura groans into her hands, still sad over this score that’s not quite significant when he remembers how Miyu said Kura already has a nearly perfect score on everything else for that subject.
Why is she so obsessed with her score anyways? Suna's eyes narrow. She's not as tenacious as Kita, so unlike him, she always needs to try harder, and he sometimes even sees her outright fail while she just tries to keep cool, insisting that she’s okay, that everything is fine. But it doesn’t, does it?
Kura let out one more long sigh before looking up again, her eyes filled with disappointment, very unlike her usual self. Then, she glances at him, and only now Suna realizes how flushed her face is.
“Suna-kun, I want to ask you something, and sorry if I'm wrong ….” she mumbles, “but did you … call me, um, Kura … when I fell?”
Instead of answering, Suna just stands there in silence. On purpose.
But Kura didn’t know that, so all can do is steal glances at him, sweat running down her back. She was already embarrassed that he had to carry her like that, and the possibility of him calling her by her first name without any suffix is making her even more flustered.
Only after half a minute which feels like an eternity to Kura, he answers.
“Ah, did I?” His face is deadpan, as always.
Kura clears her throat. “Y-you did … didn't you?” she averts her gaze and mumbles to herself. “Or did I hallucinate it?”
He shrugs. “Well, in any case, I think that's a good hallucination, Kura-chan.” Suna snickers a little.
She nearly jumps out of bed. “T-there you go!”
So he did do it and she didn’t imagine it!
Suna tilts his head, enjoying her small outburst. “Do you dislike it?”
Gripping the bed's sheets, she answers with a whisper. The emotions inside her heart fight with each other, and she can’t figure out what they want.
“N-no, I guess? Not at all …. “
“Then it's fine, isn't it?”
“I … guess,” her voice starts to trail off. She needs to rethink what this feeling currently surfaces when she hears her name coming from his lips, but not now. She needs to rest before Kita scolds her again.
Suna watches as Kura nods to herself full of determination. He wonders what she’s thinking about and why can she still be that serious even after she fainted.
“Since you’re still sick, want me to go home with you? Just in case.”
Kura almost coughs at the proposal. “W-what? No, I can go with Miy—”
“You’re supposed to have club today, right?”
“Ah.”
She only remembers now. And there’s no way their instructor would let Kura join or even wait for Miyu until the practice is over. So Suna is right, she’d need to go home alone today if she doesn’t accept his offer.
… but wouldn’t it be embarrassing?
Kura purses her lips together, thinking about the pros and cons while Suna watches in amusement.
“So?” he asks again after a few minutes of silence from Kura.
The girl pulls on her fringe and sighs. Even after weighing the embarrassment, she still thinks that it’s better to go home with Suna, considering she might still faint on the way.
“... we can go together, I suppose,” she says, “um, you’re house isn’t on the opposite way of mine, right?”
“No, we just turn at a different intersection.”
“I see.” Kura nods, trying to hide her part embarrassment and part excitement. “It’s okay then.”
“Great, okay,” he says, “I'll come back after school to pick you up.” Suna turns away from her and starts walking towards the door.
Kura nods. “Have a great class.”
But suddenly Suna stops and turns around again, muttering under his breath.
“I nearly forget—”
Suna walks back to Kura and leans towards her, tucking her fringes and some of her bangs behind her ear, causing the girl’s face to redden even more.
“S-suna-kun?”
Then, without another word, he kisses her forehead softly before as quickly moving back as if nothing happened. The girl can only let out a silent panicked scream before a ghostly smile appears on the fox’s face.
“Get well soon, Kura.”