I've Done Stranger

There wasn’t much Itsumi Erika could do but lay on the floor, limbs spread apart, and stare at the slowly turning fan above her. Somewhere in her fever ridden brain, she was glad that the shivering stopped but on the other hand, that was probably not good.

How many days had it been? Had it even been a day? It was extremely hard for the young woman to tell how much time had passed in her melty brain. The cough was the hardest. It wracked every part of her when a fit overcame here. Why was she lying on the floor? Oh, she was going to try and get something to eat. That wasn’t happening right now.

It wasn’t a surprise she was in this situation. Erika had enough strength to text her Commander that she was feeling ill and since she really didn’t have any friends, no one stopped by. That was fine. Friends were overrated. At least that what she told herself every time she hauled her aching body from one part of her room to another.

Yes, she was probably too competitive but she did try to temper that after she got her ass handed to her in the 63rd National High School Senshado Tournament. Still her intensity hadn’t won her many people wanting to deal with her outside of Senshado training.

And that is why I am laying on the floor wasting away, Erika thought to herself with a sardonic chuckle.

As the woman began to debate if she had enough energy to drag herself to get something to eat or back to bed, she heard a knocking on her dorm room door. It was firm and evenly spaced which was soothing in a way to her screaming mind. Erika went to tell whoever it was to come in but she could barely get any words out and even then the door was locked.

The knock came again and Erika said. Could they just let her die in peace? There was a fumbling at the door and then the familiar click of it unlocking. Someone had gotten in! Every instinct immediately went into overdrive but it was useless. She was too sick to move.

“Erika. You here?” came the voice through ears that felt like they had cotton in them. That voice was familiar but her fevered mind didn’t let her identify it. Who would have come to her room like this? Were they going to steal her stuff?

“Erika.” the voice said again and Erika could feel the person’s steps through the floor before they reached the end of the short hallway and in to the room proper. God, she must have been a wild sight to see laying there in only her pajamas she knew that she had put on backwards and inside out. Such a humiliating way to die.

Immediately, the foot steps took three long strides before the figure knelt down beside her, slid an arm under her back and helped proper her up in their arms. It was at that moment, that Erika realized her eyes were shut and that’s why she hadn’t been able to see who it was. As she forced them open, her glassy pair met a very brown set of eyes in the smooth and round face of the last person she would have wanted to see her like this. They belonged to her own Senshado commander.

“Erika.”