#prihea

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“A-aah… aha… aachoo!”

The whole house seemed to shake along with Hikariyo’s thundering sneeze. Shivering and sniffling, he tightened his grip around the massive purple fleece blanket that engulfed his entire form from head to toe – apart from his face, which would have looked vibrant and cheerful on any other day. Unfortunately, it seemed as though some mysterious force had sapped all of the color out of it, rendering him pale as a ghost.

A few feet away, Kacper observed his sickly friend. This sight was surely not an uncommon occurrence – ever since that fateful encounter where the young blond showed up at his door one winter morning, trembling and begging for shelter from a rather merciless snowstorm, it seemed as though the two boys were practically living together now. Although the taller, darker-haired boy seemed to have an attitude that was colder than the blizzard itself, for some reason he just couldn’t turn down that puppy dog-eyed look that the smaller blond was giving him at the time. One way or another, it seemed as though Kacper was always playing the role of medic, tending to the illnesses or injuries of his friend. He didn’t seem to mind it too much though – more than anything, he wanted to blame Starr for nominating the blond as guinea pig for her chaotic experiments. Surely, a person like Lune would be a frequent victim due to lacking the ability to stand up for himself, but in Hikariyo’s case, it had more to do with trust. It didn’t matter how many lies you fed to him; he would foolishly believe them all and give you another chance to redeem yourself. It didn’t matter who you were or how kind you were to him, he selflessly offered everybody the benefit of the doubt.

There was no doubt in Kacper’s mind that Hikariyo was like a ray of light that suddenly entered his life. When it seemed like everyone else shunned him for being so aloof and anti-social, the blond still showed up at his door every single day to offer him a greeting, a warm smile, and a friendly conversation accompanied by a repertoire of lame jokes (and Kacper treasured the moments when Hikariyo’s face would just light up in the rare occurrence that the darker-haired boy would crack a smile at one of these jokes!). Kacper was always astounded by Hikariyo’s unconditional display of kindness, and he was always stumbling to find some way to repay him apart from the hospitality of his gloomy home.

Kacper often wondered if this silly, self-proclaimed warrior needed him as much as he needed Hikariyo.

“This might help,” Kacper said upon placing a small paper cup on the table adjacent to the couch. Hikariyo observed the mysterious purple liquid that rested in it, sat upright, and took a sip without a second thought.

“Augh… gross! Medicine?” Hikariyo poked out his tongue in mild disgust. For some reason, he had anticipated a shot of grape juice instead.

Kacper gave him an apologetic look. “It’s not the greatest, I know. But it should gradually get you your strength back.”

The other boy merely nodded and downed the rest of the drug in one gulp, probably so he could minimize the time in which he’d have to taste it.

“It also has a drowsy side effect,” Kacper added, “but you’re more than welcome to stay the night here. You already know that.”

Hikariyo simply nodded and then proceeded to twiddle his thumbs, which barely poked out from underneath the cover of his blanket. “So, what now?”

“Get a restraining order from Starr,” Kacper replied with a small, bittersweet smile.

Hikariyo chuckled. “Aww c’mon, she’s not that bad.”

“Only you would say that after all of the hell she’s put you through.”

“I suppose,” Hikariyo looked down at his empty cup, “but if I don’t help her out, who will?”

Kacper gritted his teeth. It was times like these that this particular quality of Hikariyo, this infinite amount of patience and chivalry and willingness to help others in their time of need – was also what he hated the most about his friend. He knew that some of the other villagers would just walk all over him whenever they wanted to, and it infuriated him even more that Hikariyo didn’t even seem to care about how the others treated him.

Hikariyo resumed his initial position on the couch, lying on his side with his head gently rested on a pillow. As Kacper was beginning to situate himself at the very end of the couch, he picked up a groan coming from his friend.

“Something wrong?” Kacper inquired.

“Yeah, I’m not a fan of this aftertaste,” the blond replied. “Got anything to wash it down?”

“Mm-hmm.” Kacper stood up and made his way to the kitchen. Upon opening the fridge door, he gasped at the sight of vacant shelves, then recalled that the last trip he made to Nookington’s was purely for a new wallpaper and, of course, that medicine. Cursing his forgetfulness, he paced the kitchen and recalled, there was still that one other thing…

~*~*~*~

Hikariyo felt his eyelids becoming heavier, and he jokingly wondered if a couple of workout exercises would immediately bring him back to his old, healthy self again. He had to admit that he felt a slight twinge of guilt ever since Kacper offered his place as shelter for the night. The fact that it had become such a regular occurrence now made the blond feel worse. He always wondered if Kacper’s stern expression was simply masking his true feelings – that Hikariyo bored him, that Hikariyo bothered him, that Hikariyo was getting up in his business again, and that Hikariyo wouldn’t leave him alone. The blond tried not to give it much thought, but these negative thoughts seemed to pop up more frequently as of recent. Here he was right now, sick as a dog and being left in Kacper’s care once again. Always taking and never giving… could he even consider himself worthy of Kacper’s friendship? He did look rather lonely at times, but Hikariyo couldn’t help but wonder if he appeared that way because he wanted to be alone.

Nevertheless, Hikariyo couldn’t help but smile whenever he remembered the first day he had a proper conversation with Kacper. It was an unusually cold and windy day in early November, and there was a devastating snowstorm that not even Danny Dev could have predicted quickly enough in order to get everybody in the village to safety. Hikariyo had finished his dojo training for the day and was ready to come home, but the snow had already accumulated in large amounts. The blizzard was relentless, the wind grew stronger, and the poor boy’s map had blown away with it. Helplessly lost, he desperately searched for any signs of a building – and was overcome with relief when he spotted Kacper’s house. The two villagers were always aware of the other’s existence, but only by name. How pitiful he must have looked when he had practically dropped to his knees, begging for the darker-haired boy’s compassion and a shelter for the night. The blond had always heard rumours around the village – rumours that Kacper was sinister, evil, and kept scorpions in his house that would poison anybody who dared crossed paths with him. One rumour even tried to claim that he was a bloodlust vampire and a psychopath for not ever leaving his house during the daytime. If Hikariyo had asked anybody for advice, they probably would have told him that he would have been better off in the snowstorm. Perhaps the blond had simply caught this guy on a good day, for he had been welcomed in without too much hesitation on the other boy’s behalf.

He couldn’t believe it had already been nearly two years since that snowstorm.

His train of thought came to a sudden halt when Kacper entered the room, clutching a small white bag that was sealed tightly with a dark red ribbon.

“Sorry,” Kacper began as he undid the ribbon, “but I ran out of food, so this was all I could find.”

Hikariyo leaned closer to his dark-haired friend as he attempted to peer inside the bag. He glanced upon several smaller packages that were all wrapped in silver foil, and the blond immediately inquired as to what they were.

“They’re, umm…” Kacper gave him a sheepish look as he took one of the packages out. “I believe they’re called Kisses. Try one.”

Upon closer inspection, Hikariyo saw that they were all shaped like a teardrop, but had a rather flat bottom. “Oh yeah, I’ve heard of these before! They’re quite popular around Christmas, I’ve heard.”

Kacper nodded. “These are store-bought, though I had them imported from a different village. It’s a shame that we don’t have easy access to chocolate confectionaries around here.”

“Mmmn…” Hikariyo had already unwrapped and devoured one of them. Kacper secretly adored the face he was making right now. “This is so good!”

The two continued to unwrap them, one by one, until a small pile of silver foil had accumulated on the table. Hikariyo noticed Kacper’s hands trembling a bit as he attempted to wrap the remaining ones again.

“Hey, is something wrong? … Kacper?” The blond gave him a worried look.

“I, err…” Kacper tried to cover his own blush, “I d-don’t… have anybody to give these to for Christmas, s-so if you want to… th-that is…” He seemed to be fumbling for words at this point.

Hikariyo smiled. “Does that mean we can continue to share these for the time being?”

“Pretty much,” Kacper replied, returning the smile of his companion.

Without warning, the familiar town tune chimed across the village, and a tap-tap-tap could be heard just outside of Kacper’s house not long after the melody subsided.

“Five PM? Must be the mail…” Kacper muttered as he stood up and got the door. Peering around, his gaze rested upon one lonely letter that was occupying his mailbox. Taking a step back inside, he opened up the letter and scrutinized the written contents inside.

Hey Kacper!

I just wanted to say thanks for everything you’ve always done for me, pal. I know I often take it for granted, but I really do appreciate all the things you’ve given to me. Actually, deep down, there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you. For a long time now, I’ve always considered you to be

Hikariyo

Kacper couldn’t help himself. He started to laugh. He couldn’t believe that Hikariyo had been so absorbed in writing the letter that he had completely forgotten about the message limit – and then left it in the letter, without changing it! Kacper fell to his knees as tears began to come to his eyes from the hysterics. Slowly, he crawled over to his blond friend.

“Hey Hiko, I see what you did there! Now come on and tell me what you really—”

Kacper hushed himself at the sight of Hikariyo’s sleeping face; it seemed that they both had forgotten about the medicine’s little side-effect.

As Hikariyo’s chest rose and fell rhythmically, Kacper smiled and folded the letter back up. He would simply interrogate his friend about that unfinished sentence in the morning.