Chapter 95

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**Ichinose Natsu, speaking… (2)**

“Anyway, it was the same as always with Toya. Mm… was it the same? It might’ve been more bothersome than usual…”

I wasn’t in the best shape usually, but I wasn’t the type to lie down all day either.

So I guess it _was_ more burdensome than usual.

“Feed me, clean me, talk to me, show me funny videos”—I spent the whole time being doted on, like I was totally useless.

“I got visits from Inari and Nagisa-san after they heard I was sick.”

– Why is Inari just “Inari” and Nagisa is “Nagisa-san”?

– Well, to be fair, Nagisa does give off a slightly intimidating vibe…

– Nagisa would be sad to hear that ww

– Should we tell her?

– Nacchan, this one’s on you wwww

– Well, you’ve always had trouble getting close to people other than Toya…

– So does that mean Toya is your type, Nacchan?

– 草 (lol)

“I’ll get closer to Nagisa-san in time, so please stop teasing me.”

I was already feeling a little awkward about it, so the teasing didn’t help…

Honestly, both Nagisa-san and I are polite-style characters, so using formal language with each other felt way more natural.

Isn’t it weird to use casual speech with someone who’s speaking formally to you?

Toya and Inari are just _too_ naturally outgoing. Seriously.

“Inari was acting like I was on my deathbed or something. She didn’t even cry when I was hospitalized, but now she almost did… even though I was doing way better this time.”

– Maybe she was really worried after seeing you sick so often.

– Come to think of it, Inari _does_ care a lot about those around her.

– Didn’t she visit Nagisa during her break too?

– But she didn’t visit Toya when she was sick ww

– Toya’s never been sick, so there was no reason to visit wwww

– Oh, right?

– 草 (lol)

“She brought all kinds of fruit and kept feeding me. I couldn’t eat much at once, so I had to take small bites slowly.”

Apples, bananas, peaches, strawberries—she kept feeding me so much fruit… now that I think about it, maybe it wasn’t so bad.

Toya even once complained to Inari, asking why _only she_ got to feed me.

I’m not a little kid, so why are they fighting over feeding me fruit?

Recalling that, I clicked my tongue with a sigh.

In that sense, Nagisa-san was a much calmer caretaker compared to the two of them.

“When Toya and Inari are separate, they’re fine. But when they’re together, they just bicker nonstop, and it gets really noisy. Thank goodness Nagisa-san was there. If it was just those two—ugh.”

Just imagining that scenario made my body shudder.

Honestly, Inari bringing Nagisa along each time was the right move.

If Inari had come alone, Toya probably would’ve told her not to show up again.

Toya was definitely in overprotective mode back then.

– Even when she’s just “Inari,” she still gets no respect ww

– Sounds like Nagisa gets treated way better, huh?

– Poor Inari, going to visit just to get roasted www

– The noisy ones are always in the wrong, especially in front of a patient.

– Still, isn’t it nice they visited, Nacchan?

Was I grateful they visited?

I paused at that question—not because I was lost in thought, but because the answer was so obvious that I momentarily went silent.

Wait, you’re really asking that…?

“Of course I’m grateful! Back in the day, no one came even when I was sick. I just had to suffer through it alone…”

– Ah…

– Ahh…

– Yeah, being sick and alone is really depressing ww

– Were you secretly feeling lonely every time you got sick, Nacchan?

– Please tell us when you’re sick, Nacchan. Don’t hide it next time.

– We want to worry about you too. You’re not allowed to hide it like this again, okay?

“Mm… next time I get sick, I’ll be honest about it. Honestly, I thought I’d get better quickly this time, but it dragged on more than I expected… Ahaha.”

It wasn’t a cold, nor just muscle pain.

The doctor said it was a “fatigue fever” caused by stress and emotional release.

I didn’t even know that was possible, but after going through it myself, I get it.

Still, I didn’t think I was _that_ tense.

‘I didn’t think I was that anxious about people finding out Ichinose Natsu is Han Yeoreum…’

But I guess I was subconsciously way more worried than I realized.

And it made sense—after I “confessed” to my viewers, I started sleeping much better.

And here I was, expecting lots of people to drop into chat asking if this was a Han Yeoreum stream—but surprisingly, that didn’t happen.

I wasn’t disappointed or anything. I was actually really touched by how respectful and thoughtful people were.

“By the way, Nagisa-san really is the ideal visitor for a patient.”

Isn’t the most important thing for a patient stability?

And Nagisa-san provided exactly that.

She’d put on calming classical music, adjust the room temperature so I wasn’t too hot or too cold…

Her soft-spoken voice was soothing, and I’d often doze off mid-conversation without tiring myself out at all.

It’s funny to talk about “not getting tired” when I was literally bedridden, but considering how chaotic it was with Toya and Inari, it really made sense.

“Ah! But that doesn’t mean I hate Toya or Inari, okay? Don’t go saying weird things to them!”

– C’mon, as if we’d do that ww

– We’ll only tell it _exactly_ as you said it 草

– Toya and Inari were too noisy and made it harder to recover… got it, noted…

– wwww

– If we _do_ tell them, I bet they’ll start bickering again wwww

Ugh, even when I tell them not to twist my words, they still do.

Well, I was prepared for this.

Actually, I had already warned Toya and Inari ahead of time not to take anything the wrong way.

So even if I said “don’t tell them,” it wouldn’t really be a problem.

Or at least… I _thought_ so…

“You’re so mean! I came to care for Nacchan out of the goodness of my heart, and _Toya_ started picking a fight! She was just jealous because I was such a good caretaker! Like a child!”

“Hah?! It was _already_ decided that _I_ would take care of Nacchan! You’re the dumb fox who tried to take my role!”

“Um, you two…”

How did it come to this?

Inari barged in first, then Toya joined in and they started talking and now—why are they arguing?!

I was completely thrown off by how fast it all escalated.

“If you fight, I’ll lock the door and stream alone from now on!”

“Totally. Let’s lock the dumb fox out and stream with just the two of us.”

“Toya, you too!”

“Eh? Why me?”

– “Why me?” lololol

– They bicker like this every day, yet they’re so close ww

– Nacchan talks about Toya and Inari, and _boom_ they both show up 草

– Were they secretly watching the stream?

– Isn’t Inari’s place a bit far from Toya’s? But she got there super fast ww

Now that you mention it… Inari lives about 15 minutes away, so if she showed up that quickly, she must’ve been watching the stream _while_ it started.

I looked at Inari, and sure enough, she admitted she’d arrived just minutes after the stream began.

Ah, so she came running straight in—and now she’s trying to justify the commotion.

“You two really do get along, huh? You were both watching together from the start, weren’t you?”

“That was just a mutual agreement of interest!”

“Even if it was, you still watched it _together_, didn’t you?”

Come to think of it, there _is_ a big TV in the living room. And you _can_ watch AiTube on it.

So they probably put my stream on there and watched it together.

Ugh… now that I think about it like that, it’s kind of embarrassing.

When Toya’s just watching quietly behind me, I don’t mind. But knowing they put my stream on the big screen like that… it’s kinda mortifying.

Because when someone’s physically around, I can be more careful with my words to avoid saying anything embarrassing.

“I was gonna watch on my phone, but _Toya_ begged me to watch together.”

“Hah?! You weren’t even using earbuds, so I just said we might as well watch it on the TV! Don’t twist it, you dumb fox!”

“You _begged_ me to stop watching on my phone because the sounds were overlapping, remember? Not exactly a lie.”

I let out a long sigh as they bickered like kids.

Seriously, when these two are together, there’s never a quiet day.

Fables