Rinna opened her mouth.
Warm.
The pumpkin porridge slid into her mouth at just the right temperature… not so hot it made her want to pull her tongue back, not so cold it lost the warmth porridge should have.
The pumpkin flavor had been cooked until it was sweet—that natural sweetness of the ingredient itself, no sugar added—mixing with the fragrance of rice grains as it slowly melted on her tongue.
Occasionally, bits of chopped red dates appeared between her teeth, and when she bit down, a small burst of even richer sweetness exploded out.
Hisaki kept her head down, watching Rinna eat.
Rinna felt a little shy under that gaze.
Hisaki’s eyes were too serious—so serious that Rinna had the illusion that the motion of her mouth chewing and swallowing was the only thing in the world worth paying attention to.
“What’s wrong?”
Hisaki asked.
She had clearly noticed the color change on Rinna’s face.
“Nothing.” Rinna let her gaze drift to the side for a moment, then brought it back. “Xiao Xiao’s porridge is really good.”
Hisaki’s eyelashes fluttered slightly.
She didn’t say anything, just blew on the second spoonful to cool it and brought it to Rinna’s lips. But Rinna noticed that the tips of Hisaki’s ears had turned a little red.
And so it went, spoonful after spoonful. Hisaki would scoop, blow on it, and offer it.
Rinna would open her mouth, chew, and swallow.
The porridge bowl was empty.
When Rinna swallowed the last spoonful, Hisaki looked down at the bottom of the bowl to confirm there was no bite left, then placed the bowl back on the tray.
The capacity in Rinna’s stomach was just at that “a little full” feeling.
Not bloated, not stuffed—just enough that the stomach walls were gently pushed open by the food, providing enough energy for a few hours without pressing on the uterus and worsening the abdominal pain.
Hisaki knew Rinna’s appetite too well. From the thickness of the pumpkin porridge to the portion size of each spoonful, it was all a standard determined after long observation and countless verifications.
They rested for a while.
During that time, Hisaki put the porridge bowl and pickled vegetable dish back on the corner of the tray, wiped her hands with a damp towel, and then took out a row of medicines from the canvas bag on the bedside table.
Blood supplement oral liquid.
When the brown glass bottle was twisted open, it made a very soft pop.
The liquid was poured into a cup, a very deep brownish-red color, carrying a rich medicinal smell of red dates and goji berries mixed together.
Then, multivitamin tablets, two.
Heart care tablet, one. Calming medicine, one. Stomach-nourishing tablet, one.
Hisaki placed these pills separately on a small dish—white tablet, yellow tablet, brown tablet each occupying its own little compartment, like a pharmacist preparing a precise formula.
One by one.
Rinna took the medicine and swallowed them one after another with warm water.
Her throat was a little tight from dryness, and she could feel the pills slowly sliding down her esophagus.
After swallowing the last tablet, Rinna handed the cup to Hisaki. Their fingers lightly touched at the rim of the cup.
Hisaki’s expression didn’t change as she took the cup, but when she set it down, she gently rubbed her fingertip over the spot Rinna had touched.
“I’ve already handled the leave requests.” Hisaki placed the cup back on the table. “The leave for me and Rinna have both been approved. I’ll stay home with Rinna today.”
Rinna nodded.
She wasn’t surprised at all—the amount of time she went to school in a month was limited anyway.
After taking the medicine, Rinna felt a little sleepy.
The calming components in the pills began to take effect. Her brain was wrapped in a thin layer of drowsiness, thoughts slowed down, breaths slowed, and her eyelids started to droop.
She lay back down in bed, sliding her legs under the covers. The hem of her nightgown lifted a little then fell back onto the sheets.
Lying on her side redistributed some of the abdominal pressure, and the pain eased just a little… just a little, but that slight relief was enough to support her as she slowly closed her eyes.
Hisaki sat by the bed.
To be clear, Hisaki had no intention of secretly kissing Rinna while she slept… in fact, Hisaki’s expression was calm, her movements composed, showing no extra thoughts at all.
She pulled a small stool from beside the low table—a square stool made of brown solid wood, shorter than a regular chair, so when she sat on it, her knees were level with the bed surface—placed it by the head of the bed, and sat down silently.
Hisaki bent one arm and rested it on the edge of the bed, propping up the right side of her face, while her other hand hung naturally over the edge of the stool. She just quietly watched Rinna.
Rinna’s white hair spread out on the white pillowcase. Her complexion was paler than usual due to the menstrual pain, but her breathing was much steadier than when she had first woken up.
Her hands were crossed on top of the blanket, fingertips exposed outside the covers, completely still.
Hisaki didn’t pick up her phone.
Didn’t pick up a book.
She just rested her crossed hands on the edge of the bed and watched Rinna in silence.
She didn’t find it boring.
For her, watching Rinna sleep was never something to pass the time… seeing Rinna’s eyelashes occasionally twitch slightly, she could wonder what that meant Rinna was dreaming about.
Seeing Rinna’s lips pout a little and then relax, she would guess if something in the dream displeased her.
When Rinna was awake, Hisaki paid attention to every tone in her voice, every expression.
When Rinna was asleep, these “sources of information” didn’t shut down—they just switched to silent mode.
Hisaki could still read enough data from that silent mode.
Time passed in that quiet atmosphere.
Hisaki maintained the same posture for a long time, until she finally felt a hint of drowsiness.
She didn’t notice when she had fully folded her arms on the bed’s edge.
She only remembered that the period when Rinna’s breathing was especially smooth was particularly reassuring—so reassuring that she accidentally lay down.
She fell asleep by the bed, her head resting on her right arm, her left arm also draped over the edge.
Black hair spilled from her shoulders onto the white sheets, and a few strands of hair tips lightly touched the back of Rinna’s hand, occasionally brushed by the slight rise and fall of the blanket.
The two people’s breathing rhythms—one above, one below—slowly began to align… not exactly the same, but close.
Time quickly slipped to noon.
When the clock on the wall pointed to 11:56, Rinna slowly opened her eyes.
A dull pain rose from deep within her lower abdomen. Not intense, but continuous, grinding against her uterine wall.
Rinna opened her eyes but didn’t move. She just lay still for a few seconds.
She felt her lips were dry. She licked the surface of her lips with the tip of her tongue and tasted a faint residue of the blood supplement oral liquid.
Then she turned her head and saw Hisaki lying beside the bed… breathing steady, eyelashes quietly down, her face buried in her arms.
Hisaki’s sleeping face was very different from her waking face.
Rinna didn’t wake her. She just reached her hand out from under the blanket and lightly touched the ends of Hisaki’s hair spread on the edge of the bed with the back of her hand.
Hisaki didn’t wake.
This pain was really grinding.
Very grinding.
From morning until now, there was no sign of relief at all.
She had taken painkillers, eaten hot porridge, but she could still feel that dull ache, playing like background noise, never stopping.
Lying in bed the whole time made her feel like she was rotting away.
She had spent most of the day lying on her back, on her side, curled up, then back on her back again. She could hear the dull bubbling sounds from her joints due to lack of movement.
The collar of her pure white nightgown was all wrinkled from lying down, and the sleeves had left several crease marks from rubbing against the bedding.
Rinna opened the system panel in her mind.
The light blue translucent interface floated in her vision: [Malice Points: 40] .
It had stayed at that number from the day she yelled at the old man on the train, and hadn’t changed since.
Rinna’s gaze went past Hisaki lying by the bed and landed on the window.
The shoji paper was illuminated by the midday sun into a soft cream color, and the shadow of a pine tree swayed lightly on it.
If she could go out for a walk, and if she could earn some malice points along the way, raising her physique by even 0.1—would this stomach pain ease even a little?
She had no idea whether that “Physique +0.1” from the system would actually help with her current menstrual cramps.
But she had to do something.