"Do you like it..."
Ichiko put down her phone, leaning against the pillow, strands of her hair falling to her shoulders. She looked up at the ceiling with a melancholic expression, gradually lost in thought.
She couldn't stand seeing her hurt.
She was a very important person.
She wanted her to stay by her side.
...
Numerous memories flashed through Ichiko's mind, finally settling on the image from elementary school, when that innocent and adorable little loli blinked her reddish eyes and cautiously called out "Older Sister" to her.
She let out a sigh, then typed again, "I don't think there's romantic love. I see her more as a younger sister."
Haruko looked at this sentence and thought to herself, 'As expected.'
In the current situation, purely in terms of romantic affection, Inari might even have a higher score than her.
However, in terms of overall importance, they weren't as significant as she was.
Haruko changed her approach and asked, "Peach Miss, then do you think that Haruko is pretty? If she were a potential partner, would you refuse?"
Mimi: "Eh?"
Mimi: "Haruko is certainly very pretty. It would be better to describe her as cute. She's not lacking in terms of appearance, but as for your later question, I don't know."
Without having truly experienced it, how could she say whether she could accept the other person?
Even making a hypothetical assumption, Ichiko was extremely hesitant.
Humans are a very strange animal.
When faced with two or more choices, they fall into hesitation, feeling indecisive.
The truth is, when you hesitate about doing something, you've already made a choice internally, you just don't have enough reasons to convince yourself yet.
A simple example: you stay up late every day reading novels and watching videos, and occasionally you think you can't keep being this degenerate, and you consider whether to get up early tomorrow and change yourself.
But you often hesitate about whether to stay up one more night.
When hesitation arises, it proves that you already want to continue staying up.
Then you hide under your small blanket, lying on your side with your hand under your head, the light from your phone screen not too bright, illuminating that silly smiling handsome face.
Seeing Ichiko hesitate, Haruko knew deep down that the other party wasn't completely without feelings.
With such a spark, it could ignite into a raging fire.
The plan was feasible.
She typed, guiding her, "Peach Miss, I roughly understand your situation. Pretending to like her is actually feasible. According to you, her liking you is one aspect, and the other is her dependence on you, wanting you to see her as the only one."
"You just need to start from the latter. Coax her more with words and actions. You don't need to genuinely like her, just make her feel like you care about her a lot."
"Then, when her emotions are stable, you can start adjusting."
Mimi: "Okay, thank you Doctor. What about medication?"
Dr. Kaito: "I don't know her physical condition, so I can't prescribe medication randomly. If needed, I can at most give you some common medications with few side effects that can stabilize emotions. If possible, it's best you find a psychologist to see her."
Mimi: "I understand."
Dr. Kaito: "Okay, if you have any questions, you can continue to come to me. It is our responsibility as Doctors to do our best to treat every patient. Although I cannot prescribe medication based on her physical condition, I can teach you how to deal with some mental issues."
Mimi: "Thank you very much!"
The chat ended, and Haruko put down her phone.
She knew that with Ichiko's personality, as long as she, acting as Dr. Kaito, chatted with her a few more times and gained her trust, Ichiko would listen to many of the things she said, right?
It didn't matter if she didn't like her now.
There was still a long future ahead.
Meanwhile, after sorting out her emotions, Ichiko also got out of bed and moved around.
Her physique wasn't bad to begin with; she usually came first in the girls' long-distance running competition during school sports days. After resting for a night, her fever had significantly reduced.
She came to Haruko's ward, hesitating whether to go in.
What Dr. Kaito told her had a significant impact.
Haruko's yandere tendencies were harmless to others, but she would hurt herself, so she couldn't be left unchecked.
She also had to make her believe that she liked her.
"I'm sorry, Haruko, I'm not intentionally playing with your feelings."
Ichiko closed her eyes, preparing herself mentally.
Slowly, she opened the door.
"Haruko, good morning. How are you feeling?"
As soon as she entered, Ichiko started asking about Haruko's health. This wasn't an act; she wanted Haruko to recover completely more than anyone.
Haruko sat obediently on the bed, her small hands clasped together on her abdomen. The blue and white Hospital gown hid her petite body. She smiled faintly at Ichiko, "The fever hasn't gone down yet, but I feel much better. Did Ichiko eat breakfast?"
She reached out, wanting to press the bell to ask the nurse sister to send a breakfast.
But there were slight scratches on her outstretched left hand. The moment she raised it, it made Ichiko feel a pang of heartache.
Taking swift steps, she quickly went to Haruko's side and grabbed her small hand, "I've already eaten. The Hospital provides breakfast. As for you, if you haven't rested enough, you can sleep a little longer."
"I can't sleep," Haruko felt the warmth on the back of her hand, then suddenly said, "How about we chat?"
"Okay." Ichiko moved a small stool and sat in front of Haruko. When she looked up at her, she noticed something else.
She came and sat by her bedside.
"What's wrong?" Haruko looked back, but her head was stopped by Ichiko.
She took out a comb, "Don't move. You didn't even tidy yourself up after getting out of bed, your hair is sticking up."
Saying that, she gently stroked her hair.
Haruko simply leaned back, enjoying it while chatting, "Ichiko, you smell so good."
"Ah?" Ichiko's movements paused.
Talking about this in a chat?
She reached out and twirled a strand of Haruko's hair, momentarily unsure how to respond, "This... maybe it's the smell of the Hospital's shower gel?"
"No," Haruko's lips curved upwards, "I don't smell as good as Ichiko."
"No... Haruko, you... you smell good too."
So awkward!
Ichiko's toes, tucked into her slippers, were constantly wiggling. She had always wanted to open up and have a good face-to-face chat with Haruko.
Now she had the chance.
And the topic of conversation was who smelled better!
She desperately wanted to change the subject but didn't know where to start.
Fortunately, Haruko didn't dwell on who smelled better. Instead, as if she thought of something, she paused and looked at her clothes, "Speaking of which, when I woke up last night, I found that my hair was dry, my clothes were changed, and there was a new phone here. Who gave me a bath?"
Ichiko quickly replied, "I was the one who gave you a bath last night. Inari helped you change your phone."
"That's good. I thought someone else helped me bathe. If I wasn't clean, Ichiko would definitely dislike me, right?" Haruko let out a long sigh, "Fortunately, it was Ichiko."
Ichiko scratched her cheek, feeling that Haruko's words were strange.
But remembering her chat with Dr. Kaito, she still responded, "Haruko, don't think too much. I would never dislike you, no matter what."
Words of comfort, this should be able to stabilize Haruko, right?
But she didn't expect Haruko to follow up on her words and ask, "Then do you like it?"
Ichiko was startled, "Like what?"
"My cuteness."