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obligatory kenemoko request :)

Better late than never, I hope!

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"Do you want more to drink? Water? Tea?"

"Not right now, thank you."

"Are you hungry?"

"I'm fine."

Mokou scratched the back of her neck and tried to come up with something else she could do. "Want me to go pick up some medicine for your fever?"

"It's mostly gone by now." Keine punctuated the sentence with a loud sniffle. "Actually, I could use a handkerchief."

"I'm on it." Mokou bounced to her feet. Within seconds, she had already made a dash to the adjacent room and was rummaging through Keine's stuff. Finally, she found a chequered handkerchief in a pile of other linen and rushed back.

Keine sat back up the moment Mokou returned, as if she didn't wish to be seen lying down. Her face was still red and her hair matted with sweat, but the alarming shine was from her eyes. She waited patiently as Mokou re-seated herself on the cushion next to the futon.

"Will this do?"

"Yes. Thank you." Keine took the handkerchief and cleared her nose without any attempt at false modesty. She followed it up with a violent cough, then sighed and folded the handkerchief in neat squares before setting it next to her pillow. "Much better." She gave Mokou a sidelong glance. "You don't have to act like you expect my heart to stop beating the moment you look away. It really is just a common cold."

"Those can be dangerous."

"Only very rarely. In all honesty, I don't think I really need to stay in bed any longer."

"You're staying put. Don't be reckless."

"I don't need to hear that from someone who once stumbled here with her arm shorn off and dangling onto her shoulder from a single strip of skin."

"Oh, right." The words rekindled half-smothered memories. She had ultimately chosen to commit suicide by going back to Kaguya for revenge rather than deal with the hassle of one-armed life. "That one really hurt. But it's not the same for me."

"I understand that."

Mokou looked aside. She had long since accepted that even when they were in the same room, she and Keine lived in two different worlds. But sometimes, even innocent remarks could puncture her mood and act as sudden reminders of the futility of her existence.

"Mokou?" Keine waited for Mokou to turn back, then gave her a smile of piercing brightness, as if it was meant to dispel Mokou's troubled thoughts regarding illness and the inevitability of immortality alike. "You really don't need to fret. A disease like this doesn't have the slightest chance of claiming my life."

"I get it." In retrospect, Mokou had to admit her perspective on human (and human-ish) health might have become somewhat skewed by her historical episodes of extremely fragility. But it wasn't just that. Maybe it was selfish, but seeing someone as steady and reliable as Keine — no, Mokou was done kidding herself — seeing Keine in particular bed-ridden, no matter how minor the cause, was too much of a reminder of the stark and ever-approaching future. Was it any wonder if Mokou wished to nurse her back to health as soon as possible?

"Mokou?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you bring me the assignments from my desk? I'd like to read through them later."

"Sure." Up and back again with a stack of essays. "What are these about?"

"I asked the younger children to write about whatever is their favourite thing in the village." Keine smiled. "It's really just an excuse to see if their grammar and spelling have improved, but they tend to write more volubly when the subject matter's something they enjoy."

Mokou rifled through the pile, glancing at the first lines of each essay to see what kinds of things came up. Playing in puddles on the streets after rainfall. The dragon statue. Returning home to loving parents and a comfortable nook to sleep in. The view at the gate into the world outside of the village.

"Some of these kids are going to wind up in trouble sooner or later," she observed as she kept reading. A pet cat. Bright sunsets. Manjuu. A friend with wings who always smelled of flowers and who came up with all the best pranks.

"I believe I already guess at least one of the children you mean. I should warn them all of the dangers of the world beyond the village as I return the essays."

"Heh." Mokou returned to the very first essay and decided to read it in full, soaking in its exuberant joy for rainy days and the childish pleasure of shedding one's sandals and carving out a network of rivers and lakes into the softened ground. "It's good that kids these days can still appreciate the simple things."

"They're holding onto some seeds of wisdom, perhaps."

Mokou set the essays down. "Want to know my favourite thing about the village?" Without another word, she sidled onto the futon and embraced Keine. "It's right here."

Keine made a face and turned her head aside. "Mokou, please. I haven't washed since yesterday. I'm soaked in sweat."

"I don't care."

"You'll catch my cold."

"What's it going to do? Kill me?"

"And you call me reckless." But although she kept frowning, Keine didn't pull away. In fact, after a moment, she put her arm around Mokou in turn.

Mokou leaned forward to rest her head against Keine's shoulder. Different worlds? Maybe. But who said you couldn't build a bridge between worlds, one touch at a time?

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