Chapter 20
The next day, a soft knock sounded on Camie’s bedroom door before her dad stuck his head in to wake her up.
“Are you okay Camie?” he suddenly rushed in and stood by her bed. His hand reached out and settled on top of her forehead. “You don’t look so good.”
“I do feel a bit overheated,” Camie sighed at the cool touch of her father.
“You seem to have a fever. Let me call in to work and get the day off.”
“Don’t dad!” Camie used what little energy she had to push herself up from her bed into a sitting position. “You have that important meeting today; don’t let these last few months of work go down the drain because of a small cold.”
“If your mother knew that you were home alone while you were sick...”
“How would she know? She is out on a business trip until tomorrow. I won’t tell if you don’t,” Camie grinned up innocently at her father.
“I’ll stay at work until the meeting is over but then I’ll come straight back,” he pointed his finger at Camie. “You stay in bed and rest; we don’t want this cold to get worse.”
Camie nodded and settled back down on her bed as her dad walked out the room. A few minutes later he was back with a tray and placed it down on her bedside table.
“Eat some rice porridge and have some medicine then go back to sleep. I shouldn’t be too long; I’ll try keeping the meeting to an hour or two.”
He said goodbye before leaving Camie starring at the bowl of food in disdain. It’s not that she wasn’t grateful or that she didn’t like it but her dad tended to make rice porridge particularly bland when she was ill. She eventually sat up and put the tray on top of her lap. She managed to take two bites before nausea washed over her. Quickly setting the tray down she raced to the bathroom where she emptied her stomach. Camie stumbled back to her room, disorientated by her fever. Her body felt hot and uncomfortable and she was hit by wave after wave of dizziness. She made it to her bed and took her medicine, hoping that it stayed down.
She lay on her stomach, her face to the side and drifted in and out of consciousness. It was during this time that a squeak sounded near Camie’s head and she slowly turned to face her window. She watched as her window inched upwards, fighting the part of her brain that was causing her to drift to sleep again. She lost and her eyes fluttered closed as a figure stepped into her room.
The next time Camie woke up, she lay facing upwards and a cold cloth lay across her forehead. She could hear the movements of someone next to her. The person brought another cloth to her neck and wiped off some of the sweat that had formed around Camie’s nape due to her hair. The person then lifted her head slightly and moved her hair out the way.
“Dad?” Camie asked, glancing out the side of her eye.
“Not quite,” a hesitant voice replied as they lowered Camie’s head.
The blonde leaned over Camie so she could get a better look at her.
Camie tensed up slightly but didn’t have the strength to bring up any of the questions she so desperately wanted to scream at Toga.
“Ah,” was the only reply she uttered.
“Um,” Toga started before pulling back out of Camie’s sight and sat back down on the chair she had brought closer from Camie’s desk. “Sorry about not meeting you in the park.”
Camie turned her head to look at Toga but remained silent.
“I wanted to but I wasn’t sure if after last time you hated me or not. I wanted to believe that you wouldn’t do anything to cause me pain or harm, I really did. However there was that small chance that you had wanted to meet while setting a trap and I would be taken away.”
“Now you know it wasn’t,” Camie spoke softly, “I got sick to prove that though.”
Toga giggled, “You shouldn’t have stayed in the rain that long.”
“Maybe...but it was worth it, seeing as it brought you to me.”
Toga suddenly jumped up and pointed at Camie, “No, wait, before we get too comfortable again. We need to talk out what happened last time. We can’t push it to the side and ignore it completely.”
“Yes, I did have something to say.” Camie slowly sat up and reached for the drawer of her bedside table and pulled out a piece of paper. She unfolded it and smoother it out on her lap before clearing her throat.
Toga, who had been impatiently watching her until then, glanced at the title on the page and started laughing. “Did you seriously write out what you were going to say?”
“Yes,” Camie pouted, “Otherwise I would have forgotten everything over time or left something out.”
“Okay, I’m sorry for interrupting, continue.”
Camie took a deep breath in and re-encountered what had happened right in front of her eyes all those weeks before. “I kept thinking that it could have been you. I could suddenly understand what you were trying to get me to see. No matter how many times that woman begged to be arrested; they just killed her without a thought because they didn’t want to go through the proper channels. She disappeared just like that and no one will ever know. It’s wrong and they must be stopped.”
“That’s why we do what we do,” Toga explained, “To make the world fairer for the weak.”
“I’m going to do that too,” Camie stated.
Toga’s eyes widened immediately and she opened her mouth to argue against it when Camie spoke up.
“I think you’re misunderstanding me. I’m not going to be a villain. You can’t give up the League of Villains and I can’t give up Shiketsu.”
Toga giggled, “What an odd duo we make.”
Caught up in the mood, Camie didn’t think about what she said next until it was too late. “Hopefully by the end of today that will change to ‘what an odd couple we make’.”
Silence followed her comment. Camie’s heart stopped and then started beating rapidly.
NO! No! No! No! Noooo, what did you just do? Argghhh! That wasn’t supposed to happen. Why did I say that? God, I’m so stupid.
Camie glanced at Toga out the corner of her eye. Toga looked as red as Camie felt, she was blushing so much that she couldn’t look directly at Camie.
Toga was at a loss for words. It took a while but eventually she opened her mouth. What she was going to say, not even she knew. It would be a surprise to both herself and Camie.
“Cami...”
“Camie, I’m home,” the bedroom door swung open suddenly, revealing Camie’s dad in the doorway, who looked just as shocked as the girls.