7The Constantly Winning Opponent
Chapter One – Kei Takishima Ranked Sixth
Hikari stared perplexed at the board in front of the school. She blinked as she raised her finger up and drew a line between the numbers, this didn't make any sense. She tried to steady herself and closed her eyes, maybe if she calmed down and thought about this rationally it would make more sense. She looked at the test scores and her eyes caught onto the first two names:
Top Ranked – Hanazono, Hikari. Second Ranked – Tsuji, Ryuu
Hikari looked around, was there some super huge elevated platform somewhere with Takishima's name on it? She wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Still, she was impressed by Ruu, usually he would be too busy monitoring Jun and Megumi to concentrate on his own test. She looked down the list, they were in the three and four position followed by Tadashi and then….Hikari froze. Why was Takishima ranked as number six.
This didn't make any sense at all. Had her boyfriend suddenly quit being number one? No. He was far too much of a hard worker for that. Had he just quit the school but half of his test results were there? He would have told her, right? After the incident at the gravesite, his grandfather had decided not to interfere in their relationship and he wanted to make Kei happy. Then what was she looking at!?
Hikari looked aside to see the blond looking exhausted, he didn't react like he usually did. He had had a fever before and been able to work through it but this looked worse than the other times. His hair was dampened by sweat and he seemed to stumble on his feet a bit.
"Takishima?" Hikari asked as she took a step over to him.
"What…place?" he asked as he put his hand flat against the listing and Hikari saw him bend in half as if his chest was hurting him. No, he was usually like a superhero. He could usually run as fast as a car and still have energy to spare. What was going on?
"Sixth," Hikari said as she pointed and Kei started laughing softly.
"I'll do better next time….she won't be able to win against me next time then….I can…apologize to her," he said, still seeming out of breath and Hikari grabbed him, pressing him up against the wall and putting her hand on his forehead.
"Have you been overdoing it, Takishima?" she asked as she felt him burning up. "You really have to go to the nurse, come on, we'll go and maybe they'll have some medicine that will make you…"
"I can't go to the nurse, she'll know," Kei protested as he managed to tear himself away from Hikari's hold on him. "It's just some stupid test it doesn't….it doesn't mean anything. I don't want her to find out."
"Who is her?" Hikari asked, looking frustrated but trying to come up with a plan to force Kei to take some medicine and rest.
"Hikari," Kei replied and Hikari tilted her head to the side, very confused by what was happening in front of her. Didn't he see her? Why was he looking so sickly? Really, his sickliness could rival the ex-student president's. He looked so unlike himself.
"Well guess what," Hikari said as she stood with her arms crossed, "Hikari knows everything," she said and then pushed Kei gently against the wall again. "What is going on with you?" she asked before she put a hand to his cheek and saw him flinch away. She felt a few of his hairs fall onto her hand. "Takishima?" she asked as he finally looked at her.
He looked away, trying to gain his composure. "I…I have to…"
"Please tell me what's going on, you know it's harder when we hide things from each other," Hikari told him and Kei's eyes and expression softened. He took her by the hand and led her to a secluded area. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?" she asked him and Kei sighed, he sat down on a bench and stared at her.
"I've been keeping something…hidden," he said before looking straight ahead very guiltily. He knew how bad it was when he kept these things from her and fortunately he had blamed it on work, blamed it on other things that she would understand more than this. "Hikari…I can tell you why I performed so badly on that test but I don't know if it matters to you, number one."
Hikari sighed, she pressed two fingers to her forehead, "Why don't you just tell me and we'll settle who gets to be called number one afterwards. If there's something going on with you that means that I didn't beat you fairly then I can't take that number one title," she told him and Kei looked up at her.
"I shouldn't have even been at school that day," he told her, "and I shouldn't have gone to that board meeting afterwards," he shivered. "Hikari, that test happened after I had gone to the doctor that morning even though they told me I should give myself a day of rest and they'd contact the -"
"So you went to the hospital and disobeyed hospital orders?" Hikari asked as she tried to comprehend what she was being told.
Kei looked ahead of him, "You know how my grandmother had a bad illness and she died?" he asked and Hikari nodded, "I don't think it's the same thing," he said as he looked forwards, "And don't tell any of the others, okay?" he asked as Hikari felt her heart beat pounding in her chest.
What was he talking about?
"The reason I screwed up on the test," he told her, "is because I took it after I had had a chemotherapy treatment, my first one…" he said and Hikari froze, her eyes getting wider by what he was saying. He looked down and she could see how his hair didn't have that natural shine it once did. Had he had more than one session?
"Takishima, what is it? What's wrong with you?" Hikari asked as she felt the ground shift from under her. "What's…."
"I'm sick…okay," he said painfully and Hikari sat down next to him, wrapping her arms around him in a side hug. "My body…there's some genetic code in my body which isn't working right and I don't know how to fix it. I'm trying. I've run my own tests, done diagnostics, read up on it, but I'm sick and I can't find the cure."
Hikari opened her mouth to speak but sighed, she nodded her head. "I understand," she said as she hated seeing him like this, so weak and fragile. "Let's work on this together as a team," she said with a motivated smile on her face. She saw the way he looked at her, his face showing his shame at not being his usual self. "I'll help you."
"Don't work yourself too hard, number one," he smiled to her and even though Hikari could definitely see the change she still loved him. Being number one didn't matter right now, Kei Takishima's beating heart was so much more important than that.
