Nagisa stepped down from the platform, glad that he had managed to defeat Takaoka. He was asked repeatedly if he was okay, which, in all honesty, he didn't feel well at all, but he'd answer with a smile and a nod of his head. While they were in the helicopter on the way back to the hotel, he noticed that the pain from his minor injuries had faded, but his chest was slowly beginning to blossom in pain. There wasn't any blood, so he wasn't worried at first, but, by the next day, he was slightly concerned.

Everyone else slept until late in the afternoon, but he sat on the hill watching Karasuma attempt to trap Koro-Sensei. He hadn't been able to sleep at all, it'd been too uncomfortable. He'd checked the injury that morning, but it was simply bruised, more than likely from Takaoka's kick to the area. Nagisa thought nothing of it until later that night.

That night he was packing to go home,Karma was across the room brushing his teeth quietly. Nagisa coughed,not a big deal at first. It was probably just a bug, he thought, and went back to packing. A few minutes later it happened again, but didn't stop. It was to the point where he was on his knees,gripping the bedspread with one hand, the other against his mouth.

"Nagisa?"Karma dropped what he was doing and moved to step over, only for Nagisa to move his hand away from his mouth with a terrified expression on his face. "Hey!"

Karma crouched next to Nagisa, a hand on one of he shorter boy's shoulders. They met each other's gaze for a moment,then Karma flipped Nagisa's hand over to reveal a few red flecks. The red head let out a sigh.

"It's probably coming down from your nose,"Karma spoke calmly. "He hit you pretty hard yesterday, huh?"

Nagisa only nodded in return, trying to catch his breath. Soon after, Karasuma called lights out, and, despite his awake and fierce personality, Karma fell asleep first. Nagisa tossed and turned for a while, but was finally able to fall asleep, moreover from exhaustion than being able to actually calm down enough to sleep.

He awoke the next morning in another fit, again with flecks of blood. Karma awoke to this too, but once again thought that it was just from being punched in the face. Nagisa didn't say anything about the bruise on his chest, but it didn't seem to be getting any better when he looked a bit later. It sent shots of pain down his side with every step, but it wasn't unbearable, so he went on with the day.

On the boat, Nagisa sat alone for a while. He was dozing, a hand wrapped around his body in an attempt to be comfortable despite the bruise and newly found nausea. He only opened his eyes when Kaede sat down next to him with a boxed lunch.

"Hey, maybe you'll feel better after you eat a bit,"She said, sitting the lunch between the two of them and opening it.

"Yeah,"He sat up slightly straighter, picking up piece of sushi. "Thanks."

"So you think you're just seasick? I heard from Karma that you were sick last night too."

"Probably just a bug,"He replied, grinning.

"Maybe they did put something in your drink,"Her hand went to his forehead. "You're pretty warm, know that?"

"Hm,"He leaned back again, humming in response.

"Yo," Karma sat down on his other side, opening his lunch.

The boat lurched, along with Nagisa's stomach. He turned hurridly, wretching over the side of the boat. Karma and Kaede jumped backwards, startled both by the boat's sudden movement and their friend's sickness. Kaede pulled Nagisa's bangs up as it happened, Karma running to get an adult.

Karma returned with Koro-sensei and Karasuma. Kaede had Nagisa laying down on the seats, petting his hair. His breathing was uneven, but he seemed a bit more comfortable now that he was laying down. Karasuma assumed it was seasickness, but Koro-sensei was suspicious. Regardless, he still blocked Karma's knife as he and Karasuma left.

"Hey, Nagisa,"Kaede spoke softly. "Do you want to go below deck?"

He shook his head and rolled to his side. By the time, they reached the shore, he was asleep. They tried to wake him up, but the only result was him grunting sleepily.

"We've gotta go home, Nagisa. Please get up-"

"Screw this,"Karma pulled Nagisa's arms around his neck, picking him up.

Nagisa winced, but otherwise did nothing in response to his being picked up. After they were all off the boat, a few people glanced at them oddly, but Karma didn't seem to care. Kaede glanced at the times for their train, only to find that they had two hours until it arrived. Meanwhile, Karma shrugged his shoulder to get Nagisa's attention. His eyes opened, but he didn't say anything.

"Can you walk for a while?"Karma asked, heading towards a bench.

Nagisa shook his head and closed his eyes again. Karma sighed, sitting the smaller boy down on the bench. Nagisa blinked, slowly waking up. He coughed again, taking a breath afterwards. Karma glanced in Nagisa's direction, but said nothing.

"I'm going to the bathroom,"Nagisa slowly stood up,making his was to the station's restroom.

He locked the stall and removed his jacket, then pulled his shirt up. The bruise stretched down to his stomach now. He pressed down on the area, only to double over. He was slightly concerned after the blood incident, but now he was debating on telling Karma or Karasuma. He felt like he'd been cooked from the inside out. His entire right side flared with every step. That's why he was so reluctant to let Karma put him down. It hurt to walk or even move, but he was waiting until he got home to say anything.

He exited the restroom and went back to the bench. Kaede had come over while he was gone and was talking excitedly. Nagisa caught a bit of the conversation as he sat down.

"So Koro-sensei says that there's a hiking trail not far from here that he likes to visit. The shrine there is really famous!"

"I wouldn't mind visiting,"Karma replied. "Nagisa."

"Yeah, sure,"He tried to smile.

"Only if you're feeling better,"Kaede spoke, concerned. "We won't force you. You can stay behind with Irina-Sensei, if you want."

"N-No,I'm fine."

"Well, shall we?"

They made their way towards the mountain, following the trail behind the rest of the students and Koro-sensei. Halfway up, Nagisa stopped for a second to catch his breath, but found himself dizzy. Karma and Kaede sat with him, conversing. This went on for a few minutes, then they stood up to move on.

After another ten minutes of walking, they reached the shrine. They spent a half an hour or so there and then went back to the station. The train arrived, they boarded, Nagisa fell asleep almost as soon as the train started moving.

"I don't think Nagisa's any better,"he awoke to Kaede's voice. "He acts like it but..."

"Yeah,agreed. Do you think it's Takaoka's fault?"

"Maybe so. That must've been rough. He definitely would've killed him."

It was silent. Nagisa stirred, raising his hand to wipe his eyes. He coughed again, but it didn't stop. It was to the point where he couldn't breath. Kaede patted his back, Karma handed him a bottle of water, and finally, it stopped. These random fits continued until they were home. After they all parted ways, no one saw Nagisa for the rest of the break. He was absent the first day back at school, then the next, then the next. Finally, Karma and Kaede went to check on him.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Shiota. We're-"

"Nagisa isn't here."

"Where is he then?"Kaede asked this innocently.

"Kunugigaoka General Hospital."

She then shut the door without another word. The two looked to each other, then set off as fast as they could towards the hospital. It turned out that Nagisa had showed up a few days after the trip on his own, and was then admitted for observation. Three days before school started, he was told he'd need surgery, and evidently, he was in recovery right now.

"Can we go see him?"

"I suppose that's alright. The anesthesia may have worn off by now. Room 36. Just go through those doors and take a left,"The receptionist directed them with a nod.

The hurried down the halls, not quite running, but walking faster than normal. Upon reaching the room, they heard the sound of a heart monitor and rather laboured breathing. The television was on, but the volume was down low. Karma knocked a few times, and a muffled 'come in' was heard.

Nagisa was laying down, a respirator mask over his mouth and nose. Various tubes were connected to his right arm and his hair was down from it's usual pig tails. He glanced to them and smiled.

"Geez, I thought you guys'd never show up,"His speech was slightly slurred.

"What the hell?"Karma instantly went for the most important questions. "What the hell is this?"

"I don't know how to explain,honestly,"Nagisa took a breath. "I guess it'll take a while."

"We've got time,"Kaede chimed in.

Nagisa sighed and motioned to the seats in the corner with the hand without anything connected to it. They sat down, Kaede smoothing out her skirt.

"So,"He began, placing a hand on his abdomin. "Takaoka broke three of my ribs."

Karma growled, clearly angry, but he didn't say anything.

"I didn't notice until a few days ago. Well, maybe it wasn't long ago. I guess time passes weird when you're either sleeping or in an exam room. It's kinda been in and out of those two."

"They said you came in about a week ago now,"Kaede pointed out.

"I guess that's right. Sorry,I can't really think straight yet."

"It's fine. Continue."

"I thought it was just a big bruise, right? No big deal. Then I started coughing up more blood and Mom got mad and told me to get out. So I came here, think that maybe they could help. The bruise hadn't gone away and my right side was really weird looking. It spread from right here-"He touched a spot near his shoulder."All the way to here."

He moved his hand to an area near his hip. Karma sighed.

"So what'd they do?"

"They told me I had a lacerated liver. One of my ribs cut it. They told me that it was okay to just rest for a few days, but it got worse, so they went in and fixed it."

He unbuttoned the last three buttons of his shirt to reveal stitches, surrounded by a large, yellow and purple mass. Kaede looked away, but Karma stood to get a better look. He winced at the sight and sat back down without a word.

"So that's pretty much it,"He took a breath and pulled his blanket up over his waiste. "I should be back at school in the next week. Don't worry."

"Why didn't anyone tell us?"Kaede asked, twiddling her thumbs.

"I asked Koro-sensei and Karasuma-sensei not to say anything."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't want to worry anyone. I'm going home tomorrow anyway. I was hoping to play it off as the stomach flu."

"You know that wouldn't work,"Karma glared. "We'd figure it out eventually."

"Y-Yeah,"He replied. "I know."

Nagisa leaned back and sighed through the respirator. A knock sounded throughout the room, then a doctor stepped in, closing it behind her.

"I see you have visitors, Shiota-kun. Good afternoon,"The doctor, a rather stocky woman of short stature nodded to Kaede and Karma. "I'm just here to ask a few questions, then we'll remove the respirator if all is well."

"Okay,"Nagisa nodded to her.

"Are you feeling nauseous at all?"

"No."

"How are the stitches?"

"They're fine."

"Any pain?"

"No worse than before."

"Okay then,"She scribbled something on her board. "How's your breathing?"

"Much better,"Nagisa smiled.

"Great. So we're going to take this out now,okay? It might hurt a bit. Could the two of you step outside for a moment?"

Kaede and Karma stood, waiting outside the door. Withing ten minutes, the doctor came out, nodding at them.

"He'll need some help getting home tomorrow, but I don't think his mother will come to pick him up. Do either of you know why she's angry with him?"

"She wanted a daughter, but got Nagisa instead. I don't like her,"Karma stated. "Verbal abuse, plus a controlling nature."

"Well, we'll see what we can do."

They entered the room again to find that Nagisa had one of his tubes removed, along with the respirator. He smiled and picked up two ponytail holders from the side table. He attempted to put his hair up, but his right arm was weak, so he resorted to a ponytail.

"I guess I'm outta here tomorrow."