Sunako sneezed loudly and groaned as the loud sound vibrated and hurt her already aching head. She was glad that her skin, not being exposed to direct sunlight that often, was already pale, so her sickness would hopefully go unnoticed by the four young men that she lived with in her aunt's boarding house.

"Hiroshi-kun," she whimpered, shuffling over to the plastic anatomy model that was her best friend. She winced as she heard her own croaky voice. She only hoped that it would not be necessary to speak to much, or they would know that she was not well.

It was a matter of pride to Sunako that nothing interfere with her job of taking care of the cooking and cleaning while her aunt was away; knowing the four men as she did, they would likely try to stop her if they knew she wasn't well. This even applied to Takano Kyohei, who quite often thought of nothing but his stomach!

"Keep this to yourself, Hiroshi-kun. Sshh," she added, placing a finger on the anatomy model's lips as though to stop him from spilling the beans.

She was actually later than usual waking up and was a little amazed that Kyohei had not already been in demanding to know where his breakfast was.

Ensuring that her long fringe covered her face, she lifted the hood of her cloak, bringing it forward to conceal her face in shadow as much as possible.

Rushing toward the door as fast as her fever would allow, she went downstairs to prepare breakfast.

Thankfully, breakfast went without much of a hitch. Takenaga, Ranmaru and Yukinojo had already been downstairs waiting patiently for her to arrive to cook their habitual breakfast of rice and miso soup. Kyohei, who she had been afraid would come and collect her before she was ready, had actually overslept herself himself, meaning that she had almost finished the soup when he appeared, yawning and scratching his head.

He had frowned faintly as she noticed that his food was not waiting for him, but his expression cleared when he saw that she was dishing the rice up into four bowls.

"Itadakimasu!" he said loudly clasping his chopsticks in readiness to eat as she placed the bowl in front of him on the table.

Hidden as she was inside her cape, she didn't notice him frown as he managed to get a clear look at her from where he was sitting. "Are you okay?"

She looked at his face, startled. She immediately dropped her gaze as she felt the dazzling effects of staring directly at him. "I'm fine," she mumbled hunching her shoulders defensively as she turned away.

"Are you not well, Sunako-chan?" Yukinojo asked with concern.

"I'm fine," she mumbled again, shuffling out of the dining area, retreating to the kitchen away from the possibility of any probing questions.

Knowing that she didn't have long before they finished their breakfasts, she quickly cleaned up and raced back to her room to hide until they all left for the day.

She settled tiredly into her rocking chair and absently rocked as she hummed to herself. It wasn't long before she had hummed herself to sleep.