Melancholy Breakfast

"Such a strange arrogance they have, the timid ones; how they peep at themselves." – from Folk of the Air, by Peter S. Beagle

Tsumiki couldn't understand why everyone was having such a difficult time serving breakfast to Komaeda. Sure, he was a little strange, but he was also just a growing high school student like the rest of them and he definitely needed to eat something.

"Why do you still have Komaeda-san's food, Hinata-san?" Tsumiki asked, surprised. Even though Koizumi had had a frustrating time getting the boy to eat, Tsumiki was sure that Hinata would have no trouble, considering how friendly Komaeda often was with the other boy.

"He's a freak," Hinata grumbled. He continued walking back toward the kitchen. Perhaps he planned to eat the meal himself. Instead, however, he paused and turned back to Tsumiki.

"Tsumiki-"

"Y-yes!"

"You enjoy taking care of people, right?"

"O-of course or I wouldn't be a nurse."

"Well, good luck." Hinata proffered the tray to the girl. "Sorry to make you deal with him, Tsumiki, but I really think you're the best one for this job."

Tsumiki knocked on the door of the room where the captive was being held.

"Oh? Just couldn't resist the thought of hand feeding me, Hinata-kun? I mean, it not be very much fun for you, being so near trash like me, but we all have to make sacrifices in the name of hope…"

"K-Komaeda-san?" Tsumiki called out as she tentatively opened the door.

Komaeda was lying tied up on the floor, looking much like a Thanksgiving turkey that happened to be having a bad hair day. She really hadn't expected his situation to be quite so uncomfortable-looking. Keeping a person's face so close to a dirty for is hardly hygienic. Couldn't the boys have given him a pillow, at least? I'll have to bring him some bedding later, she thought.

"Ah, Tsumiki-san! Did you happen to bring toast, by any chance?" It seemed that Komaeda was not let down by the fact that Hinata had not changed his mind after all.

"Hinata-san was, um, busy so he sent me instead. I'm afraid whatever's on the tray is still the same as when the others tried to bring it to you. I'm very sorry." She averted her gaze and began to fidget.

"That's alright. After all, what teenage boy wouldn't be happy to be hand-fed by a cute nurse?"

"Cu- No, you're mistaken! I'm disgusting!" Tsumiki squeaked.

"Don't be ridiculous! I'm the disgusting one! You shine with the light of hope! To think that trash like me would have the honor of being cared for by the Super High School Level Nurse! My good luck has truly worked over time today. So early in the day, too!"

"T-thank you, Komaeda-san." Tsumiki crouched down on the floor near him and smiled. "Maybe you are a nice person after all."

"You're welcome. I'm really not, though." He looked up at her thoughtfully. "Oh, by the way, did you come here to kill me?"

"Wh-what!? No!" Tsumiki shrieked, falling back on to her behind. "Why would I do such a thing!?"

"Are you sure? Because I'd like to help, if you were. If you were to tell me which item on tray was poisoned, I'd be sure to eat a large helping." Komaeda smiled cheerfully.

Tsumiki scooted backward on the floor, tears welling at the corners of her eyes, like some sort of dismayed crab. "I could never!"

"Oh well. Let me know if you change your mind," Komaeda said, as if he had simply been offering her a trip to the amusement park and she had turned him down. He then turned his eyes toward the tray on the floor meaningfully.

Tsumiki suddenly remembered what she was here for. "L-let's get you fed…" The girl pulled herself together, put on what she thought of as her best 'nurse face' and crawled back to the boy. Look how helpless he is, tied up like that. Like a defenseless lamb or something. She could kill easily him if she wanted to, mix something into the orange juice. Not that she wanted to, of course. That's not what nurses do. It was just that his life was in her hands right now. The put-on nurse-smile turned into a more genuine one. He needed her to care for him right now.

"We can't let you get dehydrated, so let's start with the orange juice." She lifted the glass and looked down at her current 'patient'. Suddenly she realised a problem.

"Yes, it seems that I can't drink while lying down, unless your plan all along was to drown me." Komaeda said in an amused tone. He had been waiting for her to notice the issue.

Tsumiki grabbed his shoulders and began to help him sit up. His body was comfortably warm and his jacket soft and pilled, as if it had seen many journeys in the washer. She imagined he was quite thin, but the bulky jacket made it hard to tell.

"You are a very good hugger, Tsumiki-san."

She let go as soon as he was properly seated. "Eh heh. That's enough, Komaeda-san." She smiled. She was just glad that had he stopped talking about being murdered. Tsumiki held the juice straw to his lips.

"Hm. Doesn't taste like poison…" Komaeda said, musingly.

"Please don't talk like that anymore. I don't want to see anyone else die on the island." Tsumiki shook her head fervently. " I want to live here with my friends. I've…never been happier. Everyone is so nice to me here. Even you, Komaeda-san… I thought you were really scary back during the trial. I'm sorry. You're really not that bad. You even called me cute. No one ever said things like that to me back home."

"You say everyone one is nice here, but I heard Saionji berating you before. You shouldn't let her treat you like that."

"Oh, it's alright. That's really nothing compared to some of the things people have done to me, and she seems to have fun doing it. If it makes her happy, she can continue. Everything she says is true anyway."

"Well, you know the saying 'Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean that someone's not following you'."

Tsumiki's face fell. "Then you think I'm ugly too…"

"Haha! I was just kidding! I was serious before when I said you that were cute. But, to be honest, often times people see us as even worse than we see ourselves. That's why you have to be your own biggest fan, you know, because no one will do it for you. Those like yourself, with a Super High School level, really have nothing to worry about. You can relax knowing that you are better than everyone else at something, even if others can't see your overall value. So you have to keep hope. You're not worthless like I am, Tsumiki-san. So, how about that breakfast?"

It was a western-style breakfast of pancakes in a sticky syrup. No protein and far too much sugar to start off the day. Not at all healthy, thought the nurse. That, however, was not the biggest problem.

"I'm so sorry, Komaeda-san! It looks like Koizumi-san forgot utensils! It's all my fault for not checking. Oh no…."

Tsumiki stood up to leave, but quickly lost her footing.

"Don't do that."

"What?" Tsumiki regained her balance with surprising ease and stared at Komaeda.

"You don't need to do that."

"I don't know what you're-"

"I'm the only one here. I'm looking right at you. You have my attention, so don't do that anymore. Come over here and sit back down."

The girl complied. "I'm sorry. I can do something else to make up for it…"

"You can just help me eat." Komaeda smiled.

"But the silverware…"

"We don't need it. Just use your hands."

"Oh, of-of course…" His request was certainly mild compared to some of the things she had done to entertain her 'friends' back home.

She tore off a bite-size lump of pancake. It was horrifically sticky.

Komaeda opened his mouth like a baby bird as Tsumiki brought the morsel to his mouth. This is kind of fun, she thought. Like feeding little animals in the petting area at the zoo. The situation soon reminded her even more of a petting zoo when she felt teeth connect with her finger tips.

"Eep!" She squeaked as she pulled back.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just figured that anything you stuck in there was meant to be eaten." Komaeda beamed. The baby bird from before was now more like a cat.

Tsumiki inspected her fingers through teary eyes. Some of the syrup had gotten on to her bandage.

"Why not just take the bandage off?" Komaeda suggested.

"Oh, but I need it!"

"Are you sure? What's under it?"

Tsumiki clutched the wrapped arm to her chest and went quiet.

"I'd really like to see you without it some time. Remember, we're all your friends here. We won't ignore you." Komaeda said, encouragingly.

Tsumiki quietly scooped up a second handful of pancake, this time approaching the bound boy more warily. Her cautiousness did not last long enough, however. Keeping her hand in place just a little too long after the boy was finished consuming the gloppy item, Tsumiki found that this time something warm decided to acquaint itself with her palm, presumably removing the mess of syrup. The tongue took a rambling tour of her palm, then veered off course to visit with her thumb. Tsumiki didn't dislike this. In fact, it felt much more pleasant than the things people usually did to her. The tongue's excursion culminated with an obscenely moist sound as Komaeda finally saw fit to set the thumb free from his lips.

"Tsumiki-san, this is the best breakfast I have ever had."

Later in the day, Tsumiki's path crossed with Hinata's once again.

"Tsumiki! What happened to your bandages?"

Indeed, Tsumiki hardly looked herself at moment. There was not a bandage in sight on her currently uninjured skin.

"I guess I just healed without noticing it or something." She smiled.