In crossover anime, who isn't a childhood friend?

Yukino lay on the bed with a fever-reducing patch on her forehead. Her voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz. Although it was a bit inappropriate to say that, the way her face was flushed when she had a fever, coupled with her short, rapid breathing, created a subtle visual effect that exuded a unique charm, making her look quite tempting and delicious.

"I wasn't sure if my symptoms were caused by a virus, and it would be bad if I infected them."

"Speaking of which, you didn't seem to worry at all that I would be affected by this."

“You’re different. I’ve never seen you get sick from childhood to adulthood.”

"If possible, I still hope you can worry a little more. Okay, that's enough. You should continue to lie down and rest. I'll go help prepare dinner, and I'll bring it in for you when it's ready."

"You don't need to help, Mom will prepare it."

"I promised Auntie when I got back, so you don't need to worry about it."

Gen Chiya pulled the blanket up for Yukino, then got up and quietly left the room.

Yukino watched his departing figure, her head spinning. Under the influence of the drug, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep again.

She was gently awakened after an unknown amount of time, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Yuan Qianye sitting on the edge of the bed with a tray of food.

Then, turning my gaze to the window, I realized that night had fallen without me noticing.

The wind was howling outside, giving the impression that a storm was brewing; it looked like it was about to rain.

"How are you now? Are you still feeling unwell?"

"It's okay, I'm much better now."

Yukino pushed herself up from the bed with both hands. After lying in bed for almost a day, the throbbing pain in her head had improved significantly, but she was still feeling weak. In addition, even though she was in bed, she still felt a little cold. She knew that this was a heat response caused by the body's temperature set point shifting upward when she had a fever, and that she would return to normal once the fever subsided.

"Come on, let's have dinner. I made some porridge for you."

"I can do it myself."

"Don't push yourself too hard, or you might accidentally spill it on the bed again."

"I'm not that weak yet." Yukino held the bowl and sipped her porridge. After a couple of sips, she looked at Gen Chiya, who was by her bedside, and suddenly realized, "You don't need to worry about me. I'll go eat too. I'll take these to the kitchen myself after I finish eating."

Yuan Qianye shook his head: "I've already eaten. Also, Auntie just finished dinner and went out, saying that there was something at the company that she needed to handle. She left you entirely in my care. She said that it was fortunate that I was there, otherwise she wouldn't feel at ease going out. Does this mean that Auntie has officially trusted me? Besides, you look so frail right now, I guess you can barely even get out of bed. What are you going to do about taking a bath tonight? Do you need my help?"

"..." Yukino didn't say anything, silently eating her porridge. She was speechless at this guy, and her throat was sore that she really didn't want to say anything too trivial.

Knowing she was upset, Yuan Qianye stopped joking: "Eri and the others just messaged me to ask how you are. After you finish eating, take some time to reply to them and reassure them."

Yukino nodded: "I understand."

Yuan Qianye sat at her desk, turned on the computer, and saw an unlock password on the startup screen. Instead of asking directly, Yuan Qianye tried entering her birthdate and successfully unlocked the desktop on the first try.

He double-clicked to enter the editing software, ready to continue editing the movie. He had been watching Yukino operate it every day, and he had mastered the basic skills of using the editing software. Apart from some special effects production processes, there was not much difficulty in other aspects. The main problem was that adjusting the various parameters was a bit tedious, but if you put in enough patience, there wouldn't be much of a problem.

Yukino observed all of this silently, without saying anything.

Yuan Qianye had served her quite a lot of porridge, but because it tasted good and she remembered that he had specially prepared it for her, she ate it all.

Yuan Qianye heard her setting the dishes on the tray. He stopped what he was doing, went to the bedside, picked up the tray, and prepared to go to the kitchen to wash it.

"No need, I can do this."

"Rest against the headboard for a while. There's no reason to make a patient do all the work."

"There's no reason to make a guest do this kind of work. You've already troubled us with dinner once."

"What trouble or not? I didn't consider myself a guest at all."

With a single sentence, Yukino was stunned into silence, and then Chiyo took the tray from her hands.

However, the second young lady still caught up with him. She put on her coat and stayed by his side, carefully wiping the washed dishes and putting them in the cupboard.

For some reason, Yuan Qianye was in a very good mood and smiled the whole time.

Yukino lowered her head, her flushed profile partially obscured by her naturally falling hair.

After returning to her room, Yukino spoke up, "I'm fine now. You've been busy ever since you got back. Leave the editing to me for now, and you can go do your own thing."

Yuan Qianye spread his hands: "I have nothing to do."

"After finishing my schoolwork, I'll go wash up and so on."

"I don't know your situation, but for me, it's just homework. I can make it up at school tomorrow morning, and even if I don't hand it in, the teacher won't say anything. That's the privilege of being a top student."

"Even so, it will leave a bad impression on the teacher, so don't do that."

"I'm more concerned about someone's health than my impression on my teachers."

The subsequent events left neither side able to convince the other.

After taking her medicine, Yukino insisted on working with Chiya Minamoto on the video editing, just like she had done the night before.

During this time, Mrs. Yukinoshita called to say that she would probably be home very late today and that they shouldn't worry.

Before we knew it, it was past ten o'clock, and the rain outside officially started to fall. The rain was quite heavy, accompanied by howling winds, but it was precisely because of this that the tranquility and peace inside the house were all the more apparent.

Yukino, sitting in front of the computer, kept her eyelids drooping because she hadn't fully recovered and the medication she was taking contained sleep-inducing ingredients.

"Let's leave this part here and let it develop slowly. Go lie down on the bed for a while and rest. I'm going to take a shower, and we'll continue when I get back."

The exported video cannot be rendered and can only wait silently.

Therefore, Yukino nodded.

Gen Chiya deliberately slowed down his shower, and when he returned, sure enough, Yukino was lying on the bed with her eyes closed, breathing evenly.

This was the result he wanted, so of course he wouldn't wake her up again.

Here's the question: It's late at night, and a young woman he has feelings for and wants to make his future child's mother is sound asleep, completely unguarded. There's no one else in her house except the two of them. In this situation, what should a teenager in the throes of puberty do?

Gen Chiya's choice was to carefully hold her foot.

The second young lady's feet were slender and delicate, with clean soles, smooth and beautiful arches, and toenails with a healthy pink sheen. They were thin but not bony, and light and well-proportioned.

Even without the filter of affection, these are jade feet with supreme beauty, comparable to those of professional foot models.

It's necessary to clarify here that he's not the kind of pervert who would secretly play with women's feet while they're sleeping.

He simply felt that Yukino's current state—curled up with her bare white feet exposed outside the bed—wasn't quite right.

Since you're already sick, the right thing to do is to keep warm.

After placing Yukino's feet inside the bed and covering her with the blanket, Minamoto Chiya returned to the table.

It took me a minute to bring my thoughts back to a rational level.

He turned down the computer volume and began editing the movie alone.

At 11 p.m., Mrs. Yukinoshita returned.

She quietly approached her youngest daughter's door, which wasn't fully closed, glanced inside, smiled, and didn't disturb her. Later, around midnight, she came over to remind the young man she sincerely admired that it was getting late and he should go back to his room to rest.

On Wednesday, it was still raining, but the rain was significantly lighter than the night before.

Yukino's condition has improved somewhat; her fever has subsided, but she is still visibly weak.

This is understandable, given that she was already physically weak, and the lack of sleep from staying up late every day recently further weakened her immune system.

The insurance company estimates that it will take at least three or four days to fully recover.

Unable to refuse Mrs. Yukinoshita's kindness, Chiya arrived at class early in the morning in her family's car. She overheard several boys in the front seat talking about the new anime series and caught the keyword "marble soda".

He was recommended the original light novel by Eriri, and the male protagonist in it shared some of his traits with him. Both were handsome with prominent features and were surrounded by many beautiful girls.

He took the initiative to go over and join the discussion. After chatting for a while, he gradually realized that something was wrong. After checking, he realized that they were not talking about the same anime series at all.

One table, one inner table.

These days, high school boys are really hard to judge...

Yuan Qianye silently remembered the name of the anime they mentioned, intending to search for it later and give it a thorough critique.

Service Department during lunch break.

Eriri and the others asked about Yukino's health: "Is Yukino feeling better?"

Yuan Qianye nodded: "The fever had subsided when I woke up this morning. With rest in bed, it will gradually recover on its own."

"That's good... Qianye, come and take a look at the promotional poster I drew. Is this okay?"

"Oh~ It's more perfect than I expected. It perfectly captures the feeling I wanted. It even feels more exquisite than a low-budget commercial movie poster."

Eriri was clearly pleased with the praise: "That's too much! I'll go copy and print it after school today, and I feel like I can start distributing the promotional materials tomorrow."

"Sure, I'll come help out tomorrow too."

Now that Eriri's situation is officially settled, all that's left is the most crucial part: the actual movie.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Kazusa asked.

"What you need to do now is to get plenty of rest and avoid ending up like Yukino. Just be ready to perform on stage at the school festival." Gen Chiyo took a sip of tea. It wasn't the tea brewed by the second young lady, and the taste was indeed a bit off.

"Hmm... Huh? Wait, what did you just say?"

Yuan Qianye reminded her, "Didn't President Cheng Hui specifically come to your door to ask you to play the piano on stage? Have you forgotten?"

Kazusa shook her head: "Of course I haven't forgotten, but I remember I didn't agree to her back then."

"Oh, since the filming is going smoothly and you have plenty of time to rest, I thought I'd sign you up for the shoot."

"Why should you make decisions for me?" Kazusa seemed somewhat dissatisfied.

Yuan Qianye chuckled and said, "Didn't you say back then that the decision on whether or not you would perform on stage would be entirely up to me?"

"..."

Is that true?

Kazusa tried hard to recall.

It seems that I did say that back then.

"But I remember I also said there were prerequisites."

"Going on stage together? I don't mind. It'll be a good opportunity for everyone in the school to see Kazusa's charming side. What's with the mere twelfth place? A bunch of blind fools!" Minamoto Chiyo looked indignant.

"?" Kazusa couldn't understand what he was saying at all, but it didn't matter.

She herself felt completely indifferent to performing on stage at the school festival, receiving neither the reward of defeating her opponents nor the affirmation of her abilities from the professional judges.

However, if Chiya Minamoto were to accompany her, that would be a different story.

I feel that if I were with him, even just squatting next to a tree root counting ants would be fun.