Disclaimer: Don’t own Mai Otome. (

Summary: Just when Nina thought Arika stopped remembering all the random little tid-bits of information told by her grandmother - she was then proved wrong, in the worst way possible.

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Nina glowered.

Arika grinned.

And she could just imagine Nao-onee-sama laughing gaiety at her, while wearing that horrible pink-white shirt, (which of course, she never voiced out loud in a fifty metre vicinity of said Pearl - that Tomoe incident is still fresh in her mind) somewhere along the streets of Shinso-sama-knows-where. She silently cursed her, which wasn’t much difference to what she was doing to the pig-tailed girl in front of her, much to her dismay.

“Oh, I found another one!”

Why she was still able to talk freely could be answered by looking at the tight binds around Nina’s wrists and ankles - courtesy to Nao. And damnit, it’s getting painfully itchy - again.

And to think it all started with a cut of the finger. Stupid infection.

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“Good thing Arika-chan here dragged you to check on it. This could have turned more nasty if ignored.” Youko said while tying a bandage around Nina’s swollen forefinger.

Arika violently nodded in agreement. “See! I told you, Nina-chan.”

The aforementioned girl simply moved the bandaged finger to her shoulder to scratch an seemingly imaginary itch. “You only dragged me here so you wouldn’t need to clean for the afternoon.”

“I did not!”

“Did too.”

“Did not!”

“Well, time for you to go now, I still have to finish these papers by tonight.” The nurse interjected.

“Haiii.” Arika replied, still sulking from the fact that her friend and rival didn’t thank her for worrying. Nevertheless, she hastily followed after the already leaving Nina, and because of that had to take a few seconds to swing the opened steel door shut to give the nurse some relief of outside noise.

“Oi, Nina-chan!”

The blue-haired girl barely suppressed an eye roll as she slowed down so the shorter girl can catch up. When she did however, she gave a sudden giggle - making the other stare at her confusingly.

“What is it now?”

“I thought Nina-chan’s the type of girl that never gets pimples - but there’s one on your neck.” Another giggle.

“What a surprise, Arinko knows what a pimple looks like.” Nina deadpanned. She flinched as she registered a pang from her shoulder. I must’ve scratched that place for a while without knowing, she thought.

“- then, it also looks like a hickey so…Wait, what did you and Ers-chan do last night when I was busy cleaning?!”

Nina flushed. “We were just studying! Geez Arika, you always listen to Nao-onee-sama at the wrong times.”

The girl pouted, but quickly brightened up again when her eyes caught something of interest along the path they were taking. Blinking, Nina followed her line of sight.

“You two sure take your time.” A familiar voice from above drawled.

“Apologies for our tardiness, Nao-onee-sama.” The orange-eyed Otome perfunctory replied with a small bow. Realising that Arika was once again standing still like a sitting duck. She used her free hand to guide the girl beside her to a slight bow and tiredly sighed.

“Oh well, you two are usually punctual anyways, so I’ll forgive you this time.” Closing the book she was reading, she agilely jumped down from the tree, somehow managing a flip while at it (Here, Arika awed in wonder). Breathing out with a puff, the redhead observed the two Corals and raised a brow. “Why are you scratching so much, Nina?”

“Huh?” She looked at where her other hand was located, and ended up turning her head to see that it was on the back of her neck. “So itchy…”

“Itchy…?” The other brow went up to meet its twin. “Hey, Arika, can you test her forehead for me?”

“W-what? Why? I’m not sic-” She didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence for Arika gently spun her around so her forehead was able to touch with her own.

“1…2…3…Umm…seems like you’re getting a fever.” Arika remarked. Tilting her head to the side, she added. “And you’re blushing.”

“I am not blushing.”

Arika gave a blank expression. “Your forehead’s hot, it makes sense - ” The feverish girl could only stammer in embarrassment. “ - and maybe that wasn’t a pimple on your neck but a chickenpox?”

“But…I thought I had it already.”

“Well, Granny told me that one could have it twice in their life - and stop scratching, you’ll leave marks.”

Nina frowned. The back of her neck started to prickle again, and she automatically reached up a hand to -

- find itself hugged tightly by Arika’s own. And as if reading her thoughts that she would use the other hand to relieve herself from the irritant, it was almost immediately held down as well. “Damnit, Arika, it’s itchy!”

“Granny told me a way to stop the itchiness, and it isn’t scratching.”

Sensing that she would regret her next question, she still went ahead and asked. “…and what is that?”

“A bath -” Nina felt her eyes narrow sceptically. “- full of oatmeal.”

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And that was how she found herself in a tub butt-naked, limbs tied, and most importantly being oatmeal-covered a hour later.

“Cheer up, Nina-chan. Granny told me that the second time is less horrible than the first.”

“But I wasn’t covered with this…” She stopped to find words in her already too flustered brain to best describe it. “…stuff.” She ended lamely.

“The itching’s gone down right?”

The tied girl fidgeted a bit - she’s really rubbing the oatmeal a bit too low than it is comfortable, she thought, before pointly looking away. “Un.”

Satisfied, Arika then broke into a hum. “Hey, I finished doing the back, now the fron-”

“NO WAY!”

Arika blinked. “But the oatmeal has to cover all over your body.”

“I-I’ll do the front.”

“But you’re tied up…you know, its funny how didn’t laugh or anything when I was doing the back.”

Nina was now sure that her ears were starting to burn up.

“Maybe if I poke you…”

“ANYTHING BUT - Ah!”

Nina darkly glared at cerulean-eyed girl while she was busy stifling most of her laughter with her oatmeal-covered hands.

“HOW MANY TIMES DID I TELL YOU NOT TO DO THAT?!”

Taking a deep breath to calm down, she licked her lips before speaking - but stopped.

Nina sat flabbergasted as she watched the girl click her tongue a few times.

“Huh? What’s this sweet taste?”

Finding no words to express her next answer, Nina instead leapt out of the tub like a cat (a very red cat if one exists), intending to give Arika an anything-just-as-long-as-it-hurts-like-hell-for-her. Forgetting the fact that her limbs were tied and that Arika was being Arika and clumsily dropped some oatmeal on the floor and -

So she slipped.

And landed head first on Arika’s chest.

“GYAHH!”

Amidst all the heated yelling from the two Corals and the loud thumps as they try to un-entangle themselves without falling on their butts, which was very unsuccessful for they always fell together in more worse position than the previous. A person standing beside the small bathroom window outside, clicked the button on their camera without being heard.

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She stepped into the room proudly, expecting a word of appreciation or better, a compliment but instead was asked “So is Nina resting as she should?”

Nao threw a few photos on the desk in answer which Youko immediately picked them up in curiosity. Her eyes slightly widened in wonder. “Arika’s taking care of her?…Ah, so that’s why you told me not to inform Nina this afternoon…” She flipped to the next photo. “Oh, Arika-chan is suffering a nosebleed in this one.”

The redhead smirked. She still has to teach that one the secrecy of enjoying something without getting busted. “So, wasn’t that gadget you got in return worth it?”

“Very worth it.” Youko decisively replied .