Miku.

It's around eleven in the morning and they're at my door. As I run to the door, I finish tying my wet hair into a braid. They don't stop ringing the doorbell. I let them in.

"Hey," Gumi's husband grins at me. She nudges him and he laughs. They're cute, really cute. He pushes his hair out of his eyes, still smiling. Gumi's smiling, too.

"Well, can we come in or what?" She teases. I smirk and move aside.

"Get in here, rascals," I say.

"Whoa, watch it," Gumi waggles a finger at me before taking her spouse's hand. "Are we rascals, Yuma?"

"Absolutely not!" He leans down and kisses her forehead. "We're more...monkeys."

I laugh. "I can see the resemblance."

"Well, good! Now, let's head to the kitchen. That drab old thing," Gumi drags her husband along. He dragged his feet, grinning.

"Wait, why the kitchen?" Gumi doesn't stop, so I walk alongside her. "Even last night, you didn't say why you wanted to come by..."

"Oh, shush, Yuma here made me call you last night," Gumi swats her husband playfully. "I was falling asleep and then he's all like 'you should call her, honey' and bam, there it was."

"She might've been sleeping in if you hadn't called her ahead of time," Yuma says.

"I don't sleep in. I was taking a shower."

"That explains the heavy scent of shampoo in the air," Yuma fans a hand in front of his face.

"You don't sleep in? Excuse me? Miku, remember college? Or have you forgotten already?" Gumi says.

"C-College was a long time ago!" I push them both into the kitchen. "Anyways, you wanted to do something in the kitchen, so go do it!"

She laughs. "You want scrambled eggs or what, hon?"

"I'm toasting bread," Yuma says. I hear the refrigerator door being opened. Eggs cracking, bags crinkling.

"I'm going to go dry my hair..." I say, walking away. They're tittering away in the kitchen, like little lovebirds.

After drying my hair, which takes a bit of time, given how long it is, I head back to the kitchen.

The dining table in the corner is piled with toast and eggs, and there's a jug of orange juice, too.

I smell pancakes. Gumi's at the helm of the pancake operation, flipping them on the griddle as Yuma pours more batter. He's concentrating, trying to make sure the batter doesn't spill. Trying to make perfect circles.

I sneak up behind Gumi but she catches me, spinning around and flashing me a grin before I can scare her.

"There you are," she laughs.

"Hmph, I almost had you," I cross my arms. She sticks her tongue out and and puts a pancake on a plate.

"Take a seat." She hands the plate to me. "We'll be there in a sec with the rest of these."

I comply, though I guess being fussy could have been fun. But I was hungry.

And so, I eat. I pour myself a glass of juice and glug it all down. Then, I get to work on the pancakes. I eat a fair share of what Gumi had given me before she and her husband sit down. They grin at me. Yuma has the gall to make a comment about my quick eating. Not that I really mind; he and his wife are probably two of the sweetest people I know.

"Are you two planning on spending all of today here?" I ask as I refill my plate.

Gumi nods. I watch as she scrapes her fork across her plate. "We have a lot planned for today."

"Oh really?" I can't make myself sound uninterested, because I'm genuinely wondering what she wants to do here, with me, in my big, empty house.

"You wanna hear the plan?" Her husband pulls a crumpled sheet of paper out of his pocket and waves it in the air. "We wrote it all down this morning! Well, she did. I did the talking. And the driving."

"You two are the perfect power couple."

"Oh, please." My girlfriend giggles dramatically and spins her wrist. "We're not that perfect."

"We're beyond!" Her spouse yells this, loudly.

Gumi rolls her eyes and he hugs her. She keeps eating and I laugh.

"You know, we have a lot more planned for today than just breakfast," Gumi says once he lets her go.

"Yes, I know," I drawl, setting my fork down. "You literally just told me that."

"But I didn't tell you what we have planned." She grins. I shrug.

"I'd ask, but...I know you'd rather keep it a surprise," I said. "So I can wait, at least until after breakfast."

Kaito.

I wipe my face with a handkerchief that Luka gives me. They're walking slow, because I'm walking slow, and to be honest, I feel pretty sick. I eye a trash can as we walk and bile climbs up my throat. We stop. I gag. Gakupo covers his nose just in case, but exhale and lower my head. We keep walking.

This silence continues as we reach the car and get in. Kamui and Luka argue for a minute about who's driving; I'd tell them to shut up and not make a fuss, but I don't speak for fear of opening my mouth and letting something undesirable come out.

Eventually, they decide that Luka will be taking the wheel. Gakupo gets into the back with me and keeps asking me if I'm okay. I keep nodding and Luka starts the car. She turns to look at us.

"Maybe we should go back to the hotel," she says, looking over me, eyes big, her eyebrows arched like little u's.

"That sounds like a good idea." Gakupo glances over at me and I barely have the strength to nod.

Luka speeds the car out of our parking spot and starts down the road. Gakupo's phone starts ringing again and again. He pulls it out of his pocket and shakes his head.

"Appointments," he said. I groan and lean forward.

"Hurry," I whimper. Luka starts to drive faster. She turns a sharp corner and I gag.

"Luka, geez!" Gakupo hits the back of the front seat — not her seat, the other one — and she slows down a bit.

"Sorry, sir," she says. "We're not too far now..."

I close my eyes and press my head back against the headrest.

"Sir, I have painkillers but no water for you to swallow them with," Gakupo says. "So...yeah..."

Thankfully, we reach the hotel without much fuss, and by then, I'm feeling a bit better. Luka drops me and Gakupo off but the door and she drives away, to park the car in the garage. Gakupo walks along with me. My head throbs and my legs are shaky, but the feeling of saltiness at the base of my throat is just about gone.

"It's okay," I say to Gakupo as we step into the elevator. He nods and I press the button for our floor.

Once we arrive, I wordlessly walk to my door and unlock it.

"Do you have painkillers, sir?" Gakupo asks me. I nod.

"Tell Luka that we'll go to my father's office tomorrow." I push the door open. "I'm done for the day. Alright?"

"Yes, sir," he says. "I hope you feel better soon!"

I almost manage to smile at that, but I don't have the strength. So I nod and walk in, closing the door behind me. I take off my shoes and then plop down on my bed, lying on my stomach. I look at the bedside clock.

There's really no reason for me to be sick, I guess. Maybe the food from yesterday is messing with my stomach but I doubt it. It's the stress and pressure. The endless stream of questions laced with accusations, being thrown at me for so long.

The headache recedes, slowly, still pulsing against the right side of my head, like I've got an insect buzzing around in there or something. I swallow my spit and try to relax, closing my eyes.

Here's the update. Sorry it took so long, folks.

From now on, ACUTE will be updated every two weeks, on Fridays!

(Happy Friday, all. Hope you look forward to the NEXT EXCITING EPISODE -- er, whatever...)

P.S. Plot issues forced me to make Gumi's spouse that guy. >_>