On the couch, Sana was dreaming. His head was on a pillow on my lap, my hand over the side of his face, casually covering his ear, my fingertips trailing on his cheek. His hair tickled my palm. He'd been asleep for about four hours, so exhausted.

We'd woken again around 10am, and Sawai-san had made us some breakfast. Soon after, his tummy troubles began and I stayed with him through it. Sawai-san was puzzled about what could have happened, looking over the packages of what she'd made. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Afterwards, I made sure he drank a Pedialyte, and he'd settled in for a nap on the couch, utterly spent. He fell asleep immediately.

Sawai-san put down her newspaper. I'd come to associate her with holding one, so soon after knowing her. She adjusted her reading glasses on her nose, making her look like a punk grandmother with her pink, spikey hair. "Sana's been having a lot of stomach troubles lately, hasn't he?" She asked, looking over at me from her usual blue chair. "Has he had them that you know of, or is it recent? Oh, I hope it's not something I'm putting into his food. His stomach can be so sensitive to certain things."

I nodded. "It's been recent. Since he came back from the hospital." I didn't want to say the obvious. I pressed my lips together. It really wasn't Sawai-san's fault. But, his problems had began when she started cooking for him.

"Hmm. And I've been cooking for him since then. I really wonder if it's something I'm putting in there. Is what I'm cooking so different from what he's used to?" She asked, picking up on it anyway.

I thought for a moment, my finger knuckle on my bottom lip, gazing at the ceiling. Thinking about what my mom likes to cook, versus what Sawai-san cooks. I nodded again after about a minute. Yes, there were a lot of differences.

"Well, and I don't want to be rude-"

"No, no," Sawai-san interrupted, putting her hands up, "I want to know. Please speak freely."

My foot tapped the floor, helping me think of the right words. I sighed. "Well, you seem to...cook a lot of fried things. In a frying pan, with oils. My mom doesn't do that a lot. She boils, bakes, steams. Things of that nature. Those things seem to be more gentle on Sana's stomach. But, also." I swallowed, observing Sawai-san's face. She didn't look offended, just listening carefully. "I admit, I've also been trying to get Sana to eat more, because of what his doctor said. So, I'm to blame, also. Forcing him to take more bites when he indicates he's done, making him finish his plate, etc. So, it's probably a combination of things."

She shook her head, her eyebrow slightly creased. "No, I can understand that, where you're coming from. Making him eat more isn't a crime when his doctor said to. But, I don't know, I've always fried things. He loved my fried foods back when we lived in Osaka together. I'm trying to make his favorites, but also be mindful of his new dietary restrictions. There's so much he can't eat now. I admit, it can be confusing. So, he can't have fried foods much, either? Is there anything else I should know?"

"No, you've been very good at keeping to his diet otherwise. It just seems obvious now that the problem is the frying, mostly the oils." My heart was beating a little faster, uncomfortable with this conversation. She was trying so hard. I didn't want to make it sound like I was scolding her.

"Hmm." She draped her newspaper down over her knees. "I'll think about how I can modify my recipes to be baked or boiled. I'm not sure how I can do it."

"What kinds of things did you used to cook for him?" I asked. My curiosity was peaking. Stories of Sana from before. Had he been able to eat other things? Had his dietary restrictions evolved over time? Why? Could he not be able to eat more things in the future? That thought was scary. I wanted to tuck it away.

"Well." She sighed. "He didn't used to be not able to eat so many things. He could have a cheeseburger, for one. He might feel sick afterward, but nowhere near like this. It was a tolerable sickness for him, something he could take care of himself. He could even have a beer. One of his favorite things to eat was okonomiyaki, and I made that for Yuuhi and him all the time. Now, I worry about giving him that, with what you're saying."

The image of Sana with a cheeseburger in front of him and a tall glass of beer was shocking. Unthinkable. I knew my eyes were wide.

"But..." The image moved, Sana taking a big bite of the burger, and drinking the beer. It was even more crazy. Had that really happened? Over and over? "What happened? Why is he like this now? When I met him, I took him out for cheeseburgers and beer. He couldn't eat even a bite of it. Nothing on his plate was edible to him. He wouldn't even try. What... What happened? I don't understand."

"His liver." She bowed her head, looking troubled now. "Complications. He started getting very sick when he touched alcohol, for example. So sick. He had to go to the hospital after drinking a glass of wine. That was it. He never touched it again."

Just one glass? But I'd made him drink three beers once. What had I done? I was so naive. A terrible feeling was filling my stomach. For him to get that sick with a single glass of wine...

She sighed again. "His liver is responsible for a lot of his eating problems. You'd think it would be the intestines' fault, right? Not the case. His liver just can't process so many things. His disorder won't allow it. One by one, he started not being able to eat things, falling like dominoes. Not only that, I think he's scared. I think he's able to eat more things than he thinks, but he's just so scared of getting sick."

This rang a bell in my head. Of an incident that occurred not too long ago. "Oh!" I gasped. "You're absolutely right! We discovered he can eat pork not too long ago. My mom accidentally gave him pork, and he had no adverse reaction. She'd boiled it in a soup, and he was completely fine. He was really worried afterward, but nothing happened. It turned out, he thought he couldn't have pork, because he said he'd always had it fried. He guessed it was just because of the frying."

"Ooh, that's my fault, then," Sawai-san said, her face pinching a little. "I always fried pork."

"I'm sure it's not your fault." I tried to make my tone gentle. She was blaming herself so much. There was no one to blame. It was nobody's fault.

She nodded slowly to herself, clearly thinking. "I'm going to try to think of ways to avoid frying. Frying things was just so easy in the past. My Yuuhi loves fried things, so I didn't think much of it. It's so easy to throw things in a pan, a one stop meal. I got used to it, because I'd get home from work and he'd be so hungry. But, I need to be more mindful. This is good for me, because it will help me think more creatively."

Bee-bee-beep!

Dual ringing sounds went off, the app of Sana's device. Unique tones. I jumped. "Oh!" I exclaimed, grabbing at my hoodie's front pocket. Sawai-san patted at her pants' pocket hurriedly.

"Huh? Three-hundred and twenty-seven?" She asked herself, quietly. She looked up at me, and I saw the number on my phone at the same time. "How can that be? It's been so long since he's eaten." She got up from her chair, walking quickly out of the living room.

My eyebrows creased, looking at the side of his face below my phone. Three-hundred and twenty-seven? It didn't make any sense. I paused, my mind blank as I watched him breathe slowly. I shook my head. There was only one explanation, and that had to be impossible.

"Sana... Was your sugar really high for the past few hours and the app didn't tell us? ...Why?"

The doors to the garden creaked open, and my mom's rushing footsteps came into the house. Her quickness told me she'd received the alert, too. My heart was beating so fast, thinking of the possibility that the device could fail like this. Were we just not using it correctly? Had I put too much faith in it, letting myself get too comfortable?

A terrifying sense of unease spread throughout my body as I stared at his sleeping face. This monster going on inside of his body as he slept on me, and I hadn't been aware, no indication at all. But...it didn't make any sense. Nothing Sawai-san had given him would give him a reading like this. I'd given him a Pedialyte-

My heart descended into my stomach, becoming ice cold.

The Pedialyte.

I flipped the blanket up over Sana's legs as my mom came rushing into the room, Sawai-san close behind. My mom had his insulin pen ready in her hand. I moved his pale yellow skirt up, and she counted to three, pinching his flesh a bit between her fingers. I looked away as she stuck him. He didn't even flinch, no sign of waking up. Was that because he...

Terror made me shake his shoulder, unintentionally.

He stirred a little, still sleeping. His eyebrow creased a little, his cheeks puffing cutely, upset to be disturbed. A sigh of relief went through me.

"Don't wake him, he needs his rest," my mom said, getting up from her crouched position. She immediately began to prep his pen for next time with expertise.

"I'm sorry, I'm just scared," I answered quietly, still staring at his sleeping face. It had relaxed again, normal.

I couldn't keep it in. My worries. "Mom, I gave him Pedialyte earlier. Is that why his sugar is high? Was it high all this time, and I didn't- It's my fault-" My breathing was in quick waves.

"Oh, oh, oh," she soothed. Her hand went on my shoulder. Sawai-san was giving me a sympathetic look from her chair. "No. Nooo, it wasn't the Pedialyte. Don't think that. The kind we bought isn't like a soda or a juice. There's not enough sugar in it."

"Then- then- what could it have been? Why is his sugar so high? He hasn't eaten in six hours. Shouldn't it be low? Why is the app saying-" I was hyperventilating, unable to stop myself. Too worried, blaming myself. My mind went to the conversation Sawai-san and I'd just had, about Sana's stomach problems not being her fault. But, this was different, wasn't it? "It's been doing this ever since we got it. Saying his readings are wild. Why? Why is it doing that? Mom?" Something inside of me was so glad she was in front of me now. Strangely comforted.

Her other hand went on my opposite shoulder, holding them, trying to calm me down. "I don't know, Te-chan. Let's call Yokohara-sensei and ask. Breathe. It's going to be okay."

I nodded. Trying to control my breathing. My hands were shaking. Just the idea that I might have caused this again. I shook my head, stopped my breath. I choked on it a little bit, a noise bursting out of me quietly, breathing hard. She squeezed my shoulders.

She stood with me, trying to calm me as I panicked. I was unable to control my fears, terrified of the known, things we thought we'd left behind.