The common cold.
It is something that most people have surely experienced. The reason why it is said to be the source of a thousand illnesses is actually because the initial symptoms of the common cold is the same as many other illnesses.
In other words, aside from it being a cold that just got worse, 'it turns out to be something else and not a cold☆' is something that happens more often than one would expect.
Dear readers, when you get what you think is a cold, please don't just self-medicate with over-the-counter meds and properly get yourself checked out at a hospital or clinic.
"…… My throat hurts. My head hurts. I feel sluggish."
It is one member of the Adachi residence who has caught such a cold.
It is the summoner apprentice from another world who is now a full-time middle school student, Elte-san.
She probably has a fever, seeing as how her face is red and she's all wrapped up in her blankets.
"37.5 degrees. No school for you today."
"Is that so degozaru. Then I will stop by the middle school section and inform them on my way to my own class degozaru."
"Please and thank you."
Upon being relied on by the Shiinsan who is busy nursing Elte-san, Yayoi-san in her blazer uniform nods responsibly.
After being convinced to attend school after that talk with Adachi-kun and Yagirkun the other day, Yayoi-san has also become a student. Due to security concerns, she is attending the same school as Elte-san, which turns out to have both a middle school and high school section.
A nekomimi samurai high school girl with heterochromic eyes who'd come from another world.
The increase of Yayoi-san's character traits seemingly knows no limits.
"Since there is time now, let's get you to a hospital and get some medicine."
"…… I don't like the pill kind."
"Then let's have them crush it for you."
"I don't like bitter."
"Stop saying selfish things."
Possibly due to being weakened by her cold, Elte-san's usual restraint has been replaced with childish dependence.
But of course, there's no way that the Adachi residence's mom aka Shiinsan would stand for something like that.
"As for food…… Aside from porridge, I seem to remember hearing that udon is also good for digestion."
When you are sick, you should indeed eat things that are easy to digest. However, it would be even better to add other ingredients that are effective against the cold.
For example, shiitake.
It's not a lie. Shiitake really is effective against colds.
Back during the Edo period, the water that dried shiitake was soaked in1 was believed to be a wonder drug for the cold. And recently, there's also been research indicating that shiitake contains powerful antiviral properties.2
Mikan!
Mikan!
Mikaaaan! (an off-handed endorsement of mikan)3
"Is there anything that you want to eat, Elte-san?"
But with all that said, it's perhaps also a good idea to allow the patient to choose whatever it is that would make them have an appetite.
Upon being asked this by Shiinsan, Elte-san drags her blanket up to her lips and mulls for a while before opening her mouth with expectation sparkling in her eyes.
"I want to eat katsudon!"4
"That's not something for a sick person to eat."
The scene of calm mother rejecting her daughter's ridiculous request.
Today, too, Japan is at peace.
At the same time, in Takamagahara.
Amaterasu-sama is happily eating the food cooked by Toyoukehime-sama as always. But she seems to have suddenly thought of something, as she is holding up her rice bowl with her right hand and seems to be examining its bottom.
"…… What are you doing, Ane-ue?"
"Un. I've heard that the god of colds is found underneath bowls, but then I was thinking about how I've never actually seen him or her."
"More like, who would want to see such a god?"
A god stuck to the bottom of a rice bowl.
Even if it is really a god, the experience of witnessing said god would be as shocking as finding la cucaracha in the same place.
"Besides, that saying is a teaching to not overeat as it might cause a cold. It's not actually saying that there's a god of colds standing by underneath rice bowls."
"Eh? Then where does the god of colds normally stand by?"
"Like I know."
Amaterasu-sama is astonished at the truth she just learned.
It is almost exactly like a child learning that 'Santa Claus' is just his dad in disguise.
"In the first place, such a god would be on the same level as the god of poverty or the god of pestilence. There probably isn't a place that worships a god of colds. Though there might be rituals to chase away such a god."
"…… The god of colds is so pitiful."
"Please do not empathize with a god of pestilence."
Amaterasu-sama is slightly off-point as usual, what with her feeling pity upon learning the circumstances of the god of colds.
Today, too, Takamagahara is at peace.
1 Shiitake is dried before being stored. So in order to use it/cook with it, you need to first soak it in water. But apparently shiitake (similarly so with other mushrooms) contains certain minerals or nutrients that dissolve quite readily into water.
2 Google says , so it's probably true.
3 Mikan no Uta by SEX MACHINEGUNS
4 Large bowl of rice with deep-fried pork cutlet on top.