Chapter 65: Chapter 104 – Netherfolk’s Allergy Blues

"Ah… cheew!"

Tamara sneezed so hard, her bed of woolen hair jumped with her. A bit of snot hung down her nostrils, and when I plucked some tissues from the end table to press to her nose, she blew with the force of a hose.

"Man, you've just been sneezing up a storm since this morning. Don't tell me you have allergies?" I tossed the clump of tissues away and picked out more to wipe Tamara's nose dry.

"Uweh… I feel terrible… My eyes are watery, my nose is runny… I just want it to be over." Tamara groaned, snatching two more tissues to wipe both eyes.

It wasn't just Tamara, most of my tenants were also coming down with a bad case of allergies. Ange was hiding in my room with a box of tissues, Cresta laid sprawled out on the floor in the middle of the living room, Val braved through it all to take care of her garden and Isla in the backyard, and Irapesha thought to sweat it off by pumping iron in the gym. 

The only ones doing fine were Ines, Ivory, Remmy, Isla, and myself.

"Akira…" Remmy entered the living room, her slime body appearing sluggish and melty. "Was one of the milk jugs expired? I don't feel so good…"

"Expired… I don't think so. Let me—"

Val returned from the backyard with an Ivory-potted Isla in hand. The second she pulled off the sunhat, I was greeted with bloodshot eyes, tear-stained face, and snot cascading down her chin. I stifled a laugh, seeing her in such a terrible state drew a stifled laugh from me. She wasn't amused.

"I… cannot stand another second… suffering this allergy! Do something, Caretaker!" Val exclaimed. Her nose wrinkled and face contorted. She began to draw quick mouthfuls of breaths, then sneezed violently.

"There's nothing I can do about seasonal allergies! You're all just going to have to weather the storm until it passes," I said.

"Uugh…"

Everyone turned to Remmy, whose entire body began to tremble and was clutching her stomach.

"Remmy!" I rushed over to check on her, and she looked to be on the verge of falling apart.

Could it be the cracked core, or—

"Ahh… chooo!"

The instant Remmy sneezed, she exploded. Slime went everywhere all over the room, sticking to me, the ceiling and walls, and the other tenants. Tamara, with a mask of slime on her face, gawked at where Remmy had been standing and was no longer there. Only the core remained, rolling to a stop at my foot.

"REMMY?!" We cried in horror, and even Cresta snapped awake from shock.

I jumped to the floor to start gathering clumps of slime to put Remmy back together, but the globules began to move on their own. They all slowly converged back to the mildly cracked crystal core, reshaping into the blob form of our resident slime girl.

"I… I think I have allergies, too…" Remmy mumbled.

"Oh, geez. You scared a decade off my lifespan… Okay, you guys hang tight. I'll think of something," I said.

After making a few phone calls, Professor Markel promised that an HVAC technician team would be coming in the next few days to install a whole home air purifier unit. In the meantime, I made a quick trip to a large department store to buy air purifiers for the dormitory. The employees gave me a look like I was insane when asked for ten portable air purifiers.

With Ines' help, we got them set up in each tenant's room that was dying of allergies, one in the bathroom, and another in the living room.

Now I had tenants crowding around the living room air purifier as if expecting to be magically cured of their allergies.

"Akira… It's not working!" Cresta complained. She was sitting directly in front of the waist-high tower device with Remmy and Tamara.

"They work by filtering air around it before spitting it back out. The more you surround it, the worse you suffocate and screw over its efficiency. While it's working, I bought store brand allergy medicine. Zero idea if human medicine will do any good for netherfolks, but better than nothing." I handed gel capsules to each who were eager to do anything to be rid of allergies.

If I were in their positions, I'd feel the same way.

"Weird. I know for sure I have allergies. Wonder why we aren't affected?" Ines asked, sidling up to me by the kitchen counter.

"Your guess is as good as mine. Ivory isn't affected either. I thought Remmy was the same, but she exploded in the morning," I explained and left it vague on purpose.

"Exploded?" She squinted suspiciously at me.

Allergies were a body's reaction to foreign substances. Not everyone was affected in the same way to the same thing, so for Ines and I to be fine isn't out of the ordinary. I was sure it had to do with pollen, which meant those having to breathe were affected.

"Ivory! Can you come here for a sec?" I called out.

The living mimic transformed into elven form and skipped up to us.

"Yo! What's cooking?" Ivory cocked their head sideways.

"Do mimics like yourself need to breathe?" I asked.

"Breathe? Nah. I'm fully anaerobic, baby! Sure I can 'breathe', but I'm not actually breathing. You get what I mean?" The mimic took several deep breaths to show me.

Then why was Remmy, who also didn't need to breathe, affected by allergies?

"Akira!" Isla interrupted my thoughts by tugging on my pants.

I instinctively picked her up, thinking she wanted to be held, but apparently that wasn't it. The plant girl waved her leafy hands in my face like they were pom poms.

"What is it, Isla?" Ines asked.

"Isla's trying to warn us. You can tell by how panicky she is," Ivory said.

"I still don't understand what she's trying to say though." I frowned, having yet been able to decipher past her emotions.

Isla glanced around frantically until the bottle of allergy pills caught her attention. She grabbed it with a cluster of roots and placed the bottle on her head.

"Isla, allergy!" she exclaimed.

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"Maybe Isla's saying she has allergies, too?" Ines wondered aloud.

A plant having allergies? But Isla looked perfectly fine.

"I'm going to… go upstairs," Irapesha said as she lumbered unsteadily out of the living room.

"Hang on. I'm going to check on Irapesha. Watch Isla for me." I handed her off to Ines and Ivory, then went after Irapesha.

The dragonewt was at the bottom of the stairs, both hands braced against the railing and wall. I hadn't seen Irapesha all day since she was in the home gym, but she looked worse than the others.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, coming to her aid and thinking to help her upstairs.

Just like when we were in Weyera, holding Irapesha up was like trying to budge a mountain. Immovable unless it wanted to be moved.

"My nose feels bloated. I've been breathing through my mouth since morning," Irapesha said in a tone that was much more nasally up close.

"Sounds like your sinuses are congested. If you take a hot bath, the steam might help clear it up," I suggested.

"Very well. I shall… ah… I think…" She wrinkled her nose.

"Are you about to sneeze? Hold on, lemme grab you a—"

"Ahh… aahh— choo!" Irapesha sneezed a great burst of flames before my eyes that singed my eyebrows.

I blinked incredulously, still feeling the heat against my face even though the fire was brief. However, Irapesha wasn't done just yet. She reared her head back, preparing for another sneeze.

"Oh, god— please, not here!" I cried just as Irapesha sneezed again, expelling a ball of fire. The stairs caught fire and triggered the sprinkler systems in the foyer.

"Forgive me… I-It's not stopping!" Irapesha warned. Sneezing again, and again, and again. Each time, a bigger burst of flames shot out.

I ran back into the living room to grab the box of issues, and everyone had their eyes on the hallway where Irapesha was sneezing fire.

"Here! Blow into this!" I plucked half the issues from the box and stuffed them into Irapesha's hands.

Holding the ball of tissues to her nose, Irapesha blew and incinerated them in an instant. Cinders and ashes flew across the hall, only to clump together from the sprinklers. I tossed the box of tissues over my shoulders because it wasn't helping.

"It's getting worse and worse!" I clutched my head in distress, no longer sure what to do.

The others in the living room clamored over from the commotion, only to be drenched.

"I think it's stopped," Irapesha said, breathing deeply through her nose. "I can breathe again."

"Allergy!" Isla raised her arm roots to catch the water raining down on her before the sprinklers sputtered to a stop. In doing so, however, the flowers in her hair spewed out a yellowish powder. It was a very little amount and dissipated as fast as it appeared.

Just when I thought the worst was over, Irapesha had one last sneeze to get out. The ball of fire shot upstairs and demolished the door to my room, then the sprinklers turned on again.

"Alright, everyone to the baths while I clean this up." I sighed.

Both Professor Markel and the Vandice City Fire Department came to the dormitory as was standard procedure. They were all mildly amused when I recounted what happened.

"First time in my fifteen years as a firefighter I hear of an allergy causing a fire!" Kerry bellowed with laughter.

"Well, that same repeat-sneezer works for your fire department." I groaned.

"Any idea what caused it?" Professor Markel asked.

"I have an idea." Gesturing behind me, Ivory was just now walking out with Isla in hand.

"Allergy!" Isla continued to repeat.

A pollen that only affected netherfolks who breathed it in. Remmy's case was a little different. The slime girl didn't breathe, but her body interacted with the pollen, much like how dust could get caught on her, and she had a negative reaction to it.

"Chances are, little Isla's pollen is giving them an allergy," I explained. "I've got air purifiers up and running, but until we get a massive one in our HVAC, it might not be enough to filter it all out."

Without saying anything, Professor Markel knelt down in front of Isla and produced something from his pocket. It looked like a test kit, with a cotton swab, plastic bag, and small vial. He used the swab to rub a flower on Isla's head, causing her to giggle as it seemingly tickled her. Once finished, he placed the swab into the vial, sealed it with a lid, and then placed it into the plastic bag.

"I'm going to run some tests on this. Keep an eye on our tenants and continue to report any more adverse reactions to Isla's pollen. This may be how we determine whether her species can cohabitate with netherfolks on earth. I expect full disclosure, Akira." The professor nodded to me and wasted no time taking off back to the base.

Since there was no fire to deal with, Kerry and his team asked me to give Irapesha their regards before returning to the fire department.

"I don't like it," Ivory said after they had left. "What the old guy was talking about— what if he finds something he doesn't like. Does that mean he's going to take Isla away from us?"

Isla's leaves and petals drooped.

"I know. I don't like it either. Look, the others are just having a bad allergic reaction. I had allergies in the past, too. Got over it eventually. It comes and goes with the season, so there's nothing to worry about." I ushered them back into the dorm.

Ange was waiting for me in the foyer right as we came in. Her hair was still slightly moist from taking a bath, and the scent of fruity body wash tickled my nose. Although I had hoped their bath would do some good for their allergy, Ange appeared worried. Especially with a hand clutching her forearm.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"We may have another problem," Ange said, peeling her hand away to reveal a slight yellowish rash. "With the exception of Ines, we all developed this strange blemish."

Ivory, Isla, and I traded uneasy glances to each other. 

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