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Rinne's eyes fly open and he sits up, face covered in sweat. His breathing is too fast, his hair feels wet, and his heart rate is through the roof.
What the actual fuck was that dream?
AkanP's twin? A leader swap? Aira seemingly being more racist than ever and even denying the offer of holding Hiiro's hand? FLYING CARS??????
"Niki."
Nothing.
"Niki." He shakes Niki, hard. "Get up."
Niki turns over, grumbling. Oh, not this time, Shiina. Rinne's not suffering through the knowledge of this dream alone.
Rinne grabs the blankets and rips them off of the bed, and Niki whines, which under any other circumstances would be cute, but Rinne just shakes him until he wakes up.
"Hhhh, wha? Rinne?" He sits up, eyes unfocused. "What time is it?"
"Don't know."
"Why did you wake me up anyways?" He whines. Rinne rolls his eyes. (In his head, at least.)
"Because I had a terrible nightmare, and I can't sleep. We should eat."
Niki's eyes clear up and he looks at Rinne with a lot of concern, taking in his current state. His hands are shaking where they rest on the bed, and there's a deeply unsettled look in his eyes.
Probably better not to ask, then.
Niki slides out of bed, and starts on his way to the kitchen, Rinne close behind. This isn't a regular thing, but he's sort of grown used to Rinne's behaviors. If he has a nightmare, he won't talk for some time.
"Okay, sit. We have leftover tomato soup from dinner, that alright?" Rinne hums. "I can make a few grilled cheeses really quick, so just hang tight. And drink some water, you look like you sweat out at least 40% of your water."
While Niki heats up their soup, Rinne grabs a glass and fills it with water, chugging it. It's way too warm, and he still feels like shit, but it helps him focus. Then, a second glass, with ice this time.
"D'ya want some, too?"
"Oh, yeah! Thanks."
Rinne nods, and grabs another glass. He stares at his reflection in it, and his mind wanders back to those ridiculous words he said in his dream.
Levitating...what? A perpetual machine? Like a perpetual motion machine? That's so stupid. That's so fucking stupid. And, god, floating lanterns? You can do that with fire!
"Did we get any new jobs recently?"
Niki looks back at him, already cooking the sandwiches. "Uh, no? Nothing I can think of? Wait, you're our leader. You should know if we get a job."
"Eh, potato, potahto. Just making sure I got it right."
He's given a skeptical look, but it's let go. Good, because he doesn't want to think about that awful event yet. After soup. After.
"Okay, it's done!"
They each have a bowl, with Niki's being bigger just for the sake of love? wasn't that the song in his dream? convenience. It's just convenient. They don't talk while they eat, which is both fine and not, because on one hand, Rinne can think. On the other hand, Rinne can think. That dream just won't leave his head, and it's really unpleasant.
"Niki, about my dream." Niki pauses, looking up at him. "It was weird. Super weird. Like, thinking about it is pissin' me off."
"Weird how?"
"Well, uhhh. We were doing an event with Alkaloid..."
He then tells Niki about the dream as they eat, omitting nothing. Niki stays quiet most of the time, but reacts to a few instances, like Aira's racist remarks.
("I don't think he would say that."
"Right?! Ai-chan has been bad, but not that bad!"
"Yeah, and I even heard that he's been practicing apologies recently! So, he's growing up."
"Good. I don't care how much Hiiro likes him, I'm not letting my baby bro date or marry a racist.")
He tries to gloss over some of the more, uh, personal stuff from MeruMeru, but it's kinda hard when he wouldn't stop doing it. Niki makes a face when he says HiMeru called them RinRin and NikiNiki, but he says it's cute to think about.
("Think he'd do that if we asked?"
"Rinne. Be serious. Kagehira Mika will kiss Tenshouin Eichi on the mouth before that happens outside of a time of literal desperation."
"...yeah, you're right.")
As the story goes on, Niki gets more and more confused, but the sudden Hiiro doppelgänger seems to do him in, and he shakes his head.
"Rinne, you must have been doing drugs. Please, repeat that."
"I said, a little boy that looked just like Hiiro showed up. And he didn't even seem to care!"
"He would care. I would care. You would care!"
"Oh, don't worry. I'm getting there."
Rinne keeps going, detailing the words and actions that tripped him up and are now tripping Niki up. Like, Niki passing out?
("No way it was from shock. I must've been hungry."
"Probably. You know I wouldn't leave you hungry in real life, right?"
"Of course I know that. No wonder this dream freaked you out.")
They come to the horror part, and that's when Niki draws the line, and Rinne has to agree. This totally real horror story is insane, but the worst part is Aira's rejection of holding Hiiro's hand. Now, that?
Actually impossible.
("He's way too in love with Hiiro for that." They both say it, in unison. Well, it must be extra right, then.)
The forest horror challenge is bad enough, but then...
"Wakanda. You just described fucking Wakanda." Niki puts his face in his hands, laughing. This is so dumb. "I told you not to watch Black Panther before you went to sleep. Should've listened."
Rinne is laughing too. "How was I s'posed to know it would make me have that shit tier dream? Black Panther is a good movie! And T'Challa is cool as all hell!"
Niki lifts his head, and Rinne is sort of stunned by how pretty Niki is. "Is any of that even true?"
"Wha-fuck no!" Rinne sputters. "It's a normal village! We might not have cell phones or the best internet out there, and we might not be totally modern, but we ain't got fucking floating buildings! That's stupid!"
"I mean," Niki can hardly talk through his laughter. "You and Otouto-kun are kinda geniuses, so..."
"Kid could barely use a phone for like, three months! He's smart cuz he's got a good head on his shoulders, not cuz we're from Indigenous Wakanda. How did y'all even believe me in that dream?"
They laugh it all off, but, seriously.
Indigenous Wakanda? Be so fucking for real.
"We should...clean up and head to..." Niki trails off, pausing with a plate in his hand. "Um. What even happened with AkanP?"
"Oh, that? Eh, she went off and got married in Europe somewhere, and her twin brother took her place."
O...kay? Least weird thing he's heard tonight.
The two of them clean up the kitchen, shifting to better, easier topics. It's a little weird that Rinne had a dream like that, but at least it wasn't real.
(The next day, Rinne finds out from Niki, who found out from Hiiro, who found out from Eichi, that Aira had the exact same dream. So, of course, the two of them talk about it. It's a good conversation.)
"Rinne, do not try and turn on Black Panther right now."
Ah, worth a shot.
("Do you really think we're a bunch of brutes? Be honest."
"I did at one point, but, uuu. Hiiro-kun...he told me that what I said hurt, and he didn't want to talk to me, so I went to Tattsun-senpai, and he told me off, too. So I went to Mayo-chin, and I got lectured there, too! After three strikes, I kind of got the idea."
"So, you apologize yet?"
"Not yet, no. I'm nervous, I guess? But I'm going to." Aira took a deep breath and turned to face Rinne. "In fact, I have to apologize to you." He bowed, total ninety degrees. Uh, what?
"Amagi Rinne-san! I want to apologize for my previous remarks against you and your home. They were ignorant, prejudiced, and really racist! They're also just plain rude, and it's not very rabui~ to be that way. I've hurt a person very dear to both of us with my words and actions, and so I want to apologize for that, too." Somehow, Aira bows deeper. "I'm very sorry! I hurt your brother! I called his home and his culture all sorts of mean names, he said I sometimes treated him like people treated him back home...? I'm not sure what that means, but I can only offer my sincerest apologies! I'm really, truly sorry!"
Uh...woah.
"Right. Ai-chan, please stand up. This is actually a little weird for me." Aira stood up straight, looking ashamed. Rinne studies him for a bit. He's a good kid, really. He's got a good heart, it's just that, here, having a good heart isn't synonymous with not being racist. Somehow.
"Ya'know, Ai-chan...Hiiro really likes you. Seriously. Yaps on and on about you all the time. Holds you in pretty high regard. So..." Rinne leans forward and down, getting in Aira's face. He lowers his voice. "If you ever say some racist shit like that again, I'll kill you."
"Burn my limited edition idol merch, actually. It would hurt more than death itself."
Rinne glares for a moment longer, but Aira doesn't back down for a second. He's serious about this.
"Pft-" Rinne cracks first, pulling away to laugh, and Aira seems to deflate across from him. "Kyahaha! You looked so serious! That was weird, Girlfriend-kun! Don't do it again!"
"Hmph! I'll have to when I apologize to Hiiro-kun, but whatever."
They stand there in silence, admiring the sunset.
"Is there actually stuff I can't know unless I'm an Amagi?"
"Yeah, course there is. You gonna marry Hiiro?"
"Mm. And Kohaku."
"...you know you gotta brawl for his hand in marriage, right?"
"Er, what? Hiiro-kun and I have to do what for Kohaku's hand in marriage?")
Later, Niki found out that Aira also apologized to the rest of Alkaloid, and Rinne was pretty content. Then, Aira wrote a formal letter to him, asking if he could help him train for the fight for Kohaku. Dude, yes.
(Somewhere, in a dark room, a writer chuckles. "All according to keikaku."
TL Note: 'Keikaku' means plan.)