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Click, click, click-clack.
These are not noises that Ai should be hearing in the middle of the night. She mumbles incoherently, rolling over and pulling her pillow tight over her ears, but the muffled sounds of clicking and clacking make their way through the fabric anyway.
At length, she finally gives up on getting back to sleep. Running a hand through her bedhead, she sits up and blinks, taking in her surroundings through bleary eyes.
It’s summer break, and for the past few days, the School Idol Club has been staying in a lakeside house rented by Lanzhu’s incredibly rich family. They’ve each had a whole room to themselves, which has caused no small amount of shenanigans – Emma and Karin insisted on bunking together anyway, and Kanata often wound up sleeping in other people’s beds at random. For Ai’s part, she was happy to fill her room with a hundred colorful keepsakes and cram her closet full of outfits. It made the place feel a little more like home.
But something’s not right, and it takes Ai’s tired brain a good twenty seconds to puzzle out what it is: the left back corner of her room, the one piled high with gaudy beanbags, is lit up in a muted, multicolored glow. There’s a small mass of blankets huddled over there. From inside the fabric cocoon, she can hear those unmistakable noises – click, clack, click. Keyboard presses.
Ai turns, rubbing her bleary eyes as she glances at her bedside table. The digital clock she keeps there blinks out a steady rhythm.
It’s 2:29 AM. This is Rina’s latest gaming session yet.
She sighs, muttering under her breath before raising her voice a little. “Rinarii…”
The blanket pile jolts. The clicking stops, the glow fades, and a muffled voice sounds from inside: “Ah, Ai-san. I didn’t know you were awake.”
“I wasn’t—“ A yawn punctuates her sentence. “Until just now.”
The ensuing silence is heavy with guilt. Ai frowns, tossing the covers off herself and climbing out of bed. She crosses the room, then crouches next to the pile of blankets. “Rinarii? I’m not mad or anything, just worried. You gotta get a healthy amount of sleep every night, you know?”
There’s a shuffling from inside the pile. “I know, but I lost track of time. Rina-chan board, embarrassed.”
Ai waves her hands. “It’s okay, I totally get it. Gaming is super fun – like, that new Minecraft update was groundbreaking! ‘Cause you know, breaking blocks!”
“Nice one, Ai-san.” Rina hums from within her blanket cocoon as Ai giggles quietly. “I’m still sorry I woke you up, though.”
Ai takes a deep breath. “Seriously, it’s fine. You can make up for it by getting some rest, okay?"
Rina doesn’t respond. Ai cocks her head, contemplating giving the blanket pile a hug as a reminder. It’s worked before, right? But she doesn’t, and she waits. Over the years she’s known Rina, she’s learned that sometimes the girl just needs time.
Eventually, Rina says, “Can I stay here tonight, Ai-san?”
The puzzle pieces start to click together in Ai’s head.
Ai is no stranger to traveling, having spent time in plenty of hotels for away games, athletics club trips or vacations with her grandma. She’s no stranger to being away from her parents either, given how busy they always are with the family restaurant. For Ai, living by herself halfway across the country in unfamiliar surroundings just came naturally. It hadn’t occurred to her that the same might not be true for everyone else.
It comes out in a whisper: “Are you homesick, Rinarii?”
The top of the blanket pile bobs up and down in what could be a nod.
Ai sits down cross-legged. She thinks for a second, then says, “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really,” Rina says. “I just couldn’t get to sleep for the past few nights. I’ve been trying to make myself tired by staying up late, but it isn’t really working. I thought maybe if I snuck into your room, then… Um, please don’t be mad.”
“No way!” Ai shakes her head fervently. “I know how it is. Staying in a new place can be seriously tough. And you’ve never been away from home like this before, right?”
“Mhm,” Rina says. Then, with a little more conviction: “I think it’ll be okay if I’m with you. Rina-chan board, super serious.”
Ai blinks. “Huh?”
“Ai-san, please let me sleep with you.”
“Sorry, sorry!” She grins sheepishly, face flushing a little. “Of course you can, all you had to do was ask. C’mere.”
And finally the blanket cocoon parts in the front, and Rina peers out, blinking up at Ai with those big golden eyes. Her pink laptop that’s always plastered in cat decals is closed up in her lap, with her Rina-Chan board balanced on top. She’s clearly tired out, and Ai kicks herself for not realizing sooner, even though she knows there was nothing, really, to realize. Rina just had to be honest about her feelings, and she was.
Rina shrugs off the rest of the covers, nudging her laptop and board to the side. She reaches up and makes grabby hands. “Pick me up?”
Ai snorts. “Well, how can I say no when you put it like that? I’ll make sure it’s uplifting. Get it? Because I’m lifting you up!”
It’s hard to keep Rina steady while she’s giggling to herself, but Ai manages to get the smaller girl (exhibiting an impressive deadpan the whole time) into her arms and then into her bed. It’s a queen-sized mattress, of course — Lanzhu Zhong wouldn’t have settled for anything less. But even though that means they can both fit comfortably with room to spare, Rina insists on clinging to Ai anyway. Somewhere in the process of climbing into bed, her arms found their way around Ai and can’t be moved for anything; now, as the pair start to get comfortable under the covers, she nestles her head beneath Ai’s chin.
Ai, personally, is fine with this. More than fine, even. She’d dare to say it’s perfect.
That little strand of hair that always sticks up on Rina’s head tickles her nose. She laughs softly and brushes it down with a free hand. “Better?”
“Yeah,” Rina says, eyes drifting closed.
Ai lets her breath out in a sigh and closes her eyes too. “Good… good.”
They stay like that for a while, holding each other, each listening to the other breathe softly. It’s supremely comfortable. Ai is beginning to drift off again when Rina mumbles something: “Ai-san… you’re warm.”
She pulls Rina a little closer. “Mhm.”
Both of them sleep well that night.
The Nijigasaki High School Idol Club is ten minutes into their morning workout and a certain duo still hasn’t shown up. Kasumi storms down the hallways of Lanzhu’s vacation house, absolutely livid. “How dare those two skip out on practice?” she rants to no one. “And they had to do it the day Kasumin presented her masterfully crafted workout plan, too! Grrr… The nerve…!”
She has an idea of where she’ll find the lovebirds, but the house is labyrinthine in its design. Nothing can stop the adorable yet shrewd Kasumin once she’s set on a goal, though. She only gets lost a few times before managing to find Ai’s room. Wrenching open the door, Kasumi prepares to give Ai and Rina a piece of her mind — only to freeze when she sees what’s inside.
It’s so much worse than she could have anticipated. Ai and Rina are cuddled up together, fast asleep under a mound of covers. Rina’s chin rests on Ai’s shoulder, while Ai’s arms hang loosely around Rina’s neck. Both of them have matching expressions of contentment on their faces.
Her nose scrunches up at the sight. “This is… almost sickeningly adorable. Yech, Kasumin’s gonna get diabetes.”
Then again, they do look comfortable. Kasumi ponders her options for a moment, looking at the sleeping girls, then shuts the door again. She’ll let them rest.