Work Text:
It all starts when Tighnari agrees to take on the role of a student mentor for Rana.
A week into the new term, Tighnari is sound asleep on his bed when an emergency call assaults his poor eardrums with a blaring ringtone. He picks up the call at the third ring, only to see Rana’s name appear across the screen.
“Nari… I need help,” Rana begins, “I meet a kid.”
“...What?” Tighnari grouses, his mind still half-asleep. “Rana… It is 2AM. Why are you not home yet?”
“I- I lost track of time while studying in the library… Anyway, I bumped into this kid and she was fine at first, but when I was walking her to the police station, she started shaking and then collapsed,” Rana explains. “I couldn't reach Cyno so I thought of you—”
It is clear that the situation is urgent. There is a lot of rustling in the background, as if the girl is struggling to hold the phone while also holding the kid together.
Tighnari pauses, his sleep slowly drifting away. He sits up and takes a deep breath to gather his mind.
“Alright… The kid is likely having an anxiety attack,” he says; his tone is strict, but it’s not unfounded either. “First, try not to touch her as that may agitate her further…”
───── ☆⋅☆ ─────
Tighnari learns later that the name of the kid is Collei. There has been no missing report of her in the area and the poor girl is still too scared to speak. She is paranoid to be left alone, yet at the same time freaks out if someone accidentally touches her. The only one she is comfortable with is Rana, the one who found her. As a result, the police station agrees to let Collei follow Rana home while they are in process of looking for her parents. And by ‘home’ it means their current rented apartment.
Their other housemate is Cyno, who is basically the one who came up with the idea of Collei temporarily staying with them since he is working at the local police station while taking his college degree. Tighnari is outnumbered, so his opinion doesn’t really matter but he has to agree that an isolation room or orphanage isn’t the best place for a traumatised kid to be placed into.
“Collei, this is Tighnari, one of my distant cousins.” Rana introduces them. “He was the one speaking to you that day on the phone, remember?”
Collei still looks a little scared seeing another new face, but at least she is not crying or running away.
“You have nothing to fear, Collei. No one can harm you here. I can beat a black belt in martial arts any day.” Cyno also helps reassure the kid. “My current challenger is a white sock though.”
Tighnari facepalms. “Stop! You are confusing the kid!”
“...Why is your expression like that? Is it not funny?!”
Rana thanks Tighnari profusely for his help, to which the student mentor simply shrugs it off. It is his mistake for thinking this will be the last time.
───── ☆⋅☆ ─────
A week passes by in a flash, it is 2AM again, and Rana is calling, again.
“Nari I need help,” Rana opens the call with the exact same request, “I have a kid with me—”
At first, Tighnari thinks this must be deja vu. "A kid… you mean Collei?"
"No no this is not Collei."
Surely, there can’t be another situation so similar to the previous.
Except Tighnari can clearly hear the sound of a kid sobbing in the background. He sighs and sits up again, hating himself for slowly getting used to this shit, whatever it is.
"Alright… First of all, let's check if she is injured anywhere..."
───── ☆⋅☆ ─────
"What the heck is going on?"
Tighnari complains to Cyno the next day when he comes to the living room and sees Rana passing out at the sofa with two kids snuggling on either of her sides, all of them sound asleep. Two kids suddenly appear from nowhere. Obviously, something strange is happening around their neighborhood.
"...There is evidence of illegal kidnapping and trafficking in the area." Cyno reveals to his housemate in a hushed tone. "We are trying to identify the location but both Collei and Nahida said they were blindfolded the entire way so they didn’t see any faces, and they couldn’t remember the location as well since they both escaped when it was dark..."
Tighnari sighs. He hates that this thing makes sense.
───── ☆⋅☆ ─────
Two days later, it is, again, 2AM and Tighnari should be sleeping but for some reason, he is not. He has been having a naggy feeling that someone would disturb his sleep yet again.
And just as he thought, Rana calls in.
"Nari. I need help! I meet a pair of baby twins and—"
"Rana…" This time, Tighnari cut in. "You could have applied what I’ve already told you the last two times."
“But Nari, it's different!” Rana says, “The babies aren't crying. They are going feral beating up some researchers… T-there are a lot of other kids as well running everywhere. How do I calm them?"
Tighnari blinks. It really sounds like the situation is different this time, not necessarily a bad thing though.
"Nari what do I do??! What if the twins kill those guys!!"
“...Alright alright,” Tighnari says, calm as ever. “Tell the kids, if they don't want to go to jail, they need to avoid a few vital points—”
"... Nari, what?"
"First, sternum—"
"Nari!" Rana huffs. "They wouldn't even know what that meant…"