Chapter Text
It wasn’t easy, adjusting to life after the incident.
Hiromu, in Yoko’s opinion as a 5 year old, did have it easy. He had his sister, still. Even if Yoko understood that Hiromu also lost his parents like she had lost her mom, Hiromu still had some sort of family.
Family that annoyingly was keeping him away from the Go-Busters.
Keeping him away from his promise to her.
Whatever. It wasn’t like 5 year old Yoko needed his promise. She’d train hard and rescue mom herself. With Ryuuji, of course.
The 17 year old Ryuuji watched as Yoko stomped out of the gym, an almighty scowl on her face, before promptly crashing onto the floor. He quickly rushed over to her, already fishing out an emergency packet of sweets he’d learnt to always keep on him.
“Are you okay?” He asked, offering it to the younger not-quite-Buster. The scowl deepened.
“Ryuu-niisan! I can do it!” Yoko whines, rolling herself over to reach for her backpack. However the grumpy look soon melts away into embarrassment as she pulls out several packets of something, but no sweets.
“Yoko-chan…” Ryuuji admonishes lightly. It was rather frustrating that even after two years, Yoko still hasn’t gotten used to her weak point. Though he supposed it wasn’t like his, which Ryuuji had needed to get a swift control over in order to prevent hurting the people he cared about.
“Mou! Ryuu-niisan, stop being an Usada!” Yoko snapped, tired and hangry and annoyed. So she yanks the sweets out of her pseudo-big brother’s hand and scarves them down. Battery charged, Yoko shoots up with such force, it throws Ryuuji back. He doesn’t have time to ask for an apology or a ‘thank you’ before Yoko is pelting down the corridor. He can hear the beginnings of sobs just before she darts out of earshot.
Ryuuji sighed, feeling anger and rage knot in his stomach. None of them deserved this, being forced into a life of fighting, but the kids most certainly did not. So he lets loose a long, deep breath - forces the heat of anger to fade away – and looks down at the packets Yoko had left, forgotten and abandoned, on the floor.
To his surprise, he realises they’re glow-in-the-dark stickers. All of them are stars, of various styles and sizes, with a few shooting ones thrown in for good measure. He vaguely recalls Kuroki upgrading Yoko’s room recently, and ordering one of the staff members to take Yoko on a shopping trip to personalise it. Ryuuji had been having his medical exam and couldn’t go – much to Yoko’s extreme annoyance.
Deciding to make it up to her, and to hopefully cheer her up, Ryuuji makes a detour to the Command Centre and politely asks Kuroki were Yoko’s new dorm was. The Commander was reluctant to answer at first but when Ryuuji told him he just wanted to drop off a supply of sweets, Usada had rolled up proclaiming:
“Usada’ll show you. Yoko’d be stuck to the floor if it wasn’t for you and me!”
Ryuuji bowed in thanks as the mechanical rabbit led the way, complaining all the while. Ryuuji had learnt quick to mind his tongue around the rabbit Buddyroid, and so if he thought Usada’s manner of speech was part of the reason Yoko had become so… feisty he didn’t voice it.
Soon, he was lead to the room and Usada opened the door for him. The Buddyroid told Ryuuji to leave Yoko a note from him, before trundling off back to his duties. Ryuuji thanked him as he left, before cautiously entering the room. It was bare, a few piles of clothes and boxes stacked at the side, but even the bed hadn’t been changed out of the standard white sheets. It must look so scary to someone as young as Yoko.
Ryuuji pulls out the packets of stickers. He’d originally intended to just drop them off for Yoko but now… He looks up at the ceiling, a simple beige, and makes a decision. Soon enough, he’s yanking a chair from the desk for some extra height and carefully opening the packets for not to spill the plastic stars everywhere.
-
“Ryuu-niisan?”
“Hmm?” Ryuuji looks up from the engineering book he was half reading.
“Did… did you find my stickers?” There’s a note of offence in her voice but to give Yoko credit, she was trying really hard not to let it show too much.
“Ahhh yeah.” Ryuuji sheepishly admits. “I’m sorry if I took putting them up away from you, I was just–” He doesn’t get to finish the statement as Yoko gets up and yanks him out of the chair. “Yo-Yoko-chan!!”
She doesn’t answer him, just continues to pull him down the corridors and back in front of her room. She opens the door – a new combination this time, Ryuuji notes – and pulls him inside.
It’s dark… bar the soft green glow of the stickers. Yoko huffs down onto a blanket she'd apparently put on the floor earlier, tugging at Ryuuji’s sleeve to the do the same.
“Come ooooon!”
“Alright.”
Ryuuji lies down and looks up at his handiwork. He did his best to keep things interesting, varying the star types and patterns. There’s a large rabbit in the ‘moon’ he created in one corner, though he has it looking down on Yoko rather than pounding away at mochi. There’s a few constellations thrown in too but Ryuuji knows Yoko won’t be able to recognise them. Still, if she ever does it would be a nice surprise.
“Ryuu-niisan… thank you.” Yoko mutters as they gaze at the green stars together, faces bathed in their faint green glow. “And sorry. For snatching.”
“Apology accepted, Yoko-chan.” Ryuuji tells her, taking her little hand in his. They lie in silence, watching the stars until their glow starts to slowly fade and they need to recharge more. One day, Yoko thinks, she can do this with the real stars, with her mom here too.