Chapter Text
Aira, donning his Branco outfit for the day, happily skipped across the space. He was excited for today! Sure, the 1st of April brought a bunch of odd things like a buff Tori and bringing over Koga Ball and… Bukubu New Stars. But today is also when Hiiro would come home from his latest scout! The tailoring of his outfit contrasted greatly, and yea maybe him sticking his foot in the lake was so frustratingly annoying but it doesn’t matter! He waited months for Prince Hiiro to come home, and Producer was confident with the amount of dia they had that it would be possible! Not like last time. As an added bonus, Kohaku would be coming home too, in two weeks!
The Sanrio collaboration was the first of many limited time scouts that truly took all of their dia funds. To be fair, it was Mayoi! But Producer got too greedy and tried to get a duplication, only resulting bringing back Eichi in his debut form and barely little to no dia left after the second dupe actually did come home. However, Producer never once regretted it even though they did have to sacrifice Dead End Land Mayoi for it.
That is to say, what comes after was just as painful. The Link Clink collab at the start was a gamble but it paid off in the end. Then comes a limited time scout for Rei and Izumi… Their cards are beautiful, yes, but their funds were so low that Producer was considering skipping Branco Aira and Prince Hiiro. In the end, Producer gambled on Branco Aira with just barely 10k dia and Aira was now here! He truly can’t wait for Hiiro to follow him! He hasn’t seen him fully since Motor Days, only a glimpse here and there in other scouts. But today, he shall come home!
There was a small group he spotted, immediately recognizing the form of Producer holding an iPad. To his surprise, Tatsumi, Mayoi and Rinne were hovering around the Producer. He couldn’t make sense of their expressions from afar, but he knew immediately that it was Producer pulling for Hiiro. So he quickened his pace, already having one hand in the air as he greeted them.
“Good morning!! I’m really excited for Hiro-kun to come home, so admittedly I didn’t sleep very well. But I had breakfast so it’s okay! I am ready to handle Hiro-kun’s energy when he comes!” In the midst of his excitement, he didn’t realize the pained expression on the Producer’s face until he realized no one replied to him.
Aira slowly lowered his hand, looking at each of them. Mayoi was tugging on his braid, biting on his bottom lip and avoiding eye contact. Tatsumi was smiling, but it looked more like a grimace. Rinne was hard to make out, refusing to let any emotion show on his face as he dug his hands in his pockets.
“Producer-san… Hiro-kun is coming home, right?” Aira’s voice had softened considerably, a pit in his stomach only growing more and more as the silence stretched on. Producer kept on opening their mouth but closing it, gaping like a goldfish as they struggled to formulate words. Tatsumi finally took pity on them and took a step towards Aira, his smile one of kindness but his purple eyes hiding the pain behind them.
“Aira-san… There may be a chance that Hiiro-san won’t…” He trailed off, as if losing the power to be able to verbalize it. But there was no need to. Aira could fill in the holes himself- he wasn’t stupid. He played on gacha games before, he knew full damn well that even with savings upon savings of in-game currency, it may not have been enough. This was no exception.
But he had hope! And he was so excited! Producer reassured him greatly that they would be able to bring Hiiro home and he believed them! He knew Producer meant well, he really did. Glancing at the Producer, he could see their expression filled with guilt.
No, no! Producer has always been kind… They didn’t have to roll for the Branco scout- they already had a 5 star card of him during the unit event. He still remembered being told that they were considering skipping Branco and White Lily to save but they took a gamble and now he’s here and-
He remembered suddenly how happy the Producer was when he entered the plane with his winter casual but knowing inside that he had the Branco outfit with him, too. Producer had hugged him, saying how lucky they were because they ran out of dia funds on the last 10 pull.
Was it Aira’s fault that Hiiro didn’t come home? If Producer hadn’t pulled for him, then maybe they would have had more dia to be able to bring Hiiro back…
“Aira-san?”
A hand reached for him- he didn’t know what. But he took a step back, tripping on his own two feet as he fell backwards. It was like a hole had opened beneath him, swallowing him whole as thought after thought rampaged inside his mind, refusing to soften their screams of self-doubt and hatred.
It was your fault.
Hiiro can’t come home because of you.
You don't deserve to be here.
He hit the ground hard, and immediately the others were reaching for him once more, their voices of concern overlapping over his own internal chaos. His outfit shifted from his usual Unit uniform, to the outfit they wore on his first unit event, to his summer casual, before eventually settling on the familiar winter casual he got from his Branco card.
Aira ignored their hands, their voices as he scrambled to his feet, running away.
—
A small boy sat on the ground, curled up with his knees close to his chest, face hiding and arms locked around it. Aira didn’t know how long he sat there for, but he eventually heard two pair of footsteps coming closer and closer towards him.
“Aira-san…”
Something heavy but warm was placed over his shoulders, and Aira managed to look up to find a blanket in the color of purple was draped over him protectively, Mayoi’s hands hovering just a bit before he pulled back and smiled nervously at the blonde. He sat on one side of him, while Tatsumi took the other side. Being sandwiched, Aira didn’t feel so shitty anymore.
“S-Sorry for running off…” Aira sighed, now filled with embarrassment over his act. “I just-”
“We know.” Tatsumi gently petted Aira’s hair. The touch was comforting. “We know how much you missed Hiiro-san.”
That was the understatement of the year, but Aira looked away from him.
It was true, though. Hiiro had been busy sometime after Branco ended, having to prepare for his next scout. When the day got closer, Aira barely saw him anymore. Kohaku was also busy with the Tour Event and…
He just missed them. A lot. He missed Hiiro a lot.
Now, he won’t be able to see Hiiro with his new outfit because of him. Because Producer decided to focus on him instead of saving for Hiiro. If Producer had ignored his scout then maybe- maybe-
“A-Aira-san… you can’t blame yourself.” Mayoi’s voice cut through his stream of thoughts. Shit, he said that out loud, didn’t he?
“Producer told us that they still have two more weeks until the scout ends. Apparently they still have those challenges they haven’t done and completely forgot about… And they also have their dailies to do for the next two weeks.”
Aira quelled the hope blooming in his chest, knowing it won’t do him any good. “But what if it isn’t enough?”
“W-We can’t give up!” Mayoi said, hands clenched tightly into fists and pressed against his chest. “Hiiro-san never gave up during your event!”
“Huh?”
Tatsumi smiled kindly. “Before your event, you were the only one who has yet to come home with a 5 star. But due to the nature of unit events, we were basically guaranteed to have you come home.” He paused, before chuckling nervously. “But then Producer nearly overslept… And just barely got you before time was up.”
Aira was unaware of that. He vaguely remembered materializing to life for the first time, donning his summer clothes with the heart filled with feathers when he was practically jumped by Hiiro, arms wrapped tightly around as they crashed painfully.
There was a lot of shouting, but Tatsumi and Mayoi were there, too.
“I just… Hiro-san believed I’d come home?”
“Mhm! So we shouldn’t give up on him, too. Producer san is doing all they can!”
With the reassurance from both Tatsumi and Mayoi, Aira found himself calming down.
It’s going to be a long two weeks, but he’ll hold out hope that the Producer will bring Hiiro home. He has to…
Having his hopes crushed… such a cruel prank for April Fools. Haha.