Chapter Text
Chiaki Morisawa was not needed any longer. He has finished his runtime and it’s time to make way for the new heroes.
It only really sunk in for Chiaki after participating in the 4PIECE audition. He didn’t have much time for comprehending his feelings, if at all. But being stuck in that challenge, panicking over not being able to do things on his own, beating himself up—it gave him a realization. Ryuseitai was just better off without him, weren’t they?
Maybe it wasn’t just some culmination of stress and anxiety and everything else that happened. Maybe it started in the spring.
Chiaki went to karaoke and expected to meet Ryuseitai there. He texted them all, full of his usual energy, talking about how they have to have an absolutely heroful night together, as the best buddies they are! Nobody responded.
Only Sengoku had seen his request. Well, that’s okay, he had fun with Amagi-senpai and the others!
There’s no need to be so pathetic about being ghosted one time… Well, of course he’s doing that. It’s second nature for him, it’s what he sees every night when he shuts his eyes, it’s what’s burnt into his heart. If you disappoint them, they will eventually leave.
He’s thought about this for a while—if he leaves first, then everyone will be happy. A simple concept, proven time and time and time again. But you can’t leave so easily: if he runs, he attracts attention, leading his image to be spoiled. If he quits Ryuseitai, the one thing he could never do, they’ll hate him more.
If he… He doesn’t want to think about that. So instead of going down that horrible path, Chiaki settles for just hoping. Hoping for…something he isn’t really sure about. Hoping for something to happen? Actually, maybe that’s a good idea.
“You know,” he says, to himself. “I like being with everyone.” His hero figures stare back at him. It was a gift for himself a few years back. Cross-ZMagma, his favorite, and the subject of his rather childish envy, sits diligently in his palms as he holds him up.
“But I bet they’d be real happy if I got out of their hair. I mean, I cause them all this pain and trouble. And besides, they don’t need me anymore.”
He can hear the figure go If that was me, I woulda just communicated with them. He thanks his internal Banjou Ryuuga. The red-clad hero will not follow up on this advice.
He sits the figure down with its friends, not forgetting to fix its posture. Gotta be careful, ever since his red ranger broke.
Chiaki didn’t tell anyone, as if he’d ever be close enough to someone for them to know, but he had always had this inkling in the back of his mind. Some plan Z. A back door in case he got too annoying or too much for anyone.
A ring comes from his phone. It’s Hakaze, asking him to come to lunch. He is getting pretty hungry. And, well, it’s never dull to see his best friend.
He runs down the hallway and down the staircase, almost tripping over his feet reaching Hakaze. His companion lets out a breezy laugh, stunned at the usual zeal.
“Moricchi, if you aren’t careful, you might get hurt,” he chides. It isn’t full of intention to hurt Chiaki (hopefully), instead filled with affection disguised as disappointment. What happens if he does get injured? Would he not be strong enough for the other?
Was Hakaze pretending to put up with him too? That’s probably likely. Maybe that’s why he reacted so negatively towards his invite to the beach. Chiaki just wasn’t good at anything. He was below average, and there was nothing he could do about it.
“Moricchi?”
He tries his best to keep his past and his worries away from Hakaze for this exact reason. He can’t leave. He doesn’t know what he’d do if Hakaze left. It would break him into a thousand pieces.
“Moricchi! Are you okay?” Chiaki is immediately broken out of his spiral. Overcast grey eyes study him in worry, and he looks around to see people staring at them, sheepishly sinking into his seat.
“Ah, yeah, it’s nothing. Just hungry,” he lies. He flashes one of his trademark wide smiles for good measure. It doesn’t erase all of Hakaze’s worry, but it does make him stop pressing.
They both don’t say anything further about it. He tries to open his phone before the silence is abruptly broken.
“Let me take care of lunch today, Moricchi.”
Chiaki’s eyes widen comically. “No, it’s my pleasure to, it’s not befitting of a hero to let the host pay!” Everytime he calls himself a hero, it sounds pathetic. A hero doesn’t ruin everything all the time.
“You always ‘handle it’, though. Not once have I gotten to treat you back.” Hakaze starts twirling the edges of his hair. “Besides, you look pale.”
Chiaki gets into a few arguments with himself before finally relenting. “Okay, but I still want to pay you back.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s way too early for youthful people like us to get wrinkles, isn’t it?” Hakaze teases. Chiaki averts his eyes.
It doesn’t matter how long the time between bites is, french fries will always be Chiaki’s most beloved dish. By people he knew, he was always called a cheap date.
“Say, Moricchi, a few years ago you asked me to go to that Ultraman movie?”
Ah. Hakaze remembers that. Well, there’s always time to phase out the…to put it quite simply, the noticeable gap in interests between the two. Absolutely no good comes out of sharing anything about tokusatsu with anyone, no matter how happy it makes Chiaki.
“Yeah, it was my birthday. I asked you to come with me and you said it’s the stuff you’d only do with a girl,” he recounts.
Kaoru visibly winces. Clearly he was not proud of his former self’s actions.
“Well,” Hakaze begins, in a singsongy voice. “I was just thinking, if another one of those tokusatsu movies comes out, I’d go with you.” He looks away at the last part, slightly flustered.
It feels like Chiaki was electrocuted. Something twists in his heart. “You don’t have to do that, I’ll be fine. I won’t force you to do anything—I’m not the only one of us who’s grown.”
Kaoru’s eyes harden, determined. “I don’t think you understand. I want to.” He inches his chair in to move closer to Chiaki. “You aren’t forcing me and I don’t feel like I have to appease you. Let me.”
Well, how can Chiaki say no to that?
“Okay,” he tentatively answers. “That sounds fun.”
They finish their lunch and say their goodbyes. Kaoru gives him a half-hug and a smile, before vanishing into the vast building.
It kind of makes him a little sad. He’d have to say goodbye to all these happy moments soon, anyway. They won’t see that movie.
Ryuseitai is scattered around jobs today. That’s good, they get to express themselves individually. They deserve it, after having to suffer under his leadership. Nothing in the world can measure the amount of things his sweet stars deserve.
Which means for the last part of the day he is alone. His roommates are wrapping up activities for their circles. It’s finally time.
Taking a walk, he pauses to sit down on a bench. The stars all wave hello, like sprinkles across the indigo sky. But he wasn’t just here to watch the stars. He checked the weather, after all.
The moment a light races across, he shuts his eyes. It’s all depending on now.
I wish everyone would forget about me.
By the time he opens them again, it’s gone. He hopes they heard him loud and clear. It was the proper fate for Ryuseitai’s supervillain, after all.
…Weird. Was he always this tired? Surely lying down for a while wouldn’t hurt anyone. He can worry about being so vulnerable out in the open later.
…
…
He awoke with a start. Clambering to the ground, he hears the sound of shouting, an echo that most certainly carried his name in its maw. Chiaki’s head spins, blood pressure screaming at him to stop moving so fast. But he didn’t have a choice. Only adrenaline could save him now.
He doesn’t know what’s telling him to be so scared. He doesn’t know what’s happening, and it’s so dark. So alone.
But he needs to run.