Work Text:
“This is hopeless!” Momo cries, throwing herself down onto the couch. They’ve been searching for nearly an hour, and they still haven’t managed to locate the remote for the common room TV. Mai gave up about fifteen minutes ago, choosing instead to spend her time painting her nails and critiquing everyone else’s searching skills. As if she was any more successful than the rest of them. Kamo seems on the edge of giving up as well, only continuing to look out of obligation. Kasumi is the last one in their group to still have hope.
“It has to be around here somewhere,” she insists. “Come on Momo, you can’t give up too!”
“Sure she can,” Mai calls. “Stop wasting your time and let me paint your nails.”
“I would prefer to continue looking for the remote,” Kamo mumbles.
“Coward,” Mai sneers. Kamo makes no effort to respond.
Kasumi sighs, sitting back from where she’d been poking around under the TV stand. “But this is our one night to watch a movie in the common room! And I’ve been dying to show you guys Only Yesterday!”
She has a point, as loath as Momo is to admit it. Todo and Mechamaru are on an overnight mission, which means Todo cannot commandeer the TV watching reruns of every Takada-chan interview that has ever been filmed. It’s rare for the TV to be free, and they were all looking forward to their movie night date.
Momo sighs. “Okay, well…maybe the remote isn’t in the common room?”
Mai throws her hands in the air. “Where else would it be?”
“Todo-kun may have wandered off with it,” Kamo muses. “Perhaps we should check the kitchen?”
Mai raises a disbelieving eyebrow at him.
“He’s right,” Momo agrees, pushing herself to her feet. She strides across the room to Kasumi, offering a hand to help her stand. “I once found Todo-kun’s toothbrush in the kitchen. With toothpaste still on it. So.”
Kasumi wrinkles her nose. She accepts Momo’s hand, and Momo pulls her to her feet.
Mai sighs. “Let’s go.”
—
Once in the kitchen, Mai immediately sits down to finish painting her nails. Kasumi rolls her eyes and chastises her, but doesn’t try to force her to help search. She must know it would be pointless; Mai is headstrong and stubborn, and very rarely does she allow any of them to sway her out of something she has her mind set on. It was a wonder she even befriended any of them, considering her clear declaration about not wanting friends upon starting school here, and even more miraculous that she accepted and returned Momo’s confession.
Their relationship isn’t exactly a conventional one—Momo and Mai started nearly a year ago, and then they both found themselves developing feelings for Kasumi, leading to the three of them eventually all dating one another. Which isn’t the strangest thing, except for the fact that Kamo somehow got pulled into their group as well. Neither Momo nor Mai are even attracted to men, and Kamo told them bluntly he wasn’t interested in dating anyone, and yet—
He’s an important part of the dynamic.
Momo likes to call him their platonic fourth wheel, which Kamo does not think is funny, but the fact that he doesn’t like it makes Mai snicker, so Momo keeps doing it. She’ll run any unfunny bit into the ground if it makes one of her partners laugh.
“Do you seriously think the remote could be in the fridge?” Mai demands, drawing Momo out of her thoughts. “I know Todo is a meathead, but that seems exceedingly dumb even for him.”
Kamo shrugs. He swings the refrigerator door shut and opens the freezer next. “At least I am making an effort. Unlike you.”
“I already said I see no reason to keep looking,” Mai reminds him. “I doubt we’re going to find it here. I’d rather not waste my time.”
“And yet, you’re still hanging out with us,” Momo points out. She swings open a cabinet door.
“Well,” Mai says.
“It’s because she secretly loooves us,” Kasumi teases.
Momo turns around just so she can watch the way Mai’s face flushes as she declares, “I do not! You’re all obnoxious!”
Kamo rolls his eyes. Kasumi scoffs. Momo skips over to Mai and drops a kiss on the top of her head, which only makes the red in her cheeks even darker.
“Shut up,” she mumbles, ducking her head.
Unsurprisingly, they’re unable to find the remote in the kitchen.
Kamo suggests that it might be in Todo’s dorm room, Kasumi says they can’t go in there, Mai asks why not, and Kasumi says it’s a breach of privacy. Which is true, but Momo points out that they’ve all been in Todo’s dorm room before because he forced them to experience a tour of his Takada-chan merch, so it’s not like they’re going to see anything new.
“Fine,” Kasumi relents, though she doesn’t seem too pleased about it. Momo consoles her by holding her hand as they make their way to Todo’s room. Mai does not offer the same courtesy, but only because her nails are still wet, so she spends the walk blowing on them. Kamo eyes her judgmentally until she flips him off.
Todo’s room looks mostly the same as the last time Momo saw it—the only difference is he has somehow found a way to shove even more Takada-chan merch into it. There are at least three new posters on the walls, four new figurines on his shelf, and a second life-size cardboard cutout.
“This is embarrassing,” Kamo states.
“No more embarrassing than Todo is as a person,” Mai replies. She drifts over to a shelf of figures, studying them intently.
Kasumi leans in close and whispers to Momo, “And she says she doesn’t care about Takada-chan.”
Momo snorts.
Mai whirls around. “I heard that!”
“And they’re right,” Kamo interjects. “Now can we please look for the remote so we can get out of here. I feel like my every move is being watched and judged by Tall Idol Takada-chan, and it is not an enjoyable experience.”
“Agreed.” Kasumi looks around the room warily. “I’d rather not stay in here any longer than necessary.”
They do a quick, yet thorough search of Todo’s room, careful not to mess with any of his merchandise. Especially after Mai recalls a time she was asked to get his notes from his room for him, accidentally nudged one of the figures on his desk while grabbing it, and was confronted by Todo the following day about being careful in his room because that was a limited edition mystery box figure that is worth 70,000 yen.
Kasumi’s eyes grow wide as dinner plates. “Seventy thousand!?” she exclaims. “How are all of you so rich?”
“I’ll buy you a limited edition Takada-chan figure with my family’s money if you want,” Mai offers.
Kasumi pouts. “I’d rather you buy my siblings dinner for a month.”
Mai pats her shoulder. “Yeah, I don’t think my family will go for charity.”
Momo blanches. “But they’ll let you drop tens of thousands of yen on some over-glorified doll?!”
“Probably,” Kamo says, like that’s normal. Rich people. Geez. He sighs. “I don’t think the remote is in here either.”
“I told you this was a waste of time.” Mai rolls her eyes. But she seems disappointed at their failure too, and she has no more snide remarks to offer as they trudge back to the common room. Momo debates trying to search a bit more, but her heart just isn’t in it. She’s already resigned herself to their movie night being ruined.
“Well…” Kasumi looks around. “I guess we can do spa night instead.”
“Seriously?” Kamo groans. “I agreed to watching a movie, not letting you three put eyeshadow on me. I already said I’m never doing that again.”
“Why?” Momo pokes his arm. “‘Cause you’re scared of how much you liked it?” She grins up at him, and he shifts uncomfortably. Which means there might be some truth to her jab. So she should probably change the topic before she sends him spiraling into a full-on crisis.
She clears her throat. “We could watch a movie on my laptop?” she suggests. “The screen won’t be as big, but we could at least still set up in the common room.”
Kasumi shrugs. “Works for me.”
Mai nods. “I’m doing a facemask while we watch, though. The rest of you are welcome to join.”
“Oh!” Momo exclaims. “Can you paint my nails too?”
“I suppose.” Mai is clearly trying to remain apathetic while secretly being pleased Momo asked. She knows Mai too well to be fooled.
Momo cheers. “I’ll grab my laptop. The rest of you guys can get blankets and pillows set up.”
“Deal,” Kasumi agrees.
—
Twenty minutes later, they’ve settled into place with My Neighbor Totoro playing on Momo’s laptop screen. Mai has one of Momo’s hands in hers, painting her nails light pink with careful strokes. Her touch is firm, yet gentle, and Momo would be happy to simply hold her hand forever.
Kamo is sitting pressed close to Momo, stone-still as Kasumi spreads a clay mask over his face. He put up a bit of a protest in the beginning, until Mai critically asked if he wanted to be the only one left out when they paused the movie to wash the masks off together. At which point he relented and agreed to join in.
Momo didn’t miss the relief in the way his shoulders dropped as he gave in, but she was kind enough to not point it out.
She has noticed the fact that Kamo seems to stop himself from participating in ‘girly’ things, despite clearly enjoying them. But she also knows bringing it up to him directly will only cause him to shut down, so…she’ll have to talk with Mai and Kasumi about what to do.
For now, though, she’ll simply relax and appreciate date night with her partners. Even if it didn’t go exactly how they planned, she’s content with how things turned out. In her opinion, no time spent with Kasumi, Mai, and Kamo could ever be time wasted, because she’s with the people she loves.
—
Meanwhile, in Fukuyama…
“Um,” Mechamaru says, looking at Todo. Being a robot, he isn’t exactly expressive, but Todo can hear the confusion in his voice. “Why…do you have a TV remote?”
“Mai threatened to delete my recordings from the common room TV while I was gone,” he answers solemnly. He doubts his friend would be so cruel to him, but he takes no chances when it comes to Takada-chan. He has interviews recorded that cannot be found online anywhere, and he refuses to risk losing them. It would be the greatest dishonor of his life. “I elected to take away that possibility. It was the only way.”
Mechamaru hesitates. “Right,” he says, after a moment of silence. “Just…don’t lose it here.”
“I would never,” Todo swears. “After all, if I leave it behind, I will have effectively played right into Mai’s hands and lost my access to the interviews through my own actions. Such would be completely unforgivable.”
“Okay,” Mechamaru says. He turns away. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, friend.”
(Todo sleeps soundly knowing the remote is safe in his suitcase, and he dreams of Takada-chan.)