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In his first life, Aira was a pretty big fan of the BL-dating-sim-slash-rhythm-game Ensemble Stars! While it had its issues, it drew a decently big audience for its rich lore that seemed to go deeper and deeper the more one played. Not only were the main character, Akehoshi Subaru, and his love interests given close attention, but even the side characters clearly had lives of their own. Aira was just as obsessed with the world itself as he was with the relationships.
This, in his second life, proves to be irrelevant, as he only enters the picture after the events of the game—and unfortunately, the sequel had yet to be released by the time of his death. The only things Aira knew by then were the new protagonist and his love interests. While he intended to happily watch the game play out right before his eyes, he had no idea what any notable events were to look like in the first place.
Somewhere along the way, Aira maybe, sort of, forgets about all of that anyway. While Aira was a fan of the game, he’s even more a fan of idols, so despite the fact that the sequel’s protagonist happens to be his own unit leader, he’s been a bit too busy to remember that things like events and routes.
He remembers when he comes across Tori wearing a flower crown and stops to compliment him on it.
Tori smiles. “Thanks! It was actually your leader who made it for me.”
“Eh? Hiro-kun?” Aira tilts his head, puzzled.
“Mmhm. I gave him some sweets, he’ll probably share them with you guys later, so he made this for me as thanks. I didn’t think he could be that smooth.”
Tori walks away without thinking much of it, but Aira leaves the short exchange remembering two things: Hiiro is still the protagonist after all, and he has absolutely no idea what route he’s on.
Kohaku, like a true friend, doesn’t seem too disturbed by the favorability chart in Aira’s notebook, carefully documenting a month’s worth of observations. “And you think all of these people have crushes on Hiiro-han?” he asks in what might be a deliberately neutral tone. Aira decides not to read into it.
“Well… I mean, I just kind of thought they’re all pretty close to him.” He absolutely cannot tell him that everyone on this list were all Hiiro’s love interests in the unreleased sequel to the dating sim this world was in his past life.
“Uh-huh.” Kohaku flicks his eyes over the notes Aira scribbled next to each person’s name. “And why aren’t you on this list?”
Aira blinks at him. “Hiro-kun wouldn’t fall in love with me.”
Kohaku lifts his head to stare at him in disbelief.
“What?” Aira says.
“You really believe that?”
He frowns. “We’re good friends, but it’s not like I’m really anything special.”
“Stop that.” Kohaku flicks him in the forehead and he squeaks, slapping his hands over where he hit. “You’re plenty special. Hiiro-han would sing your praises for hours if you’d let him, and I’d join him if the rest of ALKALOID didn’t get there first.”
Aira can feel the blush crawling up his cheeks and he whines, “Kohakucchiii!”
“Anyway,” Kohaku says, ignoring him, “why are you so invested in this?”
Aira huffs, pouting. “Is it bad to want Hiro-kun to be happy?”
“Course not, but I think he’s plenty happy now.”
“That’s true, but…”
Love has always been Aira’s thing, in both lives. He loves seeing other people’s love, and he loves the act of loving too. Being an idol stan and playing dating sims were his two favorite ways of immersing himself in it.
“Dating is an important part of the high school experience!” he declares. “Since Hiro-kun wants to learn more about city life, isn’t this one of the things he should be learning? Oh, but if even Rinne-senpai is serious about stuff like ‘no kissing before marriage’—”
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Kohaku mutters.
“—then Hiro-kun must be even more serious, so it can’t just be a casual thing, his partner should be someone who wants to be with him long-term. I have to be thorough about this kind of thing.” Aira nods to himself, proud of coming up with all of that off the top of his head. He isn’t even lying: if this weren’t the world of a dating sim, he would still want Hiiro to date someone serious about him. Hiiro, his friend and leader, deserves that much.
Kohaku nods slowly. “Right, I guess that makes sense. I don’t really know anything about dating so I’ll trust your judgment.” He taps his pointer finger on top of Aira’s notebook in thought, then says, “Is that something you’re interested in, too?”
“What do you mean?”
“Dating.”
Of course Aira is interested in dating. He’s liked a few people, in this life and his last one, but it never went anywhere. He supposes he’s just not someone people want to like in that way, once they get to know him. It’s easier to watch.
(If he started playing dating sims because he was a little lonely, because he wanted to enjoy that type of love somehow since it didn’t seem like an option for him in reality—
Well, Kohaku doesn’t need to know that part.)
“Yeah,” Aira answers, “but I don’t think that’s gonna happen for me any time soon. I’m not really—I’m focusing on other stuff so it’s not important.”
“Really?” Kohaku says dubiously.
“Really.”
Aira’s not sure what Kohaku is searching for in his face, but after a few seconds of silent staring, he just sighs. “Okay, you don’t care about your own love life but you care about Hiiro-han’s. Sure. What are you actually thinking of doing though?”
“Not much, really,” Aira says, grateful to not be talking about his failed romances anymore. “I have to figure out who Hiro-kun likes first, then I can wingman! I’m thinking of asking him about it when I see him later. Subtly.”
Kohaku’s eyebrows raise. “You’re seeing him today?”
“What’s that look for?”
“Never mind.” He shakes his head a little, lips pressed together. “It’s nothing.”
Kohaku leaves Aira’s room an hour later and Aira busies himself with his notebook while he waits for Hiiro, who texted that his job was over and he was just going to get changed before picking him up. Not long after, there’s a knock on the door. Despite the long day he must have had, Hiiro greets Aira with his usual bright, handsome smile and boundless energy. Aira allows him a few seconds to hug him before wriggling out of his arms and frowning up at him.
“Hiro-kun, your hair is too wet,” he says.
Hiiro chuckles sheepishly, running a hand through his curly, wet hair. A drop of water slides down his temple and cheek. Aira gets the stupid urge to reach out and wipe it with his thumb. “Oh, sorry, I wasn’t thinking, I was just eager to see you.”
Aira is no longer flustered when he says things like that (for the most part), so he only rolls his eyes. “You can’t go out like that. Come on, I’ll dry your hair.” He tugs Hiiro inside and ushers him to sit against his bed.
“It’s okay Aira, you don’t have to trouble yourself,” Hiiro says, although he doesn’t fight Aira’s manhandling.
“I don’t have to but you’re in my dorm and I say I’m not going out with you while your hair is wet.”
Hiiro smiles, conceding. Aira grabs a small towel and his blow dryer fixed with a borrowed diffuser and sits behind Hiiro on his bed. They’re both silent as Aira first pats out the excess water before turning on the dryer. A faint smell of citrus wafts through the air, the scent of the hair products Aira gifted him a little while ago. He’s pleased to find that he’s been using them. Hiiro tilts his head a little into Aira’s hands, contentment written plainly on his face as his eyes go half-lidded.
It's so calm and pleasant that it’s a whole minute before Aira notices when he’s done. He shuts off the blow dryer, quickly untangles his fingers from Hiiro’s hair, and turns to put everything away while willing his cheeks to cool down.
“Thanks, Aira,” Hiiro says, getting to his feet.
“No problem. An idol shouldn’t go out looking so messy, you know?” He sends him a playful glare, making him laugh.
“You’re right, of course. That was my fault. Shall we go now?”
“Hold on a second.” Aira beckons for Hiiro to bow his head a little, which he does, and lightly runs his fingers through his hair one more time. Taking care of wavy hair is different from straight hair, but Aira did a little bit of research after realizing his hair type was different. At this length, he doesn’t think it needs combing, so he just makes sure it looks nice, and makes a mental note to do more research later, feeling like he may have rushed the drying a little. “There, I think that’s good.” He leans back, tucking his hands behind his back before he can do something stupid like let them linger on Hiiro’s cheeks.
Hiiro pats the top of his own head delicately, as though he might undo Aira’s minimal work if he’s any less careful. “I’m sure I look great. Aira wouldn’t make me look bad. Unless we have ketchup.”
Aira jabs him in the arm. “Shut up and let’s go already!”
Hiiro nods, smiling indulgently, and allows Aira to drag him out of the room.
The plan for the day isn’t anything special. Aira has some things he wanted to buy and Hiiro asked to join him since their schedules aligned for the first time in a while. They do a little bit of shopping and a whole lot of browsing for a few hours before deciding to take a break at one of the nearby parks.
It’s a beautiful day. The sun is out with a few white clouds in the sky, a bit warm but not unpleasantly so. Hiiro leads them to sit under the shade of a tree, setting their shopping bags to the side.
“You know you didn’t have to carry those,” Aira tells him for the fourth time since Hiiro took the bags from him.
Hiiro shakes his head. “It’s okay, I’m strong.”
“They’re not that heavy.”
“No, but I wanted to.” His smile, as always, is absolutely devastating and Aira can only harrumph in return.
“You’re a natural male lead, Hiro-kun,” he mumbles, mostly to himself. Sometimes, it’s really obvious why Hiiro would have been the main character.
“What’s that?” Hiiro asks, because of course he hears him.
“Um, you know, like,” Aira says, fumbling, “the male main character of a romance.”
“Oh, I see. Am I like that?”
“When you do stuff like hold my bags for me, yeah. And it’s not even cheesy when it’s you! So embarrassing.” Wait, he thinks in the middle of his complaining. This is the perfect segway into asking about his relationships. “Anyone would probably be happy to date you if you asked.”
“Really?” Hiiro tilts his head and Aira feels—a little strange under his scrutiny.
“Y-yeah,” he stutters and hopes he didn’t notice. “I mean, a while back you made Himemiya-senpai a flower crown and that would make anyone swoon.”
“Oh…” Hiiro furrows his eyebrows slightly. “I wasn’t trying to be romantic.”
“It can kind of seem like it though. Do you, um—” Aira licks his lips, suddenly nervous “—do you like Himemiya-senpai? You know, like that?”
Hiiro immediately shakes his head and Aira tries to ignore the sinking relief in his stomach. “I just wanted to thank him, that’s all.”
“Yeah, okay.” Hiiro is so sincere about everything he does that it’s not much of a surprise. “Then, is there anyone you do like?”
Hiiro blinks, and there’s a slight pause right before he says, “I do.”
“Really?” Aira gasps. “Who? Nagumo-senpai? You guys have a lot in common, or—oh, maybe Hinata-senpai, since you’re roommates?” He spent the last month recording Hiiro’s relationships with his capture targets in his notebook. Of them all, those two seemed to have the highest favorability.
He doesn’t notice that he’s leaned closer to him until Hiiro says, “Um, Aira?” and Aira realizes their faces are suddenly much closer than before. He quickly leans back, clearing his throat in embarrassment.
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay. Um, it’s not Buchou or Hinata-kun,” Hiiro tells him, stilted.
“Really? You can tell me, Hiro-kun, you know that, right?”
“I know. I trust Aira.”
“Then, who is it? I’ll help you woo them!”
“It’s…” Hiiro glances to the side, trailing off. Aira waits, trying not to seem too eager. Hiiro takes in a deep breath, meets his eyes again, and says, “Aira.”
“Yes, Hiro-kun? I’m listening.” He smiles encouragingly.
“Aira. I like you, Aira.”
Aira’s smile freezes on his face.
He thinks, for a moment, that his hearing must have gone out. Then he thinks he misheard, but Hiiro’s expression is nothing but earnest and patient. And then he thinks he’s dreaming, and maybe he’s been dreaming this whole time, this whole life. Maybe he never really died, that first time, and he’s just been in a coma, living a life that was never really his to keep. It does seem too good to be true sometimes.
But he can smell the grass and the trees, feel the gentle wind tickling his cheeks. He remembers Hiiro’s hair between his fingers.
“Me?” Aira finally chokes out. “You… like me? Like, romantically?”
Hiiro nods, ever sincere. “I do. You’re the only one I want to date, Aira.”
“I…” Aira’s fingers curl into the grass, getting dirt under his nails. His voice fails him as his brain halts entirely. He stares at Hiiro’s handsome face and bright eyes and fails to find any sense in his…
Confession.
That was a confession.
To him. Shiratori Aira—a no-name character of no importance.
“I have to go,” he croaks, and Hiiro’s expression falls.
“Wait,” he says, but Aira doesn’t stick around to hear any more.
He scrambles to his feet, turns, and runs, escapes, leaving Hiiro, his bags, and the dream far, far behind.
In the beginning, this life was not all that different from his first. Born into a normal family with no new, particular talents of his own, he didn’t even feel like he reincarnated at all, simply picked up where he left off. It wasn’t until he looked up one day and saw a recording of Trickstar’s Live that he realized where he was, and his second life burst into color.
He doesn’t think of this world as a game anymore. It’s too full, too vibrant to be just that. When Aira performs, every person in the audience has a face, and his fans tell him their names when they ask for his autograph. He has friends who make him laugh with his whole body and none of the idols he meets can be categorized as simple character types. The world spins and Aira's heart beats in his chest and he knows he's truly living.
But.
Aira spent most of his first life doing nothing but watch. Falling in love with fiction and distant celebrities kept the emptiness from consuming him every day. In this life, he found a purpose to claw towards and now that he’s grasped it, he doesn’t dare let himself grow complacent—but there are times when he finds himself being an observer again. Stepping back, lending assistance for others to shine. Such is the life for someone like him, a stan before he was an idol.
There’s a part of him that can never forget that he is nothing important in this world.
Aira’s dorm is empty when he returns. It will remain empty until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest, and he’s grateful for it. He doesn’t want his roommates to see him as the mess he is. His stomach growls as he collapses onto his bed and he remembers that he and Hiiro meant to get dinner together, but clearly that’s not an option anymore. Just the thought of going out again where others, Hiiro, might see him sends a wave of anxiety over him. His phone chimes a few times before he turns it off entirely without looking, hardly caring whether or not it might be important. He buries his head into his pillow and hopes that sleep will fix everything.
He has a job the next day so he’s careful to put himself back together, fixing his tangled hair and applying a bit of makeup to hide the pallor of his skin, though the stylists have to do even more work for him later. It’s not that hard to fall back into his old habit of letting other things distract him from thinking. The client praises him for his hard work and focus today. He can’t ignore his phone, much as he wants to, so he can only try to not look at Hiiro’s messages for too long.
(There aren’t a lot:
I’m sorry.
You don’t have to like me back. I just wanted you to know.
Do you still want everything we bought?
And a fourth, sent today while he’s working: I’ll ask someone to drop these off for you.)
Aira starts heading back to the dorm after, but remembers that his roommates are back and switches directions, wanting to be alone. He puts in his earbuds and starts playing Eden’s newest song. The streets have begun to empty as the sun sets; he’s completely alone when he decides to stop and sit on a bench somewhere. From here, he can see the ocean darkening with the sky. The streetlights flicker on. The song ends and he searches for something else to fill his ears and drown out his aching.
He flinches as a few bags are placed next to him and someone vaults over the bench to sit on his other side. A flash of red makes his heart leap, but it’s Rinne who meets his eyes. He taps one ear and Aira cautiously removes his earbuds.
“What do you want?” Aira asks.
“My little bro asked me to hand some stuff off to you.”
Aira narrows his eyes, ignoring the funny flip in his stomach. “No, he didn’t.” He knows Aira gets nervous around Rinne, so even if he was mad at him, he would have asked someone else.
Rinne doesn’t even try to maintain the lie. “Yeah, he didn’t, he asked Kohaku but since I was there, I thought, hey! May as well get to know my little brother’s girlfriend, right?”
“I’m not his girlfriend!”
“Whoa.” He holds up his hands in mocking surrender. “Touchy, aren’t we?”
“Whatever.” Aira glances at the bags, then back. “You delivered them. You can go now.”
It’s too much to hope that he might actually listen. Rinne props an elbow on the back of bench and leans his head against his knuckles. “Nah. Why don’t you tell me why you rejected Hiiro instead?”
So this is how Aira’s second life will end. At least it’s more interesting than Truck-kun.
“If you know about that, why did you still call me his ‘girlfriend’?” he grumbles, digging his nails into his lap.
Rinne shrugs. “You really did it, huh?”
“I don’t have to talk to you about this.” Aira starts to stand, but Rinne grabs him and makes him sit back down, stupidly strong despite appearances.
“How about I talk then?” he says, hand wrapped around his wrist tight enough to hold him but not enough to hurt. Aira glares and smiling, Rinne continues, “I knew Hiiro was going to fall in love with you from the moment he glared at me and told me not to get close to you.”
“Fall in—?”
“You,” Rinne says, talking over him, “were the first person, unrelated to our home, that he opposed me for. He still hated idols back then, didn’t he? But he protected you. And I was right—he did fall in love with you.”
“’In love’ is a bit—”
“From what I can tell, you pretty much like him back. Can you say I’m wrong?”
“You’re wrong,” Aira says, but it’s a bad lie and he knows it.
Rinne laughs. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. It’s a pretty simple formula: he likes you, you like him, happily ever after for all! So, why’d you reject him?” His smile isn’t cold, exactly. It seems fixed, like he doesn’t know what else to do so he smiles even though there’s nothing happy about it. But it’s not cold. Aira doesn’t know what it is.
Of all people to have caught him, it had to be this unpredictable guy.
“It just doesn’t make sense,” Aira bites out. “People don’t—I’m not—I’m not the type of guy people like, in that way. I’m just normal. There’s nothing special or interesting about me, so what could he possibly see in me?” He doesn’t mean for all of that to come tumbling out of his mouth. He wants to swallow it all back down as Rinne stares all too consideringly at him.
After a moment, Rinne lets out a low whistle. “Wow, who knew you had a few issues of your own?” Aira tries to stomp on his foot, but he moves swiftly out of the way. “Oi, oi, let me finish.”
“If you’re going to kill me and hide my body, just get it over with.”
“What? No, what kind of person do you think I am?”
Aira doesn’t answer that. Rinne clicks his tongue.
“I’m not gonna kill you, Kohaku would kill me. And I like you, Ai-chan.” He bops Aira’s nose with a finger and Aira slaps his hand away. “So, you rejected Hiiro because you think he shouldn’t like you in the first place.”
“That’s…” Not wrong, but not right, he thinks. It’s not like Aira thinks he’s too terrible for Hiiro or something; there are just… so many others that are better. This isn’t something he can fix with hard work like his singing and dancing, it just is.
“You and I are a lot alike,” Rinne says. “I think Hiiro deserves a lot better too. He got stuck with a shitty older brother like me and a hometown that molded him into a tool rather than a person. He deserves so much more, but for some reason, Hiiro loves me anyway. He chose to keep our name and our brotherhood even after I tried to disown him, then he chose to save me when I didn’t want him to. Compared to that, I’d say you’re pretty good.”
“But I’m…”
“Who said you need to be interesting? Did he say that?”
“Well, no, of course not.” Aira finds himself crumbling under Rinne’s expectant stare, voice becoming smaller. Rinne’s hand loosens a little, but Aira doesn’t use the opportunity granted.
“I think you’re plenty interesting, Ai-chan, but even if you weren’t, who are you to decide who Hiiro likes? I didn’t take you for an arrogant fool like me.” He smirks, an ironic, self-deprecating lift of his lips. “You don’t need to be any of those things. You just need to be good to him. You want to do that at least, don’t you?”
Aira never got to know Hiiro-the-protagonist, but he easily came to love Hiiro-the-boy, and it’s natural to want the one you love to be happy. He would have been content to watch it happen without him, just as he once watched so many others.
“His happy ending is his choice,” Aira murmurs.
“Yeah,” says Rinne, uncharacteristically soft. “And he wants that to be you. So what are you gonna do about it?”
Aira agonizes for hours before finally messaging Hiiro asking if they can talk. He then agonizes for the silent fifteen minutes it takes to remember that Hiiro has a strict sleeping schedule and is probably already asleep, at which point he tries his best to also sleep. The anxiety keeps him up for another two hours, so needless to say, he doesn’t exactly wake up rested in the morning. But Hiiro did respond, with a decisive Yes and Where? and What time? and another I’m sorry. Aira’s fingers shake as he tells him not to apologize.
He needs breakfast first, though he’s not at all hungry and his stomach twists itself into knots. He ends up barely taking a few bites before passing the food off to someone else, and then he’s left trying to figure out how to occupy himself until he sees Hiiro. For once, his usual plan of stanning-until-he-forgets doesn’t work.
For the sake of not being too eager, he wanders restlessly until it’s time to go to Hiiro’s room.
In Ensemble Square, gossip is everywhere. Aira learns more about his coworkers in a single Pretty 5 meeting than he could have ever theorized online; if Rinne knows about what happened between him and Hiiro, everyone else probably does too. Hiiro tells him that both of his roommates will be out for a while, so his dorm seemed the best place to talk privately.
Hiiro opens the door barely a second after he’s started knocking. Aira is briefly stunned to stand in front of him for the first time since he left him in the park. He looks like he did that one night, back when they all lived in the same dorm and Aira had to carry him back to the dorm. He put that expression on his face. Guilt gnaws the bottom of his stomach.
“Aira,” Hiiro says, his name falling like something savory and desperate from his lips, “I’m—”
“Hold on,” Aira interrupts, not wanting to start this in the middle of the hallway. He pushes Hiiro inside and Hiiro goes, pliantly.
As soon as the door shuts behind them, Hiiro says again, “Aira, I’m sorry!”
“Don’t apologize!” Aira snaps without thinking. “Wait, sorry, I didn’t mean to… You don’t have to apologize. I’m sorry.”
Hiiro shakes his head. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Don’t be st—” This time, he manages to stop himself before he can finish the sentence. “I mean, I’m the one who ran away from you without giving you a proper answer. I should have handled that better. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Hiiro says softly. “It… hurt, but I understand. You don’t feel the same way and that’s okay. I’m happy just being your friend.”
Aira hates that Hiiro is so kind, so willing to forgive him and act like he was the one at fault. He thinks he can sort of understand Rinne’s pain. “No, Hiro-kun, that’s not… That’s not why I ran. Can we sit down?”
“Of course.”
They sit on Hiiro’s bed, facing each other. Aira opens his mouth to continue, but all of the sudden, the words he had prepared have flown out of his head. He looks at Hiiro. The exhaustion is obvious in his eyes, the messy tangle of his hair, but he still sits tall, attentive, patient. So patient, even when he shouldn’t be.
“I…” Aira starts, then stops. Starts again, the words nothing like the confession he wanted to give, “I’m really boring, Hiro-kun.”
Hiiro blinks, surprised. “No you’re not.”
“I am,” Aira says. “I’m cute and I’m blond and some people have liked me because of that, but they never liked me for everything else. My family is normal, I don’t have a hidden past or anything, I just sort of… forced my way into this world. The idol world, I mean, even though I don’t really fit.”
Hiiro frowns. “That’s not true. You’re really amazing, Aira, and you worked really hard to get here. You belong more than I do.”
He doesn’t know that, in another world, he was a protagonist specially made for this world. He doesn’t know that in that world, Aira wasn’t made for anything at all.
Aira tries to put that aside. This isn’t that world and this isn’t a game. This is reality. This is his—their lives.
“Thank you,” he says. “I am proud that I made it here, don’t get me wrong. I’m happier here than I’ve ever been, I think, but I spent a long time being just a fan in the audience supporting other people. I’m happy doing that too, and that’s why I wanted to help you with whoever you liked. I wanted you to be happy. We’re the same like that, I guess. I just—I never really imagined you would like me and I-I panicked. What do you even like about me, Hiro-kun?”
Without hesitation, Hiiro starts, “You’re brave. You didn’t give up on your dream even though we had so many things to overcome. You’re really beautiful when you talk about idols. You can be kind of mean sometimes, but I think that’s cute too. I like that you explain all the things I don’t understand and you encourage me to try more new things. I like that my brother likes you and that, even though he scares you, you still trust me about him. I feel like I can tell you anything, no matter how bad it is. You’re really creative too, even though you don’t never seem to think so. You have a lot of interesting things to say all the time and—”
Aira slaps his hands over Hiiro’s mouth. “Okay, I get it!” he exclaims, face burning hot. Hiiro stops and Aira slowly removes his hands.
“I can keep going,” Hiiro says, as though that wouldn’t make Aira spontaneously combust on the spot.
“Th-that’s okay, I don’t need it! I got your point already!”
Hiiro smiles, looking all too pleased with himself. “You believe me, right? Aira is incredible. There’s nothing boring about you at all.”
Does Aira believe him? Can he, when Hiiro is looking at him like that?
“You… really do like me,” Aira says. Even though he knows it now, it’s still hard to believe.
Hiiro nods. Slowly, cautiously, he reaches out to take Aira’s hands in his, like trying to gently coax a terrified animal, unsure whether he’ll be bitten for the attempt. “I like you, Aira. I don’t know much about courting in the city, but I’d really like to learn with you.”
Aira’s face starts to warm again. “It’s called ‘dating,’ Hiro-kun, I told you this.”
He chuckles lightly. “I remember.” As Aira doesn’t move away, he starts rubbing his thumbs over his knuckles in a soothing pattern. “Aira, I don’t know why you thought it was impossible, but this… This means you like me back, right?”
Aira didn’t understand it when it started happening, but he figured it out eventually. He liked the Hiiro he saw in the trailers in his first life, and he’s sure he would have loved the character, but he doesn’t know that for sure.
The Hiiro sitting in front of him right now, though?
He loves this Hiiro with a gravity he never felt for any of his distant obsessions. He loves the Hiiro with his stupidly big heart to match his stupidly big smiles, who is earnest about learning and growing while still valuing his roots, who clearly believes in Aira more than Aira himself. He likes his hugs and the way he says his name like his favorite word. He likes how he never feels pressured to only be sweet and cheerful with him, that he can be a little mean sometimes and that Hiiro apparently likes that too. He loves that he can turn around and know that Hiiro will be right there next to him.
Aira wants Hiiro to be happy. He would have been content to help him pursue his own happiness with someone else—but that’s not what he wants. Not what either of them wants.
Didn’t Aira come here, to Ensemble Square, to hold on to his love?
Aira squeezes Hiiro’s hands back. “I do,” he tells him, as steadily as he can over the pounding of his heart. “I like you too, Hiro-kun.”
Hiiro’s smile blooms. Wide and handsome, relieved and adoring. How did Aira not see before? His face must be bright red but he can’t bring himself to look away. And when Hiiro leans in—
This time, he doesn’t run. This time, he wraps his arms around him. Feels his breath. His body. His heart. The spaces of the world where Aira slots perfectly into place.