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Rantaro lets out what might possibly be the biggest sigh of his life as he collapses into his aisle chair in the airplane.
"Long morning, huh?" he quips, smiling at his friend, who's already sitting down and gazing idly out the window.
"You could certainly say that," Kiibo agrees, robotic brows furrowed as he stares down the people handling baggage below them. "Is it always so… hectic?"
Rantaro frowns. He's feeling the consequences of his own actions now, because he's not really sure how to answer that one. He's not a fan of lying, where it can be helped, but the truth is…
"Not always," Rantaro says, rubbing the back of his head. "Weekends and holidays are usually a lot busier than weekdays, just for example."
That gets Kiibo to look up and back at Rantaro. "You are saying that the airport is usually more difficult to manage than it was today?"
Well…
"It can be," Rantaro offers, "sometimes." Maybe on Golden Week. That's always a nightmare to travel through. Generally, though, no. It's a little hard to get worse than it was this morning.
Kiibo lets out a hum, dissatisfaction on his face. "You are being rather vague, Amami-kun. Are you trying to lead me to an incorrect conclusion to spare my feelings?"
Rantaro's smile falters, just for a moment. Yeah, that's a bullseye.
"Amami-kun…" Kiibo chides, gently but firmly.
"Okay, okay," Rantaro says, raising his hands up in surrender. "It's just that… see, there's more hoops you have to jump through when you're…" how to put this, "...a little outside of the norm."
Kiibo nods. "So that is why they wanted a full list of my functions along with a cavity search."
"Pretty much." Rantaro sighs. He and Professor Iidabashi already talked to the airline beforehand about this and confirmed that Kiibo wasn't capable of causing an international incident (aside from trying to file a suit against another country for objectifying him, perhaps), but the security here had to be thorough anyhow.
Really, though, Rantaro should consider himself lucky he managed to get this to happen like he did at all. The original arrangement had been for Kiibo to stay in cargo in sleep mode for the duration of the flight, but… that didn't sit right with Rantaro. He managed to talk them into what they're doing now. The downside of that, though…
"Do people often stop you to ask if you're cosplaying?" Kiibo asks.
Rantaro chuckles. "No… that was my first time, actually. Thankfully there are only so many characters with green hair."
Kiibo nods, seeming to process that. "And there are more robots than characters with green hair…?"
Rantaro has no idea.
"Oh, definitely," Rantaro says, "loads." Maybe? Probably? Sure, why not?
Kiibo gives an unnecessary but nevertheless endearing robotic little sigh. "Yet another way in which science fiction has made my life more difficult."
Geez, no kidding. Imagine if the only way someone knew Rantaro existed was in movies. It must be a real pain for Kiibo. Rantaro's certainly figured that out plenty just getting through to this flight.
Rantaro snaps out of his thoughts on the latter half of a question from Kiibo, something like "me with you?" He furrows his brow for a moment until he realizes, belatedly, the full question was, in fact, "why did you take me with you?"
...Or maybe Rantaro missed more than that. It's Kiibo. He does tend towards the long-winded.
"I wanted you to come," Rantaro says, tilting his head, like it's a question with an obvious answer.
Kiibo stares at him for a long few moments in dissatisfaction. "You could have brought anyone with you. Saihara-kun, for example, who is an actual detective." He frowns, looking away. "I'm happy to help find your sister, of course, but…"
But why me. It's a fair question, Rantaro supposes. He'd be asking the same in Kiibo's shoes. Of course, Rantaro is naturally a more suspicious person, so maybe he should be more surprised after all.
This isn't helping answer the question, Rantaro.
"Saihara-kun isn't easy to pick out of a crowd," Rantaro says. "He kind of blends in. You, though, no such problems."
Kiibo looks even less satisfied than before, somehow. "You could have brought Gonta," he says. "Shinguji-kun is familiar with Vietnam, too, and his height makes him easy to spot. Objectively, he's a better choice to bring along, and… less trouble, too."
"Shinguji-kun comes with his own set of problems," Rantaro says, waving a hand. "I'd be too distracted looking at his pretty face to get any searching done!" Which isn't really an issue that gets solved by bringing Kiibo along, but that's not the point here.
Kiibo frowns further, which prompts Rantaro to chuckle. He plants a finger right between Kiibo's eyebrows. "Careful," he warns, "your face just might freeze like that, you know."
"It will not! " Kiibo protests, waving Rantaro's hand off his face while Rantaro laughs at Kiibo's indignation.
"But, really, though," Rantaro says, "Shinguji-kun can travel to Vietnam any time he likes. Maybe he'd be of more help out here," maybe, "but that's not why I brought you along. I brought you because I think everyone deserves a chance to see the world."
Not really the whole truth, but it's not quite wrong, either, so Rantaro's fine letting it stand.
"Then why not bring everyone?" Kiibo asks, before his eyes widen. "...Ah, I see."
Rantaro can't help but cringe a little. "Yeah, uh… definitely not, no." Really, just bringing along anyone is more of a risk than Rantaro really should've done, but… that's hitting on the
real
reason Rantaro brought him, isn't it?
Kiibo opens his mouth to ask another question, but the flight attendant catches everyone's attention, explaining the basics of plane safety to anyone who might not know. Kiibo listens with rapt attention, and Rantaro pulls out his phone. Not really even to use it, just to have the distraction. One day, when Rantaro finally gets what's coming for him and ends up in hell, the devil himself will be explaining how to wear an oxygen mask on loop, and he won't even have a phone. For now, at least, he's safe. Or, well. Safer.
The announcement (finally) finishes, and they start on preparations for takeoff. Kiibo dutifully buckles his seatbelt, reminding Rantaro that he really ought to as well.
Yeah, okay. He buckles it just before the plane starts meandering its way over to the runway. Kiibo's eyes are peeled on the window as it moves, but Rantaro's gaze is caught on Kiibo's expression. He's so cute.
"It's one thing to understand how a plane works," Kiibo comments, "but quite another to watch it as it does from the inside…"
That's for sure. The novelty's worn off for Rantaro by now, but seeing Kiibo all wide-eyed makes Rantaro feel like he's flying for the first time again, if only just a little bit. That's the nice part of this.
The plane starts flying down the runway, and Kiibo gasps, loud enough for Rantaro to hear him over the propellers. Rantaro's eyes watch Kiibo eagerly drinking in the scenery, probably committing it to his memory banks. That's good. Rantaro hopes Kiibo enjoys every moment of this trip, genuinely.
If his journeys are filled with smiles and laughter, eager eyes instead of tired ones… maybe it'll feel less like an obligation. Maybe Rantaro will feel a little less alone in his world.
It's… pathetic of him, really, to want that, but he does, and that, more than anything, is the reason Kiibo's sitting there beside him watching Tokyo fade beneath them with that smile on his face. Rantaro won't take him everywhere, but Vietnam is enough. He'll get to see the yellow apricot blossoms, visit the market, maybe Rantaro will take him somewhere special, too. Maybe Hikaru will surprise him and be somewhere he's not anticipating.
It's worth a shot, even if it tells Rantaro, without a doubt, that he's just as useless as he'd always thought, that he can't get anything done alone. And that's pitiful, really it is. But pity won't find his sisters. If this is what he needs, then fine.
…
"Thank you, Kiibo," Rantaro whispers, quiet. The words don't carry through the noise of takeoff. Rantaro's fine with that, though. Maybe later, when he says them again, they'll mean more. In the meantime, Rantaro's happy to watch Kiibo scanning the scenery. In the moment, Rantaro can put everything else away and just watch Kiibo smile.
For now, that's more than enough.